Too close for comfort...and a prediction

With regular season behind them, Wild, Blackhawks get set to face each other in Round One of 2013 NHL Playoffs

By Wild Road Tripper

That was close. Too close.

The Minnesota Wild, who almost backed all the way out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, did manage to right the ship of state in time to save their season Saturday night at Pepsi Center, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As thousands of fans watched in angst at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, where the Blue Jackets thought that their 3-1 win, over the Nashville Predators, would just be enough to qualify for their second playoff run in the franchise's history, the Wild managed to just squeak in as the No. 8 seed in the NHL's Western Conference.

The Wild will begin their best-of-7 series with the Chicago Blackhawks on either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on the whims of the NBC Sports Network, who controls what games are placed in what order by the League contractually. NBCSN -- which used to be known as Versus -- would like to keep the League's stars (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, the Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings) on their network as much as possible.

And, there is the question in the Eastern Conference of who will play whom, as there is one game to be played today -- the postponed Ottawa at Boston game, which was originally scheduled for April 15th, the date of the Boston Marathon bomb attacks. This game needs to be played, in order to determine playoff positioning for 3 of the 4 Eastern Conference series.

Until that game is played, none of the dates/times for any of the series will probably be announced, so it will be anywhere up to mid-late evening before the times might be known.

As the two teams prepare to enter the playoffs -- the pressure-filled, hyper-intense world of hockey beyond the end of the regular season -- the fact of the matter is clear: The Wild are the second-biggest underdog in the NHL playoffs. Only the New York Islanders -- who will end up facing the Pittsburgh Penguins, should Ottawa lose in OT or the shootout tonight in Boston -- would probably be a larger underdog.

Regardless of when the Wild-Blackhawks series starts, the best thing for the Wild to do is simplify your game. No more Clayton Stoner cross-ice passes to be intercepted by Marian Hossa. No Justin Falk missed checks leading to Patrick Kane odd-man rushes on goal. No more Tom Gilbert passes to the empty quarter of the offensive zone, only to be intercepted and shot down the ice, killing yet another chance. Don't expect Pierre-Marc Bouchard to Spin-o-Rama his way to a Stanley Cup. Or much from Zenon Konopka, Mike Rupp, or Torrey Mitchell, but for Mitchell, for the fact he has to play on the same line (Wild's 4th) with the other two.

Chicago's strength is that their four lines are better than yours, matched up line-for-line (1st vs. 1st, 2nd vs. 2nd, 3rd vs. 3rd, and 4th vs. 4th). Their defense is better than yours (especially the bottom three), and their goaltending has improved dramatically, as opposed to Wild workhorse Niklas Backstrom, who has played in 82% of the Wild's season.

The Wild will make this an interesting series, and may just sneak a win out of the United Center. Maybe. But then, under the pressure of the home crowd, with 20,000 people at Xcel Energy Center (they will try for this number of tickets sold, for each game in this series) screaming 'SHOOT' every time the power play stalls and become a pass-fest, the Wild will eventually wilt under the relentless attack of the Blackhawks. What the Hawks are, is what the Wild wants to achieve. They just aren't there...yet. But, they're getting there. At least the Wild are, finally, on their way.

PREDICTION: Hawks in 6.

How 'bout a little help for the Wild?

If the Minnesota Wild could scream something at the rest of the NHL this Sunday morning, it very well could be saying:

'Thanks for nothing, guys!'

The fact of the matter, however, is that whatever team needed to lose in various games last week in the NHL, didn't. In fact, of the 12 non-Wild games I mentioned last week on this blog, only 4 of the 12 turned out the way that the Wild could eventually take advantage of, and 3 of those 4 were that the game didn't go to overtime or shootout. The only game that didn't go OT/Shootout that turned out the way the Wild would like was Calgary's 3-2 win at home Wednesday against faltering Detroit.

So, having said all that, we turn to the final seven days of the Western Conference race, where the race will finally and mercifully (for some teams, at least) end. The last four games of the season will feature three teams who are out of the race (Calgary, Edmonton, and Colorado) and one team -- Tuesday's home game vs. the LA Kings -- who has already clinched a playoff spot.

