Series Talk: Wild vs. Jets (Round 1)

[MrBoJangelz71]

Thank man. Losing Suter is a bit of stumble to start the fight, but hopefully that is all and that it is good series. Border battle should be a lot of fun.

Unless you guys go all Avs. Then we will hate you forever. Never go all Avs.

I think a good team like the Wild can absorb and cover the loss of a Suter for a 7 game series. It’s the next round, where those extra minutes start to wear guys down, that his absence really gets felt.

To many are writing the Wild off, but I believe they can spread Suters minutes out, Dumba can easily take 5 of his 30, Spurgeon takes 20, the other 5 gets dispersed among the rest.

Can’t wait for this to get going, will be an entertaining series, Avs excluded.

 

[TaLoN]

I think a good team like the Wild can absorb and cover the loss of a Suter for a 7 game series. It’s the next round, where those extra minutes start to wear guys down, that his absence really gets felt.

To many are writing the Wild off, but I believe they can spread Suters minutes out, Dumba can easily take 5 of his 30, Spurgeon takes 20, the other 5 gets dispersed among the rest.

Can’t wait for this to get going, will be an entertaining series.

Suter played strictly left side, Dumba and Spurgeon play strictly right side... it's Brodin and Seeler that will have to take up Suter's minutes on the left.

 

[Wabit]

I think a good team like the Wild can absorb and cover the loss of a Suter for a 7 game series. It’s the next round, where those extra minutes start to wear guys down, that his absence really gets felt.

To many are writing the Wild off, but I believe they can spread Suters minutes out, Dumba can easily take 5 of his 30, Spurgeon takes 20, the other 5 gets dispersed among the rest.

Can’t wait for this to get going, will be an entertainer.

It's not so much the RD (Spurgeon, Dumba, and even to a lesser extent Prosser) eating extra minutes. It's the LD behind Brodin that are the concern. Seeler has looked good, but he's still a rookie with 22 NHL games. Soucy is also a rookie and has 3 NHL games. Olofsson isn't cleared to play (as far as I know).

Even Spurgeon can't just take 20 of Suter's minutes. He needs to take Murphy's 20 mins first, and it'll be his first game back from a hammy injury. I don't see him playing 40 out of 60 minutes.

Unless I'm misreading you and you think the Wild should run a 7D and 11 FWD lineup. I'm in favor of that, but I don't think the Wild will do it G1.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

Suter played strictly left side, Dumba and Spurgeon play strictly right side... it's Brodin and Seeler that will have to take up Suter's minutes on the left.

Didn’t take into consideration players that don’t play their offside. Not like the Jets ever had that issue.
Well guess we will be attacking your left side, fyi.

 

[TaLoN]

Didn’t take into consideration players that don’t play their offside. Not like the Jets ever had that issue.
Well guess we will be attacking your left side, fyi.

Brodin should be able to handle it, it's Seeler that's the question.... he's played well, but the playoffs are a different animal.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

It's not so much the RD (Spurgeon, Dumba, and even to a lesser extent Prosser) eating extra minutes. It's the LD behind Brodin that are the concern. Seeler has looked good, but he's still a rookie with 22 NHL games. Soucy is also a rookie and has 3 NHL games. Olofsson isn't cleared to play (as far as I know).

Even Spurgeon can't just take 20 of Suter's minutes. He needs to take Murphy's 20 mins first, and it'll be his first game back from a hammy injury. I don't see him playing 40 out of 60 minutes.

Unless I'm misreading you and you think the Wild should run a 7D and 11 FWD lineup. I'm in favor of that, but I don't think the Wild will do it G1.

Ya I assumed some could play on their offside. Never thought of running with 7 D, but it might be the easiest way to cover his loss

 

[TaLoN]

Ya I assumed some could play on their offside. Never thought of running with 7 D, but it might be the easiest way to cover his loss

then we can't roll 4 lines though, which is a vital thing to be able to do vs teams like the Jets with so much depth.

Yeah, not in favor of only 11 forwards...

Risk the rookie imo, he's earned the shot. Roll 4 full lines.

 

[Wabit]

then we can't roll 4 lines though, which is a vital thing to be able to do vs teams like the Jets with so much depth.

Yeah, not in favor of only 11 forwards...

Risk the rookie imo, he's earned the shot. Roll 4 full lines.

Just switch off double shifting the wings to the 3rd line. PK/PP's throw of lines anyways. Or try and hide Ennis/Greenway on Staal's line and make the 3rd line stronger with Nino.

Unless it's a blowout for either team I think the BB shortens the bench early 3rd period.

