The Minnesota Wild are coming off their greatest regular season in franchise history so the obvious question is, does that mean they will have their greatest postseason in franchise history?
The Wild have been progressing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since Bill Guerin & Dean Evason took over, too. They lost in the qualifying round in 2019-20 then lost in Game 7 last season but, this team is different. They’ve shown it all season. They respond to adversity and they play an exciting game on both sides of the puck. They Bring the Clutter!
Since Bill Guerin & Dean Evason arrived, they’ve been working on changing the culture of the Minnesota Wild. This has culminated in what has been just a great season of hockey all around. They broke countless records as a team and individually but all of that is over.
This is the Postseason! This is for…
The Stanley Cup!
35 Pounds of Absolute Glory!
And because the NHL doesn’t know what they’re doing, the Minnesota Wild, who finished 2nd in the Western Conference, have to play the St. Louis Blues, a team who finished 4th in the Western Conference instead of a team that finished 7th in the conference because the NHL wanted to build rivalries in the playoffs. Here’s Gary Bettman… BOOOOOOOO!!!
2022 NHL Western Conference Standings – Should They Go Back to 1 through 8 for the Playoffs?
Maybe the NHL will figure it out someday but, for now, the Wild have to play what seems like a 2nd round series rather than a 1st round series but, hey, it is what it is. They aren’t crying about it.
The St. Louis Blues won the 2021-22 season series 3 games to none. Two of those games were in St. Louis and they both ended in Overtime, one had a Blues comeback to tie the game in the 3rd and the other had the Wild come back to tie it with 4 goals in the 3rd period. The other game was the Winter Classic so the Blues have yet to visit the Xcel Energy Center this season and…
The X Marks the Spot!
The Minnesota Wild secured home-ice advantage on the last game of their season with a win over the Colorado Avalanche so this series begins at The X where the Wild were 31-8-2. They were also 14-1-1 in their last 16 games at home.
Will home-ice advantage be huge? It seems like it but the Blues are an experienced team who won the Stanley Cup just 3 seasons ago. 11 players from that team are on their current roster so they have a ton of experience. The Wild have just 2 players who have won a Cup in D Alex Goligoski & G Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Wild’s identity is hard work on the offensive end and detailed work in the defensive end. They bring a physical forecheck that looks to create loose pucks and then pounces on them to create offense. They are a 5-man unit, not just 5 guys on the ice trying to score any way they can and… they never let up. They’re relentless.
On the defensive end, the Wild rarely panic and that helps them sustain long sequences without allowing goals. They rarely chase (or watch) the puck.
In goal, the Wild have both goalies playing very well at the most important time of the season. Cam Talbot has been a man on a mission since losing 4 straight at the end of February and March 1st. Marc-Andre Fleury has been okay but even he wasn’t happy with all of the goals he allowed even if they was very little he could do about them. He gave up only 1 goal in the last game against the Colorado Avalanche as he started to look more like the Marc-Andre Fleury the hockey world and the State of Hockey knows so well.
I’ll Take A Wild Russian for 100, Alex!
Who is Kirill Kaprizov?
This is not your grandpa’s Minnesota Wild, either. You know, those teams that relied more on defense than offense. The teams that didn’t have a superstar to lean on in the postseason. The Wild now have a superstar in F Kirill Kaprizov and it turns out he’s not overpaid after all.
He became the first-ever Wild player to score over 100 points in a season with 47 goals, 61 assists and 108 points* and, he did that while starting the season with just 6 assists in the first 8 games. That means he scored 47 goals in 73 games. Wild fans were ecstatic if their teams scored 100 points in a season let alone one player.
*All of which are single-season franchise records. KAP-RI-ZOV!
But, this is the 2021-22 Minnesota Wild and they also have Fs Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman and Matt Boldy among others. They have some high-end talent that can score with the best teams in the league.
They have a legitimate chance to win the Cup. They score. They play defense. They goaltend.
We’ve Got the Blues
So… what about the Blues? Well, they’ve been very hot down the stretch as they were neck & neck with the Wild for the last 16 games or more. They still have a bunch of very good players that can put the puck in the net. Their offense was the 3rd best in the league and they also had the 2nd-best Power Play.
Their Penalty Kill was also one of the best in the league as it ranked 5th.
If they have a weakness, it’s probably on the blue line and in the defensive end, specifically.
Will they be able to withstand that Wild forecheck? Were they exposed in that 3rd period in the last game against the Wild when they allowed the Wild to come back from 3 goals down and eventually scored 4 goals to tie the game before losing in overtime?
The Blues offense will be why they win or lose this series. We’ll see if the Wild can shut them down. It’s nice to have the matchup decision with home-ice in the 1st 2 games.
Keys to Winning the Series
*
Staying the Course on Both Ends
If the Wild stay with their game consistently on both ends of the ice, they should win this series. That means getting pucks deep and getting the forecheck going early and often. Let them boys eat!
That also means staying detailed in the defensive end by covering and defending players and being aware of where the puck is so they can clear pucks from in front of the net but also so they are not just within reach of the Blues players but taking away their space. They need to consistently read the play instead of reacting to what they see. Read the pass instead of reacting to it because that usually means you’re going to be a step or a split second too late.
The Wild also needs to shoot the puck. Shoot it quickly and shoot it often. They can’t sit back and wait for the perfect shot or scoring chance. Too often, we’ve seen goalies get in the Wild’s head so they don’t shoot. They wait because they think they need to get a better shot to score against a hot goalie. Is that true or do you just need to put pucks at him more often and shoot from everywhere?
**
‘Tending to the Net
It’s possible this series could be won with goaltending. Wild fans aren’t used to that being a good thing but they have 2 goalies playing at their best right now. Cam Talbot has been on an absolute tear since his counterpart arrived in a trade on March 21st:
14 GP – 11-0-3, .925 Save%, 2.25 Goals Against Average(GAA)
The Blues are no slouch in goal. They have a Stanley-Cup winning ‘tender in Jordan Binnington but he struggled this season but his stats have gotten in every season since that amazing rookie season when he won the Cup.
They also have Ville Husso. He stabilized the net for St. Louis but he’s just in his 1st full season and he has yet to start a playoff game. Does that matter? It didn’t seem to matter in 2019 for St. Louis. We’ll see if it matters in this series as it is now confirmed that Husso will start in Game 1.
***
5-on-5 Hockey
The Wild play their best and are one of the best teams in the NHL at 5-on-5. They were 3rd in the league with 208 Goals For and 7th with 151 Goals Against. The Blues were 4th in goals for with 200 but 18th in goals against with 171.
Their special teams haven’t been very good this season but they did ramp up and look a lot better in the last few games of the season.
That being said, the St. Louis Blues specials teams are both ranked in the Top 5.
Prediction
Minnesota Wild in 6!
––––– CP –––––
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AND…as always…
