Tom Schreier Administrator Posted 3 hours ago Share Posted 3 hours ago View full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNCountryLife Verified Member Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago A team must play to their identity. We have some solid vets on D with Spurgeon, Brodin, Mids and Bogo. We also have a couple of very good young D-men (Faber and Zeev) creating a very dependable defense. We also have quite a few forwards that take pride in their defensive capabilities. It appears that once we recognized who we are... we started winning. Just a guess here... but I'm betting that Spurgeon and Foligno were the driving force reminding everyone what we are. Kuddos to those 2 for their leadership skill.. if I'm guessing correctly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNCountryLife Verified Member Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago A team that plays with D first mentality must do a few thing very well to win. - Take very few penalties. We are 31st in penalties. Fantastic. - Be good at the PK. Ranked 25th. Not so good. Better in November. - Be good at the PP. 25% We are ranked 5th best here. The question becomes: can we do it in the playoffs. History says no... but I think we are a better defensive team than we have been in the past. Zeev will be better. Sturm and Yurov seem to be very disciplined. Think positive....Right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNCountryLife Verified Member Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago I wish Jiricek could learn this style of D. A lot of little things done right to play this style... but I could see it being a style the Jiricek likes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Up North Guy Verified Member Posted 1 hour ago Share Posted 1 hour ago 1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said: I wish Jiricek could learn this style of D. A lot of little things done right to play this style... but I could see it being a style the Jiricek likes. Hopefully the light bulb comes on... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citizen Strife Verified Member Posted 1 hour ago Share Posted 1 hour ago (edited) Boldy sure as hell seems to be stepping up into 1B territory this year. Faber has picked up his offense like crazy. He's not even supposed to be the PPG kinda guy, but is on fire. Do I trust Johansson or Zuccarello as bonafide Top 6 for good? Not really, but they are doing it on the cheap, and doing it far better than Tarasenko. I wish Buium popped a bit more offensively, but I still think he also makes up for Chisholm and Merrill. His mistakes aren't completely killing the team like they were early. Yurov is the key here. If he can stay where he is or get better, you can with play him 2nd line behind Rossi or make a viable 3rd with Trenin and Foligno. I don't see Yurov as better than Rossi or Ek...yet, but it really depends just how crazy the 2nd line stays. There's no way in hell Vancouver or Nashville parts with anything good (i.e. Petterson, Forsberg, or Josi). The waiting game begins on how long other teams hold out on their own Top 6 guys. Hartman, Bogo, and Tarasenko sure won't fetch a Kyrou, Tuch, or anyone worth the upgrade. But defense and goaltending win games. Kap and Boldy get 1-2 points on their own per games. Get the 3rd point or hold teams to 2, the Wild will usually win out. Edited 1 hour ago by Citizen Strife 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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