Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek Return To Run Chaos

MN woulda lost 7-2 to the Sharks is pretty much what woulda happened. 

Fred, NoJo, Boldy, and Rossi had some minor offensive contributions but nearly all of em ended up minus for the game despite all the MN goals. Kaprizov gets more slack/cushion in his first game back on the defensive side of things. Merrill and Bogo, not great either and Celebrini/Smith made some nice plays to make Faber look pedestrian.

Good win, but not impressive. 

2 minutes ago, Protec said:

Fred, NoJo, Boldy, and Rossi had some minor offensive contributions

I wouldn't call 4 assists a minor offensive contribution...

Flames lost to the Ducks in OT, so Wild weren't the only team struggling against a team eliminated from the playoffs. Wild could eliminate Calgary on Friday, but even if they don't, they could lock up the 1st wildcard spot if they grab wins over Vancouver and Anaheim to close out the season.

Wild need 4 points from the last 3 games, winning at least 1 of the games in regulation, to be 100% certain they secure the 1st wildcard.

Chaos is the operative word.  Almost as crazy as 10-7.

Riley Heidt's team was eliminated in game 7 by the Portland Winterhawks.

Ryder Ritchie's Medicine Hat(#2 overall in the WHL) team will face Prince Albert. in round 2, after winning their first round matchup in 5 games. Prince Albert(Saskatchewan) had the 2nd least standings points of remaining playoff teams despite winning their division. Series starts Saturday.

Zeev Buium's Denver team faces the top remaining seed in the Frozen 4, Western Michigan, at 4 PM central on ESPN2 tonight.

What a fun game to watch.  Ek and Kirill were incredible.  Clearly they add a lot to a roster.  They both do so many things really really well.  Boldy looked invigorated and played outstanding. 

The 4th line was a net 0 for the night and did their job well.  I thought Braz played his best game.  He fought really well in the corners.

3 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

The 4th line was a net 0 for the night and did their job well.  I thought Braz played his best game.  He fought really well in the corners.

Him and Trenin both have had a really good last couple games, Hinny kind of the odd one out at least right now. Hartman pairs well with them even though he's probably not super stoked to be getting 4th line minutes.

1 hour ago, M_Nels said:

I wouldn't call 4 assists a minor offensive contribution...

Well it was enough to offset their defensive inadequacy. 😀

Congrats to the MN Blue OX!  Joey Cullen and the entire team played some resilient hockey.  Another Cullen kid that can play.  Brooks Cullen (Senior High School) wins MN state.  Wyatt Cullen is playing with USNDTP and Joey Cullen is leading the crop of Bantam players this year.  Quite the year for Matt Cullen's kids.

10 minutes ago, Protec said:

Well it was enough to offset their defensive inadequacy. 😀

Sorry, should've said I was talking Boldy specifically. I thought he had a fine game and don't recall any specific breakdowns.

Thinking back to previous first picks in the draft and trying to compare. Rangers draft LaFreniere (sp?) a few years ago as the can't miss player of a lifetime. They mismanaged his development under the bright lights of NYC and he spent time on the available for trade list this year. Chicago drafted Bedard a couple years ago as the once in a lifetime can't miss future superstar franchise savior. He has been ok as a goal scorer but his +/- has been really ugly and they surrounded him with AHL/ECHL quality players. I would consider him a disappointment (not quite a bust). Lat night watching Celebrini was eye opening. This kid is the real deal. SJS certainly have a star to build around. By the looks it will, take another 2-3 years to find success though. Just rambled thoughts.

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Riley Heidt's team was eliminated in game 7 by the Portland Winterhawks.

Ryder Ritchie's Medicine Hat(#2 overall in the WHL) team will face Prince Albert. in round 2, after winning their first round matchup in 5 games. Prince Albert(Saskatchewan) had the 2nd least standings points of remaining playoff teams despite winning their division. Series starts Saturday.

Zeev Buium's Denver team faces the top remaining seed in the Frozen 4, Western Michigan, at 4 PM central on ESPN2 tonight.

Let's go Western Michigan.

Ekker and Kaprizov are the only forwards that go directly to the net and shoot period. Boldy and Rossi need to follow suit instead of huge bandy area style buttonhooks.

1 minute ago, RedLake said:

Ekker and Kaprizov are the only forwards that go directly to the net and shoot period. Boldy and Rossi need to follow suit instead of huge bandy area style buttonhooks.

I thought that was very noticeable as well last night.  The 4 guys that go to the net on our roster are Kirill, Ek, Foligno and Braz.  

25 minutes ago, Up North Guy said:

Lat night watching Celebrini was eye opening. This kid is the real deal. SJS certainly have a star to build around. By the looks it will, take another 2-3 years to find success though. Just rambled thoughts.

Don't know if it's such a hot take anymore but I think Celebrini will have the better overall career than Bedard. Eye test to me shows he is a more complete player. SJS's window should be opening in the next 2yrs, they got some really good young talent.

