Article: The Wild Have To Learn To Take A Punch

[Tony Abbott]

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[Citizen Strife]

Learn to take punches?  But the Knights are giving them ample opportunity with all the extra punches the refs aren't calling.

Game 4 sure was the unavoidable, "Yeah, the refs fucking made that one" game.

Edited April 27 by Citizen Strife

[Dango]

I love Ryan Hartman but the Wild must cut ties with him if the NHL is saying " because of Hartmans reputation anything goes against him wont be called and any little thing he does will be called " well if thats the case we need to cut ties with him  which sucks because he plays 80s-90s hockey . The best era of hockey ,

[Need4speed99]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

Learn to take punches?  But the Knights are giving them ample opportunity with all the extra punches the refs aren't calling.

Game 4 sure was the unavoidable, "Yeah, the refs fucking made that one" game.

Sadly, no big market team will EVER get called out for that... think nfl and eagles v chiefs. The nfl wanted that matchup. In a close game they always find a way.

The Wild are small potatoes, vegas makes money, the outcome was already set.

[RedLake]

Fuck Bettman. Go out in game 5 full goon mode. Cripple the entire Vegas bench. I'm sick in tired of liberal/woke NHL Bettman. Fuck him!!!

[fikifuka]

You're exactly right, Tony. You could feel it before the knock-out goal that the Wild lost/ didn't have this conviction, winning-self-confidence, punch to just give the Knights the message that it's "ours - no other way". In these knock out games its all about spirit, mind set. Do or die. And to all the Wild-Fans: Stop blaming the refs - its a looser attitude.

Greatings from Austria! Chear for the Wild since Thomas Vanek showed up at St. Paul. 

[fikifuka]

Btw here in Austria there is a reliable report, 3 days ago, that BG offered Rossi 5 year contract with 5 M AAV and his agent - of course!! - refused. I'm sure Rossi will be offered 7,5+ AAV from elsewhere, so expect him to leave Minnesota. But I'll keep cheering for The State of Hockey anyway, no matter where #23 goes...

[Protec]

5 hours ago, RedLake said:

Fuck Bettman. Go out in game 5 full goon mode. Cripple the entire Vegas bench. I'm sick in tired of liberal/woke NHL Bettman. Fuck him!!!

Maybe if MN does the rainbow stick-tape, get some MS-13 face-tattoos, and bow towards Mecca before Game 5, the tables will turn? 😆

Nah, it's all about the sportsbooks and TV ratings. 

[OldDutchChip]

11 hours ago, Citizen Strife said:

Learn to take punches?  But the Knights are giving them ample opportunity with all the extra punches the refs aren't calling.

Game 4 sure was the unavoidable, "Yeah, the refs fucking made that one" game.

nah the refs were fine. were they not supposed to call a 4 minute on stone? or did they not gifted us with a PP to end the game in OT? let's not start the conspiracy talk. the loss was on wild. 

[Dango]

6 minutes ago, OldDutchChip said:

nah the refs were fine. were they not supposed to call a 4 minute on stone? or did they not gifted us with a PP to end the game in OT? let's not start the conspiracy talk. the loss was on wild. 

Jumping on top of a defender and holding him down is interference is it not ?  but whatever i dont waste my time with fake sports,     After watching that crap im done with this garbage league you guys can all go play with your NHL action barbie figures with bettman .LOL  I guess im glad i didnt ever  get suckered  into  paying for allstar wrestling .  

[OldDutchChip]

4 minutes ago, Dango said:

Jumping on top of a defender and holding him down is interference is it not ?  but whatever i dont waste my time with fake sports,     After watching that crap im done with this garbage league you guys can all go play with your NHL action barbie figures with bettman .LOL  I guess im glad i didnt ever  get suckered  into  paying for allstar wrestling .  

[Citizen Strife]

Even if you take officiating out of the equation, the Wild at worst should be right where there sit at 2-2.  They got the jump offensively in games 2-3 and 1-4 were close enough that could buy Vegas winning just by saying "they were better.". Teams burying PP chances have more success.  That said, no penalty game?  Wild won that type of game pretty convincingly (think that was Game 2).

The Wild are better 5on5 (at least a couple lines anyway), and Gus has shown more consistency than Hill. Vegas has yet to completely blow a game away even if the Wild let off the gas pedal.  

