Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Nashville Predators – March 13th, 2022

Posted on March 13, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Nashville Predators - March 13th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild retired a jersey number for just the 2nd time but it was the first time they’ve done it for a player as they raised the number 9 of long-time player & CapFinn F Mikko Koivu to the rafters on Sunday evening. It was a nice ceremony for Mikko that you should try to find & watch if you didn’t see it.

Here’s a link to the ceremony in its entirety, all 38:13 of it:

And, no, the names of Hnat Domenichelli & Alexandre Daigle are not on the jersey in much smaller stitching. They were the only other players to ever wear that jersey number for the Minnesota Wild. Do you remember either of them?

Who wore number 9? - Minnesota Wild Sweater Numbers from Hockey-Reference.com

Who wore number 9? – Minnesota Wild Sweater Numbers from Hockey-Reference.com

The Minnesota Wild then turned their focus to the Nashville Predators and they were looking to start a 9*-game homestand with a win. In their only game against them so far this season, the Nashville Predators handed the Minnesota Wild their first home loss of the season so they will likely have a little more motivation for this one. Mr. Koivu being in the building doesn’t hurt, either.
*Fittingly, 9 games is the longest homestand the Minnesota Wild has had in its 21-year existence.

“Can we still use the 9?…Yes?…Are you sure? I don’t need to feel the Mikko Koivu ‘exploding shoulder’ if you’re wrong!”

Like Mikko said,

“There is only one State of Hockey
and you guys really are the best.”

Now, let’s go take it to the Nashville Predators.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Nashville Predators - March 13th, 2022

Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - March 13th, 2022

Game Recap

The Wild started their 4th line then backed it up with The Identity Line of Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek & Marcus Foligno and it didn’t take long for them to muck it up with a little extra push towards the net after a Foligno shot.

Welcome to the Central Division and the Minnesota Wild getting back to their “identity”* with the line that brings it every night.
*If you don’t know what the Wild’s “identity” is, it’s having an aggressive forecheck, being physical to cause quick plays that lead to turnovers and competing on every puck and every possession.

Or…Hunt pucks and hunt any opponents in your way of the puck! Yeah. I like that better!

Wild F Jordan Greenway gave Roman Josi an extra shove in the neutral zone then took a shove back from Preds F Colton Sissons and Marcus Foligno stepped in to see what all the ruckus was about and Luke Kunin was coming off the bench and apparently didn’t like what was being said so he jumped right into it and quickly dropped the mitts with his former teammate. He found out just as quickly that he’s not really in Foligno’s weight class (Kunin: 6’0, 195; Foligno: 6’3, 228) as Foligno ended up shoving him to the ice after getting at least one good punch in.

Nashville then picks up a slashing penalty as Ryan Johansen was heading to the bench. It wasn’t on the video feed and no replay was shown. That’s nice, huh?

The Wild didn’t get much out of the power play then Nashville scored shortly afterward on a Filip Forsberg tip in front of the net. It was their first shot on goal of the game 8:24 into the 1st.

4:39 later, Wild F Kevin Fiala came up the right side with speed to get past the trap then curled towards the boards at the right half-wall and fed Frédérick Gaudreau for a shot on net from just in front and inside the right faceoff dot. F Matt Boldy had come up the left side then skated toward the center of the zone to maybe be a screen for the shot but kept skating stopped just before the goal line. The rebound came right out to him and he went upper right on the short side to tie the game at 1 with his 12th goal of the season.

The Wild then got an interference penalty when D Jon Merrill ran into Predators F Tanner Jeannot who went down pretty easy as he was trying to stop in front of the net and that, my friends, is a pretty weak call.

The Wild killed it off.

In the waning seconds of the 1st period, Matt Boldy almost put the Wild up a goal but his shot only hit the post. The horn never sounded but the clock stopped at 3.9 seconds remaining and eventually, the official called the period over because he had never blown the whistle, either.

The Wild outshot Nashville 9-5 in the first 20 minutes.

8:44 into the 2nd period, after Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen made a couple of great saves, Predators D Roman Josi scored to put the Predators up 1 with a backhand that may have fooled Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen as it went under his catching glove.

Just shy of 2:30 later, the Big Rig, Wild F Jordan Greenway, came up the right side of the ice with enough speed to get past the defenseman and he moved the puck to his forehand and took a quick shot that beat Nashville G David Rittich to his blocker side to tie the game at 2!

50 seconds later, the Predators get their 1-goal lead back on a rebound that was left for an easy backhand shot into a gaping net from Philip Tomasino. DOH!!!

The Wild got another power play when D Dmitry Kulikov was tripped in the offensive zone and the Predators probably had the next scoring chance when F Yakov Trenin came in alone but Kaapo was up to the task to keep the Wild within a goal.

With 12 seconds left in the period, the Wild got a penalty for slashing when D Jared Spurgeon chopped down on Preds F Mikael Granlund’s stick and it ended up breaking so the penalty was called. If the stick doesn’t break, is it still called? We’ll never know.

Nashville outshot the Wild 13-11 in the 2nd.

The Predators then scored 65 seconds into the 3rd period on a Roman Josi point shot that Kaapo Kähkönen couldn’t find as it just got by big Jordan Greenway and it was now a 2-goal lead for Nashville.

The Wild had a great chance on the power play but Roman Josi blocked a shot that would’ve likely gone into an empty net after a cross-ice pass to Kevin Fiala.

A minute or so later, Kirill Kaprizov has a chance for a one-timer taken away by what for sure looked like a slash to his hands that made him lose his stick but there was no call. No replay, either. We got a game summary after the commercial, though. That’s useful.

Just shy of 7 minutes left in regulation, Nashville got a 2-on-1 with Mikael Granlund on the right with the puck and F Eeli Tolvanen on the left against Wild D Jared Spurgeon, who was leaning to the left to allow Granlund to shoot as he (& most Wild fans) figured his former teammate would try to make a pass and that he did but Spurgeon went down to try to make that as difficult as possible then he turned and swung at the pass and got the puck just before Tolvanen could get his stick on it.

