Article: The Wild Finally Played Like An Elite Depth Team In Game 3

[Tony Abbott]

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[Millante]

As much as I loved our game and discipline...

The fact that the Stars have gone from uncalled crosschecking to uncalled slew footing is starting to annoy me. What's next?

Among other attempts to agitate top forwards that is...

But the home crowd crapping on Suter for such antics made it alright... for this game.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Millante

[jgodwin17]

Absolutely agree, the Wild absolutely suffocated Dallas last night. They had no time and space to create anything, and as soon as the Wild broke up the Dallas plays they went back the other way and would get a scoring chance.

Nyquist has been exceptional, the Johansson goal was the best I’ve seen this year in the playoffs, and Klingberg looked solid defensively last night (and moved the puck really well, as to be expected). 
 

I would love to see the high danger scoring chances for each team last night. It felt like though the shots were relatively even Dallas had virtually no high danger chances, and the Wild had oodles. Even the Dallas goal was more of a lucky pinball bounce than a quality scoring chance.

[Sviginak]

Great effort, fellas! Keep the heavy game and discipline, maybe back off a bit on the theatrics, Moose. Unless it is needed. We go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turning round and round.

[Up North Guy]

2 hours ago, Millante said:

As much as I loved our game and discipline...

The fact that the Stars have gone from uncalled crosschecking to uncalled slew footing is starting to annoy me. What's next?

Among other attempts to agitate top forwards that is...

But the home crowd crapping on Suter for such antics made it alright... for this game.

I get what you are saying but overall i think the zebras did a much better job last night. Of course it was a different pair of refs, but they kept the peace for the most part and called penalties throughout.

[Willy the poor boy]

47 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

I get what you are saying but overall i think the zebras did a much better job last night. Of course it was a different pair of refs, but they kept the peace for the most part and called penalties throughout.

I was blacked out Up North Fella, How did Faber look?

[Beast]

A lot of guys deserve credit for last night.  Foligno, Klingberg, Zuccarello, Faber, MoJo all had great games, and are getting their rightful recognition.

A couple of guys I haven’t heard much about:  Middleton.  What a freaking game last night.  Lock down defense on the top pairing.  Blocking shots, being physical, in the middle of every scrum.  Duhaime.  Pretty much the same.  Nothing flashy, but grinding physicality.  Huge in getting that win last night.

I don’t know if I’ve ever had as much fun as a Wild fan than last night.  From the let’s play hockey, Foligno and Middleton mocking the Stars.  Just amazing.

Edited April 22, 2023 by Beast

[kapislife]

Couple of fabers stretch passes were a breath of fresh air to watch. Beating a dead horse, but we suck so much at face offs. Would be nice to have 1 guy that can go win an important one

[Protec]

Quote

Couple of fabers stretch passes were a breath of fresh air to watch. Beating a dead horse, but we suck so much at face offs. Would be nice to have 1 guy that can go win an important one

One thing the Wild really need in a center is that quality. Haven’t really had a good face off guy since Koivu. 

[manbearpig]

8 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

I was blacked out Up North Fella, How did Faber look?

He looked like he belongs,  the coaches must have him stay close to the net and let the other defense move around more or maybe he just plays that style similar to middsy did not watch his college play

[NorthcoteCupGuy]

Our depth guys really stepped up last night. For guy with under 10 games of NHL experience, Faber definitely has not looked out of place. He has a calming presence about his play which is good to see from a rookie. 

[Protec]

Quote

One thing the Wild really need in a center is that quality. Haven’t really had a good face off guy since Koivu. 

Anybody notice the OT winning goal in Game 3 between the Lightning and Leafs? 
 

Clean faceoff win by O’Rielly to Reilly and a quick snipe from the wall goes through traffic upper-corner. That clean faceoff win was pretty big for Toronto.

[NC Beach Bum]

1 hour ago, Protec said:

Anybody notice the OT winning goal in Game 3 between the Lightning and Leafs? 
 

Clean faceoff win by O’Rielly to Reilly and a quick snipe from the wall goes through traffic upper-corner. That clean faceoff win was pretty big for Toronto.

Nyquist is listed as a center, is he any good at the position and is his faceoff percentage decent historically?

[Tony Abbott]

52 minutes ago, NC Beach Bum said:

Nyquist is listed as a center, is he any good at the position and is his faceoff percentage decent historically?

