Wild Regular Season 2017-18

[bbfenatic]

Very big win after being thrashed by them the previous week but make no mistake about it Dubs single handedly won that game and he'll have to stand on his head every night to give us a chance game in and game out in ther current state...not saying the light switch can't turn on and we start clicking on all cylinders upfront and on the back end but what happens if Dubs gets hurt?

Got the Surf Board Swing this week...would be nice to win 2 out of the 3 to make up some ground

 

[hoppe56307]

Even with as bad as the wild have been playing they are still only 1 point out of a playoff spot.  I would hope we can get the win against the Ducks tonight, they are slumping and pretty mediocre at home.

[Bear55]

Maybe we just got our slump out of the way early this year, that would be fun. I think we have the Ducks tomorrow hoppe.

[bbfenatic]

I think you said this same thing about a month ago so they are not gaining just staying the same....makes me wonder if "they are who I thought they were"...god rest his soul.

There are only 3 teams in the West with fewer points than the Wild right now. At some point soon they need to go on a run to solidify their competence...there are not that many push overs in the league so for us the schedule does not get any easier.

[hoppe56307]

2 hours ago, Bear55 said:

Maybe we just got our slump out of the way early this year, that would be fun. I think we have the Ducks tomorrow hoppe.

You are correct, wishful thinking that today was friday. 

[Bear55]

Just take Friday off, then Thursday is Friday and Friday is still Friday I think. 

[bbfenatic]

Well they won the 2 out of 3...keep it rolling boys

[Bear55]

Strange to win 3 OT games, I think we have or had the worst 3 on 3 ot record in the league. Also imagine how screwed this team would be without Staal, what a gift. Hated that 3 year term when he signed but kind of wish he had an extra year or two on this contract. 

[bbfenatic]

I'd be careful about extending these older guys at this point....extending Koivu was a mistake and if Staal proves out and he's worth it we can sign him later...like we should have done with Koivu...but we've already been down that discussion.

Agree on the 3 on 3 OT wins...we showed more aggressiveness, it paid off...and then it becomes a confidence factor which we certainly should have going forward.  Big game tonight.

 

[hoppe56307]

Big home game tonight against a very young and vastly improved Calgary team.  Should be a great game.

[Bear55]

20 hours ago, bbfenatic said:

I'd be careful about extending these older guys at this point....extending Koivu was a mistake and if Staal proves out and he's worth it we can sign him later...like we should have done with Koivu...but we've already been down that discussion.

No doubt, it rarely works out like Staal. Koivu was extended for a little too much but he just has a great year and is still super valuable to this team. We just have no one to replace him, trading for a high end center is just about impossible without giving up way too much or taking a big risk on a player. Ideally he will be our 3rd line center as he ages so I'm not worried about him on the team, we just need Ek to step up at some point in the next year or three and become a 50 point center or better.

Lucky to get two points last night, we had no business getting the win but I will take anything we can get. 

[bbfenatic]

It was a strange game...survived the opening barrage thanks to Dubs...got a cheapy...then it actually became a very boring game until the OT and SO...I win is a win and with new found confidence we just keep rolling along...have not heard what is going on with Dubs but Stalock is doing just fine.

[Bear55]

Ya nice to have a competent backup. Just for fun I checked on Kuemper, he is putting up great numbers for the kings but they have been hot. 

[bbfenatic]

Wild playing very well in all facets of the game right now...fun to watch...Toronto is no slouch even without Matthews.

[bbfenatic]

On 12/15/2017 at 7:49 AM, bbfenatic said:

Wild playing very well in all facets of the game right now...fun to watch...Toronto is no slouch even without Matthews.

I retract the above statement 

[Bear55]

So if they win another one do you retract your retraction? 

[bbfenatic]

12 minutes ago, Bear55 said:

So if they win another one do you retract your retraction? 

LOL...was thinking the same thing! But if they sweep Florida and TB then take out Dallas next week I would be inclined to retract the retraction ....quite frankly we need our division/conference opponents to go on losing streaks or we just can't make up ground.

[Bear55]

Our division keeps on being dumb, even the avs are no longer incompetent and have a winning record. Dallas is cooling off, so are the blues and jets a little bit. Chicago just doesn't want to go away so at some point we need to get hot and stay there, it just kind of feels like we have been treading water this year, we have a higher gear buried in there somewhere. Lucky for us the pacific is their usual selves so the 2 wildcard spots should be available but plenty of time to rise past those. 

[hoppe56307]

Wow, who would have thought that Vegas would have the best record (tied) in the west and we are almost to the new year.

[Bear55]

Ya that is a tad amazing, Haula having a really good year as well.

[CaptainMusky]

The Golden Knights are surely a good story and I am happy for Haula to get more of a chance. He was stuck behind a few guys and didn't get a lot of ice time. Hopefully he stays healthy.

There are only 6 teams that have a better record than the Wild in the last 10 games. The Wild have been winning games in many cases last year they didn't. Lots of OT/Shootout wins.

They should beat the Panthers, but the Bolts are going to be tough. They haven't let up this whole season and have so many dynamic players on that team.

[bear555]

5-5 in our last ten but it feels like we are playing better. Parise back, hopefully Nino in the next week or two, for the first time all season we might actually be healthy. Hoping for a much better 2nd half. 

[hoppe56307]

I thought Nino was going to be ready for tomorrows game.

[bear555]

Thought I heard he was still limping but we will see, hope he is ready. 

[bear555]

Yep I must have had old info, Nino could play tonight, our first game with out entire team!