Update: 11:30 AM Sunday: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, of the Edmonton Oilers, is reportedly having shoulder surgery in Cleveland this coming week, ending RNH's season.

Do you think the Wild have a better chance this week? Let's find out...

Sunday, April 21: Wild at home, must beat Calgary
                              Colorado must beat St. Louis
                              Dallas at LA Kings cannot go OT/SO
                              Columbus at San Jose cannot go OT/SO

Monday, April 22: Chicago must win at Vancouver
                               Phoenix at Detroit cannot go OT/SO

Tuesday, April 23: Wild at home, must beat LA Kings
                               Phoenix must win at St. Louis
                               Dallas at San Jose cannot go OT/SO

Wednesday, Apr. 24: Detroit must beat LA Kings
                                   San Jose at Phoenix cannot go OT/SO

Thursday, Apr. 25:  Nashville must win at Detroit
                                Calgary must win at St. Louis
                                Columbus at Dallas cannot go OT/SO
                                Anaheim must beat Vancouver

Friday, April 26: Wild at home, must beat Edmonton
                          
Saturday, April 27: Wild must win at Colorado
                                Chicago must win at St. Louis
                                Edmonton must beat Vancouver
                                All other Western Conference games must not go OT/SO

Wild playoff qualification plan: Win..and get help

Reeling Minnesota Wild need to turn it around, help from others to make playoffs

Good Morning, Wild Nation.

Your team sucks as bad as the weather outside (at least in the Twin Cities, anyways.) A three-game homestand, which should have yielded at least four points (read the last post, folks), came within 3:15 of not producing any points at all. Without Jason Pominville's late third-period, power play rebound goal, the Wild would currently be 0-fer April at home.

As it is, with two weeks, and seven games left in their season, the Wild need help -- big-time, somebody-else-has-to-beat-your-rival, high-school-grade help --in order to even make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not only do the Wild have to sweep the last seven games, but they need the following to happen, just this coming week:

Today: Chicago needs to win at St. Louis (on NBC)
            Nashville needs to beat Detroit

Monday: Wild needs to win at Calgary
                Chicago needs to beat Dallas
                San Jose needs to win at Phoenix
               
Tuesday: Wild needs to win at Edmonton
                Vancouver at St. Louis cannot go to Overtime/Shootout

Wednesday: Calgary needs to beat Detroit
                     Anaheim needs to beat Columbus

Thursday: Wild needs to win at San Jose
                 Phoenix needs to win at St. Louis
                 Vancouver at Dallas cannot go to OT/SO
                 Columbus at LA Kings cannot go to OT/SO

Friday: Dallas at St. Louis cannot go to OT/SO

Saturday: Chicago needs to beat Phoenix
                Detroit at Vancouver cannot go to OT/SO

Sunday April 21: Wild, at home, needs to beat Calgary (again)
                             Dallas at LA Kings cannot go to OT/SO
                             Columbus at San Jose cannot go to OT/SO
                             Colorado needs to beat St. Louis

So, dear reader, you can see the kind of crater that the Wild have dug for themselves. The biggest thing, however, is that the Wild must sweep the week. It's that simple. Keep your eyes on the prize, and the rest should take care of itself.

Hopefully.

Wild goal: Eight out of five?

Are fans asking for too much from the Minnesota Wild? Or are expectations changing as team changes?

Eight points in five games. Is that too much to ask?

The end is near. Or so the guy with the hand-made sign on the street says. So, I ask you, dear blog reader: is eight points for the Wild in the next five games (basically, a 4-1 record) too much to ask from the boys in Iron Range Red (or Forest Green, vs. Chicago)?

With 11 games (including Sunday's 5 PM tilt in Columbus) remaining in the shortened, compressed NHL season, the fact that the Wild are in position to even make the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a testament to the determination of this team to make it work, despite the NHL's worst travel schedule and nine back-to-backs. The Wild head into Columbus and the first home game for ex-Wild cherry picker Marian Gaborik in his new home with the suddenly successful Blue Jackets, who have not lost in Nationwide Arena in nearly two months (Feb. 10, in fact, vs. Edmonton). The Jackets start their last meaningful home stand today; when they meet again this coming Saturday in St. Paul, the Jackets will have embarked on a six-game, 13-day forced march thru Minnesota, Colorado and the Pacific Division, meeting every team except Phoenix away from Ohio. So every point they get at home will be as critical for them as the points are for the visiting Wild.

