Wild Power Play Comes Together as Big Guns Arrive

For the second power play goal, it was just great positioning for the face-off and the benefit of a lucky bounce. Pominville was setup as the left point-man for the face off and was setup in the high slot. After Saku Koivu for the Ducks was tossed out of the face-off circle for failing to put his stick down, Daniel Winnick would come in to face Mikko Koivu. Koivu, who is posting a 69.6 face-off percentage, would lose this one, but in the scrum, the puck would squirt out right to Pominville. What helped Pominville get so wide open was the fact that the face-off was tied up in the circle and both the defenseman and right winger would be drawn into the circle and would end up getting into position a little tardy. The defenseman that was late to get into position would reach with his stick to attempt to block the shot, but instead deflected into his own net.

Through two games, the Wild are now posting a 33 percent power play convergence (3-for-9). This improvement could be attributed to the top line coming alive. It could also be attributed to some of the changes done in the offseason that seemed to indicate there is more of a frantic swarming pace to the power play. As I wrote early in the offseason, improvement on the power play for the Wild should translate in to more wins. While the winning part has yet to be determined, the Wild have been able to be competitive against some really tough teams, and probably should have won those. If the Wild can shore up its defense a bit, you should see the wins start coming.