WIld vs. Hawks

[schmitty3]

Crawford > Our goalies

[knoppers]

getting tough to watch. we cannot seem to take advantage of good scoring chances, we need to put the puck into the net against a great team like this when we have them chances.

[archerystud]

The Wild were beaten mentally by the Chicago defense. I was having fun watching the game until the Blackhawks got their first goal. After that it was all Chicago, at least until I turned it off. The Wild were frustrated by a very good defensive team.

At least Chicago should be a different team next year, they are only 2 million under the cap right now at 21 players. The Wild will be better next year.

I said at the start of this year that I think they will be fun to watch for the next 2. We'll see how it goes.

[toughguy]

Tough series. Like I said, this was about the worst possible draw for the Wild. Hopefully we don't get hit with a plague of injuries just before the playoffs next year. Some improvements on D next year would be nice too.

[solbes]

Chicago was so smooth moving the puck out of their zone and crossing our blue line. 3-4 tape to tape passes and they made it look easy. Then there was our game where we struggled to get it to the red line and then were about 30% successful in dump and chase.

0 for 17 on power play. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

Couldn't bury the puck in the net even when it was wide open. Koivu with that Juicy Lucy rebound that went right up the middle; missed a net that was 70% open. Crawford was good, but he could have been beaten numerous times in the series and wasn't.

Backs had a sports hernia I guess. I don't think Kuemper would have been much better last night. Not sure what we do in goal next year.

So many questions for next year that still need to be addressed. On the positive, all these guys finally got some playoff experience, so they should be better prepared next year. Zucker played great, Brodin is a stud Dman. Scandella should replace one of the slower Dmen next year. Granlund hopefully pulls up his game next year. Hopeful for '13/14.

[PierBridge]

I say we go after Luongo. I believe he has some game left in the tank and could help us big-time.

Yeah, that was super frustrating dominating the 1st period again and being down. The Hawks 1st goal was weak and it seemed to deflate the entire team and fan-base.

That being said it was great to get back in the play-offs and the future is looking bright.

I'm thinking home ice easily next year and a very dominant home record to boot.

[CaptainMusky]

Im excited about the realignment. One thing that I heard (believe it was from Russo) that in looking at all the travel time, games in back to back nights on the road, etc, The Wild had the worst schedule in the NHL this year pertaining to traveling. This weighs heavily. Probably would have been much worse in a normal season, but still its a disadvantage.

I do think the Wild are much closer to being a serious contender than many of the naysayers.

They were competing and really could have one any of the games with the exception of two. You just have to get those pucks in when you have the chance. The way the Blackhawks clogged the middle just shut them down, no rebounds. Too many shots from outside the dots and too close to the boards. Need to get the puck in the middle more for better chance at rebounds.

[Improvedarock]

Tom Gilbert is not a playoff player. He's a friggin wimp wow. Trade him he's worthless!!!!