56 minutes ago, Protec said:

Well it was enough to offset their defensive inadequacy. 😀

Exactly.  Not to mention the nifty move to the backhand off the post 20 seconds before he stopped the puck on the wall to set up the Ek goal.

32 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

Don't know if it's such a hot take anymore but I think Celebrini will have the better overall career than Bedard. Eye test to me shows he is a more complete player. SJS's window should be opening in the next 2yrs, they got some really good young talent.

Notice something else about San Jose. They acquired Askarov to be their future goalie. He is 1 year ahead of The Wall. He's only played 13 games with the Sharks, and 21 with the Barracudas. His .896 sv% in the N isn't very good, but that sv% leads the team (the stats I looked at did not include Blackwood).

Also, on Celebrini, I thought he looked real good last night, but his +/- on the year is -26. To me, San Jose looks like it has more help around him than Chicago does, but that may just be me and negative Chicago bias. 

41 minutes ago, SkolWild73 said:

Exactly.  Not to mention the nifty move to the backhand off the post 20 seconds before he stopped the puck on the wall to set up the Ek goal.

I meant to say wasn't. Those players are good players but who's gonna answer for giving up so many goals to SJ? It's a team game. Need the team to clean up the defense cause if they beat up #97 and refs let it slide or if Ek takes another slapper to the ankle, MN has nothing much to fall back on. 

56 minutes ago, Protec said:

I meant to say wasn't. Those players are good players but who's gonna answer for giving up so many goals to SJ? It's a team game. Need the team to clean up the defense cause if they beat up #97 and refs let it slide or if Ek takes another slapper to the ankle, MN has nothing much to fall back on. 

I am gonna wait another few games and see.  Seems like an outliers to me at this point.  Even Kap was on the ice for 4 goals against last night.  With that said, I would not be surprised to see Ek and Rossi change lines.

2 hours ago, RedLake said:

Let's go Western Michigan.

I'm guessing Buium will not debut for the Wild prior to the final game against Anaheim regardless of tonight's outcome, so I'm going with the opposite take, let's go Buium for another Denver championship!

1 hour ago, Protec said:

I meant to say wasn't. Those players are good players but who's gonna answer for giving up so many goals to SJ? It's a team game. Need the team to clean up the defense cause if they beat up #97 and refs let it slide or if Ek takes another slapper to the ankle, MN has nothing much to fall back on. 

If it's a team game, why focus on the forwards specifically.

None of the players you listed include Faber completely letting Celebrini make him look foolish on two goals. 

None of those players are Chisholm giving away a pass directly in front of the net to Toffoli, and later completely getting beat by a Shark (I forget who) like he just got called up from the AHL.  Rossi jumped into the play to help and drew a tripping penalty for doing so.

None of those players are Fleury flailing around and whiffing on a few very stoppable goals.  Yes, the defense was pretty sloppy in front of him, but it wasn't like picks were getting tipped in front of him.  On many of those shots he had a clear view and just didn't react fast enough.  It's been clear for a while that he isn't what he used to be, but if there was a game to tell a goalie he needed to retire, that was a good example.

I think the team was having to play so defensive for so long that they flipped the switch too far in other direction is all.

Calgary will likely be more in the middle.

I thought this was a real entertaining and important game for the Wild to play in.

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As exciting a game as it was -- since those pesky Sharks and Macklin Celebrini wouldn't stay down -- it is certainly one that doesn't leave you with a whole lot of confidence heading into this tight fight with the Calgary Flames for the last Wild Card spot.

This was the 1st game in a long time where the Wild could score their way out of trouble. For me, having confidence that they can do that is very important going forward. What a difference both Ek and Kaprizov made, but not just with the goals.

I loved the Boldy-Ek-Foligno line, a bona-fide playoff line. I like Foligno with Ek since Ek takes so much abuse. He kind of needs a buddy who can come in and clean house. 

I wasn't as impressed with the Zuccarello-Rossi-Kaprizov line, but I feel like with their style of play, this may take a couple of games to get timing down. They make far more "skilled" plays and that takes a lot of coordination, so I would expect their results to lag.

I'm still not enamored with the 5 forward PP, but it sure looked better last night. Sure, it was the Sharks, but that wasn't what was so good, it was the quicker puck movement and being able to move around so much faster. I'd still rather have a defender out there, but this looked real good.

For me, I thought we got an answer to the question of "why are we running Goose into the ground?" That answer is that Fleury is about finished. It wasn't really a leaky defense either, and it seemed like some fluky shots got past him, but, really, he should retire after this season. 

I also finally saw the lack of speed that the Bogosian-Merrill pairing has. For me, they've been great soldiers for the full marathon off the season, but I think we'd be better served with a Buium-Chisholm 3rd pairing assuming that Midsy is ready. 

Also, on this topic, I'm thinking Chisholm gets qualified and gets to be the 7th D unless offersheeted.