As of today, the Wild have 7 games with 4 of the bottom 6 teams in the NHL's Western Conference, including home and away games with lowly Calgary, somewhat-fading Edmonton and the Blue Jackets, and one game (the final regular-season game) at Colorado. Fortunately, the Anaheim Ducks, the Wild's chief pain in the collective side, are not on the schedule the rest of the regular season. Single games remain at home vs. Chicago, St. Louis, and LA; the Wild are still scheduled for one more visit, to the house of horrors known as the HP Pavilion-San Jose, to face the Sharks.

Are fans expectations changing as the team changes and gets better?

I, for one, do expect more as the team gets better. Yes, I know, I should learn to 'manage expectations' better, but as this team adds talent to the roster, the expectations should, conceivably, rise to the occasion of the talent level. I grow tired of the 'maybe we'll make the playoffs, and maybe we won't' expectation, season after season. The fact is that this team is in a good state right now; the team's upper management, and ownership, has proven to the players (and fans) that they will do what they can in order to win.

Now it's up to the players -- the guys who are actually 'in the room' -- to get the job done. Show the fans that you are as committed to winning as those you answer to are. Yes, the fans have every right to still be a little bit skeptical as to whether or not you will even MAKE the playoffs, much less go far in them. But that's what fans are. After four seasons of not making the playoffs at all, a little skepticism goes a long, long way. And after the spectacular crash-and-burn which occured about this point last season, just holding on for dear life isn't going to help you at all, Minnesota Wild.

So, to go back to my original point; is eight points in the next five games too much to ask? Let's take a look ahead:

Game 1 -- today, 5 PM CDT, at Columbus -- Wild either win close or lose in OT/SO. Too close to call. But, since the point is to manage expectations; we'll manage them to a Wild win, as Nate Prosser is relieving Tom Gilbert on the blue line today. When Nate plays, the Wild win. Simple as that. Two points for the visiting Wild.

Game 2 -- Tuesday, 7 PM CDT, vs. Chicago -- nationally-televised game in which the Wild should do well in. (Hopefully better than last month's disaster in the United Center, where the Wild basically laid an egg, losing 5-3.) Chicago already assured home-ice in 1st round with that 24-game unbeaten-in-regulation streak. Wild win. (2 Points.)

Game 3 -- Thursday, 7 PM CDT, vs. St. Louis -- Blues will be on 3rd game of 4-game roadie (at Detroit, Nashville, Minnesota, Columbus). This is the game that scares me. Which Blues team will show up Thursday night? The one that lost 4 of 5 prior to the last game last week at the X? Or the one from earlier on this season, which won 6 of their first 7? With Jay Bouwmeester and Jordan Leopold both now on the Blues' blue line, this could be a trap game. This is the one I think Wild lose. (Hope I'm wrong, but...)

Game 4 -- Saturday, 7 PM CDT vs. Columbus -- Marian Gaborik's revenge night. Unlike when AJ Pierzinski and Kevin Garnett left Minnesota, folks, Gaborik brought nothing back when he signed as an UFA with the Rangers in 2009. It's OK to boo lustily whenever he touches the puck (which, we hope, won't be often.) Wild win this one. (2 Points).

Game 5 -- Monday, April 15, 8:00 PM CDT, at Calgary -- the Flames have basically thrown in the towel. GM Jay Feaster sold off Jarome Iginla, Bouwmeester, and almost sold off Curtis Glencross, have been told Mikka Kiprusoff is not returning after this season, and the rebuilding has, indeed, started in Calgary. Wild should win this game, too. (2 points).

That's my thoughts. Let's play the games and see how it all shakes out. Remember to manage your expectations, also. Doug Risebrough would expect nothing less.

