Wild!!!

[BartmanMN]

I'm with Musky. I think Suter needs to be paired with a "big" who can manage the front of the net while he does his thing chasing guys and playing in the corners. We need to find the right combo soon.

[bbfenatic]

I'd take Leddy over Suter any day. Koivu not playing that well...Parise is carrying Danny (what's our goalie's name again) Heatley and Koivu. IMO they should look at putting ZP with Seto & PMB to see if they can produce, put Brodziak up with Koivu & Heatley and let him dig some pucks out of the corner or help Heatley mop things up in front. They have to get more going than they have or they are in trouble....no time to waste this year!

[Bear55]

I don't think there's much to worry about with Suter. New system, and he has the Nashville system ingrained in him from 7 years in the organization, so he's still in training camp more or less. Am excited to see him paired with Brodin tonight. I thought Brodin was great against St Louis. Remarkable poise for a kid in his 2nd game. He's going to be a good one.

I'm excited to see this too, I almost typed a Brodin/Suter top pair after the St. Louis game but it seemed a bit early being his 2nd NHL game and all.

[OnAFly]

Brodin will play with Suter tonight. Suter will have to dig deep and remember how to clear the front of the net. A 180lb 19 year old isn't going to be real effective there (IMO).

I wouldn't touch the top line. The 2/3 liners need to figure out how to contribute. Get in front, shoot pucks, score dirty goals. So far they seen to be having trouble with all three. Also, they need to figure out that they can ship pucks into the corner and chase them down.

[Bear55]

I'd take Leddy over Suter any day.

Lets not get carried away here.

[archerystud]

Problem with the shortened season is that it hurts teams with a bunch of new players all trying to learn a new system.

Suter looks good skating/passing but I agree he needs a bigger partner. I've been more impressed with his puck moving ability and I was down on signing him.

I think the second line needs some grit. I'd move Clutterbuck up to the second and Cullen down to the third.

[Quackaddict9]

What do you guys expect? Typical Wild hockey...hope they pick up the W tonight!

[archerystud]

Wild Win.....

However, including PMB's goal tonight the Wild have a total of 4 goals which do NOT come from the top line.

I like the way Cullen works and his speed but he really needs to start burying some of his chances.

[schmitty3]

Some of these chances for Cullen are going to go in soon. It's not like he is putting bad shot on net. They have all been pretty good chances and the goalie has just made good saves. I don't see the dislike in him. He plays his heart out, and has been getting a LOT of chances lately.

[archerystud]

I won't argue that he doesn't play hard but he's got to bury the puck in the back of the net.

Maybe it's line combos but it is a concern about the lack of scoring on the other lines. Gilbert's goal was while the first line was on the ice (Miko got an assist). So in six games the other lines have 3 goals.

[10,000 Casts]

Yup, something needs to change when your 2nd line only has 1 goal and 1 assist in 6 games. Cullen and Seto both need to finish.

We have undefeated Chicago tonight and it's a back to back, a win tonight and a goal or 2 from that second line would be huge. If Brodin plays with Suter again tonight, he will have his hands full. Suter is -5 already.

[OnAFly]

+/- is misleading I think. Suter is also on the ice 1/2 the game.

[10,000 Casts]

Suter ranks 208 out or 218 Dmen for +/-, he is 5th in the league in minutes played per game. So ya, he pretty much plays half the game but for $8m a year, I will have extreme expectations.

On the bright side, the wild are leading their division and they are in the top 8 in the west so even tho we harp on them, they really aren't doing that bad at all.

[solbes]

Frustrating to see us struggle at times against Columbus at home. I'm very happy for a regulation win, but we have a long way to go. We're going to have to play far better tonight to have a shot.

First line should remain together all year unless there is an issue. 2nd and 3rd lines need to be reshuffled a bit to find the right mix. Dmen too, though I liked Brodin up there with Suter at times last night.

[OnAFly]

We need to stop taking 3+ penalties in the third to have any sort of chance tonight. Last night, listening to the game I could just see is spiraling out of control. You can't play 8 minutes of a the third period short handed and expect to win games on average.

When is Granlund going down to Houston?