You know the Wild were going to battle until the end but Nashville was shutting them down for the majority of the game by clogging up the middle and in front of the net and blocking as many shots as possible.

The goalie was pulled with 3:09 remaining and the Predators made it 5-2 just 51 seconds later. Forsberg celebrates that might achievement.

Goalie pulled again at 1:34. Predators F Nick Cousins left the defensive zone and got a puck flipped to him so he could score an empty-net goal. Strange to see a guy do that, maybe?

Nashville has only lost 1 of 25 games (& 1 of 13 on the road) when leading after 2 periods and you can see why. They just shut it down.

Nashville Predators Situational Hockey-Reference com

If you’re wondering, the Wild are very similar:

Minnesota Wild Situational Hockey-Reference com

Anyway, 6-2 was the final as the Wild are having a problem beating their Central Division opponents from Nashville. They won’t see them again until April 5th & April 24th in Nashville. We’ll see if they have anything for them, then.

Final Score

Nashville Predators 6 | Minnesota Wild 2

Goals:
MN: Matt Boldy(12), Jordan Greenway(5)
NSH: Filip Forsberg(30,31-ENG), Romas Josi(16,17), Philip Tomasino(9), Nick Cousins(7-ENG)

Assists:
MN: Frédérick Gaudreau(19), Kevin Fiala(34); Marcus Foligno(13)
NSH: Dante Fabbro(17), Matt Duchene(27); Philip Tomasino(14), Nick Cousins(8); Nick Cousins(9), Michael McCarron(6); Mikael Granlund(35), Filip Forsberg(23); Matt Duchene(28), Roman Josi(48); Michael McCarron(7), Roman Josi(49)

Goalies:
MN: Kaapo Kähkönen – 19 saves on 23 shots on goal – .826%
NSH: David Rittich – 26 saves on 28 shots on goal – .929%

Game Notes

Well, that’s not the outcome or game you’d expect after a team honors one of their greatest players. It makes us wonder what the record is for all teams after a ceremony. It does kind of change the routine of the players and the opponent really doesn’t take part in the ceremony depending on what it is. Former Minnesota Wild players Fs Mikael Granlund and Luke Kunin were on the Predators bench to watch today, though.

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Nashville lost 7-4 vs St. Louis yesterday afternoon so you knew they were going to come out determined but the Wild knew that, too. That makes everyone think they weren’t ready but it’s something else because this is something that happens to every team just like the slump the Wild just went through and maybe still have completely escaped.

We’ll have to wait for Wednesday night when they face the mighty Boston Bruins to see how they respond.

Postgame

Nothing posted so far…

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

Boston Bruins at home on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm and it’s a nationally televised game so it’s on TNT and we’ll have to listen to a national narrative of people that don’t know the Minnesota Wild.

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Detroit Red Wings – March 10th, 2022

Posted on March 11, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Detroit Red Wings - March 10th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild were looking to get on a roll as they started a short 2-game road trip in Detroit before playing Columbus tonight then playing 9 in a row at home.

After winning at home against the New York Rangers, the Wild hope it will be a turning point for their season after a tough 2-8 stretch that spanned 18 days. They were on a roll before that, going 11-2 in the 13 games from January 6th through Valentine’s Day.

They faced a Detroit Red Wings team they had beat 7-4 on Valentine’s Day and the Wings have struggled since the calendar turned to 2022. They were a game above .500 on New Year’s Day and they were 3 games under .500 when the puck dropped last night, going 9-13-3 and 4-8-2 at home during that stretch. They’ve apparently had some problems on defense &/or in goal as they’ve allowed a whopping 36 goals in their past 6 games and 45 in their past 8 when they last played Minnesota. That includes 2 games where they allowed 9 & 10 goals. Geez!

Let’s see if that meant a bunch of pucks tickling the twine for the Wild and since playing the Red Wings last time triggered a bad stretch, maybe playing them again will trigger a good stretch.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

No changes to the lineup from the game vs the Rangers for the Minnesota Wild:

Minnesota Wild Lineup at the Detroit Red Wings - March 10th, 2022

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - March 10th, 2022

Game Recap

It took the Wild just 97 seconds to score the 1st goal of the game and it came off the stick of F Matt Boldy as he shot the one-timer from a great feed from F Kevin Fiala from behind the net.

Unfortunately, that lead didn’t even last 5 minutes as the Wild lost a puck battle on the left boards that allowed F Jakub Vrana to come out to the top of the circle and beat G Cam Talbot to the upper left corner to tie the game.

The Wild would take their 1-goal lead back when Detroit G Alexander Nedeljkovic misplayed a puck that was just redirected into the zone by Wild F Joel Erikkson Ek. The puck was going wide of the net to his right but Nedeljkovic tried to swat at it with the back of his stick to send it back to his left and the puck went off the heel of his stick and deflected through his legs and into the net.

If you watch it, you can see what he’s trying to do but his execution was obviously horrible.

His team had his back though as they scored 2 more goals before the end of the 1st period to give Detroit a 3-2 lead. The first one off the stick of rookie F Lucas Raymond for an easy one-timer into a gaping net due to a great play by former Wild (& Minnesota Gopher) D Nick Leddy. It’s pretty clear that Wild G Cam Talbot was trying to find the puck and the Leddy spin-o-rama messed him up.

The second one came on the Power Play and Jakub Vrana got his 2nd goal of the game on a one-timer that he didn’t get all of so it was a Flutterpuck (or changeup) that fooled Talbot.

Shots were 10-9 Detroit after the first 20 minutes.

The physicality of this game may have turned up a little over a minute in when Matt Dumba threw a pretty big hit on Lucas Raymond.

Raymond scored his 2nd goal of the game about 4 minutes later when he received another great feed from Nick Leddy to the front of the net that he deflected past Talbot to put Detroit up 2 goals.

The Wild continued to battle as they were looking more & more like their old resilient selves as this game moved along.

