Wild vs Blackhawks

[fishersofmen]

Pretty sure I hear the fat lady singing. Crawford had a nice game but we did not have many clean shots either. The couple of good chance we had couldn't finish. Just doesn't look like the same team unfortunately.

[mlvaj]

Wow, I'm surprised Yeo hasn't made a move yet. Nobody wants to skate, especially Vanek just standing there and turning the puck over. Either sit him or move him to another line. Just bursting our bubbles. Power Play, can't he see that it's not working with PP line #1? I'm just gonna get mad thinking about it. It hasn't work out all yr long and we just got lucky in the playoffs, but with the Hawks, we need to up the ante and shift our players around.

[PierBridge]

Its not over, think kings vs san jose last year....

[lawdog]

This series has just about stripped all the joy out of my week! Its killing me. Game one I didn't get to see the start and by the time I get to start watching we had just given up goal 4 to let them retake the lead, we outplayed them from there out and got nothing to show for it. Game 2, I've never watched us play worse in a big game. Just horrible.

Then last night, I thought if we just got home we'd be OK. Kane owns us, caught Dubs cheating and beat him with an average but well placed shot. AND WE CAN'T SCORE ONE FRIGGEN GOAL!?!?!?!?!???? Not for 2+ games! Vanek standing around turning it over. Suter doing nothing. Crawford playing like he's the best goal tender ever, stopping everything we throw at him. Its just PAINFUL...

UGGGHHHHHH.

Saw a couple people last night comparing it to a few years ago when the Twins were good but the Yankees just owned us in the playoffs. They weren't really that much better than us, but they made us look pathetic. That seems to be us and the stinkin Hawks now. NOT something any other Minnesota team should have copied from the Twins!!!

[PierBridge]

Its just a game guys. .

[bobberineyes]

Its just a game guys. . We all realize that, but you don't get this far especially after handing the #1 team in the division there azz. Playing mediocre hockey against a team that you are already intimidated by doesn't cut it, we see this in youth sports but for crying out loud these guys are suppose to be pro's.

[PierBridge]

I know it was more of a joke.

Im still ticked off about game 3.

Not giving up though and I wouldnt be surprised if it went 6 or 7.

[CaptainMusky]

Do the Wild have the ability to win 4 straight? Yes, I believe they do, even against the Hawks. The trouble is they have only shown that capability in Game 1 after they crapped the bed in the first period to make a comeback.

To me, the biggest piece that has been underperforming has been overall D play. I think they did a better job on Tuesday with limiting chances, but all they need is one. If only we had a finisher like Kane.

I want to see a better game out of Scandella, Suter and Spurgeon tonight. They have all been off IMO this series.

Dubnyk has been so so. You allow 1 goal you shouldn't lose the game.

Pominville needs to hit the dang net.

I was surprised that Yeo put Carter in vs Haula last game. Carter just doesn't bring much to this team IMO. We needed Haula's speed. He must really be in the doghouse. I thought he played OK on Saturday. Carter is just so slow and plodding.

Not sure if Stewart will be back, but he has been nonexistent anyway. Lots of disappointment to spread around.

[solbes]

At least they will let it all hang out tonight. I don't think they come back from the brink only to give away game 4 just because its going to be too hard to climb back.

A semi-realistic goal should be to win tonight and figure out a way to win in Chicago in game 5. That alone would be a step forward, given we have yet to win in the windy city.

[schmitty3]

Yup D play has not been good, but you can't win when you don't put the puck in the net. I knew right away when Cooke didn't put that one in early in the first it was going to come back to haunt us. The place would have went nuts if he scored there, and I think we would have rolled from there.

Crazy we give Kane one look and he buries it, but yet we can't even hit the net on a breakaway. Pominville has had a number of chances this series where he has failed to hit the net.

It's weird how Yeo is so eager to change the lines if they have nothing going in the regular season, but this series... nothing. We've gotta change something up to get some offense going.

Also I don't care how much potential he has to provide offense, Vanek should be riding the pine. I was at game 3 and so in person how lazy he is out there. That was a must win game, and he showed absolutely no effort, lost every 50/50 battle, and spent most of his time with his skates anchored at the blue line. It is pathetic the effort he shows, and he is a liability out there.

[CaptainMusky]

Right, allowing 1 goal you should win 90% or more of those games. At this stage you have to score at least 1 goal no excuses.

I think the D played better Tuesday, but absolutely it doesn't matter how great the D plays if you cannot put the puck in you are not going to win.

How this team excels is from the back forward. Strong D coverage and getting out of the zone leading to extra zone time in the offensive end. What I don't see enough from this team is "rush" style goals. Almost all of our goals come from spending time in the offensive zone.

[Slabasaurus]

Right, allowing 1 goal you should win 90% or more of those games. At this stage you have to score at least 1 goal no excuses.

I think the D played better Tuesday, but absolutely it doesn't matter how great the D plays if you cannot put the puck in you are not going to win.

How this team excels is from the back forward. Strong D coverage and getting out of the zone leading to extra zone time in the offensive end. What I don't see enough from this team is "rush" style goals. Almost all of our goals come from spending time in the offensive zone.

I think the Chicago D played better than I'd like to give them credit for. They conceded the perimeter of the zone but didn't allow much to get through/around the net... at least really good chances.

The chances the wild did have, crawford shut em down. I am going to attribute that to the crowd chanting "CRAWFORD... CRAWFORD" when the game started. I've noticed that with him, if you wait until he lets one by, the crawford chant gets to him. If you go all crawford crawford right away, he gets this edge to him and he looks sharper than normal.

