Wild trying to pull out of a March slide

A Wild team that often looked unbeatable through the early days of February has gone sledding in March.

Look out below…

On Feb. 18, Minnesota led the Chicago Blackhawks by nine points, but after the New York Rangers dumped the Wild 3-2 in front of 19,337 on Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center, the Hawks led Minnesota by five.

Holy cow.

“Thank God we get to play again tomorrow,” Wild center Erik Haula said.

Here’s the tally: Going into their game against the Jets Sunday in Winnipeg, the Wild had lost four in a row and had won just two of their previous nine.

And, as Haula and center Eric Staal both said after the loss to New York, no one can get things back on track except the people wearing Wild sweaters.

“This is a tough league,” Staal said. “They’re not easy games every night. We have to continue to play as a team. This is a tough stretch for us right now, but no one’s going to help us out but us.”

Coach Bruce Boudreau said over and over after the game that all his boys can do is simplify. Some are trying to do too much, to make a big play when one isn’t probable, rather than sticking to basics.

Then, too often, things fall apart.

“When things aren’t going good for you, that’s what happens,” Boudreau said. “You get no puck luck, you get no bounces.”

Trying hard to make the right play too often goes awry, he added, and Saturday was an example.

“There were so many turnovers out there it’s ridiculous.”

Boudreau’s team went 35-12-5 through its first 52 games, but since then the Wild are 8-9-1.

“What worked will work again,” he said Saturday. “For 40 games, you’re making those little mistakes, they’re not scoring goals — they’re bouncing off the goalie or hitting the post or shooting wide. Now the mistake you make from the faceoff on down is going in the net.

“It’s going to be a battle of mental toughness. When you get out of it you’re going to be a better team and better players for it, because you’re going through it right now for the last two and a-half weeks.”

The Wild took a first period lead on Staal’s 24th goal, but former Gopher Brady Skjei tied it late in the period. It was 1-1 in the second period when Haula set up Charlie Coyle in front of a wide-open net and Coyle knocked the puck into the back wall.

“It was right there,” Coyle said. “I don’t know if it bounced or what.”

That led to second-period Rangers goals from Oscar Lindberg and Jimmy Vesey, enough of a cushion to overcome a third-period tally by Matt Dumba of the Wild.

“I think for the most part we were playing with pretty good jump,” Haula said. “We had a lot of chances. When things aren’t going your way… I don’t know, when it rains it pours, I guess.”

As Haula pointed out, however, another game loomed less than 24 hours later and with that and a few more ahead.

Said Staal: “We’ve just got to get back to simplifying our game, get back to the way we found so much success early in the year.”

The post Tough Sledding appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota blows chance to gain ground on Nashville

St. Paul – After a season-high six consecutive victories capped by a humongous win over the Chicago Blackhawks, perhaps the Wild were due for a letdown.

“I hope not,” winger Jason Pominville said. “We’re not in any position to have any letdowns right now. We can’t afford that.”

Still, the Wild needed nearly half of Thursday’s game against the Ottawa Senators to muster 10 shots on goal. They came from behind to tie the score twice on goals by Zach Parise and Erik Haula, but the Senators escaped the Xcel Energy Center with a 3-2 victory after getting a fluke goal with 3:57 to play.

“That’s unfortunate,” Parise said of the winning goal, which caromed past goaltender Devan Dubnyk after deflecting off Haula’s skate. “But I think you have to look at the game as a whole. Did we play well enough to win the game? I don’t know.”

They did not, according to coach John Torchetti, who said the line of Mikko Koivu, Charlie Coyle and Parise was his team’s lone consistent line of the evening.

“We didn’t come out with the strongest game,” Torchetti said. “You can’t play with really, one line. We had three lines that didn’t do a good job tonight.”

In addition, winger Thomas Vanek left the ice early during warm-ups and was not able to play because of an upper-body injury, and then Jared Spurgeon blocked a shot by Bobby Ryan on his second shift of the game and was unable to come back.

“That sucks,” defenseman Dumba said. “Spurgeon is a big part of our back end, and whenever you’re playing with five D, it’s hard.”

This game seemed to veer all over for the Wild, who defeated the Blackhawks 4-1 two nights earlier to extend their victory streak to six. Minnesota had seven shots on goal in the first period, came on strong after Parise’s goal midway through the second and then played hit and miss later.

“We just didn’t play a solid 60 minutes,” Torchetti said. “We have a lot of guys that have got to up their ante there. There’s no nights off in this league. We’ve got to be ready to battle, and I didn’t like our battle level.”

Said Parise: “I just don’t think we played as well as we needed to.”