I hope the Wild win 5 and 6, cause God forbid letting the series go to 7.

 

Edited April 27 by Citizen Strife

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, OldDutchChip said:

nah the refs were fine. were they not supposed to call a 4 minute on stone? or did they not gifted us with a PP to end the game in OT? let's not start the conspiracy talk. the loss was on wild. 

They didn't make the call in real time. Also they didn't huddle up for the obvious high stick on Hartzy with a ref staring right at it. So there's that...

[OldDutchChip]

1 minute ago, Willy the poor boy said:

They didn't make the call in real time. Also they didn't huddle up for the obvious high stick on Hartzy with a ref staring right at it. So there's that...

for stone? i mean i think it deserved 4. if that was Kap and this wasn't called - i'd be furious

[Willy the poor boy]

1 minute ago, OldDutchChip said:

for stone? i mean i think it deserved 4. if that was Kap and this wasn't called - i'd be furious

A cross check to the face that draws blood is a cross check to the face that draws blood no matter who is the delivery skater and who is the recipient. I don't even care if it's the Rempe big goon from the Rangers whose cross checked. No place to allow those plays in hockey.

[joebou15]

The Wild needed to play their best 3rd period of the season to win the game, and at that point they had the lead. Vegas was going to throw everything at them.

They didnt.

And then not cashing in on the power play in OT was the death knell. Special teams was again a major storyline in this game. Two power play goals by the Golden Knights are what made that game a game. Minnesota not able to score on the power play is what caused them to lose. It's amazing how two different coaches with full offseasons have yet to figure out the PK and the PP to make it an actual weapon in the playoffs.

And what sucks is that after Spurgeon tied it up, I, a person who has witnessed disappointment after disappointment in the playoffs, covered and wrote about these very same issues year after year, allowed myself just a little moment of belief that maybe this year was going to be different.

But the narrative will remain the narrative until this team goes out and actually changes it. 

So, nut up or shut up.

[Protec]

^^^

100%. The special teams double-whammy. If MN could score on just one of their PPs or the PK shuts down one of Vegas PP conversions it's likely a different outcome. 

The Wild and Hynes apparently are NOT a roll four lines team. They need to be. Florida or Vegas have been perfect examples of that in recent years. 

IMO that's a Deano-esque mistake but then again a bounce or decision on the ice could've changed everything.

Agree, MN still has to prove something and they need to make certain with an extra goal or two that takes the refs out of the conversation. Last season EDM had a PP and PK to be proud of in the post season. 

[Patrick]

Didn't the Wild play poorly in most of their day games this year? 

[Sam]

1 hour ago, Patrick said:

Didn't the Wild play poorly in most of their day games this year? 

Not really, no. They won over half their games (just barely, I know). And they ended up making the playoffs (just barely, I know).

[RedLake]

12 hours ago, Protec said:

Maybe if MN does the rainbow stick-tape, get some MS-13 face-tattoos, and bow towards Mecca before Game 5, the tables will turn? 😆

Nah, it's all about the sportsbooks and TV ratings. 

Lmfao MS-13 4th line game five. 

[Protec]

8 hours ago, RedLake said:

Lmfao MS-13 4th line game five. 

The TDA line. 😆

[LittleBallofHate]

The Wild were outplayed by the knights, then they went too conservative & got out possessed & outchanced. They do not have the kind of defensemen on the roster to turtle-up after banked opportunities - case & point - Middleton coughing it up for the 'L'

-on the other hand-

That tackle allowed was pretty terrible. The PP disparity was 5-2 (Knights-Wild) at that point. The tackle started near center ice & with all the way to near left corner post... so it was pretty fucking bad. I HATE hearing so much praise on Stone for the bank-shot... Even at my skill level, if I see my player up on his skates & the other team's player doing snow angels... yes, I throw the hardest pass-shot I can right at my skater that just dogged the opponent. Your guy up + theirs down + right off the goal post is a no-brainer

[Pewterschmidt]

21 hours ago, joebou15 said:

nut up or shut up

Need to paint this on a 2X4 and hang it around their necks

[Scalptrash]

I'll sum it up in one word, typical. They definitely chose their hard this year.

[LCoy]

Painful game, and I missed OT so I’m not sure how we looked there. That said, silver lining on the subject of taking punches—they responded quite well with Spurgeon’s game-tying goal after the go-ahead tackle/goal