The Wild received a power play on an interference penalty that may have also increased the physical intensity but it probably shouldn’t have. Detroit F Michael Rasmussen was trying to get back onside so the puck could be dumped in and he lunged/dove to get across the blue line and inadvertently ran into Wild F Marcus Foligno who took it as a somewhat hostile act and he was trying to have some words with Rasmussen.

On the ensuing power play, the Wild got within one goal when F Mats Zuccarello took a shot from the top of the left circle and the puck deflected off of Detroit F Filip Hronek’s stick then squeaked under G Nedeljkovic’s (or the 7-hole).

The goal was originally attributed to Joel Eriksson Ek as he was right in front of the ‘tendy but it’s obvious on the replay that he doesn’t touch it.

The Wild were within 1…then…they appeared to have scored the game-tying goal off a tip in front from F Jordan Greenway but Detroit challenged the call for goaltender interference…

And…we still aren’t clear what goaltender interference is because it keeps going back and forth on if it is or if it isn’t.*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

The Wild got hemmed in their own zone but they didn’t panic and got out of it unscathed but there were some more big hits during the game. Moritz Seider & Kirill Kaprizov were getting into it and you could just feel things getting worse until all hell broke loose and there was almost a full-on line brawl and almost a goalie fight as the buzzer to end the 2nd period rang out.

It took quite a while for the teams to get off the ice after the 2nd period due to all the melee.

To begin the 3rd period, the penalties for the end of the 2nd were assessed and somehow Detroit ended up with a power play because Cam Talbot left his goal crease:

Minnesota Wild - Detroit Red Wings - March 10th, 2022

2021-22 NHL Rulebook - Rule 27.6 - Leaving Goal Crease

So…that means, if the goalie is in the scrum, that team outnumbers the opposition and that’s completely okay. That seems wrong, doesn’t it?

So…the Wild were down a goal and had to kill off a penalty to begin the 3rd then get back to work to get back in the game.

They killed it off, a very important kill for the struggling PK of the Minnesota Wild.

Just more than a minute after the penalty was killed, Wild F Matt Boldy tied the game with his 2nd goal of the game

When Detroit cleared their defensive zone, the Wild quickly transitioned back to offense in the neutral zone. Alex Goligoski corralled the puck at center ice and quickly passed to Frédérick Gaudreau at the right boards. Detroit D Marc Staal, who also cleared the zone, made a bad change which allowed the Wild to get a 2-on-1 with Matt Boldy heading up the left-center of the offensive zone. He received the pass and was able to beat Nedeljkovic through the 5-hole to make it a brand new game.

Wild D Matt Dumba blocked a shot and went down in pain and the Detroit fans cheered** since he and Detroit F Lucas Raymond fought. He ended up going back to the locker room for a while.
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

Another scrum developed after the whistle that resulted in coincidental minors to Wild F Nick Bjugstad and Detroit F Joe Veleno, both for roughing with 11:13 remaining in regulation.

Dumba came back to the ice and took a body check from Michael Rasmussen who then tried to entice Dumba to drop the mitts but that’s not his game, anymore.*** Red Wings fans then started booing him every time he touched the puck. Classy. Both players get back into it after the next whistle with Rasmussen stopping to meet Dumba, who shoves him and gets shoved back. A shift later, off the faceoff, Lucas Raymond sprays Wild G Cam Talbot after a save and Ryan Hartman takes offense to that. It might be too bad that we won’t see these teams play again until next season.
***Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

The Wild had the momentum through the majority of the period after the penalty that began the period. They were getting their 5-0n-5 game going and getting chances but not capitalizing until Kirill Kaprizov entered the offensive zone on the left side and tried to get around Detroit D Moritz Seider but he was taken down with a good hit to the crowd’s delight. Kirill didn’t stop battling though and he ended up getting the puck back while on the ice by hooking it with the toe of his stick. (Exactly halfway through the replay below, 18 seconds in.)

Kaprizov took another body check and lost the puck again but F Joel Eriksson Ek got to the loose puck at the left half-wall and skated it back to the center of the blue line and passed it to Matt Dumba at the right point. He sent it to the net. Moritz Seider blocked the shot but that caused a loose puck in front of the net and Kaprizov hit it with a backhand and it went off of Nick Leddy’s skate then the goalie’s right pad and right back to Kaprizov for a quick shot into a gaping net and the Wild led 5-4.

A whole lot of chasing the puck from Detroit on this one.

A little more than 5 minutes later, the Wild returned the favor and did some puck-chasing themselves and allowed Detroit to tie the game at 5.

There wasn’t a good angle of it but a player can only get wide open if you’re watching the puck.

Detroit had some momentum after scoring the tying goal but the game would go to Overtime where the Wild outshot Detroit 7-0 but none of those shots produced a goal so to a shootout they went:

Detroit

Jakub Vrana missed the net – No Goal

Minnesota

Mats Zuccarello scored with a deke

Detroit

Dylan Larkin hit the post – No Goal 

Minnesota

Kevin Fiala came in with speed, moved to the left then floated the puck into the net…

SHOOTOUT WIN for the Wild!!!

Final Score
Minnesota Wild 6 | 5 Detroit Red Wings

Goals:
MN: Boldy(10), Ek(18), Zuccarello(18), Boldy(11), Kaprizov(29)
DET: Vrana(2), Raymond(17), Vrana(3), Raymond(18), Oesterle(2)

Assists:
MN: Fiala(32), Gaudreau(17); Unassisted; Spurgeon(19), Hartman(19); Gaudrau(18), Goligoski(25); Dumba(18), Ek(13)
DET: Veleno(6); Leddy(12), Nedeljkovi(1); Hronek(14), Leddy(13); Leddy(14), Namestnikov(11); Zadena(12), Veleno(7)

Goalies:
MN:  Cam Talbot – 29 Saves on 34 Shots on Goal – .853%
DET: Alexander Nedeljkovic – 35 Saves on 40 Shots on Goal – .875%

Game Notes

*Goaltender Interference!
What is it?

The only clear thing about it is that it’s blurry.

