2021 Minnesota Wild In-Season Thread

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So we draw Vegas in the first round. Should be an entertaining series, as should be the Colorado-St. Louis series. Blues are on a roll, just two years removed from winning it all. We will need some better goaltending than what we’ve been getting lately.
 

GopherVotary said:
So we draw Vegas in the first round. Should be an entertaining series, as should be the Colorado-St. Louis series. Blues are on a roll, just two years removed from winning it all. We will need some better goaltending than what we’ve been getting lately.
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Not too sure what to make of the Blues. The VGK swept them the two games before the Blues went on to humiliate the Wild to close the season.

Should be a helluva series, goals will be at a premium for sure. Talbot can get awfully hot for the Wild and the VGK tandem of Fleury/Lehner combined to win the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed this season. Vegas allowed just 124 goals all season to lead the league.

I still think if Vegas is healthy (meaning they get back Pacioretty, Reaves, Martinez and perhaps even Nosek) they are just too deep but the playoffs are a different animal altogether. Nothing would surprise me in this series
 

Heading to The Fortress for the greatest show on ice! Sounds like T-Mobile will be at 50% capacity for Game 1, a slight uptick from the 7,000 or so that was allowed for the last couple home regular season games.

If yesterday's practice skate is any indication, VGK will still be without leading goal scorer Max Pacioretty, but looks like they get a couple of bottom 6 forwards back at least, which should mean a full roster without using AHL callups for a change. Looking forward to a FANTASTIC series!!!
 

Game One, Period One in the books. Wild outshot by Vegas 19-5. 0-0 tie. Tons of scoring chances by Vegas, great goaltending by Talbot. Wild forecheck non-existent. Losing all the draws as well. Doing well at shot blocking, but doing a lot of "running" around in their own zone, chasing Tuch, et al. Need to pick it up or it's going to end up 5-0 Vegas.
 

It'd be a shame to lose this game. The Wild have had quite a few really good scoring chances. Gotta give MAF his flowers. Having a great game.
 


Great 2nd period by the Wild. Total 180 - at times dominant. Talbot continuing to save the day - pretty even at the under 6 in the 3rd.
 






gophersfan said:
Wild steal game 1 in OT wow.
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"Steal?" Outside of a very lopsided 1st period, the game was tilted a bit in the Wild's direction, in my opinion. At the very least, even. We had a dozen good scoring chances.
 

Did not see that coming. Between the brutal first period and some defensive lapses I though Vegas would take it. Found a way though!
 

Hats off to Talbot. What a great game. Same goes for Fleury.
 

GopherJake said:
"Steal?" Outside of a very lopsided 1st period, the game was tilted a bit in the Wild's direction, in my opinion. At the very least, even. We had a dozen good scoring chances.
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Agreed. Fleury had a few glove saves that could/should have given the Wild the game in regulation.
 



Goaltending clinic. It figured a deflection would decide it. Nice play by Greenway set it up.
 

gophersfan said:
Wild steal game 1 in OT wow.
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I would say "steal" is pretty accurate. Along with being on the road (usually considered stealing one in postseason play), the game was played predominantly in the Wild end of the ice. Just like the last two regular season matchups a few weeks ago in STP, for whatever reason the Wild want to make this a physical matchup. Numerous fights in those two matchups and the hits in this one were off the charts. 71 hits for the Wild, can't say I've seen that in a long time. Hits was literally the only stat the Knights didn't dominate, outside of the important one at the end of the game.

Tense game from start to finish, gotta love playoff hockey. I wouldn't make any prognostications on this one until the Knights are at full strength. Can't wait for Game 2 Tuesday night!
 

Frink said:
Did not see that coming. Between the brutal first period and some defensive lapses I though Vegas would take it. Found a way though!
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We survived that first period and played much stronger as the game progressed. I still think the Wild just need to take more shots. We spend a lot of effort setting up the perfect shot instead of taking one and hoping for a deflection or rebound. As for rebound "pouncing", will JP be playing in the next game? Rebounds and jamming pucks are key parts of his game. I think it'd help if we got inside Fluery's crease a bit more in the next game. Let JP rattle him a bit and keep him from getting that clear view on shots.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
As for rebound "pouncing", will JP be playing in the next game? Rebounds and jamming pucks are key parts of his game. I think it'd help if we got inside Fluery's crease a bit more in the next game. Let JP rattle him a bit and keep him from getting that clear view on shots.
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I would be shocked if Parise played tomorrow. The 4th line was terrific in game one.
 