The comeback was heartening to a vocal crowd of 19,032, but a quick whistle eliminated a possible goal by Dumba when it was 2-2 in the third period, and several shifts later Cody Ceci sailed past the Minnesota net, slid the puck in front and it ricocheted in off Haula.

“A tough bounce,” Haula said.

“It’s unfortunate,” Pominville said. “We were able to bounce back and tie the game up, and then they get a fluke goal at the end, which is not fun when you battle that hard to get back into the game.”

Minnesota is down to its final four games and leads Colorado by five points, but missed a chance to open that gap to seven and also pull within two points of Nashville for seventh place in the NHL West.

The Wild get a quick opportunity to turn things around with a game against the Red Wings in Detroit Friday night.

“We have to be better tomorrow,” defenseman Jonas Brodin said.

After Thursday’s game, a letdown would be impossible.

The post Sens Snap Wild Streak appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – Erik Haula tossed his stick to Matt Dumba after Dumba broke his Tuesday night.

“I won’t do that again,” Haula said.

Haula quickly discovered that it’s a penalty to do so, and got a delayed call for flipping his stick. During that delay, the Colorado Avalanche scored to pull within 3-2 in the second period of Tuesday night’s big Wild-Avalanche game at the Xcel Energy Center.

But it was a rare mistake for Haula as the Wild scored three goals in the first period and three in the third to defeat Colorado 6-3 and pull even with the Avs for the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

Haula scored his team’s third goal, went plus-three for the evening and has now tallied five goals and seven assists in Minnesota’s past 12 games.

Coincidence or not, the Wild have won six of their past nine games under interim coach John Torchetti, whose team got two goals from Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle plus a goal and two assists from Jason Pominville and two assists from Zach Parise in front of 19,107 Tuesday night.

The line of Haula, Pominville and Niederreiter started the game for Minnesota and not only contributed seven points, but mostly shut down the Avs’ big line of Gabriel Landeskog, Mikkel Boedker and Nathan MacKinnon.

His three, Torchetti explained, “want to play on both sides of the puck. I think the whole team can learn from that.”

Each of the three had a first-period goal as Minnesota jumped to a 3-1 lead and threatened to pull away, but Colorado came back to tie in the second period. Coyle broke the tie 5:34 into the third period, then added an empty-netter as did Niederreiter.

“Our line’s working well,” Haula said. “We ended up getting some good plays off the rush there in the first period; getting three goals is always nice. And then we stuck with it. Second period probably could have been a little better, but overall a good job and a good win.”

Haula, a three-year regular at the University of Minnesota, scored the dazzling go-ahead goal Sunday when Minnesota defeated Florida 3-1. A part-timer or mostly a checking-line center until this season, he has played 58 of Minnesota’s 65 games and leads the team with a plus-16 rating. His surge has been timely and astonishing: he had four goals and seven assists for 11 points through his first 46 games.

But it has come as no surprise to Torchetti, who previously coached Haula with the Houston Aeros when Haula broke into pro hockey in 2013.

“He’s skating,” Torchetti said. “He’s moving his feet, and his speed really shows when that happens.”

Haula shrugged off his great play of late.

“Got to give credit to Nino and Pommer, too, they made great plays tonight,” he said.

Chemistry among the three has become obvious of late.

“We read off each other pretty well,” Haula said. “The dynamics are there for our line and we understand what we have to do night in and night out with the matchups.”

While the offense has been clicking for Haula of late, he insists he’s still a role player who needs to contribute on defense, as well.

“I know my role,” he said. “Playing against those top lines and trying to keep them off the board and then creating offense from there, we’ve got some good looks.”

The looks seem to be finding Haula much the way they did at the University of Minnesota, when the 5-foot-11 Finn totaled 100 points over his sophomore and junior seasons.

The post Haula and Wild both surging appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minneapolis — The NHL made its first regular-season foray into outdoor hockey with the inaugural Winter Classic on Jan. 1, 2008 featuring the Buffalo Sabres hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins. Minnesota hockey fans waited eight long years and and watched 15 more outdoor games for their chance see one played in the State of Hockey.

It turned out to be worth the wait as Minnesota-bred players and college stars combined for three goals and five assists to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 6-1 NHL Stadium series game win over the Chicago Blackhawks in front of 50,426 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Former Gopher Erik Haula led the way for Minnesota-tied contingent with a pair of second-period assists in addition to being awarded his seventh goal of the season when Chicago’s Patrick Kane pulled him down on a breakaway with the Blackhawks’ net empty.

“I had a chance,” Haula said. “But Torch said that will be the easiest goal I’ll ever score and I’ll take it.”