“That is clearly blurry. I can’t see anything right now.”
–
ClutterPuck

Wild F Marcus Foligno was pushed into the opposing goalie vs Buffalo and it was called goaltender interference…

Then, against Dallas, Frédérick Gaudreau apparently pushed Seguin into Kaapo Kähkönen and it was called a goal so the Wild challenged and it was not called goaltender interference…

So…yeah…we don’t know. What do you think?

**Fans Applauding an Injury

This seems petty, right? I get it. Fans don’t like the opponent but why cheer when a player may have gotten hurt?

Are there any players actually going into a game trying to hurt anyone? It’s highly doubtful. They’re just competing hard to get 2 points because they want to win because losing sucks.

Booing doesn’t really make sense, either. Do fans really think the opposing players care what they think about them? Booing may even help motivate the opponent to play even harder so…again, why do it?

Booing the home team?

What do you think? I don’t know. It might motivate the players to play better because they obviously don’t want to disappoint their own fans. It’s somewhat hard to believe that works, either, though.

***Matt Dumba and Fighting

Fights are entertaining and they serve somewhat of a purpose in hockey in that they help to protect players and can be used to try to get your team some momentum.

Matt Dumba is a physical player but his fighting days appear to be over because of the injury that seems to have changed his career.

He may have thrown his last punch in an actual fight on December 15th, 2018 vs the Calgary Flames when he supposedly had to “answer the bell” for a legal body check he made late against a Calgary player in the previous matchup just 9 days earlier on December 6th. A Calgary goon, Ryan Lomberg, tried to make Dumba fight for the hit with 43 seconds remaining in the game to which he did not oblige. Did that make him feel like he needed to step up in the next game?

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/fvCL4RFI5JE” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

Mathew Dumba Stats Before the Injury:

Matt Dumba Stats Before the Injury - Hockey-Reference.com

Mathew Dumba Stats After the Injury:

Matt Dumba Stats After the Injury - Hockey-Reference.com

The real question is did that injury change the way he can play? Shoot? Other?

That’s a question for another time and article hopefully coming very soon!

Next up:
At the Columbus Blue Jackets at 6pm CST on Bally Sports North as they try to get a winning streak going.

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

 

Posted in Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the New York Rangers – March 8th, 2022

Posted on March 9, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the New York Rangers - March 8th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild activated F Jordan Greenway before the game which meant F Connor Dewar was the odd man out even though he’s been playing very well.

Tonight, the Minnesota Wild faced another hot team in the New York Rangers and it was a guarantee they were looking for some redemption against the Wild after they ruined the retirement ceremony of “King” Henrik Lundqvist back on January 28th with a 3-2 comeback victory coming back from being down 2-0 in the 1st period and Henrik’s buddy, Mats Zuccarello, had his fingerprints all over that comeback with a goal & an assist.

Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant probably has the 2021-22 Vezina Award winner on his roster in G Igor Shesterkin but he still decided to go with his backup goalie, Alexander Georgiev, who last started a game on January 27th. He also had only played 41 seconds in a game since then when Igor Shesterkin was forced to leave a game (in Overtime) due to concussion protocol on February 15th and he wasn’t happy about it.

Let’s see if the Wild made them pay for playing their backup goalie.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

D Jon Merrill & Alex Goligoski flipped pairs with Merrill playing on the top pair with Captain Jared Spurgeon and Goligoski playing on the bottom pair with Dmitry Kulikov.

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the New York Rangers - March 8th, 2022

New York Rangers

New York Rangers Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - March 8th, 2022

Game Recap

Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason opted to start the Marcus Foligno – Joel Eriksson Ek – Jordan Greenway line started as he was obviously trying to get their forecheck going to help lead the team back to their aggressive game and that they did. It’s been one of the many things that have hurt the Wild of late but they had serious jump to begin the game on the forecheck and with their physicality.

Matt Boldy laid out Kreider early! Marcus Foligno knocked Ryan Reaves stick out of his hands with a body check but everyone was getting back to playing a physical game.

Kirill Kaprizov circled the offensive zone twice then passed it.* We think he should shoot more but we think everyone should shoot more.
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this.

D Jon Merrill had a turnover at the blue line that created a 2-on-1 but F Nico Sturm made a great play to break it up.

Good sticks are another Wild staple and they’ve had that so far in the 1st period, too.

They were getting chances but hadn’t scored halfway through the period…

Until Kirill Kaprizov intercepted a pass/dump attempt in his own zone then carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the center of the offensive zone. F Ryan Hartman had just come onto the ice and was heading up the right side. He slowed at the blue line to stay onside but also to be an option for a drop pass which he received and took a shot from a few feet in front of the top of the right faceoff circle and his sneaky shot beat went off Rangers G Alexander Georgiev’s blocker and down off the ice and into the net for a 1-0 Wild lead!

Those Ranger defensemen were giving Kaprizov & Hartman a lot of room to make a play. They’ll be told to gap up in Film Session tomorrow.

About 4 minutes later, the Wild went up 2-0 when  Ek deflected a pass into the offensive zone, sending the puck into the air and right to Jordan Greenway who caught it, dropped it on the ice then passed it to trailing forward Marcus Foligno for a one-timer but the puck wasn’t flat so it turned into a FlutterPuck and Joel Eriksson Ek showed his bunting prowess by deflecting it into the net for his 17th goal of the season.

Watch this play again and see Marcus Foligno standing at the far boards at the blue line with former Minnesota Gopher D Ryan Lindgren shading that way. Then, the puck is deflected in and every Rangers player immediately watches the puck. Is Lindgren at fault for leaving Foligno open? Yes & No. It’s a broken play but it really breaks because of poor play in the neutral zone &/or forecheck from the Rangers forwards. One is standing still. The other two react when the puck is passed up the middle which means they’re immediately late on the play. They were in a 1-2-2 formation and maybe that’s what they wanted to do there and the bounce created the opportunity. Coasting/watching is never really a good sign as a defender/backchecker.

Goal 2 - Goal Review from Wild vs Rangers 2 - 3-8-2022

Because F Mika Zibanejad is behind Jordan Greenway, that forces Adam Fox to try to cover Greenway which forces Ryan Lindgren to cover Ek which leaves Foligno wide open.

