Filip Gustavsson Scoring A Goal Is Everything

I love it. I was hoping that Gusbus would get the shut out, because the way he's been playing so far this season he deserved it.  Goalie goal is a nice consolation prize though.

Nothing is more fun than winning,  but games like these are far more fun than 2-1 grinders.

I know we're only 5% of the way through the season, and BillyG gets knocked around for bringing in guys who are good for the room rather than good on the ice, but last nights game looked like a team that was playing like a team.

I was also super stoked about Lauko's shorty.  Not only because he actually finished, but because Kyrou literally bounced off him.  We've been talking for ages about getting some size (cough, Stramel, cough) and a true 'power' forward into MN, and Lauko seems to actually know how to play with the body he has (cough, Greenway, cough)

I'm sure I'm going to be back to earth soon, but this start sure beats last year.

18 minutes ago, MrCheatachu said:

I was also super stoked about Lauko's shorty.  Not only because he actually finished, but because Kyrou literally bounced off him.  We've been talking for ages about getting some size (cough, Stramel, cough) and a true 'power' forward into MN, and Lauko seems to actually know how to play with the body he has (cough, Greenway, cough)

Duhaime wasn't afraid to hit and I liked him just fine, but that was a better play than I ever saw from Duhaime. Lauko is an easy player to like, especially given that he can convert a play like that!

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Lauko is an easy player to like, especially given that he can convert a play like that!

And he's practically playing for free.  At his price he can disappear from time to time.  How did the Malachi Crunch Bros. (Foglino+Trenin) look last night.  1-2 glass shattering hits.  Or hits + hockey plays?

STL was a better team to beat. You could make a referee argument about the Seattle game and if that had become a regulation win for MN, they'd be looking WAY better than at the start of last season despite the early injuries again.

For me the record is good, yes okay. The two non-losses in regulation to Central rivals is huge for confidence and tone. Keep it up boys. Hynes, you're onto something with NoJo nowhere to be seen. 😎

Low key important point is the development of Hunt this year. With Tank's health issues and Merrill's other issues, Hunt's play has to be good. He is going to have bad games. He is young. Barring Spurg going on LTIR for the season opening the team's ability to acquire a solid defenseman, Hunt is a really important guy this year.

One of the benefits of ESPN+ is you only have to wait a day for an ESPN game to be available. That helps with the national broadcasts. I finally got to see the Blues game last night. I hate the 11/7 format, but with Johansson out (which suspiciously sounds like a locker room accident) I guess you had to go with the skaters you have. The Wall was once again sent down. 

One thing that bothers me about national commentators is their complete incompetence in reading fly over teams. For instance, Emily stated that Wallstedt was sent down to get in some games. Idiot, The Wall was sent down to bring Hunt up due to a lack of cap space.

Anyway, national media never ceases to disappoint me. What I did like was Kaprizov getting used like a star: 28 minutes TOI. Why could they do that? Nobody on ESPN pointed out that they have 3 days off now. 

I thought the Wild were sharper and faster with a day off, even though this was a start to the season of 4/6, quite a compacted start. The Wild were criticized for being outplayed through 2 periods. Again the Wild started off playing with a lead which I hope is a theme for the year. You can conserve a lot of energy playing with a lead. In the 1st period, they got a goal on 4 shots. But, they limited St. Louis to 6 shots and blocked a ton. Those 6 shots were pretty easy saves, nothing in the danger zone. St. Louis penetrated the D in the 2nd period, but came away empty as we get a shorty. What was nice about this is that it seems like this game, the Wild got all the luck.

Rossi's goal was like pounding a nail (in a coffin), and then the Wild played solid defense. Joseph's goal on Goose was a good goal. Goose simply was hung out to dry and had to guess where it was going. He guessed wrong. But he redeemed everything sending the puck down for a goalie goal on the PP. I loved the interview afterwards where Goose suggests he should be on the PP. Technically, he is, and maybe he should be a little more active with the puck retrieval in his end saving valuable seconds by setting it up ahead of the net? 

To me, this is a summary of Heinzy types of games. He packed in the middle so that the attacking team couldn't get inside. This was St. Louis' home opener, so they and their crowd were amped up. We also had an answer after they scored their 1st goal and Kaprizov-Hartman-Boldy went to work for a full shift in the Blues zone. 

I felt like Lauko and Dino had real good games. Foligno and Trenin didn't run around hitting everything but were visibly physical. But double shifting Kaprizov was something the blues were not prepared for. 

It was also strange seeing Suter in a #22 jersey. Broberg looks like an overpay disappointment at this stage. Holloway was essentially invisible. It also looked like we made Faulk and Leddy look old. Also, one other item on Trenin, he was not afraid to get physical with Suter. That may be something to keep an eye on later. I wonder if Kaprizov told Trenin that Suter was owed about 10 cross checks across the kidneys? 

1 hour ago, mnfaninnc said:

but with Johansson out (which suspiciously sounds like a locker room accident)

I had this same thought.  Maybe Hynzy is being a little more proactive with Nojo.  Game #1 Nojo looked great, then you could see him reverting to the mean Games 2 & 3.  If it takes phantom injuries to motivate Nojo to play the game right, bring em on.

3 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

Also, one other item on Trenin, he was not afraid to get physical with Suter. That may be something to keep an eye on later. I wonder if Kaprizov told Trenin that Suter was owed about 10 cross checks across the kidneys? 

 

I love this sooooo much. It would just be so great to see Suter's smug face doing a 30 foot board wash.

7 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

I had this same thought.  Maybe Hynzy is being a little more proactive with Nojo.  Game #1 Nojo looked great, then you could see him reverting to the mean Games 2 & 3.  If it takes phantom injuries to motivate Nojo to play the game right, bring em on.

This goes back to something I had written earlier: stick Johansson in the Prossbox and tell him, "with that effort, I'd rather just play short." The thing is, compared to last year, I thought his effort was good in all 3 games. But, perhaps he has another gear that showed up in the World's that Heinzy wants on a consistent basis?