The goal came nearly three years to the day since Haula last scored on the University of Minnesota campus on Feb. 22, 2013 against Minnesota Duluth across Oak Street at Mariucci Arena. Ironically, it was an empty-net goal.

“What a feeling,” Haula said. “First to get the win and the whole team to play that well and having 50,000 people being back where you, kind of where you started.”

White Bear Lake’s Ryan Carter assisted on Matt Dumba’s first-period goal to open the scoring and his sixth goal of the season made it 5-0 early in the third. Haula’s fellow former Gophers Thomas Vanek (goal) and Mike Reilly (assist) chipped in as did Minnesota-Duluth’s Justin Fontaine who added an assist of his own on Dumba’s goal.

In a strange twist, Bloomington’s Zach Parise, tied with Charlie Coyle for the team lead in goals, was kept off the score sheet.

“It was fun seeing those guys score,” Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. “I think Haulsy was really loving it after the game. But it’s good to see those guys have fun here back where it all started for them.”

Vanek’s second-period power play goal gave the Wild a 2-0 lead just past the seven minute mark. It was Vanek’s first goal on campus since a March 12, 2004 6-1 WCHA first-round playoff game win over St. Cloud State. The proud Gopher enjoyed an uncharacteristically animated goal celebration.

“It’s been a while but it feels good to be back,” said Vanek who has seven points (3-4–7) in his past seven games. “I usually don’t celebrate too much but today here, back on campus, big game, big crowd, it was fun.”

Reilly, who along with Jason Pominville assisted on the the goal, said it was exciting for him and his fellow alums to contribute to such an important win.

“Vanek did a great job tipping that puck for the shot by [Pominville] and Haula played really well as well,” said Reilly who now has three assists in his past two games. “It’s great to have the alumni like us to kind of carry on the tradition a little bit.”

The players soaked in what was described as an incredible atmosphere and left with lasting memories.

“Definitely a few goosebumps, for sure, walking out there,” Reilly said.

“It’s something you’ll probably never forget,” Haula added. “And then to have, to play it here is extra special for sure.”

Carter, one of two native Minnesotans along with Parise (Reilly was born in Chicago) to play in the game called the experience “awesome” and took the time to reflect on  a lifetime of memories as the day wore on.

“Being back home and the setting was kind of set; the snow flew in the first,” Carter said. “I look up in the stands, there’s a group of White Bear jerseys too.  And you hear the band playing and it brings you back to your college days a little bit.  It was kind of like a time warp through my career and into pro hockey.  And in the third there we got up, what was it, 5-0 or something like that, 6-1, and I sat back and said this is pretty cool.  This is pretty neat.”

The post Home ice advantage appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Despite losses, fans not deserting Wild

St. Paul – There were no bomb threats at the Xcel Energy Center Tuesday. Nor were any tomatoes tossed.

Wild fans are hanging in there.

Another standing-room-only crowd of 19,087 could have turned unruly after the Dallas Stars outshot Minnesota 13-9 and scored two unanswered goals to grab a 3-2 lead in the second period, but instead offered applause and even a few cheers when the home team produced a slight flurry before leaving the ice.

“Our fans were awesome,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said.

Prodded by a 12-0 difference in shots on goal at the start and the tying goal by the Wild in the third period, the fans even came together midway through the period with resounding cheers of “Let’s go, Wild!”

One goal, Mikko Koivu’s power-play tally early in the third period, was all Minnesota could manage over the 20-minute session, however, and the Stars got an overtime goal from John Klingberg to saunter out of the X with a 4-3 overtime win.

The Wild outshot the Stars 40-30 but have now lost 11 of their past 12 games.

Negatives, Yeo pointed out, are permeating the atmosphere around his team. He prefers to pick out the positives, he said.

One was the early play of the Thomas Vanek-Erik Haula-Justin Fontaine line.

Vanek, who notched two assists but whose turnover led to Klingberg’s winning goal, said one point is a whole lot better than zero, but added, “We felt like this was going to be a comeback win, but we couldn’t get it done.”

Noted Koivu: “We’ve got to play a good 60 or 65 minutes, whatever it takes, to win a hockey game in this league, and we’re not able to do that right now.”

Haula, who had a goal and an assist, noted that people keep saying how hard it is for a team to pull out of a slump, and “it really is,” he said. “It wasn’t enough again. We weren’t good enough to win the game.”

Yeo ducked no questions after the game, explaining to the media that no one has a magic cure for his team’s decline.

“It’s very easy right now to find negatives,” he added, “but nothing easy is going to get us out of this.”

