WildHBcommunity: Game 7 MNWild Dealing Rocky Mountain Heartbreak (Game 7)

Game 7

WildHBcommunity: Game 7 MNWild Dealing Rocky Mountain Heartbreak

By Tony Dean

May 1, 2014 • 5:46 pm

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WildHBcommunity: Game 7 MNWild Dealing Rocky Mountain Heartbreak

Minnesota Wild Battle the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center Tonight

Tonight marks the final matchup this season between these Western Conference Central Division rivals as the Minnesota Wild was able to keep their playoff hope alive in heroic fashion with a 5-2 victory Monday evening at the Excel Energy Center to force tonight’s Game 7.

Each of these teams has defended their home ice in this best of 7 series with three home victories each. Tonight the Wild will look to prove they can close out this series with an elusive road playoff victory in Denver. From my perspective the Wild has been the better of these two teams for the majority of this series despite not having the victories in Games 1 and 5 to show for it.

None of what has previously occurred in this series is relevant anymore as tonight’s matchup is a winner takes all advance to the next round of Lord Stanley’s Cup Playoffs. The Wild has risen to the occasion this season more times than I have the time to list here and tonight will be no different. The Avalanche is playing on borrowed time and they certainly displayed a sense of the reality after Zach Parise’s second goal of the game Monday night slipped past their prized netminder Semyon Varlamov in route to forcing this evening’s elimination game.

The Wild has proven during this series that they can create scoring on each of their forward lines and their defensive pairings matched with an empowered Darcy Kuemper have eliminated the high flying Avalanche offense. Tonight will be the ultimate test of wills between these teams as Patrick Roy’s aggressive coaching style will dictate a fast paced physical effort from his team from the opening faceoff. Mike Yeo will look for his team to combat the Avalanche rush with a total team effort to deflect passes, block shots, and disrupt line rushes. The Wild must generate zone possession and flood Varlamov with shots as they have the Excel Energy Center to overtake the trend in this series of the home team being victorious.

HockeyBuzz Represented “Behind Enemy Lines… with @Brad_Ratgen

My esteemed colleague Brad Ratgen has made the Minnesota Wild 2014 Lord Stanley’s Cup hockey pilgrimage with his better half to Denver, Colorado putting it all on the line behind enemy lines for tonight’s elimination game 7. The Ratgen family has been season ticket holders since day one of the Wild franchise and their diehard support is engrained in the backbone of The State of Hockey Community. Here are some images from Game 6 and the journey to witness live and in person the Rocky Mountain Heartbreak the Wild is about to serve up!

Here are the projected lineups: WILD Zach Parise-Mikko Koivu-Charlie Coyle Nino Niederreiter-Mikael Granlund-Jason Pominville Matt Moulsonl-Erik Haula-Dany Heatley Stephane Veilleux-Kyle Brodziak-Cody McCormick Ryan Suter-Jonas Brodin Marco Scandella-Jared Spurgeon Clayton Stoner-Nate prosser Darcy Kuemper Ilya Brzgalov Scratched: Jonathon Blum, Justin Fontaine, Mike Rupp Injured: Niklas Backstrom (abdominal), Keith Ballard (groin), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (quad) Suspended: Matt Cooke

AVALANCHE Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Nathan MacKinnon Ryan O’Reilly-Matt Duchene-PA Parenteau Jamie McGinn-Joey Hishon-Max Talbot Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Patrick Bordeleau Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson Nate Guenin-Ryan Wilson Andre Benoit-Nick Holden Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere Scratched: Reto Berra, Paul Carey, Brad Malone, Stefan Elliott Injured: Tyson Barrie (knee), John Mitchell (concussion) Cory Sarich (back), Alex Tanguay (hip surgery)

Individual Leaders Minnesota Wild Colorado Avalanche Points: Z. PARISE (10),J. POMINVILLE (5),M. KOIVU (5) N. MACKINNON (10),P. STASTNY (9),R. O'REILLY (6) Goals: Z. PARISE (3),C. COYLE (3),K. BRODZIAK (2) P. STASTNY (4),G. LANDESKOG (3),N. HOLDEN (2) Assists: Z. PARISE (7),M. KOIVU (5),J. POMINVILLE (4) N. MACKINNON (8),P. STASTNY (5),R. O'REILLY (4) PP Goals: R. SUTER (1),Z. PARISE (1),C. COYLE (1) P. STASTNY (1),N. HOLDEN (1) SH Goals: M. SCANDELLA (1) C. MCLEOD (1),P. STASTNY (1) GW Goals: Z. PARISE (1),C. COYLE (1),M. GRANLUND (1) P. STASTNY (1),G. LANDESKOG (1),N. MACKINNON (1) 3+ Goals: PIM: C. STONER (20),C. MCCORMICK (14),N. PROSSER (12) C. MCLEOD (22),P. BORDELEAU (10),N. HOLDEN (8) Shots: Z. PARISE (24),R. SUTER (21),J. POMINVILLE (18) G. LANDESKOG (20),J. MCGINN (16),P. PARENTEAU (15) +/-: M. GRANLUND (+3),D. HEATLEY (+2),C. STONER (+2) N. MACKINNON (+5),A. BENOIT (+4),N. HOLDEN (+4)

Tonight's Officials Referees Eric Furlatt (#27), Wes McCauley (#4). Standby: Brad Watson (#23) Linesmen Brad Kovachik (#71), Scott Cherrey (#50). Standby: Darren Gibbs (#66)

Just My Take, Tony Dean Follow Me on Twitter @TonyDeanTHW Also Like the WildHBcommunity of FaceBook here: WildHBCommunity on FaceBook

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