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Wild Buying What Torchetti's Selling

April 19, 2016, 1:25 PM ET [10 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Big win last night for the Wild. It did not start out so well for Minnesota but sure ended the way they had hoped it would. After giving up a goal 26 seconds into the game to Patrick Sharp and another Sharp tally less than 4 minutes later, the Wild settled down and played a very inspired game.

A few take away topics from the Wild win. The Wild overcame a two goal deficit to win the game, which is a great sign for a team that only won five times all season when they gave up the first goal of the game.

John Torchetti inserted two young Iowa Wild forwards Zac Dalpe and Kurtis Gabriel in place of two veterans Ryan Carter and Jarret Stoll. That is significant because Carter and and Stoll are the only Wild players who have Stanley Cup rings, but honestly have been non-factors for quite some time.

In between the first and second periods Torchetti challenged the Wild team as a whole and singled out a certain few by name to elevate their game in what was described as a fiery intermission. That is significant because it generated immediate results and establishes accountability to the entire team.

The Wild Special were much better killing both Dallas powerplays and scoring on one of the two man advantage opportunities of their own.

The Wild compete level was as high as we have seen in the Torchetti era and that will need to continue to elevate as the series moves forward. Saturday's game saw the Wild bring a more spirited effort than we had seen from them in weeks, and last night they ratcheted that up another level.

Devan Dubnyk has been pretty solid thus far but last night was not one of his better efforts giving up three goals on just seventeen shots. The last one was the most alarming as he appeared to not even be set for a shot at all and when the shot came he ducked his head as it caromed off Dalpe's glove and in between the wide open wickets of Dubnyk into the net. The take away here is that the Wild were able to get the victory even though Dubnyk was not at his best.

The Wild were very active in the defensive zone, blocking 24 Dallas shot attempts. In the offensive zone the Wild were going hard to the net and getting their sticks on pucks all night. Torchetti referred to the need to get greasy goals and that is exactly how the Wild played most of the night.

The Wild are back in the series for sure. Now the effort will need to be raised once again on Wednesday night. You can rest assured that the Stars will come out with a much better effort of their own in game number four.

Playoff hockey there is no better time of the year.

Let's Go Wild!
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