Vanek keeps getting too cute with the puck. Stop trying to force things and do what you're good at bud... SHOOT THE F*&*(*&*( PUCK!

At any rate, I'm still blaming this 0-3 start to the series on the black cat that crossed my "intended" path on friday night after I was leaving Art in Bloom. I need to go back and find that cat and yell at it.

[fishersofmen]

I get the feeling they will mail it in tonight but hopefully I am wrong like I have been with the entire series. Another 8:30 game......Yippi.

[Bobby Bass]

I sure would like to see the Wild show up for at least one complete game. Take the body, skate and hit the fricking net.

[CaptainMusky]

Well, that was sure a kick in the seeds! The team finally woke up after Haula's goal, but far too little and too late.

Crawford was big and man did the Hawks play great team D. I didn't see that coming at all. I knew they were good, but they were just suffocating.

[OnAFly]

We played into their game. They want to force you to make mistakes and then they want to capitalize on those chances (much like what the Wild did when successful). We turned pucks over in the neutral zone at every opportunity given. We chose to give pucks away as opposed to taking face-offs. We didn't shadow Kane at all at times.

We had the ability to make this a 2-2 series without a doubt. Instead, we do everything the Hawks want and get swept.

BTW, I'm still very bitter about game 3. No excuses on that. We gave that game away by playing pick-up style hockey.

[CaptainMusky]

I agree on the Game 3 take. I honestly don't know why put Carter in the lineup that night. I get that Haula has been in his doghouse, but he is so much more of a threat than Carter and he looked lost out there in Game 3. Last night he puts Prosser in there. Not sure if he was trying to get more physical or more offense than Leopold or what, but I didn't like that move either.

Zucker was non-existent. Hossa or whoever had him tied up at every chance. Couldn't get around the D at all.

The Hawks played very well and you are correct, we played right into the trap they wanted us to.

[Bobby Bass]

Better to have come up short in the final few seconds then to score and go into overtime. We all know how that would have ended. Mr. Kane would have broke down the wing, collected a pass and drill it over the shoulder and into the back of the net. Just when we thought we had a chance we would be denied. On the positive side we did get to watch ten games of playoff hockey, on the negative side, lets not go there. Wild have a lot of work to do in the off season but that is always the case with every team. Thing is we were thinking we had a few more pieces to the puzzle and it looks like we don't

[CaptainMusky]

Thing is we were thinking we had a few more pieces to the puzzle and it looks like we don't

I don't know if I would say that. I think we did learn a lot about this team and some of the young players.

Dumba surely made huge strides this year and we can see there is something to his game that has a lot of positives. I think he has a lot of upside yet once he shores up his D coverage a bit. He made some glaring mistakes, which he will correct with time, but the offensive side of his game is sure a bonus.

The Hawks are just a tough tough team. They wait for you to make a mistake, then pounce. If you don't make one, they force you into a mistake. They are savvy and skilled. Losing to them isn't a tragedy because I think they have a great shot to win the Cup.

This offseason will be busy for sure. We better get an Offseason thread started to we can start pontificating about our keyboard GM decisions. :-)

One thing is for sure. Harding is off the books and will not be signed.

I am betting Backstrom is bought out. Dubs will get signed 98% sure of that.

The rest is up in the air.

Kyle Brodziak C UFA

Sean Bergenheim LW UFA GONE

Chris Stewart RW UFA Likely GONE

Mikael Granlund C RFA RETAIN but hopefully low

Erik Haula LW RFA HMM, a year ago I would have said sign, now ???

Ryan Carter LW UFA GONE

Keith Ballard D UFA GONE

Jordan Leopold D UFA RETAIN

Nate Prosser D UFA GONE

Right at this moment we are $9M under the cap for next year, but that number is going to go up. We have Folin and a couple others on the Iowa team we need to sign too.

[bottomdweller]

I know it wont happen but I would like to see Yeo gone! Put zucker and grandlund together. Get rid of Vanek, Bergenheim, Carter and Stewart and go get a 30-40 goal a year player

[fishersofmen]

I like Yeo. The team must have respect for him too or they wouldn't have came back from the basement to make the playoffs regardless of Dubnyk's play. As far as this series there is no way it should be blamed on Yeo. Mistakes and poor player performance is to blame as well as Dubnyk coming back to earth a bit Chicago had the better goalie. We need a couple of finishers on this team.

[schmitty3]

What a disappointing series. Those were 4 of the most frustrating games to watch, especially the home games. Gotta give Chicago credit though they played our game better than we could play our game. Completely shut us down defensively, and then were very opportunistic.

Dubnyk definitely wasn't at his best. He let in a number of soft goals, and we've seen how that can affect a team. Crawford stole a game or 2 for Chicago, and we really needed Dubnyk to do the same for us.

Should be an interesting off season, lots of moves to make or not make.

[Bear55]

interesting season, what a roller coaster ride. i cant help but think the team ran out of gas after that huge 2nd half comeback. other than maybe granlund everyone was just off this series. i certainly thought the hawks were beatable this year but they have a playoff gear that we havnt found yet and may very well go on to win another cup. cant wait for next season, we have all the peices in place and there is no reason we cant be one of the best teams in the nhl and our youth should really start coming into their own.

[lawdog]

I think you guys are being awful hard on Dubnyk. Maybe he wasn't superman like, as we've come to expect, but good grief we went 2&2/3 games without even scoring and holy hell we gave him no defensive support in front of the net. I'm not sure its realistic to think any goalie could have done enough in this series to get us anywhere. Unless the goalie can score too, its hard for a goalie to win a game where you get blanked!