Wild 2014/2015 Regular Season

[OnAFly]

Scandella standing up for pommer after a guy tries to take his head off. This is the kind of toighness we need to see. Unfortunately the instigator penalty is there to protect the cheapshots.

Also, some prett suspect reffing tonight

[fishing tech]

Pretty suspect goaltending for the Wild.

[CaptainMusky]

Yep 2 of those goals are on backstrom.

[OnAFly]

Pretty suspect goaltending for the Wild.

This is true.

Vanek is sooooooo slowwwwwwww out there.

[fishing tech]

We need some D man depth. I know in the long run but hopefully before mid season Dumba and Folin should be better. Prosser is what he is. Backstrom is like he is on a 1 or 2 second delay.

[schmitty3]

Tough game, I wish Lapanta and Greenlay would stop bringing up the shots on goal every game. Yeah we outshot them 2-1, but they outscored us 3-0, and I really didn't think we outplayed them too much.

Anderson was a brick wall out there, whereas Backstrom was swiss cheese.

[10,000 Casts]

Our goaltending makes me nervous.

[Bear55]

Yep missing Harding right now, at the same time its pretty hard to win a game with 0 goals but I guess this is what it felt like for other teams who use to completely outplay the wild and still lose. Nothing wrong with the effort, we just need to burry our chances which seems to be a franchise theme we can't shake.

[certified jumbo]

We need to get our goalie situation solved quickly, this is a major problem. Way to many soft goals.

Also, we may need to bring in a tough guy. Teams are taking runs on us everynight to slow our team speed down. Lucky pommer didn't break any ribs last night when he took a knee to the mid section at mid ice. We have lots of speed and no toughness.

[bbfenatic]

Yep missing Harding right now, at the same time its pretty hard to win a game with 0 goals but I guess this is what it felt like for other teams who use to completely outplay the wild and still lose. Nothing wrong with the effort, we just need to burry our chances which seems to be a franchise theme we can't shake.

Agree Bear....and we look like the pesky JV team that can skate fast and take a lot of weak shots that make opponents goalies look like world beaters. We just don't seem to get setup inside the scoring zone like our opponents do and take that wicked shot all players at this level should be capable of. From what I have seen lately I am getting concerned, lack of scoring punch and shaky tending....yikes!

[OnAFly]

We take lots of shots, but we don't have that guy to sit in the slot and punch in rebounds. That guy is supposed to be Vanek, but he seems to be too slow to react to what is going on around him half the time.

As far as adding toughness goes, what are we going to do, take a minor every time someone takes a hard check on one of our guys? Unfortunately, the instigator rule pretty much penalizes the players for trying to police themselves. Then, the league doesn't want to turn into a no-checking Euro-style game so they are reluctant to go after guys that push the limits on a "legal" check. It's coming to the point where you need to need to retaliate semi-legally at another point in the game and hope it doesn't get called. If you just start beating on the guy you're going to get the 2+5+10 that Scandy got last night. I'm not saying that it's how it should be, but it seems like how it is.

Backstrom was a bad signing, but we had no other choice at the time. We're stuck with him through next year. I doubt we could trade a shaky old goalie being paid $3mil/yr

I know I said I would hold judgement on Vanek until half way through the season, but really? That guy is either injured or closely related to Heatley.

[OnAFly]

Read an article on HockeyWilderness about Vanek's play from a statistical point of view. To sum it up, he's on a cold streak, but doing all the things he's done in the past, good and bad. Eventually, the law of large numbers will catch up and he'll see an upswing in production.

[CaptainMusky]

Vaneks production will improve if he plays with the same folks for more than a game. Now that he is with pominville and granlund we should see some goals

[CaptainMusky]

Its too early for the panic button but I sure wish we would have more stability in the lines. These guys need chemistry with each other. Brodz up and Haula down to the 4th line? Hmm not sure about that move.

[PierBridge]

Well hes been total garbage all around. Lucky hes not in IOWA.

[fishing tech]

Don't take this the wrong way but the Wild have No physical presents anywhere on the ice. We are fast and talented but the other teams physical play slows that down. Even Coyle isn't driving the net anymore. Yoe seems to finally be showing some emotion on the bench with the thumping his guys are taking. I think they will be fine but they will need to toughen up and be healthy come playoff time.

[OnAFly]

Yeah, Coyle, Nino and Haula need to find that extra gear they had last April. Nino has shown flashes, but Coyle and Haula have been nowhere lately. Hopefully Haula wasn't just a flash in the pan. He was a fantastic 3rd line center last year.

[fishing tech]

I hate to say it, but Haula getting his bell rung may slow him down for a while. It seems that way with all players that have had concussions. It will take a month to get everything going for him again. Now Parise with the same thing. They can get the all clear to play but it takes a lot out of you.

[CaptainMusky]

Brodz just put in two gift wrapped goals in one game from vanek. Other than that he's done nothing. I'm surprised Haula didn't have a concussion from that hit and it certainly has to get in your head getting drilled like that.

[OnAFly]

Last year Zucker went from being a bust to trade bait to and complete unknown. This year, he started off on the 4th line grinding and was moved up to the second line after showing he can produce offense while not being a complete defensive liability. I know it's only 12 games in, but the guy is scoring 5-2-7 and is a +3.

At 22, he's on pace for ~35 goals, 47pts but with an unsustainably high shot percentage of ~25%. Is he the scoring forward this team has been trying to develop since Gaborik? OK, so that's a lofty comparison, but you get the point

For comparison, Parise and Pommer have career shot percentages around 11%.

[bobberineyes]

This might be a crazy question, If Guy Lapointe retired in 82 why Did they wait so long to raise his jersey to the rafters.

[RuKiddingMe]

First goal of the night is on you Kemper!!! [PoorWordUsage]

[OnAFly]

Might have been off of Scandella, but yeah, he was off his angle there. Can't give up the short side from there.

[OnAFly]

Another beautiful assist by Vanek. I've got no complaints if he keeps that up.

Dumba did a great job breaking up a near 2-1 too.

[OnAFly]

So somehow non-reviewable goalie interference is reviewable when we score, but not when our opponents score. This is getting frustrating.

Price has been better than Keumper tonight. Keumper has been beaten clean a couple of times with a couple pipes.

now 4-1, I'm done. Night.