Adam Kirshenblatt: Kings overpower the Wild in the Third

Simple really: Minny had a game plan ready and it worked for them for two periods. Dumba made a dumba play, leading to the 2 on 1, and it was all down hill from there. Kings were a bit lucky and it snowballed on the Wild in that third. Boudreau knows he has very little fire power in the lineup. They have to play mistake free hockey and they were essentially doing it for two periods there.

Simple really: Minny had a game plan ready and it worked for them for two periods. Dumba made a dumba play, leading to the 2 on 1, and it was all down hill from there. Kings were a bit lucky and it snowballed on the Wild in that third. Boudreau knows he has very little fire power in the lineup. They have to play mistake free hockey and they were essentially doing it for two periods there.
- verwustung

What? "very little fire power"? What does that even mean? Kings have a total of 6 more goals on the season than do the Wild. Not to mention they've played 2 more games than the Wild...

Pay no attention to him! He says a lot of dumba things!

Pay no attention to him! He says a lot of dumba things!
- arh777

I was pretty certain by the end of the second that the Wild was going to impose its will on us and just shut it down for the 3rd.

Good thing they made mistakes and the kings decided to put their foot on the gas a bit.

For as good a game as Gaborik had I saw him spectating a lot and I hate that. Much the way Mitchell spectated on Ennis's goal.

Muzzin appeared to get some swagger back last night building on the good play that started creeping in on the road trip. Strange that he didn't get many shifts with Doughty last night though.

all that being said, I like the lines that Stevens adjusted for the finish of the game, especially the 3rd line, they may not have scoring potential but they will grind down the opposing line and that actually could turn into a goal or 2 once in a while.

I still think the 4th line is in flux a bit, starting to think maybe Mitchell doesn't stay long but I guess we will have to wait and see. I like Brodzinski's speed, hope he keeps trending in the right direction. Jokinen is on the cusp of being too slow, hoping he finds his stride too and that some chemistry emerges on that 4th line.

The so called Kopi and Gabby show doesnt air if Brownie isn't doing that hard work in the Dzone for them. He was the best player in that game.

What? "very little fire power"? What does that even mean? Kings have a total of 6 more goals on the season than do the Wild. Not to mention they've played 2 more games than the Wild...
- MnGump

Some of the Wild players are overachieving right now. They are not that good. Anyway, the fact remains, they played a very safe, mistake free two periods last night and tried to capitalize on bodies and pucks to the net. Maybe that is what has been working for them this season. So, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Some of the Wild players are overachieving right now. They are not that good. Anyway, the fact remains, they played a very safe, mistake free two periods last night and tried to capitalize on bodies and pucks to the net. Maybe that is what has been working for them this season. So, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
- verwustung

Dude please, name one Wild player overachieving this season?! All your doing is taking one game (most likely the first time you've seen the Wild play this season) and conjuring unfounded statements based on play and commentary from that game.

I don't watch a ton of Kings hockey and I don't pretend to know the in's and out's of the team. I know Brown and Kopitar are having bounce back seasons but I don't conjure up made up statements about them either like I'm in the know....

If anything you couldn't be more wrong about Wild players "overachieving". If anything they are underachieving. Koivu hasn't scored in 18 games, Stuart has 1 goal in his last 20 games. Aside from Staal and Zucker, the rest of the top 6 is behind last seasons scoring pace.

Making a statement like "Boudreau knows he has very little fire power" pretty much tells any Wild fan that you clearly aren't familiar with their favorite squad.

They are no offensive juggernaut by any stretch but in comparison the Kings aren't either.

Dude please, name one Wild player overachieving this season?! All your doing is taking one game (most likely the first time you've seen the Wild play this season) and conjuring unfounded statements based on play and commentary from that game.

I don't watch a ton of Kings hockey and I don't pretend to know the in's and out's of the team. I know Brown and Kopitar are having bounce back seasons but I don't conjure up made up statements about them either like I'm in the know....

If anything you couldn't be more wrong about Wild players "overachieving". If anything they are underachieving. Koivu hasn't scored in 18 games, Stuart has 1 goal in his last 20 games. Aside from Staal and Zucker, the rest of the top 6 is behind last seasons scoring pace.

Making a statement like "Boudreau knows he has very little fire power" pretty much tells any Wild fan that you clearly aren't familiar with their favorite squad.

They are no offensive juggernaut by any stretch but in comparison the Kings aren't either.
- MnGump

Please, goal scoring forwards on Wild:
Staal
Zucker
Niederreiter
Koivu
Granlund
Coyle
Stewart

None of these guys are money guys. Parise is a money guy but apparently injured. Boudreau is getting a lot from these players- probably more than anyone else would be able to. Zucker is having a breakout year, but he's probably not that good. This was the first Wild game that I have watched all year, so I really don't know a lot. Still, if I was Boudreau, I would not be going chance for chance with too many other teams.