The first period ended with the Wild up 2-0 and the shots were even and 6 shots on goal apiece.

5 minutes into the 2nd period, the New York Rangers cut the deficit in half when F Dryden Hunt scored off a 2-on-1 that happened as a result of Wild D Matt Dumba pinching on the forecheck and both Fs Nick Bjugstad and Brandon Duhaime pursuing the puck as well instead of one of them covering for Dumba, defensively.*
*It’d be awesome if we’d be able to hear if any of those 3 talked to each other during this play.

Nick Bjugstad then drew a tripping penalty 2:23 later to give the Wild their first power play of the game and Joel Eriksson Ek had a great chance to score on a rebound but Georgiev made the save and the puck was cleared to the far blue line where Jared Spurgeon tried to dump it back it but it was deflected/blocked by Rangers F Chris Kreider and he tried to send a pass to F Mika Zibanejad but it just missed and Wild F Mats Zuccarello deflected it back into his defensive zone. When he went to retrieve it, he tried to turn to his left but as he went to put his stick down, Zibanejad lifted (read hooked) his stick and Zuccarello fell down leaving the puck for Zibanejad to deke out Cam Talbot & tie the game at 2. Somehow, the official doesn’t call a hooking penalty on the play.

Here we have the big test for the Minnesota Wild because in the past few games when things went wrong, they snowballed into more bad things. Would the Minnesota Wild get back to being the team that has a great response to adversity?

Well… 66 seconds later, after a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle from Matt Boldy was blocked in front, the puck fell by Marcus Foligno and he tried to bring it back because he knew the goalie was right behind him. It’s basically a loose puck but Matt Boldy was right there and he knew Kevin Fiala was at the right side of the net so he just sent it to him and Wild took the lead back Just… Like… That!!! 3-2 WILD!

And all of us felt like this, right?:

Kevin Fiala Celly GIF - March 8th, 2022

But…there was still a long way to go in this one as they had yet to even hit the game’s halfway point.

A little shy of 4 minutes later, the Wild executed a play off a faceoff just in front of the left side of their own blue line. Ek won the faceoff and Marcus Foligno sent the puck back to Jonas Brodin at the left half-wall then he curled and took off towards the right boards. Brodin sent the puck across the ice to his defensive partner Matt Dumba and he sent the puck to Marcus Foligno who had broken towards the middle of the offensive blue line. Foligno had turned to skate backward so he could catch the pass on his forehand and then was able to protect the puck so he could make a deke to his forehand then go to his backhand and put it past the goalie for a 2-goal Minnesota Wild lead at 4-2.

4:38 later and right after Mats Zuccarello had a scoring chance off a great tic-tac-toe play from Ryan Hartman behind the net to Kirill Kaprizov at the left corner to Zuccs in front of the net for a one-timer that Georgiev somehow saved, Rangers F Arteri Panarin send a backhand pass to Adam Fox but it rolled off his stick for Zuccarello to pick it up and turn up ice on the left side for a 3-on-2 odd-man rush with Alex Goligoski in the middle and Kevin Fiala on the right side. Fiala saw Adam Fox was set on covering Goligoski so he got on his horse to get a perfect feed from Zuccarello.** The puck took a weird bounce but Fiala was able to corral it in just enough time to roof a backhand for his 2nd goal of the game and the 20th of the season.
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this.

The Wild outshot the Rangers 11-7 in the 2nd period to take a 3-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of play.

Could the Wild shut down the Rangers in the 3rd period & get back in the win column and feel good about their game with just 13 days to go before the Trade Deadline?

They Could And They Did!

Cam Talbot made a big save with 11:26 remaining in regulation. It was still a 3-goal lead but making that save kept the Rangers from getting any momentum and it was just another sign that this team may finally be out of this 10-game slump.

Final Score & Stats
New York Rangers 2 | 5 Minnesota Wild

Goals:
MN: Hartman(23), Ek(17), Fiala(19), Foligno(19), Fiala(20)
NY: Hunt(4), Zibanejad(22)

Assists:
MN: Kaprizov(43); Foligno(11), Greenway(11); Boldy(12), Foligno(12): Dumba(17), Brodin(19); Zuccarello(40)
NY: Strome(28), Panarin(47); Unassisted (Kreider?)

Goalies:
MN: Cam Talbot – 23 Saves on 25 Shots on Goal, .920%
NY: Georgiev – 23 Saves on 28 Shots on Goal, .821% 

Game Notes

*Kirill Kaprizov

In the pregame show, former player, now broadcaster Mark Parrish said Kirill Kaprizov has been playing with a shot-first mentality. I disagree. He sometimes tries to make a move instead of just shooting the puck, too. Is that bad? Not necessarily but we’d still like him to look for his shot more often.

He’s a goal-scorer and you can’t score goals without shooting the puck.

After tonight’s game, Kirill Kaprizov has 194 shots on goal in 54 games or 3.59 per game. He has shot the puck more this season than last season so that’s a good thing.

In comparison, maybe the best goal-scorer to play the game, Alex Ovechkin, averages 4.77 shots on goal per game.

If you shoot, the goals will come…

**Mats Zuccarello

We need to talk about Zuccy because he’s been a big-time difference-maker for this team for the last two seasons.

When he was signed to a 5-year, $30M ($6M AAV*) free-agent contract in Minnesota on July 1st, 2019 by former General Manager Paul Fenton, it wasn’t received well. Fans thought it was an ignorant signing. He had only scored over 20 goals once in his 9-year career up to that point but he was known as a great teammate and he’s still evolving.
*Average Annual Value

He’s turned into a pest and, at only 5’8”, he’s been seen muckin’ it up in front of the net and sticking up for his teammates. He has great vision and we all know how well the pairing of him & Kirill Kaprizov has worked out. He currently has 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) in 47 games. That’s just 4 points off his career-high in points in a single season.