Interesting article in The Athletic today about the Knights' struggles in Game 1 and how they mirror what happened in the postseason last year in the bubble. Essentially that DeBoer's style doesn't work in the playoffs perhaps; control play, dominate in the offensive zone, pucks on the net, but you have to put the puck in the net and at the end of the day, things tighten up in the playoffs. A lot.

VGK outshot the Wild 81 to 47 and couldn't come up with a single puck in the back of the net. Talbot was solid, but I don't recall a lot of highlight reel saves; a couple for sure, but he wasn't standing on his head all night.

DeBoer insists that Pacioretty really IS "day to day", as in could return any time. I still doubt he plays tomorrow if he didn't play yesterday?

Lastly, as far as goaltending, I wonder who DeBoer starts in net tomorrow. VGK really likes to think of Fleury (a certain HOFer) and Lehner as 1A and 1B, and as much as Lehner had a really good record this year and put up good numbers, he wasn't nearly as solid as Fleury was all year. They split the two games a few weeks ago in St. Paul but shit, can you really sit Fleury at this point?
 

81-47? Do you mean shot attempts?

Talbot was fabulous. There is no such thing as standing on your head any more. It’s all about positioning and keeping your pads on the ice and your body BIG.

Also, if Vegas doesn’t start Fleury, the coach should be fired.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Interesting article in The Athletic today about the Knights' struggles in Game 1 and how they mirror what happened in the postseason last year in the bubble. Essentially that DeBoer's style doesn't work in the playoffs perhaps; control play, dominate in the offensive zone, pucks on the net, but you have to put the puck in the net and at the end of the day, things tighten up in the playoffs. A lot.

VGK outshot the Wild 81 to 47 and couldn't come up with a single puck in the back of the net. Talbot was solid, but I don't recall a lot of highlight reel saves; a couple for sure, but he wasn't standing on his head all night.

DeBoer insists that Pacioretty really IS "day to day", as in could return any time. I still doubt he plays tomorrow if he didn't play yesterday?

Lastly, as far as goaltending, I wonder who DeBoer starts in net tomorrow. VGK really likes to think of Fleury (a certain HOFer) and Lehner as 1A and 1B, and as much as Lehner had a really good record this year and put up good numbers, he wasn't nearly as solid as Fleury was all year. They split the two games a few weeks ago in St. Paul but shit, can you really sit Fleury at this point?
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What’re you drinking Ogee? Shots were 43-30 I think
 

Oregon Gopher said:
What’re you drinking Ogee? Shots were 43-30 I think
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GopherJake said:
81-47? Do you mean shot attempts?

Talbot was fabulous. There is no such thing as standing on your head any more. It’s all about positioning and keeping your pads on the ice and your body BIG.

Also, if Vegas doesn’t start Fleury, the coach should be fired.
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Yes, I mean shot attempts. And a 2.83 to 1.92 advantage in expected goals.

I agree, they should start Fleury, it's not like the games are back to back. I would say though, that if they had won Game 1, it wouldn't have surprised me to see Lehner in goal tonight. Or if they win a few in a row, they would for sure give Fleury a rest.

Both Fleury and Lehner were better (at least statistically) than Talbot this year. They pay Lehner a lot of money, and most expected him to be the primary starter for the entire season before Fleury just went out of his mind from the first week, combined with Lehner missing some time. Lehner went 13-4 with a 2.29 GAA, he's no slouch, but the last month or so he just doesn't instill the kind of confidence that Fleury has. Fleury has 3 Stanley Cups to his name, and he's a finalist for the Vezina Trophy at 36 years old.

