NHL PLayoffs 13' - 14'

[hugonian1]

Great to see the Wild mature and grow as the series went on.

They overcame a lot of adversity.

This should go a long ways in building confidence.

It would have been a long offseason if they had lost.

Chicago will be tough but I think we can hang with them.

[Bear55]

Chicago will be tough but I think we can hang with them.

Chicago is a good matchup for us, not so much because we are better but more because they whooped our butt last year and that can be extra motivation. We did well against them regular season but as we all know the playoffs are whole new beast.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I was doing the silent run around jitter bug also.

Living in the middle of nowhere SW MN, I don't get many games on the TV. This series has been fun to watch.

[CaptainMusky]

Look out Chicago, El Nino is coming!!!

I called 2 goals by a group of 3 guys last night, but didnt think they would all come from one of them! :-)

Great game, I almost wrote them off but they kept coming back. Captain clutch Spurgeon and icewater in his veins Nino.

[RK]

Wheee... What a fun series. Been too busy to keep up on the goings on here, but...

Random thoughts:

- Great learning experience for a young team. Saw some of our kids (Coyle, Nino, Granlund, Haula, Brodin, Spurgeon, Scandella) really take huge steps forward. Wild was deep quality-wise but green as grass in terms of experience, and a series like this is a heck of an education on what it takes to win in the post-season. I think you could see some of the lessons from last season paying off too. The difference between this year and last year was night and day. Coach's cliche, but it's a process...

- Holy dump can Nino shoot hard. Wow.

- One of the best story lines of games 6 and 7? The redemption of Dany Heately and Kyle Brodziak. They go from being scratched to playing major minutes down the stretch of game 7, both having 3 point nights. Heately's pass to spring the 2 on 1 was spectacular.

- Man is Colorado's defense awful. Great skill up front, but that back end - stinky. I think that's part of why they had to sit back in a 1-3-1 defense all game. D needed help on the backcheck through the neutral zone all game, and a breakdown there is what ultimately cost them.

- How patient was Spurgeon on the tying goal? McKinnon looked like Thumper from Bambi sliding across the ice trying to be the hero and come up with the big diving block, and Spurgeon just waited him out.

- Thank you Islanders, for giving up on Spurgeon AND Nino.

- With the Blues, Hawks, Wild, Avs and Stars, the Central is going to be a brutally tough division for a few years.

- Chicago should be a fun series. Much as I'd like to pick the Wild, Chicago's too deep and too experienced. We kept Colorado's second and third lines off the scoreboard all series. That'll be a lot tougher with Chicago when you have Kane, Sharp and Hossa to contend with. I say Chicago in 6...

- Unrelated note: What an epic choke by the Sharks. Wowza.

[solbes]

Epic game. Cracked my top 5 hockey games that include college and NHL. Nino was beastly. Spurgeon was jumping into plays all over the place. And Bryz didn't crack when coming in cold.

Varly was clearly fighting the puck last night. If he was even playing halfway himself we lose that game. I do agree with above that we figured him out.

Figured we get earlier games with da Hawks, but I see we will be the 8-8:30 time slot most nights again. My work will suffer no doubt. Go Wild!!

[Bear55]

Still pumped this morning, what an epic game. Answering 4 goals and winning in OT in game 7 is just incredible. Kind of been saying for a while it will be the kids that boost us, you know the vets can bring it consistently but we needed the kids to step up and bring the depth to have any chance in the playoffs. All of them have stepped up in a big way and some of them much sooner than I thought. Brodz and Spurgie redeeming themselves after a rough start to the series. Hope Kuemps is ok, Bryz and Heatley still scare me out there still but I do have to give heater some credit, hes been good the past couple of games.

[solbes]

Agree that Heater and Brodz both had a pretty solid finish to the series. Heater especially had more life out there than I expected.

We need to steal one in Chicago to have a chance of seeing a Game 7. I don't think we will hold serve in our 3 home games. Minnesota was 3-1-1 against Chicago during the regular season.

When does Cooke come back? Game 4, Game 5?

[Craigums]

I've been conditioned as a MN sports fan to always expect the worst. Each time CO scored I was convinced it was the final nail in the coffin. But our boys game fighting back to move onto the next round. Glad I stayed up for the whole thing!

[bbfenatic]

We are on a roll, found our groove....I expect us to beat Bhawks with much more ease than Avs. Things are clicking, confidence is high, deep talent is there; if whomever ends up in the nets just plays respectably the Wild will win the series IMO.

[CaptainMusky]

The blackhawks scare me far more than the avs. What a game though relish that for a day then focus on tomorrow. What a boost for yeo and his staff. What a great game plan and adjustments they made. Really starting to think he has "it".

[BartmanMN]

That was a battle. We really deserved the win, so I am glad they got it. Man that was fun. I hope Kemps can clear up the concussion symptoms fast and get back soon.

[OnAFly]

Cooke is back Game 4, suspended in G3 for 7 games if my math is right

Hard to tell if Chicago is really that good right now or STL was that bad. They really stunk it up in the 10 games leading up to the playoffs. Hopefully it was the latter and we make a good series out of it.

After that, it would either be ANA or LAK. Neither team we play particularly well. Though we did take 2 out of ANA at one point this season. Who knows, anything can happen

PS Max Talbot has no class at all

[Michael L]

Good game. It will be a good series but since you boys won't be having a rally this year I thought I should share what you'll be missing. I tell ya, it's fun.

[rocky]

anyone know the presage code for the fix that go on sale today?

[Bear55]

Man Hawks are going to be tough, they are pretty much stacked up front and their D are light years better than the Avs. We are going to need Crawford to have a bad series to have a chance, our own goalie situation look dismal right now. Hoping we put up a better fight than last season, anything beyond that is gravy.

[PierBridge]

[PierBridge]

[PierBridge]

[Mid-Lake Rock]

Speaking of Secord...

[RuKiddingMe]

Savard was a stud -smoked two packs a day, that is just crazy - my old man used to love watching him play.

[archerystud]

I only hated Savard because he was so good. First player I ever remember that was so smooth on the spin-o-rama.

St. Louis thought it was a 70 game season and no playoffs. Hawks are better on D and deeper up front than the Ave's. Bryz wasn't great at the start but he was really challenging shooters when he came in last night rather than laying back. Hopefully a Wild goalie (whoever it is) can get hot.

My one question to FMer's. Did the Wild completely shutdown Harding? I heard he was back at practice in early April and that was it. I'm not saying to push him if he wasn't ready but the way he started the year I'd be willing to take a chance on putting him back in.

[OnAFly]

Think about it this way, the Hawks are essentially the same teamm aw last year. We took them to 5, but it should have been 6. This year we are a much better team than last. I think we have a shot at this!

[archerystud]

Russo's Rants on April 16th said that Harding is fine just not ready to play. If he is fine how about a return at the X for game 3?

If Kuemper can't play and Bryz shaky I say give him a shot!! But I do think Bryz will be better than he was in games 1 and 2.

[Michael L]

12 hours to go, hopefully the Wild healed up a little, battle starts soon..