Three months down, one to go

Minnesota Wild playoff drive approaches last month, critical mass with California trip looming

March has been a fun month, if you've been cheering on the Minnesota Wild. With an 11-4 month of March (equalling a team record), the Wild enter April a mere 11 points from the supposed 'promised land' of 55 points, the level at which most pundits think will be enough to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

With a game in hand versus Vancouver, the Wild enter April on Monday facing a difficult challenge, as 3 of their first 4 April contests are away from St. Paul, while Vancouver has 3 of their first 4 at home prior to their potentially killer, 5-game road trip starting April 10th.

The Wild's upcoming California road trip will be yet another 'acid test' of how the Wild have changed this season, with games in San Jose and LA before jetting east across the country to an appearance next Sunday in Columbus, against the improved (and still on the cusp of the playoffs) Blue Jackets.

LA is somewhat kinder to the Wild, where the Wild actually have an all-time winning record (10-8-4) vs. a less-that-scintillating 8-12-2 record in San Jose.

The fact is the West Coast trips for the Wild are long, sapping killer trips that expend considerable energy out of visiting teams, as the home teams are used to the California lifestyle and the 2-3 hour time difference. And, usually the Wild are rapping these games around those in Anaheim, where the Wild are nearly a .500 hockey team (10-11-1). But not this trip. This trip, the Ducks will have their hands full, playing three straight games against Dallas, the last three ever as divisional rivals, prior to their April 7 game at home vs. the Kings.

You can see how the NHL schedule intertwines the contenders and the pretenders as the compressed schedule goes down to the last 14 (or so) games. Every team in the West playoff race has at least one killer road trip left; how they deal with the adversity, away from home, will be the key to playoff qualifying, Or not qualifying.

So make sure your NHL Center Ice subscription is paid up. Get ready for some late night hockey. And remember to get your sleep. For this coming week, Wild faithful, you'll need it.

Keep On, Keepin' On

Is the five-game winning streak for real? It will get tested this week

Are the Minnesota Wild for real? Are they actually going to make the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs? Or are they going to fold, like they did last season? And who will be there to heckle them, as they do?

Well, we hate to break it to you, folks, but this team is for real.  With five straight wins, including wins at two of the NHL's toughest venues, Vancouver's Rogers Arena (ex-Canada Hockey Place, nee-General Motors Place) and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, the Wild seem to be wanting to be that team that breaks away from the nine-team pack in the Western Conference, and join the likes of the Conference's two front-runners, Chicago and Anaheim, not only to make the playoffs, but to secure home ice advantage in the first round, something the Wild have not experienced since their Northwest Division championship season of 2007-08, the only earned banner that hangs in the rafters of Xcel Energy Center.

This Wild team, the most talent-laden club in the history of the franchise, has finally started to play like the talent they actually have. The kids that were brought in by GM Chuck Fletcher (Jonas Brodin, Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker) have turned out to be great additions to a primarily veteran-laden roster, one with enough depth that when one gets injured (as hockey players do over the course of a season), another one can be plugged in and the level of play does not significantly suffer.

And that does really not set well with a lot of NHL people.

The lack of respect that the Wild are getting is borderline appalling. Now, some of that is indeed deserved, as the team hasn't qualified officially for anything...yet. The fact of the matter is that the league's media outlets, mostly tightly controlled by the league's Toronto offices, refuse to accept the fact that a team not based in British Columbia, might actually win the final Northwest Division title.

The League has stated that the Wild will not participate in any special event games (Winter Classic, NHL Premiere in Europe) until -- and unless -- they start making the playoffs. The Wild are particularly adept at getting pushed down the line in League-operated media, such as the 'NHL Tonight' highlight package TV show, on the NHL Network. The fact that they are in the Western Conference in an Eastern Conference-based media doesn't help; no national respect is coming for this Wild team. But as long as they are in the same division as perennially-whiny Vancouver, whose fan base -- like the team itself -- cries after every game, win OR lose, the Wild will always be treated like the country cousin who never gets any respect, even after they have re-invented the wheel.

The Wild now heading into a particularly dicey stretch of the season, with 6 of the next 7 games (and 7 of the 8, including yesterday's game vs. San Jose) against teams in the Pacific Division, a division which currently is Anaheim, and then, everyone else. Six points separate second-place LA from last-place Phoenix; the current trend for the division (excluding Anaheim) is 2-6. The old adage of  'it's not who you play, it's when you play them' may just work in the Wild's favor here. The fact of the schedule being what it is, with two games vs. the Dallas Stars with the lone visit to Minnesota by the Phoenix Coyotes thrown in the middle, is not fun, but the alternative -- a two-game 'mini-series' in the Metroplex vs. the Stars -- might just have been that much worse. And, at the back end, the Wild will finally face the LA Kings, for the first time this abbreviated season, at home on Saturday.

