2024-25 Wild Season

[TRF Guy]

Ovie continues to keep on keepin on. Scores the first goal of the game from his SPOT. Assists on their second goal to make it 2-0. Habs come back and tie it up to force overtime. Ovie believe it or not has never scored a goal in overtime in the playoffs until tonight. He keeps doing it all at 39 years young

 

[TRF Guy]

Game time tonight is 10:00 pm central. WTF

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

Game time tonight is 10:00 pm central. WTF

Well, because you didn't come down for Game 1, I gave my tickets to two employees and two clients Sunday night and played late afternoon golf instead, getting ready for a big cash tournament later this week. But I'm going to go tonight, hopefully the VGK plays better than they did on Sunday.

Pivotal game for both teams tonight for sure. I don't know how the Wild handled it but Cassidy gave everyone yesterday off, told them to get out of the building and spend time with the family, don't think about hockey, come back ready to work today.

 

[TRF Guy]

Well, because you didn't come down for Game 1, I gave my tickets to two employees and two clients Sunday night and played late afternoon golf instead, getting ready for a big cash tournament later this week. But I'm going to go tonight, hopefully the VGK plays better than they did on Sunday.

Pivotal game for both teams tonight for sure. I don't know how the Wild handled it but Cassidy gave everyone yesterday off, told them to get out of the building and spend time with the family, don't think about hockey, come back ready to work today.

The last playoff game I went to the Wild got ran out of the building 6-1 to the Blues

 

[upnorthkid]

The last playoff game I went to the Wild got ran out of the building 6-1 to the Blues

back in 2014-15? don't worry, the yeo years cant hurt you anymore? remember watching that year in med school thinking maybe it could be our year and then the blackhawks just brushed us aside like they always did

 

[TRF Guy]

back in 2014-15? don't worry, the yeo years cant hurt you anymore? remember watching that year in med school thinking maybe it could be our year and then the blackhawks just brushed us aside like they always did

back in 2014-15? don't worry, the yeo years cant hurt you anymore? remember watching that year in med school thinking maybe it could be our year and then the blackhawks just brushed us aside like they always did

That was the year and they actually won that series but then got swept by the Hawks in round 2

 

[Wally]

Feels like we go down in 5.

Wild just don't have enough firepower or physical strength to hang with Vegas, hopefully we can steal a couple and make a series out of this.

 

[TRF Guy]

Not sure I'll stay up for the entire game tonight. Need to be on the road by 6 tomorrow morning. I'd love to wake up to a victory but not real optimistic about that

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

Morning skate line rushes;

Sounds like VGK keeping the same lines (shocker) and the Wild decided to flip-flop Rossi and Hartman on centering lines 3 and 4.

 

[Wally]

Let's f go!

 

[Wally]

Zeev needs to shoot!!!
Quit trying to be to cute

 

[gophersfan]

What a start to this period. 3-0 Wild lead.

 

[Wally]

That lob pass from Kaprizov, right onto Boldys stick, just ridiculous.

 

[GopherJake]

Faber +3 26:21 TOI - excellent game, as usual, decisive

Buium -2 12:45 Showed speed a couple times, some very shaky plays again, hesitant with defensive positioning, passes and shots, talent is clearly there, but so is green-ness

I want Faber on PP1. Enough.

Gus played great - kept us in it in first 5 minutes. Top 4 D-Core played great. Not much help from 4th line tonight, unlike Sunday. Top line played fabulously. Hartman, Foligno & Nyquist mostly good, but let’s generate a little more O when nursing the big lead.

Outplayed Vegas physically again, which is part of the plan. Also out hustled them and won more puck battles again. Allowing Vegas to cycle is part of the plan, so not concerned about extended puck possession at times in O zone. Fewer turnovers and missed coverages leading to Vegas scoring opportunities tonight vs Sunday. No penalties against team with A+ PP, while playing very physical. Good stuff.

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

I haven't checked the official box score but I'm fairly certain that Shea Theodore should be credited with an assist on at least 3, if not 4 of the Minnesota goals. I'm also fairly certain I won't see the VGK play that poor of a game in a very long time. The worst passing game I have ever witnessed in The Fortress, without a doubt. Dozens and dozens of passes to nobody in particular, drop passes to nobody, giveaways all over the ice. Shea Theodore in particular should be f*cking embarrassed

As a VGK fan, you know the SC run is an endurance race, not a sprint. Vegas doesn't sweep anybody, their record in series openers is outstanding, and yet surprisingly very, very pedestrian in Game 2's after winning the opener. This series was never going to be a sweep, regardless of what anybody thought. This team tends to sleepwalk through some games against inferior opponents for whatever reason, I'm used to that by now.