 

[TaLoN]

Just switch off double shifting the wings to the 3rd line. PK/PP's throw of lines anyways. Or try and hide Ennis/Greenway on Staal's line and make the 3rd line stronger with Nino.

Unless it's a blowout for either team I think the BB shortens the bench early 3rd period.

Yes he does, which makes it important we have guys taking minutes the first two periods.

Like I said, Seeler has earned the chance to take up minutes on D, let's keep what has worked well in this good second half. Cullen, Koivu, Staal, Parise, they aren't getting any younger... don't double shift them until we HAVE to.

 

[Wabit]

Yes he does, which makes it important we have guys taking minutes the first two periods.

Like I said, Seeler has earned the chance to take up minutes on D, let's keep what has worked well in this good second half. Cullen, Koivu, Staal, Parise, they aren't getting any younger... don't double shift them until we HAVE to.

I wasn't thinking Koivu and Staal, and Cullen is already on the 3rd line. But Granny, Nino, Zucker, even one of the 4th liners could each pick up an extra shift a period. It takes more in-game management but with the extra TV timeout (IIRC) it makes it plausible.

I dunno, I just think Ennis/Greenway are the weak link against a deep Jets FWD group.

 

[Jetster231]

Jets fans just want one win. Pretty please?

 

[Wild11MN]

Someone throw up a GDT early tomorrow. Doesn't need to be fancy since the Playoff board always uses the home team's.

Jets fans just want one win. Pretty please?

I think Wild fans are saying the same thing. Well... not quite, but sorta.

 

[Jetster231]

Someone throw up a GDT early tomorrow. Doesn't need to be fancy since the Playoff board always uses the home team's.



I think Wild fans are saying the same thing. Well... not quite, but sorta.

The curse of our franchise not winning a playoff game, Jets fans will seriously just be happy getting the first win. Anything else is a bonus.

The Wild are experienced and have been here before, they know how to do this.

 

[Arturia Pendragon]

The curse of our franchise not winning a playoff game, Jets fans will seriously just be happy getting the first win. Anything else is a bonus.

The Wild are experienced and have been here before, they know how to do this.

Wild fan here that rarely posts...
This is being way too nice to us. Six straight years of playoff appearances, and only advancing as far as the second round twice, means little to me in terms of playoff experience. How did Haula put it after the playoffs last year...?:

"What is this? Five years in a row, I'm tired of it...."

Even with Suter I was not liking the idea of a Jets match-up. I think we'll have the ability to win one or two games, but ultimately, the Jets simply have a superior lineup.

 

[SupremeNachos]

 

[Nharris31]

Do it for Suter! Let’s go Wild!

 

[63firebird]

Wild fan here that rarely posts...
This is being way too nice to us. Six straight years of playoff appearances, and only advancing as far as the second round twice, means little to me in terms of playoff experience. How did Haula put it after the playoffs last year...?:

"What is this? Five years in a row, I'm tired of it...."

Even with Suter I was not liking the idea of a Jets match-up. I think we'll have the ability to win one or two games, but ultimately, the Jets simply have a superior lineup.

Well said. I agree totally.
Lots of wishful thinking.
Will Nino and Coyle stepup?
Will Seeler and Soucy continue their strong play?
Is Spurgeon 100%?
Ennis-Greenway?

 

[Nsjohnson]

Easy to talk about negatives, but frankly, we didn't have too many. The biggest negative is that the team as a whole could not generate goal scoring chances.

Seriously loved how Dumba played. There was a shift in the 3rd period that he pulled a classic Suter. The puck went behind our net and he had to play a man for it. He got the puck and push it ahead a bit more up into the corner and skated at it and pushed it up the boards with one hand on the stick, warding off the following guy with his other arm. He then cut across the ice slightly and took it into the zone. It was a mix of Suter and Dumba and I can tell Dumba is no longer the same 'bad defender' he used to be.

 

[Bazeek]

Easy to talk about negatives, but frankly, we didn't have too many. The biggest negative is that the team as a whole could not generate goal scoring chances.

Seriously loved how Dumba played. There was a shift in the 3rd period that he pulled a classic Suter. The puck went behind our net and he had to play a man for it. He got the puck and push it ahead a bit more up into the corner and skated at it and pushed it up the boards with one hand on the stick, warding off the following guy with his other arm. He then cut across the ice slightly and took it into the zone. It was a mix of Suter and Dumba and I can tell Dumba is no longer the same 'bad defender' he used to be.

Give Dumba a year or two and his defensive decision-making will be on par with any of the Norris guys. And six years after being drafted he still tries to make things happen up-ice in a way that none of our other defensemen do, which I appreciate. He's at the tippy top of my "To Keep" list.