He’s also showing more leadership which is likely a result of the culture the Wild have been building with current General Manager Bill Guerin and captain Jared Spurgeon.

He’s just a joy to watch play the game and that assist to Fiala tonight was a thing of beauty!

***The Year of Fiala! 2022!!!

Since the calendar turned to 2022, Kevin Fiala has now scored 14 goals (& 31 points) in 26 games and that includes 4 games where he didn’t score any points.

Kevin Fiala 2021-22 Game Log Hockey-Reference com

Hockey-Reference.com Kevin Fiala 2021-22 Game Logs

The Wild will definitely try to get him signed to a multi-year extension after the season. It’ll be interesting to see how they make it all work for the next 3 seasons.

Some point soon, we’re going to post a Salary Cap Preview for the Wild and show how their culture and their depth is going to help them get through the next 3 years with those buyout penalties.

Postgame

Postgame interview with Head Coach Dean Evason:

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

Back-to-Back games on the road starting in Detroit on Thursday night at 6pm CST on ESPN+/Hulu

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Dallas Stars – March 6th, 2022

Posted on March 6, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Dallas Stars - March 6th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild are 3-7 in their last 10. The Dallas Stars are 7-2-1 in their last 10.

It means nothing!

Well…maybe it means a little more than nothing. Dallas is surely playing with a lot of confidence but the Wild still have plenty of confidence and have slowly gotten back to their game in the last few games.

Believe it or not, it started at home against Calgary where they regained the battle level then they got a nice comeback victory in Philly and continued with a very well-played game in Buffalo that just didn’t go their way.

Now they get a division rival at home who they beat 7-2 back in November (but also lost 7-4 in Dallas in December). This Minnesota Wild team has shown a response to adversity all season long so you know they’ll compete their butts off in this game.

D Matt Dumba was activated from Injured Reserve (IR) while F Jordan Greenway was placed on IR.

No word on Mats Zuccarello* as of right now.
*Are Zuccy & Kap a “duo” like Backstrom & Ovechkin? “What then?”

Today’s game is on national television on NHL on TNT. Will they once again make themselves look bad for lack of knowledge about the Wild? #Depth #EmptyNet

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Mats Zuccarello was back in the lineup. That’s HUGE!!!

Connor Dewar was rewarded for a great game against Buffalo as he stayed on the line with Ek & Foligno while Duhaime moves back to the line with Sturm & Bjuggy. Let’s put another notch in that Win column, boys!!!

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Dallas Stars - March 6th, 2022

Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - March 6th, 2022

Game Recap

1st Period

The Wild had the better jump and better play in the 1st but all it meant was some momentum and more shots on goal.

A loose puck in the neutral zone looked like a turnover but somehow F Brandon Duhaime kept it from going the other way and it allowed F Nick Bjugstad at the blue line and he fed F Nico Sturm to send him in on a mini-breakaway up the right side and he scored on his backhand as he turned to protect the puck from the oncoming defenseman and the Wild went up 1-0 with 9:08 remaining in the period.

Brandon Duhaime made the play on that Wild goal but, with 58 seconds left in the period, he accidentally sent the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty and, in the waning seconds, a puck deflected behind the net and Dallas F Tyler Seguin was on the other side and he took it & went to the net with it. He was heading towards the crease &, as he got to the crease, Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau tried to disrupt his path with a body check and he ended up taking him into Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen, sending the goalie down as if he was stacking the pads to his right.

Gaudreau also got his stick on the puck, which popped up in the air. Dallas Stars F Joe Pavelski saw it the whole way and sent a backhand towards the net right as it landed on the ice. The puck then deflected off the back/side of the left leg of Wild D Dmitry Kulikov and into the net to tie the game at 1 with 3 seconds remaining in the period.

So….maybe because this Marcus Foligno goaltender interference penalty was fresh in the minds of the Wild’s video/replay coaches and head coach Dean Evason…*

Stick Tap to Wes Walz for pointing this out:

Wes Walz @walz3737 · 13m

Goalie interference initiated by Wild player, no goal. 2 nights ago Buffalo defenseman pounding Foligno into goalie IS goalie interference.

…they challenged the play for goaltender interference. There was a long delay but… they stayed with the call on the ice of good goal which meant the Dallas Stars would get another power play.
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

2nd Period

And… Dallas scored on the power play 98 seconds into the 2nd to put the Wild down 2 goals. A shot from the middle of the blue line apparently fools the Wild goalie enough to make him not catch it cleanly and Stars F Jason Robertson took a whack at it to get it loose then sent it into the open net.

95 seconds later, Dallas went up by 2 goals on a similar play but this time, it was Minnesota-native F Riley Tufte who went to the net looking for a rebound and he found it. Kähkönen made the save on the first one but, somehow, Tufte was still able to get his stick on the 2nd rebound and send it into the goal for his 1st career NHL goal! How ‘bout that? Congrats to the former Blaine Bengal and University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldog!

The Wild are still trying to get back to their good defensive game** as they’ve given up a lot of goals in the past 10 games or more. As you can see on this goal, Mats Zuccarello is just a hair late getting to Tufte.

Then, about halfway through the 2nd period, F Jason Robertson scores his 2nd of the game (5th in the last 2 games) on a shot that has to be saved by the Wild goalie. Even he would tell you that.***
***Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

After this goal, the Wild started to dominate the game from a possession, shots & offensive zone time standpoint but…unfortunately, it didn’t include any goals.

3rd Period

The Wild kept dominating the game but didn’t score until they had the goalie pulled for 5 minutes and F Kirill Kaprizov scored his 27th goal of the season off a 2-on-1 with 3:41 remaining in the 3rd. Dallas Stars D Jani Hakanpaa made a bad read at his own blue line going after Mats Zuccarello &/or allowing the puck to get past him to create that 2-on-1.

A minute & 44 seconds later, Kaprizov scored again (28) to make it a 1-goal game as the Stars were scrambling with one player not having a stick. Kaprizov was calling for the puck and he finally got it and shot it into the gaping net.