As far as the outcome of the game, the only thing that I was frustrated with overall is that with the lopsided score, it allowed the Wild to not play the Kaprizov line another 23+ minutes. I find myself watching the Wild and think at some point they'll just play those guys for 30-35 minutes a night because there just isn't anybody else.

 

[TRF Guy]

 

[upnorthkid]

I haven't checked the official box score but I'm fairly certain that Shea Theodore should be credited with an assist on at least 3, if not 4 of the Minnesota goals. I'm also fairly certain I won't see the VGK play that poor of a game in a very long time. The worst passing game I have ever witnessed in The Fortress, without a doubt. Dozens and dozens of passes to nobody in particular, drop passes to nobody, giveaways all over the ice. Shea Theodore in particular should be f*cking embarrassed

As a VGK fan, you know the SC run is an endurance race, not a sprint. Vegas doesn't sweep anybody, their record in series openers is outstanding, and yet surprisingly very, very pedestrian in Game 2's after winning the opener. This series was never going to be a sweep, regardless of what anybody thought. This team tends to sleepwalk through some games against inferior opponents for whatever reason, I'm used to that by now.

As far as the outcome of the game, the only thing that I was frustrated with overall is that with the lopsided score, it allowed the Wild to not play the Kaprizov line another 23+ minutes. I find myself watching the Wild and think at some point they'll just play those guys for 30-35 minutes a night because there just isn't anybody else.

I think this is a fairly fair take. Wild were pretty good, Vegas got some absolute clunkers out of important guys and hill was also not his usual self. Idk how much the Wild can count on the top line to score 3x a night.

 

[upnorthkid]

Faber +3 26:21 TOI - excellent game, as usual, decisive

Buium -2 12:45 Showed speed a couple times, some very shaky plays again, hesitant with defensive positioning, passes and shots, talent is clearly there, but so is green-ness

I want Faber on PP1. Enough.

Gus played great - kept us in it in first 5 minutes. Top 4 D-Core played great. Not much help from 4th line tonight, unlike Sunday. Top line played fabulously. Hartman, Foligno & Nyquist mostly good, but let’s generate a little more O when nursing the big lead.

Outplayed Vegas physically again, which is part of the plan. Also out hustled them and won more puck battles again. Allowing Vegas to cycle is part of the plan, so not concerned about extended puck possession at times in O zone. Fewer turnovers and missed coverages leading to Vegas scoring opportunities tonight vs Sunday. No penalties against team with A+ PP, while playing very physical. Good stuff.

The pp was the only place zeev looked ok. He and bogo, for whatever reason, are not working as a pair. If he’s the only option to play with and the refs are only going to call one penalty a game, then yes I’d sit him against Vegas

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

I think this is a fairly fair take. Wild were pretty good, Vegas got some absolute clunkers out of important guys and hill was also not his usual self. Idk how much the Wild can count on the top line to score 3x a night.

Damn. You almost never see a newspaper writer single out one guy, or a coach for that matter, but this was the opener in the Vegas paper this morning:

"Hockey games are always decided by 18 skaters and a goaltender. It’s rare a specific player is the reason a team wins or loses.

But Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore had a rough night Tuesday.

Four Theodore errors led to four Minnesota Wild goals and the Knights lost 5-2 at T-Mobile Arena. The defeat evened the first-round playoff series between the two teams 1-1."

Hockey is a weird game, sometimes I just don't get it. A couple times a year, you see a game where every pass is just 6 inches off or a foot off the mark and once it starts happening early, it just keeps going. I must have said "Who the f*ck is he passing to?" about 45 times last night. You just shrug it off and move on.

On a lighter side, I'm curious on a Wild fan's take since I don't see that much Wild hockey. Had to just laugh when Kaprizov takes a little bop on the nose, he hits the ice like someone who just got punched in the nuts by Mike Tyson, rolls around on the ice like a toddler, and then gets up and follows the ref around the ice crying like a 4-yr old girl. Has Kaprizov always been a little bitch like that? Or is this new?

 

[GopherJake]

Damn. You almost never see a newspaper writer single out one guy, or a coach for that matter, but this was the opener in the Vegas paper this morning:

"Hockey games are always decided by 18 skaters and a goaltender. It’s rare a specific player is the reason a team wins or loses.

But Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore had a rough night Tuesday.

Four Theodore errors led to four Minnesota Wild goals and the Knights lost 5-2 at T-Mobile Arena. The defeat evened the first-round playoff series between the two teams 1-1."

Vegas coach guy was not shy in the post game presser either. Not quite as frontal, but definitely singled him out.

Hockey is a weird game, sometimes I just don't get it. A couple times a year, you see a game where every pass is just 6 inches off or a foot off the mark and once it starts happening early, it just keeps going. I must have said "Who the f*ck is he passing to?" about 45 times last night. You just shrug it off and move on.

On a lighter side, I'm curious on a Wild fan's take since I don't see that much Wild hockey. Had to just laugh when Kaprizov takes a little bop on the nose, he hits the ice like someone who just got punched in the nuts by Mike Tyson, rolls around on the ice like a toddler, and then gets up and follows the ref around the ice crying like a 4-yr old girl. Has Kaprizov always been a little bitch like that? Or is this new?

Particularly for his size, Kaprizov is one of the toughest players I've ever watched closely. He rarely takes a heavy hit and when he does, he fights through it. He wins about 75% of the puck battles he's a 50-50 for. He's incredibly quick and his stick skills are top level. His vision and creativity is off-the-charts. He's the best player to ever have put on a North Stars/Wild jersey; there's zero debate.

The play you refer to was a clear cheap shot and, were the score different or a regular season game, should have involved about 4 guys going after dude who hit him. He didn't just face wash him; he threw a punch.

 

[GophersInIowa]

No better way to build the product than to have the game start at 10:15pm on a weeknight.

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

Vegas coach guy was not shy in the post game presser either. Not quite as frontal, but definitely singled him out.


Particularly for his size, Kaprizov is one of the toughest players I've ever watched closely. He rarely takes a heavy hit and when he does, he fights through it. He wins about 75% of the puck battles he's a 50-50 for. He's incredibly quick and his stick skills are top level. His vision and creativity is off-the-charts. He's the best player to ever have put on a North Stars/Wild jersey; there's zero debate.

The play you refer to was a clear cheap shot and, were the score different or a regular season game, should have involved about 4 guys going after dude who hit him. He didn't just face wash him; he threw a punch.

That jab came immediately after EEK cheap-shotted Hague in the face at the beginning of the scuffle. Dumb for Kaprizov for whatever reason decide to wander into the scuffle well after it started. It was a bop on the nose, with someone between them; it wasn't exactly a roundhouse smash to the face. I would guess in the middle of that scuffle, a dozen things happened worse than that.

I mean, it looked like pretty embarrassing behavior from KK; live at the game, the first thing I saw was him rolling around on the ice, I was like "Oh No", hope it's not a serious injury like he got his knee taken out or something. He easily could have gotten 2 mins for Embellishing

Just a weird night overall. On the Zuccarello goal, routine pass attempt, D-to-D, puck bounces over Theodore's stick (whiffs on the pass) leading to Zuccarello going in uncontested. You just kind of shake your head and move on at that point.

Playoffs are weird. Two years ago, on their way to the SC, Vegas dumped Game 1 at home to Winnipeg 5-1 before sweeping the next 4 games. For being a good home team, they've never been dominant in the postseason at home.

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

No better way to build the product than to have the game start at 10:15pm on a weeknight.

Even the Vegas fans thought this was stupid AF. I skipped Game 1 so I felt I had to go last night, and I'm dragging ass this morning. I would not be surprised if this is the last time they do that. Memory is fuzzy but I don't remember hardly any playoff games starting that late in years past

 

[GophersInIowa]

Even the Vegas fans thought this was stupid AF. I skipped Game 1 so I felt I had to go last night, and I'm dragging ass this morning. I would not be surprised if this is the last time they do that. Memory is fuzzy but I don't remember hardly any playoff games starting that late in years past

The game was on ESPN but they ended up starting it on ESPN 2. Why not just have it start at 9:00 central and just be on ESPN 2 the whole game? That's why ESPN has a second channel to begin with. Made no sense.

 

[upnorthkid]

That jab came immediately after EEK cheap-shotted Hague in the face at the beginning of the scuffle. Dumb for Kaprizov for whatever reason decide to wander into the scuffle well after it started. It was a bop on the nose, with someone between them; it wasn't exactly a roundhouse smash to the face. I would guess in the middle of that scuffle, a dozen things happened worse than that.