I'm really not that negative on the rest of the team, but how much longer can you say "Okay, pretty good" before firing a .38 into your own temple?

 

[63firebird]

4 shots in the third period. I hope they can generate some more chances in game 2.

 

[Tkachuky]

Thought the game could have really gone either way. Not enough offensive zone possession by the wild though. Can't recall seeing them pin the Jets in their own zone for longer than 30 seconds.

Will be very interesting to see what happens. I hope the Wild put more pressure on the Jets and control more of the play. On the other hand, I am a bit worried as I know the Jets have another few gears they can go into and although they won the game, I figure they were not impressed with parts of their game.

Game 2 will be awesome GO WILD

 

[absolute garbage]

GDT locked already? Huh.

I don't think the 1st game was that bad. There were stretches where the Jets were just quicker and more skilled and controlled the play, and the shots were a bit lopsided, but for the most part I thought Wild did a pretty good job of not letting Jets get to the slot and to grade A chances. You can argue Dubnyk needs to stop those last 2 goals. Not easy saves by any means, but for a Suter-less Wild those are the "game breaking" tough saves he needs to somehow come up with if they want to win.

Offense and the big boys needs to get better. Really the bottom 6 was the highlight there. Greenway had the best game of his NHL career, looked strong and confident. What a play on that Cullen goal. I thought Coyle started strong and was probably the best Wild forward in the 1st half but then fizzled in the second half. 4th line was very good too. Overall the bottom 6 lines played quick and heavy, and fairly consistently played their shifts in the Jets end. Strong games by them.

Staal line was really bad. Staal and Zucker did zero, Nino a tiny bit more than that (still nothing to write home about). Granlund had some good moments, was the best part of that line, and that goal was gorgeous. Koivu also made a great play on that goal, but struggled offensively otherwise. Parise meh.

 

[gphr513]

GDT locked already? Huh.

In the playoffs we generally leave the GDTs open until the late night/early next morning, to let the emotional venting/celebrating happen there, and then re-open the series thread to go back to discussing the game/series.

Staal line was really bad. Staal and Zucker did zero, Nino a tiny bit more than that (still nothing to write home about)

I would agree with this. I was watching at a bar, so I didn't pay super close attention, but I rarely noticed the Staal line in a positive manner. Hopefully they can flip a switch in game 2.

 

[absolute garbage]

In the playoffs we generally leave the GDTs open until the late night/early next morning, to let the emotional venting/celebrating happen there, and then re-open the series thread to go back to discussing the game/series.



I would agree with this. I was watching at a bar, so I didn't pay super close attention, but I rarely noticed the Staal line in a positive manner. Hopefully they can flip a switch in game 2.

Fair enough, makes sense.

Yeah the top 6 really needs to do better in their matchups. Jets top 6 is really tough to handle of course, and Morissey-Trouba is a great pairing. Staal lost shots 4-12 and scoring chacnces 3-8 to Scheifele, and shots 5-21 and scoring chances 2-11 to Trouba. That line got absolutely manhandled by the Jets 1st unit.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

I think everyone covered it already pretty well, but yeah that Staal line needs to be way better. The Jets must have been getting the line they wanted out against them every time because they didn't come close to having anything that resembled consistent possession (not that anyone else did too often either, but Staal line hardly ever had it).

Hard to say about Helleybuck at this point since our goals were unstoppable...have to get more pucks on him to make him work. I was mad about Dubnyk right after the game but thinking about it he really did play well throughout the game and gave us a chance...he was under siege a majority of the time and made some key saves. Laine's shot was through a screen and deflected off of his shoulder and in, and yeah the Coyle deflection. I'm still not sure about that one since it was from so far out that you still want to get something in front of it...but I'm not a goalie and I know those changes in direction can mess with anyone.

Soucy was surprisingly aggressive at times...coming in to the offensive zone trying to keep possession. Sometimes he got caught but from what I remember he was pretty good at getting back and recovering once that happened. Didn't look timid or nervous out there at all. Maybe the one time where the puck was up high in the air and they just stood there waiting for it to come down. That wasn't great.

I thought Ek played a great game. I think he's going to be a good player for this team.

Negative side, need more from Staal, Zucker, Nino, Coyle. A lot were pointing at Nino and Coyle as x-factors and they need to step it up in Game 2. It was shocking at how ineffective Staal and Zucker were...Zucker whiffed on that pass in the 1st and Staal had a puck just go by him for a possible breakaway and that's all I remember. Need to somehow get their transition game going...and at least keep possession for more than a second.

Oh well. Let's win tomorrow and carry that momentum back home.