Published 3-20-2013.
What a difference two weeks make! Since we last gathered the
Minnesota Wild (20-10-2) were fighting to separate themselves from the pack and
aim for a nice six seed in the playoffs.
The grinders of the north land, the Minnesota Wild are the hottest team
in the Western conference, winners of seven straight thanks to a surging
offense, staunch defense, and the increased physicality we saw peaks of in
early March. The Wild, as you may
recall, were dead last in goals for in the National Hockey League as late as
February 26th. With serious concerns about making the playoffs after
big splashes in free agency. Now, as of,
March 28th, the Wild are 14th in the league in goals per
game (2.7) and have gotten even better on preventing goals, ranking 5th.
The offense has been on fire as of late, averaging 3.64
goals since February 26th, outscoring opposing teams 31-17 in the
last seven contests. Whereas the Wild
were aiming for three goals a night with their solid goaltending, Minnesota has
now scored four goals in five of their last seven and eight of their last
fourteen. What’s different? In one word, resilient; while the Wild have
jumped out to 1-0 leads in ten of their last twelve contests, they’ve
persevered through deficits, actually overcoming three one-goal deficits in a
7-4 win against Dallas (first time winning in that city in a decade) and
handling business down 3-2 versus Phoenix in the third stanza to prevail
against the Coyotes 4-3 in overtime.
They aren’t beating cellar dwellers either; the last five games
(Phoenix, Dallas. San Jose, Detroit, Vancouver) are all teams with winning
records. The two games that got this hot
streak going were back-to-back triumphs against the Avalanche, where the goals
kept snowballing for Minnesota, scoring eleven in two games. Not to be overlooked in the Wild ascension in
the Western Conference rankings is the stellar goaltending of Niklas Backstrom
who is 15-3-1 in his last 19. He has
shown no signs of losing any grip on playing time in the crease, recently
saving 33 in a 2-0 blanking of San Jose last Saturday. He now is tied for first in the NHL in wins (18)
with Marc-Andre Fleury of the Pens and is near or in the top ten in saves, save
percentage and goals against average.
Of course the offense is the major story with Minnesota
after being such a concern early on.
Mikko Koivu has come around in a big way with 12 points in his last ten
games, and Ryan Suter has put his sluggish start in the rear view as well and
has his sights on scoring from the blue line and Norris Trophies, as we all
hoped he would. Devin Setoguchi has
eight goals and seven assists in his last fifteen, a production rate the Wild
will gladly take.
We would be remiss if we didn’t discuss the Wild’s penalty
killing percentage (85.9) which puts them fourth in the league. It illuminates the resiliency and pressure
the team is able to apply on opponents, even when short-handed. The team’s gelling and great coaching has
created an overall team awareness throughout the roster and the resulting
patience has them like wolves knowing exactly when to strike. This hasn’t gone unnoticed througoht the
league and teams power play units can’t get comfortable when the man advantage
is negated like that.
This is a different team; a gritty team. This version of the Minnesota Wild is playing
with an intensity and purpose not seen around here in long time. This version won’t be repeated whatever
happened in 2012. You can book it.
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