I mean, it looked like pretty embarrassing behavior from KK; live at the game, the first thing I saw was him rolling around on the ice, I was like "Oh No", hope it's not a serious injury like he got his knee taken out or something. He easily could have gotten 2 mins for Embellishing

Just a weird night overall. On the Zuccarello goal, routine pass attempt, D-to-D, puck bounces over Theodore's stick (whiffs on the pass) leading to Zuccarello going in uncontested. You just kind of shake your head and move on at that point.

Playoffs are weird. Two years ago, on their way to the SC, Vegas dumped Game 1 at home to Winnipeg 5-1 before sweeping the next 4 games. For being a good home team, they've never been dominant in the postseason at home.

Agree with Jake on this one. KK is an incredibly tough guy who’s remarked for not saying much. KK isn’t doing anything other than standing there as they all do and he punches him twice. you can tell the huge smirk on Vegas’ face after their goal is to be rough on KK. It’s a cheap shot and a penalty, and should be the same the other way as well (fine if you want to take Ek for roughing as well). They’re clearly trying to antagonize mn as they want this series to have a ton of pp’s as they’ll kill us in that version of a series.

Most of the nhl twittersphere and Reddit is in agreement (not just wild fans). I’d envision there’s a fight brewing for game 3 which I think plays towards Vegas’ advantage if the Wild get emotional

 

[GopherJake]

Agree with Jake on this one. KK is an incredibly tough guy who’s remarked for not saying much. KK isn’t doing anything other than standing there as they all do and he punches him twice. you can tell the huge smirk on Vegas’ face after their goal is to be rough on KK. It’s a cheap shot and a penalty, and should be the same the other way as well (fine if you want to take Ek for roughing as well). They’re clearly trying to antagonize mn as they want this series to have a ton of pp’s as they’ll kill us in that version of a series.

Most of the nhl twittersphere and Reddit is in agreement (not just wild fans). I’d envision there’s a fight brewing for game 3 which I think plays towards Vegas’ advantage if the Wild get emotional

Spot on.

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

you can tell the huge smirk on Vegas’ face after their goal is to be rough on KK.

Oh, FFS please.... And not surprising no comment at all about Ek starting the scuffle in the first place by cheap-shotting Hague to the face.

It's playoff hockey, it's going to be a rough series. It just struck me about KK because he happened to be skating right towards me while he chased the ref down crying like a little girl about a penalty. The look on his face was priceless.

Gotta love playoff hockey, it doesn't get much better than this

 

[GopherJake]

Oh, FFS please.... And not surprising no comment at all about Ek starting the scuffle in the first place by cheap-shotting Hague to the face.

Uh, yeah. No. Ek didn't engage with Hague at all, so, not sure what you are talking about.

It's playoff hockey, it's going to be a rough series. It just struck me about KK because he happened to be skating right towards me while he chased the ref down crying like a little girl about a penalty. The look on his face was priceless.

Uh huh. You mean right after he got up off the ice after being sucker punched with his hands tied up by the linesman and went over and gave Hague a piece of his mind in the corner? No player has ever complained to a ref after being sucker punched. Only a little girl like Kaprizov.

Gotta love playoff hockey, it doesn't get much better than this

If they go after Kaprizov again, if I were Eichel, I would watch out.

 

[upnorthkid]

Oh, FFS please.... And not surprising no comment at all about Ek starting the scuffle in the first place by cheap-shotting Hague to the face.

It's playoff hockey, it's going to be a rough series. It just struck me about KK because he happened to be skating right towards me while he chased the ref down crying like a little girl about a penalty. The look on his face was priceless.

Gotta love playoff hockey, it doesn't get much better than this

Hit Ek then.

This is the same tactic every smart team does with star players. Didn’t say I had a problem with it. The same as if the Wild start punching Eichel, Vegas will react and Eichel will have words with the ref.

Didn’t see much of anything out the realm of normal for what you see in a playoff game, but it is a penalty.

 

[upnorthkid]

Uh, yeah. No. Ek didn't engage with Hague at all, so, not sure what you are talking about.

Uh huh. You mean right after he got up off the ice after being sucker punched with his hands tied up by the linesman and went over and gave Hague a piece of his mind in the corner? No player has ever complained to a ref after being sucker punched. Only a little girl like Kaprizov.


If they go after Kaprizov again, if I were Eichel, I would watch out.

I really hope not. The Wild getting into a penalty fest will kill them. Hit them between the whistles as they are and get timely scoring

Still think it’s Vegas in 6