Looking forward to a great game tonight! I'm not going tonight, gotta let someone else go, but I'll be watching for sure. It would be nice to see the Knights' leading goal scorer on the ice before the f'ng series gets out of hand though. The only line that hasn't been juggled is the one that's been intact since the first month of the franchise; Smith-Karlsson-Marchessault
 

Looks like Fleury in goal and no Max Pacioretty yet again tonight.
 

Woo! Dumba starts the scoring. Wild lead 1-0.
 

Wow. And Vegas scores almost immediately.
 

Sorry, I just have to say it, in light of the scoring tonight:

Tuch Yeah!!!

It sure was gracious of the Wild to just throw Tuch into the deal in the expansion draft a few years back. Damn generous.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Sorry, I just have to say it, in light of the scoring tonight:

Tuch Yeah!!!

It sure was gracious of the Wild to just throw Tuch into the deal in the expansion draft a few years back. Damn generous.
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Yeah, I don't recall how that went down. He's an excellent player. Very dangerous. Controlled, strong and crafty.
 

GopherJake said:
Yeah, I don't recall how that went down. He's an excellent player. Very dangerous. Controlled, strong and crafty.
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Tuch was one of those expansion draft deals, if I recall, that he VGK made with a number of teams; if you take this guy and his salary and promise not to take this guy and this guy, you can have this other prospect... something like that. Some teams couldn't protect all the players they wanted and made deals with Vegas to either give future high draft picks or perhaps prospects.

Tuch is one of my favorite players. His combination of size and speed is really impressive. I think his ceiling is really high.

Gotta say I'll take the split in the first two games considering still no Pacioretty and the Knights lost Tomas Nosek barely a few shifts into the game last night and once again had to shuffle lines all night.

Brutally physical series. Over 100 hits in each of the first two games. Might have been my imagination but I thought the Wild looked tired as the 3rd period progressed? Starting to be slightly concerned about the long-term prospects for the team that emerges from this series. I don't see the physicality slowing down as we move along and I think it will take a toll on the team that wins and has to take on (likely) Colorado. They've said a number of times that this kind of physicality typically starts to take it's toll by the 4th game or so. I guess we'll see.
 

GopherJake said:
Yeah, I don't recall how that went down. He's an excellent player. Very dangerous. Controlled, strong and crafty.
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They threw Tuch into the deal because the Wild could only protect 3 defensemen in the expansion draft, 1 of them was required to be Suter due to a "no move clause". They gave Vegas Tuch so that they took forward Huala, which allowed the Wild to keep Spurgeon, Brodin & Dumba. It is assumed that without the deal, the Wild would have had to decide whether or not to cough up Brodin or Dumba.

The Knights made several shrewd moves in that expansion draft, I will be curious to see if the Kraken can pull of the same stuff or if the rest of the GMs have gotten wise. Not even sure if they will have the same rules, though with the kind of cash they needed to get in the league, I have no problem if they get stocked with a roster to be competitive from the get go.
 

Ope3 said:
They threw Tuch into the deal because the Wild could only protect 3 defensemen in the expansion draft, 1 of them was required to be Suter due to a "no move clause". They gave Vegas Tuch so that they took forward Huala, which allowed the Wild to keep Spurgeon, Brodin & Dumba. It is assumed that without the deal, the Wild would have had to decide whether or not to cough up Brodin or Dumba.

The Knights made several shrewd moves in that expansion draft, I will be curious to see if the Kraken can pull of the same stuff or if the rest of the GMs have gotten wise. Not even sure if they will have the same rules, though with the kind of cash they needed to get in the league, I have no problem if they get stocked with a roster to be competitive from the get go.
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Thank you for that comprehensive recap. Yes, it's all coming back to me, but I never would have recalled the precise details. Man, you can't really fault them for how it turned out. No matter what happened, we would have given up a good player. I am a huge Dumba fan and Brodin has been solid his entire career and took a step up this year. Spurgeon is obviously a stud. I love a talent like Tuch, so that is tough to watch knowing what could have been, but I also hate watching a team with huge holes on the backend...........uhh, maybe I should rephrase........they made the right call with Haula though, even though he was a dynamic player too.
 

Apparently the Wild thought it was first team to 2 wins. What a horrible 2nd period. Yikes.
 

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