[Bear55]

Ugly 3rd but a win is a win. Cullen actually looked a little better out there, before that he has been terrible. Granlund is creating chances but just kind of looks overwhelmed out there at times, skills are there but physically can't hack it. The Brodin/Suter combo looked good, they will be tested tonight.

Have a feeling Harding will stand on his head tonight a we squeek out a win.

[RK]

Man, Brodin amazes me. He made a couple plays last night a 19 year old kid in his 3rd game has no freaking business making. Didn't look out of place at all in the top pair.

Suter looked a lot more comfortable too. 1st couple periods you could see him making some of the kinds of plays that got him the contract he has. He'll only get better as the system becomes natural.

Interesting to note his old partner is struggling worse than he is. This is from "The Tennesean" - 'With 0 points in six games, and his team having lost three straight, it's hard to imagine that [Weber] is feeling good vibes. According to Nashville coach Barry Trotz, the two-time Norris Trophy finalist is somewhat bothered by his recent lack of point production. "I think Webs is a little bit frustrated," Trotz said. "He wants to do so well. It's not that he's doing a lot of bad things, but I think there's a little bit of a level of frustration in his game right now that holds him back a little bit." Weber is in the process of trying to learn to play with a new defense partner in Roman Josi.' Like my friend from Nashville said after the Suter deal went through - question isn't about Suter without Weber, it's about Weber without Suter... Seems he might have been right at least early on.

Cullen looked a lot better last night finally, but man Granlund is struggling. Skilled or not that line is awfully small. Showed again last night. Wonder if they send him down for a bigger body? Or would that mess with the kid's head too much? Still early, but with the schedule how much time do you give the kid to figure it out?

I honestly don't know what to think about tonight. Know for sure if they start marching to the box to start the 3rd again tonight, it's lights out. Chicago will eat them alive.

[bbfenatic]

Cannot believe how ineffective the "effective" players from early season last year are like; Cullen, Clutterbuck, Brodziak, Seto, etc. They all look horrible! They must have been out of their heads early on last year or they have really lost it over a 1 yr time frame.

Bring up some of the hopefuls from Houston and give them a chance to show their stuff....even some lesser skilled players who are bigger bodied.....we look so small and other than Parise not too many guys toughing it out in front of the net. We'll see tonight how they stack up...a great opponent with home ice advantage...if they have it they should be able to hang in there...if Chicago wins by more than 2 then time to shuffle some lines or bring some guys up and send some down IMO.

[archerystud]

I'd like to see them pair up Granlund with a bigger forward like Coyle. If the 2nd and 3rd lines don't start producing I wouldn't be shocked to Zucker and/or Coyle get a few games in.

[10,000 Casts]

If the wild can hang with Chi tonight, I'd say there good to go. They need to start Kassian and let him handle Bollig at center ice early and get the team pumped.

anyone know if Carcillo is back?

[OnAFly]

Both goals tonight by the 2\3 lines so far. What the heck happened with Harding? Makes you wonder about the whole ms thing. I feel bad for the guy. He's got to be thinking that about every mistake he makes.

[schmitty3]

Now that was an exciting game! And what about Cullen now? He played another great game, and finally got one to go, plus the game winner in the shootout.

Backstrom was amazing too.

Also Brodin is unbelievable for being just 19. He is going to be on hell of a hockey player... well he already is.

[hugonian1]

Solid win tonight.

Maybe they are starting to gel.

[Bran32]

Very Happy for Cullen!! The whole team looked pretty dang good tonight!! Cannot believe how fast the blackhawks are though!!! This could be a jump start win for the rest of the season!

[archerystud]

This team does need to find some other line scoring in order to win. Maybe if I rip on Seto and Brodziak they will start scoring as well?!?! Okay Setoguchi and Brodziak, you guys suck until you start scoring some goals!!!

Harding gave up a couple of posts and that second goal was weak, no defensive coverage on the first one however. I'm more worried about the MS thing getting in his head mentally. My understanding is it shouldn't really effect him too much at least for a couple of years but goalie is a very mental position. If you get out of "the zone" it can be tough to get back into it!