The Stars are the '2' in that 2-6 Pacific Division streak trend I mentioned earlier. They have taken a patchwork lineup of players on their last go-rounds (Jaromir Jagr, Ray Whitney, Vernon Fiddler, Stephane Robidas) and have kept themselves relevant in the Conference, despite the presence of Anaheim in the same division. The Stars will not play between Monday's game vs. the Wild, and Friday's rematch at American Airlines Center. The Wild will be hard-pressed to win one, much less both, of the two games. But they can do it, IF they play their game like they have shown they can in the past five games.

Wild fans just keep on hoping, that the joy ride doesn't end for a long, long time.

Don't look now, North America; Wild are in 1st

Yes, it's fleeting, but it's still the truth as shortened schedule passes half-way mark

Sorry, North America, but we really hate to break this news to all of you:

The Minnesota Wild are in third place in the NHL's Western Conference, and lead the Northwest Division this Monday morning. Now, granted, it might not be that way for long, but for now, the Wild have the most wins of any team in the division, and that tie-breaker (with Vancouver) means the Wild are No. 1. For now.

With a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games, the Wild have pretty much proven the naysayers wrong, despite the overwhelming feeling about the offseason signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter by the Wild. Yes, it's taken time, and a lot of Wild fan angst, but it looks like the Wild may -- MAY -- have just possibly found themselves in time to salvage the season and possibly break away from a lot of the 9-team middle-of-Conference pack that currently exists in the West. The Wild may also have a hand in the deciding of the Pacific Division as well; they have 10 games remaining against the Pacific, starting with Tuesday night's season-series finale with the current Pacific Division leaders, the Anaheim Ducks.

In fact, Anaheim will be only the second team in the conference the Wild will finish with (Nashville the other) before the Wild go on their next road trip, a 3-game trek to Colorado, Vancouver and Detroit, starting with the game Saturday afternoon in Denver. On the other hand, the Wild have yet to face either of the other two California teams, the San Jose Sharks and the defending Stanley Cup champion LA Kings. In fact, on the NHL Trade Deadline day (April 3) the Wild will conveinently be in San Jose, so if Wild GM Chuck Fletcher makes a move, any player that can be moved can be easily dispatched to whatever point on the NHL compass the trade winds take them.

But, between now and then, there's 11 games (6 home, 5 road) to be played, another nearly 1/4 of the season. So there's time for players to play themselves into, or out of, the day-to-day lineup. Or, should the so choose, all the way off the roster. But the fact is starting to stare at all 30 NHL teams, that the last chance to dump salary (of potential UFA's to be), or get anything of value for players whose welcome has worn thin (or totally out) is coming upon them like a bad storm across the prairie.

Especially this season, this shortened season, this last season before divisional re-alignment, the Trade Deadline day should, in my honest opinion, yield a few surprises along with a couple of shocker moves; the number of medium-level free agents-to-be almost demands that some blockbuster trades happen.

The Wild need to dump salary. They would like to do so and actually get something in return. The franchise is finally getting out of the Risebrough era, albeit slower than most Wild fans would like them to; this summer should finally close the books on the DR reign of the Wild. Now, some of that will be tough (how do you give up on Niklas Backstrom, for example, the way he has played for most of the season so far?) and some of it will be easy (Pierre-Marc Bouchard), and some others will be tough to swallow for some (if Matt Cullen is moved, as example) but the fact is that the Wild are positioned to get younger, bigger and even more talented than they are now. And most followers agree, that this is already the most talented Wild roster in their history.

So what to do? This team needs to make the playoffs -- THIS season -- in order to show Minnesota hockey fans progress towards the success that this market has for so long craved. Even if the end result this season is a one-series 'one-and-done', even that would be considered progress. Then, and only then, would this season be worth it for Wild fans.