Article: The Wild's Moral Victory Era Is Already Over

[Sam]

4 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Was this in reference to the offsides call? Or something else?

Yea sorry, it made sense in my head.

[mnfaninnc]

5 hours ago, Dis-allowed display name said:

So the best hockey they might have played all season came in game 2 when they really blitzed Vegas for the entire first period and scored three goals.  They seemed to be really in sync, but they were also throwing bodies around and dishing out good hits.  As I have always understood playoff hockey going back to the days of the North Stars, things not only get tighter on the scoreboard but the physical nature turns up to 11 in the playoffs..

I have this exact same thought. What I think has happened is that the toll has been taken. Vegas is a big team that plays big. We are a small team trying to play big. Foligno, Trenin, and Breezers are our big guys, with Middleton and Bogosian on D. That's it. I have yet to see Midsy or Bogo lay some guys out. 

This is an all hands on deck series, and they've got to all lay the wood every chance they get, and we will need everyone else to join in. Yes, even if they are a fly on a windshield, they need to take their hits. My eyes are seeing it from both Rossi and Gaudreau even though they probably aren't doing much damage. 

I saw nice strong hits from Faber and Kaprizov last game on Eichel. I think we need the softie lines to be doing that too. Boldy has also stepped up, and Ek has been very physical. That top line is playing playoff hockey.

[mnfaninnc]

1 minute ago, Sam said:

Yea sorry, it made sense in my head.

I thought the rule was any body part not in the zone counted as onsides. To me, looking at the NHL offsides camera angle, it showed Nyquist's back elbow at the very least over the blue line. That is a body part. Both skates were in the zone, but he was leaning over the blue line. 

I also thought that to have a call overturned it had to be clear visual evidence. Perhaps my interpretation of the rule is wrong, but in my eyes, there was a body part onsides and that fulfills my understanding of the rule. The blue line now goes up to the roof. 

So, I was a bit perplexed on how the call was overturned, and also why Heinzy didn't appear to go over the interpretation of the rule.

As for phantom calls, we caught a break on the highsticking Bogosian's face, it looked like he flinched but didn't get hit. There was stick contact through a Saad's stick that snapped, and no call was made, which happened the other way around earlier in the series. I felt like that no call had already been established.

[joebou15]

SSme m I ght be willing to feel upbeat, excited for the future of things and continue to give the team a mulligan as it contends for a Cup with less spending power.

However, that's never how the GM played. He had the opportunity to bottom out and gain high draft picks and come into next year with even more bullets to fire. He chose, instead, to compete for a cup and thus keep his team competitive. 

So if the GM wasn't willing to lower expectations, why should we?

Tony is right. The Wild had chances to take a stranglehold on the series and they didn't. Because that's how the playoffs work. It doesn't matter if you came close, or the storyline of the series feels more positive. All the matters is wins and losses. And through it all, the Wild had the same swing throughout each of the last 3 series and it hasn't mattered if it was a dominant good, or an injury-depleted one, or one like this year where they are healthy and scoring. They have not won when it mattered most.

That's where I'm at. I'm not willing to let them off the hook for another playoff one and done (if they lose in Game 6 or 7) when the organization hasn't once been willing to lower their own standards.

And if you're a boxer with one hand tied behind your back, all it takes is to land one good punch for the KO. So fight, or don't fight. Win or lose. Morale victories are over. Time to make shit happen. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

I know they won't do it, but I would slide in Ohgren. Nyquist has and is doing nothing and won't be back next year.

I almost indicated Ohgren or Hinostoza, but I just don't think Hynes would put them in this position without an injury at this point. It definitely doesn't sound like they are considering sitting Nyquist.

Nyquist is one of the guys they trust defensively, including on the PK. He made a bad mistake not straddling the line while Hartman crossed the blue line, but the Wild have outscored Vegas 2-1 during his minutes(59:39 TOI) in this series. One was a power play goal.

They aren't really playing Nyquist on the PK while everyone is healthy, but he was 3rd among Wild forwards in PK time after March 1st in the regular season--he joined the Wild March 2nd, and he had the lowest goals against per 60 among all Wild forwards who recorded at least 10 minutes of PK this season. He also setup a short-handed goal, so his PK goal differential was significantly better than any of the other forwards who recorded at least 10 minutes on the Wild PK this year.

Quote

Wild coach John Hynes likes his team’s mindset and hadn’t yet decided if he’ll make any lineup changes for Game 6, but he did indicate that he expects Filip Gustavsson will be ready to start after he fell ill before Tuesday’s game and made it through two periods before having to pull himself for Marc-Andre Fleury.

 

[Kevin]

To be serious and keeping home town emotion out of this, talent usually wins out and that is exactly what is happening in this series.  The reason why Vegas enters with a 1 seed and the Wild are a wildcard is because they are just a better team.  The frustrating point is that hockey is hockey and so many nights the bounces fall your way even if you are not the best team on the ice and the Wild have had more than their share of chances in this series.  However, the team is from Minnesota where lucky things very seldom happen.  Hopefully Guerin spends wisely this off season and our chances of being "lucky" improve through talent next year