Even though the Wild dominated play for much of the third period, outshooting Dallas 17-4, the strong finish served as little solace for Koivu.

“We can talk about those things over and over,” he said. “We didn’t do it and we lose the hockey game. … There’s no shortcuts. There’s not one thing we need to be doing better or whatever. We’ve got to play better to win a hockey game.”

The Wild outshot St. Louis 39-24 in a 4-1 defeat Feb. 6, so at least puck possession has improved over Minnesota’s past two games.

“I think we are playing with a little more enthusiasm, a little more jam, and that’s a good sign,” forward Zach Parise said.

Nevertheless, Parise added, things are tough in the Minnesota dressing room.

“Not a lot of people,” he said, “are feeling good offensively.”

If it’s tough in the room, it’s sometimes even tougher outside the room, where at least one bombshell exploded in the world of social media Tuesday night.

Zenon Konopka, who runs a winery and played 73 games at forward for Minnesota in 2012-14 before Buffalo acquired him on waivers, weighed in via Twitter after the nationally televised game.

“The Minnesota Wild have so much talent,” Konopka tweeted. “All the pieces to be Stanley Cup champs – wasting years isn’t fair to the players or fans.”

He concluded his tweet with: #YeohastoGo.

Some fans on social media undoubtedly agree, but the crowds continue coming to the X. Tuesday’s game was the 26th home sellout out of 26 games this season; the Wild are averaging more than 19,000 per home game.

And none of them – at least Tuesday night – was heard booing.

The post Keeping the faith appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Sabres outduel Minnesota early and often

St. Paul – Remember the good days, back when the Wild traveled to Dallas and came away with a 2-1 win over the Stars?

Seems like only yesterday.

In truth, it was way back on Jan. 9. That victory gave Minnesota a 22-11-8 record. Their 52 points represented the best half-season mark in franchise history.

But oh, how things have changed.

Yes, the Wild still have a cushion in the NHL playoff race. But hopefully, for their sake, in the event of a crash, “cushions can be used as flotation devices.”

Because if the Wild’s difficulties over their past two games are not temporary, this team just might be headed for a crash.

“It’s a humbling league,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “A couple of games ago we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Obviously, not so much today.”

The Wild’s latest bit of inadequacy occurred Tuesday night when the Buffalo Sabres, who came into the Xcel Energy Center with the second worst record in the NHL, grabbed a 3-0 first-period lead and hung on to defeat the Wild 3-2.

“The game was lost there, right away,” Wild winger Erik Haula said.

Haula set up Ryan Suter for Minnesota’s first goal, a short-handed marker in the second period, but the Wild did not score again until the final minute.

This game was unwatchable enough that by then, more than a quarter of the 19,034 paying customers had vacated their seats before the Wild pulled goalie Devan Dubnyk for an extra skater. Thomas Vanek’s final-minute goal only made it close.

This game was not unlike the Wild’s 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils Jan. 10. Factor in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers Jan. 7 at the X and the Wild have dropped three in a row at home.

“That’s unacceptable,” Haula said. “It’s quite embarrassing.”

Suter, who said the Wild “took the first period off,” had trouble pinpointing his team’s problems of late.

“We were starting to play the way that we needed to play to build and get ready for the next step,” he said. “It seems we kind of took the foot off the pedal.”

Buffalo had a 1-0 lead on a Jamie McGinn goal before Rasmus Ristolainen and Brian Gionta beat Dubnyk just 20 seconds apart late in the first period.

It was too big a deficit, and Wild captain Mikko Koivu was not happy about it.

“Emotions are high after a loss like that,” he said. “It’s better to not say anything about it right now.”

Yeo, whose team has played eight games within 13 days, said he’s giving the players a day off Wednesday before they gather to practice again. He said the team needs practice, but the players also need to rest their heads and their bodies.

“There’s no excuses,” he said. “We’ve had two practices since Christmas, but again, we’re not making excuses.”

One thing Yeo can be expected to do at his next practice is remind his players to shoot the puck when they have a chance.

“This has been going on for awhile,” he said. “I can’t remember how many two-on-ones we’ve had where we don’t get shots on goal, let alone scoring chances. This is something we’re going to have to change.”

Yeo admitted that players are “a little bit frustrated, a little bit ticked off,” adding that he’s hoping that helps ignite a response.

“For the most part, up until this stretch we were pretty consistent,” Yeo said. “I just look at this last little stretch and it’s not an energy thing – I’m not going to blame that for sure. I think maybe it’s mental.

