WildHBcommunity: A Minnesota Wild Signature Win Tonight Would be Sweet Revenge
The Minnesota Wild Host Former North Western Division Rival Tonight at X
The Minnesota Wild (37-24-11 85 points, 7th in Western Conference, 4th in Central Division) play host to the dirty rotten cheating Vancouver Canucks (33-30-10 76 points, 10th in Western Conference, 5th in Pacific Division) tonight at the Excel Energy Center with a very good opportunity to shut the door on their former North Western Division rivals playoff hopes. It is quite a shift of fortunes for each of these franchise as the Wild is poised to make the playoffs this year and likely for years to come while the Canucks look like a franchise with some adversity on the horizon after several years of sustained success. Tonight would be sweet revenge for the Wild to earn a signature late season win over a team that enjoyed so much success against them recently.
To Make Deep Run at Stanley Cup Young Forwards Have To Force Way into Lineup
It is fruitless for Wild fans to believe that Head Coach Mike Yeo is going to hold veterans accountable and take decisive action on his own because he has proven consistently with his decisions he has no interest in it. The way that the Wild will put their most talented optimal lineup on the ice come playoff time and even in the few remaining regular season games will be for Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, Justin Fontaine, and Erik Haula to step up their play to the next level every shift every game every opportunity. Coyle sure seems to have done just that with his elevated play the past 2 games. The other young forwards better do the same if they hope to find their way into Yeo's lineup over Dany Heatley, Cody McCormick, or Kyle Brodziak.
Yeo has flat out refused to put Heatley and Brodziak in the press box during putrid stretches of play for each during rough stretches for this squad earlier in the season so there is no reason to believe Yeo will contradict his stubborn lineup management philosophies now. With each time Yeo has trotted out a spin on how Heatley's play has improved or about how no one can fill Brodziak's role as a defensive stopper it has become quite apparent he will avoid at all costs any perceived or legitimate slight of either veteran instead he has mastered creating ways to explain why Fontaine, Haula, Jason Zucker, ETC need to take some time out to work on whatever the designated thing of their game needs work or to be more consistent.
The onus is squarely on ALL of the young forward to force Yeo to face confrontation with his limited underperforming veterans. Whether or not they are capable is something we could all pick apart but for this team to compete with the best in the Western Conference it needs to put it's optimal lineup on the ice and I will be paying close attention to see if that will be the case in the upcoming weeks.
Wild's Young Netminder Darcy Kuemper Has Come Back To Earth at WRONG Time
During the stretch of games following the Wild's Brutal December collapse leading up to the Olympic freeze, Darcy Kuemper was playing lights out confident empowered hockey as a true difference maker for his team. As a result the Wild was able to climb out of the hole it had dug during an atrocious previous month and get their season back on track. Kuemper has flashed that type of top tier NHL potential during each of past 3 seasons of hockey from Red Deer of the WHL to Houston of the AHL and now to Minnesota in the NHL.
Kuemper has looked more the part of a rookie netminder struggle to find his groove and confidence after some shaky outings. For this Wild team to have a legitimate shot to knock of the #1 or #2 seed in the first round of the playoffs, Kuemper needs to find his confidence and finish the regular season with sustain success. Kuemper has to fight off whatever has created the cracks in his confidence to prove he is the #1 netminder for this squad now!
When Kuemper was such a difference maker for this Wild team he was playing aggressive at the top of his crease limiting opponents angles and opportunities with his big frame. Where he gets himself into trouble is playing farther back into the blue paint as his reflexes especially gloves side leave something to be desired. I believe Kuemper will get it going because there is no greater opportunity for a 23 year than to pick up his limited scoring team in the NHL. Kuemper is the end all be all this season for the Wild despite the presence of Ilya Bryzgalov and that was apparent when general manager Chuck Fletcher declined to pursue more heralded replacement candidate to replace Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding.
Wild Bench Boss Mike Yeo Pregame Today:
Individual Leaders Vancouver Canucks Minnesota Wild Points: H. SEDIN (46),R. KESLER (40),D. SEDIN (40) J. POMINVILLE (51),Z. PARISE (46),M. MOULSON (46) Goals: R. KESLER (22),C. HIGGINS (17),D. SEDIN (13) J. POMINVILLE (27),Z. PARISE (24),M. MOULSON (21) Assists: H. SEDIN (36),D. SEDIN (27),J. GARRISON (25) M. KOIVU (34),R. SUTER (33),M. GRANLUND (31) PP Goals: R. KESLER (8),D. SEDIN (4),H. SEDIN (4) Z. PARISE (12),M. MOULSON (9),J. POMINVILLE (6) SH Goals: B. RICHARDSON (2),R. KESLER (1),J. HANSEN (1) M. COOKE (1),Z. PARISE (1),E. HAULA (1) GW Goals: R. KESLER (5),C. HIGGINS (4),D. SEDIN (3) J. POMINVILLE (5),Z. PARISE (5),M. MOULSON (4) 3+ Goals: R. SUTER(1),J. FONTAINE(1) PIM: T. SESTITO (191),Z. KASSIAN (122),K. BIEKSA (100) C. STONER (82),N. PROSSER (54),M. COOKE (52) Shots: R. KESLER (220),D. SEDIN (200),C. HIGGINS (200) Z. PARISE (218),J. POMINVILLE (198),M. MOULSON (157) +/-: C. TANEV (+12),D. HAMHUIS (+10),M. SANTORELLI (+9) M. SCANDELLA (+12),N. NIEDERREITER (+10),Z. PARISE (+9)
MNWild Lineup Tonight:
Parise-Granlund-Pominville Moulson-Koivu-Coyle Cooke-Brodziak-Niederreiter McCormick-Haula-Heatley
Suter-Spurgeon Prosser-Brodin Scandella-Blum
Kuemper
Just My Take, Tony Dean
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