MNWild: Wild Canadian Road Trip Begins in Montreal
The Minnesota Wild (13-4-4 30 Points) are north of the border for a 2 game road trip of Eastern Canada to square up with the Montreal Canadiens (10-9-2 22 Points) this evening at the Bell Centre followed by a trip to Ottawa. These two teams last met to begin November at the Xcel Energy Center in a highly competitive 4-3 victory in regulation for the Wild. I believe tonight’s matchup in Montreal will feature the same high intensity play from both of these squads that provided great entertainment value just 18 days ago.
The Canadiens are (2-2-2 in last 6 games) with their last game being a 1-0 loss at the hands of the Rangers on home ice Saturday night. The Canadiens will have for the first time since opening night, a healthy roster at their disposal this evening. Brandon Prust and Alexi Emerlin returned to the lineup this weekend for the Habs so the Wild should be well aware they are facing a team looking to prove a point this evening. The Canadiens despite separation in the standings have very similar statistics with each team playing 21 games allowing 44 goals (MN) and 45(MTL) respectively good for a 2nd and 3rd best in the NHL team ranking. Also the Wild has scored 53 goals on the season averaging 2.52 GF/G while the Canadiens have scored 51 goals averaging 2.43 GF/G through 21 games played.
I see these two squads as being similar in makeup and trajectory with both being assembled by top personnel men that inherited their respective franchises in full rebuild mode. The Canadiens and Wild are both currently on the verge of having their top prospects fulfilling their huge NHL potential and both teams have supplemented their core of young players with talented veteran compliments and NHL superstars. Both team have what I consider to be top tier goaltending situations in starters Carey Price and Josh Harding. The Habs feature PK Subban Norris Trophy winner last year paired with Andre Markov which as is a good a pairing as you can find in the NHL to include the Wild’s top pairing of Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin.
The most compelling storyline for me in this second meeting of these 2 teams is the play and graduation to the NHL of each team’s Top6 young forwards. The Habs feature young guns Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Gallagher, Lars Eller, and Max Pacioretty all under 25 for atleast one more day as Pacioretty turns 25 tomorrow. The Wild features Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, and Justin Fontaine all 25 years of age and under in their Top 9 forwards all playing significant roles. This group I listed above is the future and present for each franchise and one would be hard pressed to find a group of young forwards playing better hockey in the NHL right now.
The Canadiens now healthy are shuffling their lines which I believe will look like this tonight: Gallagher-Desharnais- Pacioretty Bourque-Plekanec-Gionta Prust-Galchenyuk-Eller Bournival-Briere-Moen
Subban-Markov Gorges-Emerlin
Diaz-Bouillon Price-Budaj
While I believe the Wild will have the following line combinations tonight: Parise-Koivu-Coyle Niederreiter-Granlund-Pominville Cooke-Brodziak- Fontaine Mitchell-Konopka-Heatley
Suter-Brodin Scandella-Spurgeon Stoner-Prosser
Harding-Kuemper
The Wild and Canadiens each will be looking to impose their will with aggressive play and puck possession in the offensive zone. These teams play a very similar style and it will be a key for both teams to make good on their premium scoring chances which given how strong each team is defensively will be few and far between. Both of these teams need to make good on the powerplay and have the superstars to make sure any man advantage can and will be a fatal mistake. That Subban bomb more often than not setup by Markov is the equivalent for the Habs to the Wild’s goal mouth feeds to Parise off the stick of Koivu.
With each game of the Canadiens I am able to watch I become more impressed with their squad. I have mentioned it previously but this Habs team and fan base are my favorite of any Eastern Conference franchise. I know tonight each fanbase with be on the edge of their seats knowing how important a confidence builder this matchup will be for each team. Should be a great battle and I cant wait!
Meneurs/Individual Leaders Minnesota Wild Canadiens de Montréal Points/Points: Z. PARISE (18),M. KOIVU (17),J. POMINVILLE (16) P. SUBBAN (17),A. GALCHENYUK (15),L. ELLER (13) Buts/Goals: J. POMINVILLE (12),Z. PARISE (10),J. FONTAINE (6) B. GALLAGHER (8),L. ELLER (7),T. PLEKANEC (6) Aides/Assists: M. KOIVU (13),R. SUTER (13),M. GRANLUND (10) P. SUBBAN (14),A. GALCHENYUK (11),A. MARKOV (9) Buts SN/PP Goals: Z. PARISE (6),J. POMINVILLE (3),D. HEATLEY (2) T. PLEKANEC (3),R. BOURQUE (3),B. GALLAGHER (3) Buts DN/SH Goals: A. MARKOV (1),T. PLEKANEC (1),L. ELLER (1) Buts BG/GW Goals: J. POMINVILLE (3),M. COOKE (2),Z. PARISE (2) T. PLEKANEC (3),B. PRUST (2),L. ELLER (2) 3 buts +/3+ Goals: PUN/PIM: Z. KONOPKA (32),C. STONER (20),N. PROSSER (19) G. PARROS (32),R. WHITE (23),B. PRUST (21) Lancers/Shots: Z. PARISE (92),J. POMINVILLE (64),M. KOIVU (51) P. SUBBAN (72),B. GALLAGHER (63),T. PLEKANEC (53) +/-: J. POMINVILLE (+9),M. COOKE (+7),M. SCANDELLA (+7) A. MARKOV (+7),P. SUBBAN (+4),M. L BOURNIVAL (+4)
Here is MY Twitter Feed I will be LIVE Tweeting During Tonight’s Wild Vs Habs Tweets by @AWKD
3 Keys to a Wild Victory 1. The Wild needs to account for the Canadiens scorers either entering the zone or during extended offensive possessions. This Habs squad now healthy has scorers on all four of their forward lines so each shot and pass needs to be contested. The Wild has been extremely responsible in the defensive end in just about every one of their 21 games and tonight they need to continue to back check and have their heads on a swivel. 2. The last time these two teams met it was an end to end rush fest that the Wild came out on top of with a 4-3 victory. The Wild need to slow it down a bit as the Habs are better suited to be successful in a game featuring pdd man rushes. I think the Wild’s ability to possess the puck and extend offensive zone time will be extremely key to earning a victory in Montreal tonight. 3. The Powerplay which has been shuffled to feature Pominville on the point with the top unit has created very good spacing and creativity. I think with change has come a very sustainable pick your poison type of equation for opponents. Pominville is more than willing and capable of launching a bomb from just above the circle which has opened up passing lanes. Koivu and Parise have hooked up already for goal mouth feeds as result and besides setting up from behind the net which has long been protocol for the Wild, this new alignment has been generating their best looks in a long time. Now to get the second unit more comfortable and dialed in.
Just Giving my Take, Tony Dean @AWKD