Should Hakanpaa do a better job of trying to block that shot knowing his goalie isn’t likely to get over to make that save? Uhh…we’d say yes!

There was still 1:57 remaining in regulation.

Could the Wild do the unthinkable, here?…

Nope! With 1:05 remaining, Stars F Jamie Benn sent one into the empty net to make it a 2-goal game once again and Jason Robertson would add a 6th goal for his 2nd consecutive game with a hat trick after a Wild turnover in their own zone.

Not enough Wild in not enough time.

If you want them, the stats are HERE!

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Game Notes

*Goaltender Interference – What is it? What is it not? Will we ever know?

The TNT studio hosts/broadcasters thought it was a bad challenge because they thought Frédérick Gaudreau sent Tyler Seguin into the goaltender but one thing the TNT intermission broadcasters neglected to point out was the Marcus Foligno goaltender interference from the Buffalo game on Friday night was almost the same situation. Marcus Foligno was checked into the Sabres goaltender but it was still called goaltender interference. There wasn’t a goal so that play couldn’t be challenged.

So…what is the right call because it appears the NHL is calling it both ways and thus, the Wild challenged the call today. They obviously thought it was goalie interference or there was a chance it was or they wouldn’t have challenged the call.

It’d be nice if the crew from the nationally-televised broadcasts had people who knew about the teams playing in each game.

Do they not have time to do enough research?

Will the NHL ever have a complete explanation of Goaltender Interference and what isn’t Goalie Interference?

We’ll have to wait and see. Ughh!!!

**Panic in the defensive zone? Or just being a split second too late on the play &/or the puck.

Is it defense, goaltending or a combination of both? You’d probably have to go over every goal allowed over the past 10+ games to find out. Every goal against Buffalo was more on the defense than the goaltender.

The bottom line is the Wild just have to be sharper in the defensive zone. Read the play rather than react to it. It’s an area where struggles arise when teams are in a slump or going through a bad stretch.

***Goaltending!!!

Well…this is basically the same as above. The Minnesota Wild goaltenders have to be better to give the team a chance to win. Allowing an average of 4.27 goals per game (47 total goals) over the last 11 will rarely get it done. They did win 3 of those last 11 games but only one of them did they allow under 4 goals (the 7-3 win in Edmonton). They also won 2 games while allowing 4 goals, the 5-4 win in Philly and the 7-4 win vs Detroit on February 14th.

There were 8 empty-net goals allowed over that span so 39 goals over 11 games and an average of 3.54 isn’t much better.

It sure was looking like Kaapo Kähkönen was on his way to being the #1 goalie but he’s hit a speed bump but it’s hard to blame him alone because…well… it is a team game and nobody can have success on their own.

If you think about it, it’s exactly the same way in pretty much every aspect of life.

Postgame

The Wild showed their frustration with some of the plays/hits from the Stars. Nick Bjugstad was slew-footed by Stars F Alexander Radulov and wasn’t happy. He was probably lucky not to get a penalty as he cross-checked 2-3 players in retaliation.

They lost some of their composure. This is what happens when a team isn’t completely at its best. We’ll see how they respond on Tuesday.

Head Coach Dean Evason Postgame vs Dallas:

Head Coach Dean Evason:

“I’m not going to sugarcoat our special teams. They’ve flipping sucked.”

Tufte after scoring his 1st career NHL goal at The X:

“I played in the state tournament here, won a national championship here, and close with my first NHL goal, so those are all great. This building’s been good to me.”

The looming trade deadline isn’t lost on the #mnwild group.

Matt Dumba:

“I hope that fuels us, because our group, how tight we are, we don’t want to see this broken up. We want to work for each other and put ourselves in the best position to stay together.”

Nico Sturm: 

“The teams behind us or around us are playing really well. It’s almost like, I don’t want to say panic or scared to lose, but everybody realizes what’s going on. And we’re grasping at something trying to stop it and it’s not working out right now.” #mnwild

Nico Sturm said the trade deadline is definitely in the back of everyone’s mind right now:

“We like this group. It’d be a shame if we keep going like this and we can’t stay together. Because if this keeps going we all know something is going to happen.”

Kaapo Kahkonen on the fragility the Minnesota Wild of late:

“It seems like when one little thing starts a little bit of a snowball effect in a game like that. It’s not the way it should be. We just really have to dig ourselves out of this.”

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

The New York Rangers come for a visit on Tuesday at 7pm at The X-cel Energy Center on Bally Sports North.

Will this be the turning point?

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Florida Panthers – February 18th, 2022

Posted on February 18, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Florida Panthers - February 18th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild were looking for some redemption after a dud of a game in Winnipeg in a 6-3 loss against the Winnipeg Jets for their 2nd loss in their last 4 games both at the hands of those Jets. It doesn’t get any easier as the Wild were facing possibly the best team in the NHL in the Florida Panthers (33-10-5 for 71 points & the best record in the Eastern Conference). They’re also 2nd in the league in Winning % at .740 behind only the Colorado Avalanche (35-9-4, 74 pts, .771 win%).

NHL Hockey Standings from February 18th, 2022

The Wild were 30-12-3 with 63 points and a .700 winning %.

Tonight is Kirill Kaprizov’s 100th game in the NHL (not counting his 7 playoff games*).
*Why don’t playoff games count?

Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov 100th game - February 18th, 2022

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild vs Florida Panthers - February 18th, 2022

Game Recap

The Wild got on the board first with F Kirill Kaprizov’s 50th career goal in his 100th career game* off a great feed from D Jared Spurgeon to Kap at the right side of the net just in front of the goal line for a one-timer with 12:53 left in the first period.
*50 goals in 100 games isn’t bad, huh?

Unfortunately, the Panthers responded just shy of 3 minutes later to tie the game on a Mason Marchment wraparound attempt that surprised Wild G Cam Talbot who made the initial save but Marchment got his stick on the rebound.

2:27 later, Mason Marchment got his 2nd goal of the game off a great feed from F Anton Lundell.

The Panthers dominated the game after the Wild’s goal so they had to make some adjustments heading into the 2nd period.

