Wild Game Day number 15 Wild Record (5-7-2 12 pts) Road Record (2-4-1)
Opponent: Montreal Canadiens (7-8-1 15 pts) Home Record (3-2-1)
Site: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
Time: 6:30PM CT
TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)
Last season results: 12/22 Wild 4 @ Canadiens 2 1/17 Canadiens 1 @ Wild 7
Last result: 11/2 Canadiens 3 @ Wild 6
According to Bruce Boudreau, "it always gets worse before it gets better," so with three straight losses, it can't get much worse for the Wild. The Wild played a much better game last night, outshooting the Leafs by a wide margin 37-19, while controlling the majority of the territorial play, but in the end the scoreboard still showed a Wild loss.
It is another day for the Wild tonight, and getting right back at it after a tough defeat should bode well for them as they face the Canadiens. For Montreal, they enter tonight's game having won their last three, following their disappointing performance last week in St. Paul, where the Wild scored three first period goals, enroute to a 6-3 victory.
Lakeville native, and former St. Cloud State goalie, Charlie Lindgren has been in net for the Canadiens for the last two of those victories, an impressive 38 save, 2-0 shutout of the Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday, and then a 29 save performance in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Vegas at home.
Charlie Lindgren has now played five games in the NHL over the last three seasons, and has an impressive 5-0-0 record with a 1.39 GAA,and .955 save percentage. Lindgren will be in the Canadiens net tonight to face his hometown team, filling in for the injured Carey Price.
For the Wild, it will once again be Devan Dubnyk, in net with Niklas Svedberg backing him up.
Congratulations are in order for Alex Stalock and his wife Felicia, as they welcomed their second child yesterday, a baby girl, Selina, yesterday!!!
Last night Mike Reilly was in the press box, as that is the only move that Boudreau could make as punishment for his teams' poor effort in Boston. Reilly took one for the team, you might say, not that he didn't deserve to sit, as his effort in Boston was by far his worst performance of the season. That said, Reilly was not the only player that should have been in street clothes after the Boston debacle, but with the Wild cap and injury situations, sitting a defenseman is Boudreau's only play.
Last night we saw a much more complete game from the Wild and it absolutely is something for them to build on moving forward. They need to continue to get shots and traffic going to the net, while keeping the game simple. It sounds easy enough, but as the game starts to unfold, the Wild players are too often getting caught up in what their opponents are doing and letting the opposition dictate the game.
The best teams control and dictate the play the majority of the time, and if the Wild ever want to get into the conversation of being an elite team they need to figure out what their game is going to be and master it.
We hear it all the time that the Wild are a good team, but lack the superstar talent of the top tier teams. Now you would not be able to ascertain that by looking at their salary cap picture, but that is a whole other story. The Wild are a balanced team, which may look great on paper, but trying to get the most out of them consistently is the challenge, because there is no one go to guy, or line for that matter.
At this point the Wild are not a very good team, and they belong right where they sit currently in the standings. Now that can all change as this team comes together and they begin to work as a team to realize their potential. But until that happens this is just a veteran heavy cap strapped group of hockey players going through the motions with varying efforts, getting mediocre results.
It's Always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
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