“But again, there are just no excuses. We have to be better than this. Good teams get through stretches like this and win hockey games still, and we didn’t do that.”

The post Season takes a painful turn for Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Wild kick off 2015-16 season with high expectations, work to be done

The Minnesota Wild drops the puck on season number 15 tonight in Denver against Patrick Roy’s Colorado Avalanche. The teams opened the 2014-15 season with a home-and-home “series” in which Minnesota’s then goalie-of-the-future, Darcy Kuemper, shut out the Avs (5-0, 3-0) in both games.

At the time it was quite a statement considering the Wild’s contentious seven-game series win over Colorado in the opening round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs just five months prior. Ultimately, both teams struggled last season with only the Wild, behind a historic second-half surge, managing to return to the postseason.

Fast forward to tonight and both teams have something to prove. Colorado wants to show the rest of the National Hockey League that it’s down year was a fluke while the Wild — along with current goalie-of-the-future , Devan Dubnyk — aims to demonstrate their stretch run was not.

For that to happen, several factors come into play for Minnesota and here’s a few of them in no particular order:

Centers of attention

Mikael Granlund’s development took a step in the wrong direction last season. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Looked upon as a position of strength a year ago, Minnesota was anything but strong up the middle in 2014-15.

After posting a solid 41 points (8-33—41) in his first full season in a Wild sweater in 2013-14, Mikael Granlund further boosted expectations in the playoff with five points against Colorado, including his electrifying Game 3 overtime winner.

Granlund’s production dipped (from 0.65 points per game to 0.57), however, despite playing between Zach Parise and Jason Pominville for the majority of the season. Granted, Pominville’s struggles to find the net last year are well documented, but the Wild need more from Granlund if they are going to do more than sneak into the playoffs.

Like Granlund, Erik Haula made a splash two years ago racking up 15 points (6-9—15) in 46 games to close out the regular season, another seven (4-3—7) in 13 playoff games and was a combined plus-16. While Haula remained a stingy penalty killer in his sophomore season, the former Gopher scoring leader managed just 14 points and was a minus-7 despite playing 26 more games last year.

Needless to say, the Pori, Finland native will open the season under coach Mike Yeo’s microscope and a quick trip to Yeo’s doghouse awaits him if he can’t turn things around early on.

With third-line staple Kyle Brodziak preparing to face the Wild in Saturday night’s home opener as a member of the St. Louis Blues, rookie Tyler Graovac steps into that role between Charlie Coyle and Thomas Vanek. While he has the skill to top Brodziak’s 20 points in his final season in Minnesota, the question is whether the 6’5”, 200-pounder can match the intensity his predecessor brought night in and night out.

That leaves Mikko Koivu. Minnesota’s captain is who he is and that’s a player who will give you 40 to 50 points (when healthy), play a solid game in his own zone and win critical draws at both ends of the ice. With that said, the sooner someone like Graovac can develop and supplant Koivu in a top-six role, the more dangerous the Wild will become. But don’t look for it this season quite yet.

Charlie Coyle’s stong pre-season (1 goal, 7 assists) provides hope that he is ready to be relied upon every night. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Promotion from within

Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher, often fairly active in June and July, was mostly a spectator over the summer. Brodziak and Chris Stewart departed via free agency while the cap-strapped Wild’s biggest splash was outbidding the Chicago Blackhawks, among others, for free-agent defenseman — and former Gopher blueliner — Mike Reilly, who will start the season with Minnesota’s American Hockey League affiliate in Iowa.

Although Fletcher’s hands were essentially tied, the message was sent that the Wild’s young core was going to be counted on to transition their games from prospect to pro potential to give Minnesota any chance to climb the Western Conference ranks.

In addition to Granlund and Haula, players like Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, Matt Dumba and Christian Folin must take significant steps forward in their development or the Wild will remain simply playoff participants rather than true factors in pursuit of the Stanly Cup.

If the pre-season was any indication, there is reason for optimism in that regard.

Stability in the crease

Kuemper’s strong start a year ago jump started Minnesota to a 7-3-0 record through 10 games with all three losses coming by a single goal. But Kuemper’s inconsistent play, along with that of Niklas Backstrom, contributed to the Wild’s annual mid-season swoon and left the team’s confidence shattered.

Devan Dubnyk rescued Minnesota’s 2014-15 season. But the Wild’s postseason hopes shouldn’t be all on his shoulders this year. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Enter Devan Dubnyk. Like Kuemper, Dubnyk, acquired via trade from the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 14, pitched a shutout the following day in his season debut with the team, a 7-0 road blanking of the Buffalo Sabres. Dubnyk would go on to start a franchise-record 38 straight games, posting a 27-9-2 record with a 1.78 GAA, .936 saves percentage and five shutouts to lead Minnesota into the postseason.