Shots were tied at 9 each in the 1st period.

The Wild were better to begin the 2nd period but still gave up a goal about 8:30 minutes into the 2nd when a scoring chance was saved by both Cam Talbot and D Alex Goligoski but the Wild were in panic mode and watching the puck so nobody covered Florida F Anthony Duclair as he got open for a pass from behind the net.

The officials apparently had hit their penalty quota for the Wild as they missed a few calls including a trip of D Jonas Brodin at center ice with about 6 minutes remaining in the period but they finally made a call when F Ryan Hartman was hauled down with just under 5 minutes left in the middle frame.

They couldn’t score on that power play despite 2 shots and a couple of good chances.

For some reason, the official called F Marcus Foligno for….uhh… checking? Was it head contact? Foligno wasn’t happy about the call but the officials looked at the call and decided there was no penalty on the play.* They held the faceoff in the Wild’s zone and Wild coach Dean Evason wasn’t happy about that and it really doesn’t make sense. If the officials screwed up a call, the faceoff should be at center ice.
*WOW! How many times has that ever happened? See the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The 2nd period ended with the score 3-1 and the Florida Panthers had yet to lose a game when leading after 2 periods (23-0-0). That is the exact same score when the Minnesota Wild first played the Florida Panthers this season on the 20th of November and they outscored the Panthers 3-2 in that game but still lost 5-4.

Matt Boldy took an interference penalty in the first minute of the 3rd and the Panthers scored on a D Aaron Ekblad wrist shot from the point to put their lead at 4-1 with 18:19 left in regulation.

Oh, boy! How did the Wild respond to this adversity?

A high-sticking penalty at 14:32 by Wild D Dmitry Kulikov put the Panthers on the power play again.

A scrum on a loose puck in front of the Wild net seemed to last forever but the puck never went in and it was never frozen. Another thing you don’t see very often.

A big hit on Anthony Duclair by Ryan Hartman** drew a retaliatory penalty from Carter Verhaeghe. It was all body from the live look. It took Ducliar a few moments to get back up but he looked all right.
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

Now, did the Wild do anything with the Power Play?

Oh, Yes It Did!!!

The Wild won the ensuing faceoff and Kirill Kaprizov made a quick pass to Mats Zuccarello all alone in front of the net and he deflected it in the net to bring the Wild within 2 with the score 4-2.

Duclair then headed back to the locker room probably due to the concussion spotter. If that’s the case, it’s strange because he wasn’t hit in the head. Did his head hit the ice when he went down? Either way, New York Rangers G Igor Shesterkin is probably angry about it!!!

The Wild then pulled their goalie and the broadcasting crew has obviously not seen enough of the Minnesota Wild’s games this season* because they were surprised the goalie was pulled so early. We all know coach Dean Evason pulls the goalie early.
*Imagine that, a national broadcast not knowing enough about the Wild.

The Panthers scored 2 empty net goals (Verhaeghe & Marchment (for the Hat Trick)) to make it 6-2 so Talbot was put back in and the Wild had their first 2-game losing streak since the calendar turned to 2022.

Final Score

Minnesota Wild 2 | 6 Florida Panthers

Goals

Minnesota: Kirill Kaprizov (23); Mats Zuccarello (16)
Florida: Mason Marchment (9,10,11-ENG); Anthony Duclair (20); Aaron Ekblad (12); Carter Verhaeghe (16-ENG)
*ENG=Empty Net Goal

Assists

Minnesota: Jared Spurgeon (15), Mats Zuccarello (34); Kirill Kaprizov (38), Eriksson Ek (12)
Florida: Unassisted; Anton Lundell (23), Sam Reinhart (29); Jonathan Huberdeau (50), Aaron Ekblad (33); Anthony Duclair (17), Jonathan Huberdeau (51); Mackenzie Weegar (25); Anton Lundell (24)

Goalies

Minnesota: Cam Talbot – 29 Saves on 33 Shots
Florida: Sergei “Bob” Bobrovsky – 24 Saves on 26 Shots

Game Notes

*A Penalty Was Called Back! Yes, you read that correctly. The officials were going to call a penalty on Marcus Foligno for we can only assume was a high hit but they apparently weren’t sure on the call (or they were looking to see if it warranted a harsher penalty) so they looked at it and saw “it was a clean hit” so they said there was no penalty on the play.

THEY SAID THERE WAS NO PENALTY ON THE PLAY!!! Is that even a thing?

That is Amazing! I don’t believe we’ve ever seen that before but they did get the call correct.

**Big Hits! Who doesn’t love big hits? Make sure you enunciate that question well when you ask it, though! Wink!

Big Hits can change momentum, especially if they are clean hits. That Ryan Hartman hit did change the momentum but the Wild just weren’t good enough tonight.

***Is there something wrong with the Wild as they didn’t look good for the 2nd consecutive game?

No. There’s nothing wrong with the Wild that they can’t fix. The last two games wasn’t the Minnesota Wild team we’ve seen for the majority of this season. For some reason, they just didn’t seem confident in their game. That is inexplicable because their game (the way they play or system) is one of the biggest reasons they’ve been so good this season.

A lot of that is their forecheck and tonight, it didn’t look like they trusted it to get the results they usually get from it. Why?

The Florida Panthers got them off their game somehow. The Florida Panthers could be the best team in the National Hockey League right now but the Minnesota Wild usually worry about their game, not who they’re playing against.

Postgame

It appears there is either no postgame press conference or ESPN+/Hulu doesn’t cover the postgame press conferences. Streaming sports? Your thoughts? We aren’t big fans of it right now.

We’ll add something later if we find it.

From Jessi Pierce on Twitter:
Dean Evason: “We were unintelligent …we weren’t worse than that team tonight, we just made worse mistakes. …It’s uncharacteristic.”

Next up: 

The Wild visit the Edmonton Oilers for the 2nd time this season on Sunday at 7pm on Bally Sports North. 

They beat them 4-1 on December 7th but this is the new Oilers with new head coach Jay Woodcroft. Will their team defense be better?

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

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