Please, goal scoring forwards on Wild:
Staal
Zucker
Niederreiter
Koivu
Granlund
Coyle
Stewart

None of these guys are money guys. Parise is a money guy but apparently injured. Boudreau is getting a lot from these players- probably more than anyone else would be able to. Zucker is having a breakout year, but he's probably not that good. This was the first Wild game that I have watched all year, so I really don't know a lot. Still, if I was Boudreau, I would not be going chance for chance with too many other teams.
- verwustung

There are 3 guys in that list that I would immediately take on my team, even with their current contracts.

There are 3 guys in that list that I would immediately take on my team, even with their current contracts.
- tkecanuck341

Yeah, every guy on that list is a very good middle six forward. I would take them all really. There is just hardly anyone there that will blow you away with speed. There are no perennial all stars nor deadly shooters. It is just a solid mix of guys who can get the job done through gritty play and scoring. The dude is mad because I said they don't have a lot of fire power. I was basically just saying that they have to play efficiently and in a structured system to be successful; just like the Kings were doing back in the days.

Yeah, every guy on that list is a very good middle six forward. I would take them all really. There is just hardly anyone there that will blow you away with speed. There are no perennial all stars nor deadly shooters. It is just a solid mix of guys who can get the job done through gritty play and scoring. The dude is mad because I said they don't have a lot of fire power. I was basically just saying that they have to play efficiently and in a structured system to be successful; just like the Kings were doing back in the days.
- verwustung

I think speed is overrated, as long as you have the correct systems and personnel. The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 without any especially speedy players, and I don't buy into any of this "New NHL" propaganda that's been going around. The Kings gradually lost the personnel with the skillset required to play the type of system that Sutter ran, and it caused them to not be able to execute it as effectively as they did from 2012 to 2014. They couldn't out-muscle or out-system their opponents anymore, and speedy teams like Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay began to emerge as the league's elite.

The NHL is cyclical. Teams get bigger and stronger, and speedy teams aren't able to keep up with the physicality of the best grinding, heavy-hitting teams. Gradually these teams get older and lose their ability to implement their systems as effectively, and their rivals get smaller and faster to counter. As a result, the heavy teams can't keep up and the fastest, most skilled teams start to emerge as the league's elite. After 5-10 years of these teams leading the league, newly emerging teams get heavier and stronger to out-muscle the speedy teams, and they take over the league. The cycle continues.

Minnesota has a very talented lineup, and plays a structured system that will allow them to go far if they are able to continue executing it efficiently. I wouldn't be surprised if we see them come out of the West in the next few years, especially if Dubnyk can play like he has for the last 3 seasons.

I think speed is overrated, as long as you have the correct systems and personnel. The Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 without any especially speedy players, and I don't buy into any of this "New NHL" propaganda that's been going around. The Kings gradually lost the personnel with the skillset required to play the type of system that Sutter ran, and it caused them to not be able to execute it as effectively as they did from 2012 to 2014. They couldn't out-muscle or out-system their opponents anymore, and speedy teams like Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay began to emerge as the league's elite.

The NHL is cyclical. Teams get bigger and stronger, and speedy teams aren't able to keep up with the physicality of the best grinding, heavy-hitting teams. Gradually these teams get older and lose their ability to implement their systems as effectively, and their rivals get smaller and faster to counter. As a result, the heavy teams can't keep up and the fastest, most skilled teams start to emerge as the league's elite. After 5-10 years of these teams leading the league, newly emerging teams get heavier and stronger to out-muscle the speedy teams, and they take over the league. The cycle continues.

Minnesota has a very talented lineup, and plays a structured system that will allow them to go far if they are able to continue executing it efficiently. I wouldn't be surprised if we see them come out of the West in the next few years, especially if Dubnyk can play like he has for the last 3 seasons.
- tkecanuck341

Speed is overrated if, and only if, you have defenseman who can skate and control gaps well. When we had Doughty, Mitchell, Voynov, Scuderi in their primes, we had just that sort of D that can neutralize opponents. Plus, we had some excellent back checking forwards that bought into playing defense first.

The thing with Sutter is not so much the system, but the veteran leadership on the team. Guys like Williams, Stoll, Greene, Richards, and so on. Once that went away, he tried to implement his possession game to whole new levels of absurdity. Of coarse he tried to blame it on lack of talent or his favorite target: Budaj; but in actuality he had plenty of talent to win and couldn't get them to play of to their true potential. He basically wasted three years with his incompetence. Looking back at it now, I cannot believe that he is the mastermind behind two Stanley Cups. Getting rid of him rejuvenated the team. Kopitar is a one man wrecking crew this season. Brown is playing like Brownie of old. Sutter is a bag of ass.