He's not a center. 

[Gritty.Not.Pretty]

This is the level of hockey that we’ve seen glimpses of all year. The question I have is — can they sustain it? 

[Up North Guy]

22 hours ago, Willy the poor boy said:

I was blacked out Up North Fella, How did Faber look?

Faber looked very good. I honestly did not see any mistakes he made. The kid is going to be a mainstay for many years.

[mnfaninnc]

18 hours ago, Protec said:

One thing the Wild really need in a center is that quality. Haven’t really had a good face off guy since Koivu. 

Ek is improving in that aspect, but still has a ways to go.  Freddy is decent at it. Young centers tend to struggle as that's a detail of their game.  Maybe we need that vet who can go in and win faceoffs.  I am not opposed to wings doing it either, like Boldy seems to be pretty good at it.

[mnfaninnc]

I'm not sure where to put this, but it is a significant development-

The Baby Wild got swept, both games went to OT. However, after the game, Army and his staff were let go.  I thought Army was doing a nice job down in Iowa, though, he didn't have much playoff success.  

As a coach on that level, the primary purpose is to develop players to hand off to the main squad.  Army did this in Duhaime, Dewar and Shaw.  Beckman has improved as has Rossi (more on him later). It was apparent that The Wall was playing well, but defensive lapses hurt his sv%. I didn't think the defense was defensively improving so much throughout the year. Too many rebounds getting scooped up by opponents.  

Moving forward, I'd like to see more NHL specialist coaches there.  What I mean by that is an NHL defensive developer, and NHL forward developer.  Someone who has a lot of experience there and has credibility with the younger guys. For example, I think the only coach Ryan Suter ever listened to was Scott Stevens, because he respected his body of work.  

Evason, I believe, was an excellent A coach, one who could teach and develop and had a nice NHL career.  It appears that we already have a good goalie coach there, and from what I read, it looks like he's staying. Could it be we needed a different voice there? Was Shooter not happy with the development?  Or is this part of a face lift for the club, as he waits for fired NHL coaches to perhaps take over?  

I watched the highlights of both losses.  One theme we had with Rockford over the course of the regular season were games going into OT.  We had the advantage 3v3, apparently they had it 5v5. Petan had an ugly turnover resulting in the game 1 OT, the 2nd game looked like a lucky bounce (it's hard to see the puck with their inferior camera work). 

However, in that 2nd game, the Rossi we drafted showed up.  He was in the highlights and was skating hard, driving play.  He had a nice goal where he pushed play, and the same with his apple.  I saw this finally click in his last game up here.  And that's just the thing with young players, something can finally click from one game to another and you never know what it was, perhaps it's just a sense of belonging. It likely isn't reading a comment on a blog😏.

I have witnessed Beckman's passion (though his skating still needs work, as well as some upper body strength), and finally saw Rossi cut it loose. Those are important milestones.  Another guy who seemed to improve during the year was Simon Johansson, though he is an older rookie.  He led the young defenders in points.  

I think some turnover is going to happen down there too.  More young defenders are on their way, I don't see how we have room for Hicketts and Murmis may be the only depth guy left on D down there after this season.  Ottenbreit looked like a placeholder.  On offense, I don't see how Petan stays, as I think what we need in "depth" are larger bodies.  Fogarty seemed to be good depth.  

So the black aces are ready to head to St. Paul. 

[mnfaninnc]

As for game 3, it was very enjoyable to watch.  I hope we come out with the same resolve tonight to "shut them down because we can" mentality.  1st goal, again, probably is huge.  

Outside of Ek, does anyone know if we came out healthy?  

I thought Klingberg was able to keep up with Dallas' speed.  He wasn't much for bodychecking, but he was willing to get in the way.  One thing I did notice is that when he gets hit hard, it doesn't take him long to get back into the play. This is a main difference between he and Addison, when Addison gets hit hard, he gets erased from the play.

Zuccarello needed that strong game and with he and Foligno scoring, they can now grip their sticks regularly.  Those guys really needed goals. Next guy who really needs one is Boldy.

[mnfaninnc]

WHL update- Winnipeg took a 3-2 lead against Moose Jaw.  Lambos had 3 shots but didn't do anything else. Hopefully, Winnipeg closes it out the series on Monday.