Wild 2013-14 season

[crothmeier]

It's refreshing to watch Nino work the puck against the boards with two defenders pestering him and he's the one that comes out with the puck. I grunt and moan the most watching our players go into a scrum against the boards and give the puck away! The best teams out there have guys that go into the pile and come out with the puck. With that said the wife and I have tickets for Hockey Day Minnesota on Saturday, starting with tickets 6 rows up at the Gophers game, and then hustle over to the X 4 rows up center ice on the penalty box side!! Its gonna be a great day!

[CaptainMusky]

Crothmeier that will be an eventful day! Sounds fum.

[OnAFly]

Well, I'm back. I woke up an hour ago, now I'm making a frozen pizza and watching Brooklyn 99 on Hulu. It's 430am, I love jetlag.

[Bear55]

After that ugliness against Ottawa they really need to thump the oilers. I think if the boys can say in 8th or 9th until we get healthy we are in good shape. Sounds like Parise is skating again so hopefully not too much longer. Been waiting forest to see Granlund and Parise together, might actually happen.

[OnAFly]

I love how Fontaine crashes the net and actually finds ways to get pucks past goalies. We have not had that since Bruno in '08.

[Bear55]

Yep Fontaine was a great find, wasn't sure about him coming out of college because of his size but he's been awesome, the perfect depth player who can contribute and play on any line.

Remember a few years back when Koivu would get hurt and we would totally collapse, now him and Parise are out and we are doing ok, gotta love how far this team has come in a short time. Heck even Heatley is starting to look ok out there.

[OnAFly]

Whoa now, let's not get carried away with Heatley praise

I don't know if it was just Yeo going off on the guys that one game a couple weeks ago or what, but this looks like a different team from the one that lost 7 in a row.

[yakfisher]

Fontaine's gritty goals have been awesome! And it looks like Heatly is actually having fun out there setting up plays. He may not be what he once was, but he may be finding a style that could keep him in the league for a few more years (hopefully with the Jets or Oilers). He sees the ice well and has a lot of experience that could help Zucker grow some more. I'm not saying we'll make the playoffs, but e team has been fun to watch this month. They just gotta keep it going and find the chemistry when the IR guys return.

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

I'm not saying we'll make the playoffs

I'll say it.. we'll make the playoffs. From what I can tell, we just need to stay ahead of Phoenix and Dallas and we should be ok. Maaaaybe Nashville if they can get some goaltending.

[OnAFly]

PHO has 3 games at hand. Really, if they win all those we are down 2 pts to them. I give us a 50/50 shot, which is far below what I would have given us to begin the year.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Yeo in the offseason if we make it.

[knoppers]

PHO has 3 games at hand. Really, if they win all those we are down 2 pts to them. I give us a 50/50 shot, which is far below what I would have given us to begin the year.

seems as though most teams around us have games at hand, but the way PHO is playing, they may only go 1-1-1 at best. the game against dallas is huge for the wild to win in regulation tomorrow.

[10,000 Casts]

For those of you that think the wild don't need an enforcer what do you think about last night Nucks-Flames game? I think Tortorella's comments in this press conference say a lot.

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/19/video-tortorellas-post-brawl-presser/

[CaptainMusky]

If tortorella started the sundins that would have never happened.

[OnAFly]

Agreed. The intelligent move would be to put out your first line and score a quick goal.

[10,000 Casts]

Torterella says in the press conference that he didnt want to risk injuring his top line.

[CaptainMusky]

Well yeah what's he supposed go say. He acted like a bafoon. Hartley is a panzy also but torts overreacted after the situation he created.

[OnAFly]

Torts will say whatever he can to defend his poor decisions. He's a little weasel.

[10,000 Casts]

Well we play the flames on Feb 1. They're out of it. Let's see what they do. There's kind of a trend right now of the teams at the bottom of the standings trading and signing for fighters, maybe this is always the case? I suppose it's to fill seats and keep payroll down but they can still take runs at our players.

[OnAFly]

That definitely could be what the intention is. We've all seen teams give up in the past and just go try to make games "interesting" for casual fans.

On the other hand, they could just be trading away players of value for picks and what ever players the other team needs off their roster. These are usually guys that have more value in fighting than playing. Unfortunately for that type of player, that role is diminishing in the NHL which is why they are being packaged into trades to rebuilding teams.

[OnAFly]

That int penalty on El Nino to end the 1st was about as weak as it gets. Between that and the Stars repeatedly lifting opponents sticks into their own faces, we completely unraveled and never got it back together. Terrible.

[RK]

I don't even think the Nino penalty was the worst of the night, as bad as it was (ant it was terrible). The high stick on...ahh, I can't remember who it was, might have been Fontaine...earlier was worse. Clearly a follow through on playing the puck. When Dallas was in MN, Brodin got clipped on the exact same kind of play and got his nose remodeled and it wasn't a penalty.

I think last night's game is what you get with a lot of kids on the roster. Things go sideways early and they can never get back on track. Get frustrated, try to do too much... It happens. Not going to panic about it as much as I loathe losing to Dallas.

I also think you can chalk this up to the whole league taking a trip through the Bermuda Triangle last night. The Ducks lose at home to the Jets, Columbus beats LA, the Leafs beat Colorado, and the Devils absolutely throttle St. Louis... Weird, weird night.

[10,000 Casts]

The Wild lose to another team that's on the 2nd night of a back to back... They really got out played.

Well, when in doubt, just throw your stick at it!

[MN BassFisher]

Not a fun game to watch last night! They were definitely outplayed by the Stars. Every year it still erks me when we lose to the Stars.

[OnAFly]

Well, if there's a game we have a chance at over the next 4 it's this one and still it's not a good chance.

2-1-0 vs CHI this year

1-1-2 vs LAK+ANA this year

1-2-1 vs COL

[OnAFly]

Well I'll mark that down as a call

I didn't get to see the game, but I did see the replay of the Granny-Pommer goal. That was pretty.