Yeah, every guy on that list is a very good middle six forward. I would take them all really. There is just hardly anyone there that will blow you away with speed. There are no perennial all stars nor deadly shooters. It is just a solid mix of guys who can get the job done through gritty play and scoring. The dude is mad because I said they don't have a lot of fire power. I was basically just saying that they have to play efficiently and in a structured system to be successful; just like the Kings were doing back in the days.
- verwustung

Mad??? LOL. Not mad about anything. You didn't say this team didn't have a lot of firepower. Your statement was that "boudreau knows he has very little fire power". Stupid statement.
Staal has been a perennial all star and 30 goal scorer throughout his career.

Mad??? LOL. Not mad about anything. You didn't say this team didn't have a lot of firepower. Your statement was that "boudreau knows he has very little fire power". Stupid statement.
Staal has been a perennial all star and 30 goal scorer throughout his career.
- MnGump

Eric Staal is nearly a decade removed from a 30 goal season. He hasn't made the All-star team since 2010-11. I'm not saying that he's a bad player, but he's certainly not a "perennial all star and 30 goal scorer" anymore. You're not doing your argument any favors with statements like that.

I don't agree with most of what the other guy said. I think Minnesota is certainly a better team than their record shows right now, but Staal is more hired help at this part of his career. He's not part of the team's core.

Eric Staal is nearly a decade removed from a 30 goal season. He hasn't made the All-star team since 2010-11. I'm not saying that he's a bad player, but he's certainly not a "perennial all star and 30 goal scorer" anymore. You're not doing your argument any favors with statements like that.

I don't agree with most of what the other guy said. I think Minnesota is certainly a better team than their record shows right now, but Staal is more hired help at this part of his career. He's not part of the team's core.
- tkecanuck341

Oh no doubt, Staal's best days definitely behind him, but since coming to Minny he seemingly has found a bit of the fountain of youth....

Unlike a Dany Heatley, Staal is playing up to the caliber player that he's always been skillwise, definitely getting long in the tooth speedwise and staminawise for sure, but to say he's "overachieving" by his own career standards is a bit silly. He's still a very good player.

In Carolina they pretty much depleted the talent level around him for his last several seasons and he was still producing. I think he's got some decent talent around him here in Minny now which is why he looks to be rebounding over the last couple of seasons.

Staal reaching the twilight of his career, but he's showing he still has plenty in the tank and although he may not be apart of the Wild long term core of players, he's definitely playing a key role in any success the Wild have had so far this and last season.

Either way, Kings and Wild fairly equal teams both offensively and defensively right now. Kings probably have the edge defensively.

Speed is overrated if, and only if, you have defenseman who can skate and control gaps well. When we had Doughty, Mitchell, Voynov, Scuderi in their primes, we had just that sort of D that can neutralize opponents. Plus, we had some excellent back checking forwards that bought into playing defense first.

The thing with Sutter is not so much the system, but the veteran leadership on the team. Guys like Williams, Stoll, Greene, Richards, and so on. Once that went away, he tried to implement his possession game to whole new levels of absurdity. Of coarse he tried to blame it on lack of talent or his favorite target: Budaj; but in actuality he had plenty of talent to win and couldn't get them to play of to their true potential. He basically wasted three years with his incompetence. Looking back at it now, I cannot believe that he is the mastermind behind two Stanley Cups. Getting rid of him rejuvenated the team. Kopitar is a one man wrecking crew this season. Brown is playing like Brownie of old. Sutter is a bag of ass.
- verwustung[/

The Kings won two cups due to Lombardi getting the correct pieces and utilizing Sutters system. To not give Sutter Credit is asinine. His reliance on the vets and not bringing up the kids is on him but the kids probably weren’t ready. Lousy salary caps and bad contracts tied everybody’s hands. Re writing history about the Cups is not giving credit where credit is due. The current defense is Sutters legacy and in my view can only get better!

Mad??? LOL. Not mad about anything. You didn't say this team didn't have a lot of firepower. Your statement was that "boudreau knows he has very little fire power". Stupid statement.
Staal has been a perennial all star and 30 goal scorer throughout his career.
- MnGump

Not stupid at all. He doesn't have any real playmakers or deadly snipers like he had in Washington or Anaheim. Minny plays a tight checking, gap control, clog the neutral zone system; basically reducing turnovers and outnumbered attacks on both sides. That goes with the perssonel that Boudreau was given. They try to capitalize on pucks at the net, deflections, and what not. It's not exactly the left-wing lock; but it's a hybrid.