The Wild can’t and shouldn’t count on numbers, much less a workload, of that nature out of Dubnyk over the course of his first full season. But with a long-term (six-years, $26 million) deal signed over the summer, he is poised to provide Minnesota with the stability and consistency at that position it has so desperately needed for a long time.

Kuemper, for his part, must adequately share some of the load to keep Dubnyk fresh over the long haul. He has the body, skill and demeanor to eventually be an NHL starting goalie but has struggled with his consistency.

Dubnyk’s contract is a clear sign Kuemper is unlikely to ever be a No. 1 in Minnesota so he is essentially in audition mode for the rest of the league. Every start he gets is an opportunity to boost his trade value and it’s in both his and the team’s best interests that he seizes it.

The best thing Backstrom can do for Minnesota is be ready if called upon and, more importantly, not become a distraction.

Will less ice time help Ryan Suter return to top form? (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Suter takes a seat

Yeo shuffled his defense pairings in the pre-season in an effort to balance them out and pave the way for a little more time off for top defenseman Ryan Suter. A fixture near the top of the league’s leaders in ice time, Suter will still see plenty of ice, particularly in crucial situations, but his workload will be reduced.

That’s what Yeo saying now anyway.

Suter will start the season paired with Jared Spurgeon on the Wild’s top unit while former partner Jonas Brodin lines up alongside his pal Dumba. Marco Scandella anchors the third pairing with second-year pro Folin. Yeo has confidence in all three units and has said he would rank his top six defensemen with anyone’s in the league.

Will that translate to resisting the urge to send Suter over the boards as often as he has in the past? That remains to be seen, but there were indications in the 31-year-old’s play last season, particularly in the first half, that Suter could benefit from a few more breathers.

The loss of his father on the eve of training camp can’t be discounted as a factor in Suter’s reduced effectiveness for much of last season but a healthy, well-rested Ryan Suter returning to dominant form will be critical to any success the Wild finds in 2015-16.

The post Let the games begin appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Deepest lineup ever presents good ‘problem’ as playoffs begin

St. Paul – With the Stanley Cup Playoffs about to open and Minnesota considered one of the better of the 16 candidates, there are a lot of happy faces these days in the Wild dressing room.

However, donning a smile when you are out of the lineup for your team’s opening Stanley Cup Playoff game does not come easily.

And the Wild, who kick off a seven-game series against the ultra-tough St. Louis Blues Thursday evening in St. Louis, have an abundance of extra bodies who will not be suiting up.

It’s a good thing and it’s a bad thing.

This is without question the most talented team in coach Mike Yeo’s four seasons and — possibly — the most talented team in Wild history. That means sometime-regulars like Nate Prosser, Erik Haula, Sean Bergenheim and possibly Ryan Carter might be scratched Thursday.

Carter was among the top 12 forwards in Tuesday’s Wild practice at the Xcel Energy Center because Matt Cooke sat out with what Yeo called “discomfort,” but Yeo declined to speculate about who’s in and who’s out between Cooke and Carter.

As of Tuesday, Prosser, Haula and Bergenheim looked to be on the outside.

No one has had a crazier ride to this point than Prosser, who was among the Wild’s top six defensemen a year ago, then signed as a free agent with the Blues before he was claimed off waivers by Minnesota at the beginning of the season.

“I’m happy to be back,” Prosser said. A native of Elk River, Minn., he pasted on his trademark smile after practice Tuesday before admitting that it stings to be on the outside.

“It’s out of my control,” he said, noting that all he can do is work hard in practice, offer as much psychological and physical support to teammates as possible and be ready if called to play.

Minnesota’s depth – thanks to players who have recently returned to full health like Jason Zucker, Carter and probably Cooke – is at an all-time high.

“It’s probably as deep as it’s ever been,” Prosser noted, crediting additions obtained by general manager Chuck Fletcher including Jordan Leopold, Chris Stewart and Bergenheim. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are ready and good players. It’s a testament to our team.”

Selecting his lineup and keeping the ones who aren’t in it happy is part of Yeo’s job.

“That’s part of the challenge,” Yeo said, “but guys that were here last year remember and guys that have been part of the playoffs know things change quickly.”

Haula, Yeo pointed out, played limited minutes a year ago before taking on more responsibility “and obviously having quite an impact as things went on.”

Haula’s smile following practice Tuesday appeared a bit forced.

“It’s an exciting time,” he said. “Of course it’s disappointing not being in, but I’ve just got to do the work and be ready when called upon.”

Carter has ridden the roller coaster of emotions, slipping out of the team’s top 12 forwards before climbing back in with Cooke missing Tuesday.

Although Carter beamed after practice, he knew his status could change quickly.

“I think we’re all prepared to play at any time,” he said. “That’s kind of where my head’s at right now.”

The differences between a year ago and today on the Wild’s roster are large: Cody McCormick, Stephane Veilleux, Clayton Stoner, Jon Blum and Ilya Bryzgalov have been replaced by Zucker, Stewart, Leopold, Devan Dubnyk, Thomas Vanek, Matt Dumba and Justin Fontaine. Also available besides Prosser and Haula are Bergenheim, Christian Folin and Jordan Schroeder.

“This team’s more talented than last year,” radio analyst Tom Reid said. “They understand a bit more what’s expected of ’em.”

The Wild’s lineup is not only deep, Reid pointed out, it’s healthy.

“Minnesota’s got more bullets in the chamber than they had previous years,” he added.

Yeo says he’s not about to declare this a Stanley Cup contender, even if the possibility of Minnesota advancing deep into the playoffs does exist.

“Definitely, this is the best team in my tenure,” Yeo said. “The most complete team. Again, we’re not going in the locker room saying, ‘OK, this is our year, this is do or die,’ or anything like that. We’ve got a quiet confidence about us.”

That said, he noted, the Blues present too tough of an opponent to think too big.

“Our expectations,” Yeo said, “are nothing more than to be ready for Game One right now.”

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Classic WCHA alums blow away Hurricanes

SAINT PAUL – Early on in the Wild’s 6-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night, a hat trick appeared inevitable.

Instead, the lone mention of hats might have been a reference to the Gophers’ “Minnesota, hats off to thee.”

Former University of Minnesota star Thomas Vanek scored two goals in the first 8:17 to spark a Wild offense that got goals from ex-Gophers Jordan Schroeder and Erik Haula as well as Elk River native Nate Prosser and Bloomington native Zach Parise.

With the Gophers men posting a 2-0 win over Michigan at Mariucci Arena, it was a good evening for Minnesota hockey fans.

“They need to win; we need to win, so it’s a good day for all of us,” Vanek said.

The Wild’s six goals, coming on just 24 shots including one into an empty net, were backed by another strong effort from Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk.

Dubnyk raised his record with Minnesota to 10-1-1 and the Wild, much to the delight of 19,220 at the Xcel Energy Center, raised their record in their past 10 games to 8-0-2 to tie the franchise mark for longest points streak.

With points in 12 of their past 13 games, the Wild have climbed to a 28-20-7 record for 63 points with 27 games remaining. The 63 points temporarily tied Minnesota for eighth place in the Western Conference, just three points behind sixth-place San Jose, although Calgary and Vancouver played late.

The timing of this streak has been terrific: The Wild now head on the road for games at Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

“At this time of year, it’s all about getting points, and we’re getting them,” Vanek said.

Vanek got the Wild started in the first period, with a bunch of help from Justin Fontaine.

Fontaine’s forecheck created a loose puck, and Mikael Granlund found the puck and an open Vanek to make it 1-0 just 1:15 after puck drop.

Seven minutes later, Fontaine slid a perfect pass to an open Vanek to make it 2-0, and after Schroeder banged a shot past former Wild goalie Anton Khudobin at the 15:31 mark, it appeared Minnesota was in control.

But the Hurricanes outshot the Wild 13-4 in the second period to push back.

“We got the win, that’s the bottom line,” Schroeder said. “And that’s 10 consecutive games with a point, so that’s pretty cool, too.”

Carolina cut deficits of 3-0 and 4-1 to 4-3 in the second period before goals by Haula and Parise made things more comfortable.

“Unflappable,” was the word chosen by Wild coach Mike Yeo to describe his team, noting that a strange embellishment penalty called against Mikko Koivu seemed to give the Hurricanes life.

But, as Yeo said, the Wild did not wilt.

“I think we’re just kind of building our game,” Prosser said. “Each and every game we’re building our confidence, and everyone’s feeling good about their games. We’re doing all the little things right: Making sure we’re paying the price, blocking shots, taking hits to make plays. I think everyone can feel that positivity on the bench.”

Yeo tipped his hat to the play of Fontaine and Schroeder, who have moved up because of injuries to Jason Zucker and Ryan Carter, commenting that both did things “the right way.”

Fontaine picked up two assists and Schroeder one, while Granlund and Jared Spurgeon each added two assists and Vanek one.