[quote=verwustung]Speed is overrated if, and only if, you have defenseman who can skate and control gaps well. When we had Doughty, Mitchell, Voynov, Scuderi in their primes, we had just that sort of D that can neutralize opponents. Plus, we had some excellent back checking forwards that bought into playing defense first.

The thing with Sutter is not so much the system, but the veteran leadership on the team. Guys like Williams, Stoll, Greene, Richards, and so on. Once that went away, he tried to implement his possession game to whole new levels of absurdity. Of coarse he tried to blame it on lack of talent or his favorite target: Budaj; but in actuality he had plenty of talent to win and couldn't get them to play of to their true potential. He basically wasted three years with his incompetence. Looking back at it now, I cannot believe that he is the mastermind behind two Stanley Cups. Getting rid of him rejuvenated the team. Kopitar is a one man wrecking crew this season. Brown is playing like Brownie of old. Sutter is a bag of ass.
- arh777[/

The Kings won two cups due to Lombardi getting the correct pieces and utilizing Sutters system. To not give Sutter Credit is asinine. His reliance on the vets and not bringing up the kids is on him but the kids probably weren’t ready. Lousy salary caps and bad contracts tied everybody’s hands. Re writing history about the Cups is not giving credit where credit is due. The current defense is Sutters legacy and in my view can only get better!

If anything, the system they played was almost entirely Terry Murray's. Lombardi actually designed the perssonel to fundemataslly Murray's specifications. When Murray was let go, Stevens...I mean Sutter tweaked the system a little to allow more variety besides just dump, chase, and cycle.

Sutter only gave us:

If anything, the system they played was almost entirely Terry Murray's. Lombardi actually designed the perssonel to fundemataslly Murray's specifications. When Murray was let go, Stevens...I mean Sutter tweaked the system a little to allow more variety besides just dump, chase, and cycle.
- verwustung

Sutter was the right choice for head coach when he was hired. He was very good at using veteran talent to implement his defense-first system, and it worked exceptionally from 2012-2014. After that, we started to lose some players to free agency, retirement, and drug abuse, and then things started to fall apart.

Sutter was not very good at developing talented youngsters, which was his downfall. As more younger players continued to replace departing players, they were unable to implement his system as effectively, and it was no longer as successful.

The Kings were by no means a bad team over the past 3 years, they just weren't as good as they had been from 2012-2014. The available personnel required a modification to the system, and Sutter apparently wasn't equipped to do that. He lost the total system buy-in from the players, and something had to change. So here we are.

The jury is still out on whether the new system will be effective or not. We're only 2 dozen games into the Stevens' era, and while no one can argue with the W/L record, a lot of the underlying numbers are concerning. If they can keep it up for an entire season and more, then we'll know.

Not stupid at all. He doesn't have any real playmakers or deadly snipers like he had in Washington or Anaheim. Minny plays a tight checking, gap control, clog the neutral zone system; basically reducing turnovers and outnumbered attacks on both sides. That goes with the perssonel that Boudreau was given. They try to capitalize on pucks at the net, deflections, and what not. It's not exactly the left-wing lock; but it's a hybrid.
- verwustung

Well if your definition of "fire power" means having an Ovechkin, Backstrom, Perry or Getzlaf than yeah, the majority of teams including LA are lacking go-to players of that caliber.

As it is, the Wild were leading the league in scoring last season for the majority of the season and ended up ranked 2nd only to the cup champion Pens... The roster is not all that much different this season so to say they don't have fire power is either naïve or ignorant. No, the Wild don't have a bunch of flash as far as marquee players go but they've got plenty of fire power.

ADAM!!!! can we please have a game thread? I understand if that's a big ask, but I think it would be kind of cool to have a post on each game day.

ADAM!!!! can we please have a game thread? I understand if that's a big ask, but I think it would be kind of cool to have a post on each game day.
- MikeOxbyg

I second that!!

Well if your definition of "fire power" means having an Ovechkin, Backstrom, Perry or Getzlaf than yeah, the majority of teams including LA are lacking go-to players of that caliber.

As it is, the Wild were leading the league in scoring last season for the majority of the season and ended up ranked 2nd only to the cup champion Pens... The roster is not all that much different this season so to say they don't have fire power is either naïve or ignorant. No, the Wild don't have a bunch of flash as far as marquee players go but they've got plenty of fire power.
- MnGump

Yeah, Minny has some nice forwards and they score by committee. Glad we reached an agreement.