Yeo was obviously relieved to add another win to his team’s record – the Wild will likely need to pick up 31 or 32 points over their final 26 games to make the playoffs – but Yeo was in no mood to celebrate.

“One win doesn’t mean we’re there,” he said, “and one loss doesn’t mean we’re not there. This is all just part of the process right now. We’re finally back in it. We’ve gotten ourselves closer, and there’s still an awful lot of hockey left this year.”

The post Wild win has Minnesota flavor appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Ballard injury galvanizes Minnesota in big comeback win over Isles

The word “scary” came up over and over in the Wild dressing room Tuesday night.

The New York Islanders’ Matt Martin knocked Minnesota’s Keith Ballard head-first into the boards in front of the Islanders’ bench with New York leading 3-0 in the second period and medical personnel rushed on to the ice in record time to assist Ballard.

The former Gopher defenseman, one of eight Minnesota natives skating in the Wild-Islanders game at the Xcel Energy Center, appeared to be convulsing and a stretcher was immediately wheeled out.
Somehow, after a lengthy delay, Ballard got to his feet with help and walked off the ice, after which he was taken to Regions Hospital for tests and observation.

The Wild responded, too.

According to those who keep these kinds of records, the Wild came back from a three-goal deficit to win in regulation for the first time in franchise history.

The score was 4-1 heading into the third period, but goals by Mikko Koivu, Erik Haula, Thomas Vanek and Nino Niederreiter during a 12-minute stretch lifted the Wild to a 5-4 victory in front of 18,904.

After managing just three shots on goal through 20 minutes, the Wild pretty much dominated the rest of the way. They outshot the Islanders 12-1 in the second period and 15-7 in the third to rescue another dismal start.

It was 3-1 in the second period until the Islanders’ Josh Bailey scored on his team’s lone shot of the period, a goal that should have been enough to puncture Minnesota’s attempt at a comeback.

It wasn’t.

Wild coach Mike Yeo loved the result and the win, but “the biggest thing to me is we needed to respond,” he said.

Yeo did not see Martin’s hit on Ballard – no penalty was called – and he needed to crane his neck from the bench to see what was happening with Ballard on the ice.

“It was scary,” he said.

Haula didn’t see the hit, either, but he saw Ballard on the ice.

“It was really scary,” he said.

Vanek, who added an assist to his goal, played on the 2003 NCAA championship University of Minnesota team with Ballard.

Vanek labeled Ballard’s injury “pretty sickening,” adding, “But I think we took it in a positive way. We took the emotion in a good way and started playing hard and it was a great comeback win for us.”

Just four days after the Wild fell behind 3-0 to Anaheim before grabbing the lead and yielding it again in a 5-4 defeat, Minnesota again came out flat and unsteady.

“It’s hard to pinpoint why we started two games like this,” Yeo said.

But the hit on Ballard opened faucets of passion and enthusiasm up and down the Wild roster.

Finally, Yeo said.

“That’s what we need,” he added. “You can draw X’s and O’s, but passion and emotion, that’s got to be there for us, no question. We’ve got to find a way to bring that.”

It shouldn’t require an injured player, Yeo added.

On this occasion, it did.

“Obviously we were very angry,” Niederreiter said, “but at the same time we were also scared because nobody had an idea what was going on with ‘Bally.’

There was no need to talk about it among the players: Mikael Granlund goaded Kyle Okposo into a penalty shortly after Ballard was hurt, and Kyle Brodziak dropped the gloves and fought Martin just 23 seconds later.

“Nothing was really said,” Haula commented, “but inside of everyone I’m sure it was like, ‘We’ve got to really play for Keith here.’ Hopefully, he’s OK.”

Haula, also a former Gopher, said he believed the players were “kind of freaked out” seeing their teammate wounded on the ice.

“I have never seen something like that,” Haula said. “I think we handled it great as a team. We processed it in between periods and just went out there and played really hard.”

Koivu, who had a goal and an assist, called it “a very emotional night,” adding he hopes that Ballard can return to the team soon.

Nearly lost in the concern for Ballard and the delight in the big comeback was the return to the lineup of defenseman Ryan Suter, who had missed two games with the mumps. Suter played more than 29 minutes and contributed three assists.

“From penalty kills to power plays to every aspect of his game, he just kept getting stronger, and showed how important he is to us,” Yeo said.

Yeo talked about how Ballard’s injury pulled his guys together, and they were universally concerned about their teammate when the game was over.

“When you see a guy down like that, it really hits you,” defenseman Nate Prosser said. “All you can do is pray for him right now, and hopefully he’s feeling better quick.”

The post Scary hit sparks Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.