Pre/Post Game Minnesota Wild Banter

[schmitty3]

Kouivu is a hack. He is way to aggressive trying to get the puck on defense.

[wormdunker]

Ok too many emotional swings in these boards. First of all if I would have told you 2 months ago our record woudl be what it is woudl you have been satisfied? Secondly, I woudl be willing to bet that a majority (90%) of all Wild fans polled last year would have responded with something along the lines of: I want to see more effort or I want to see more emotion.

The personnel changes made for this team have turned out thus far to be spot on. The team is playing with more passion however they are slightly inconsistent at this point. That should be expected of a team with at least 25% turnover.

I like Koivu's passion it is proven that it rubs of on the other players. Do they need to reduce penalties? yes can you have the perfect balance between effort and penalties yes it will jsut take some time. Right now there are players puttin gout more effort than I can ever recall. That should satisfy us all at this point.

[spearchucker]

Also, I missed the hit on Antti Miettinen. Any idea on how he's doing? Did he miss the rest of the game?

He never missed a shift.

All the penalties are just lazy not moving the feet penalties (hook, trip, interference).

[genegodawa]

I may be mistaken, but if "moving the feet" are lazy penalties, wouldn't it require more effort to reduce those?

So then I say it isn't just that there is more effort this year, but it is maximum effort we as fans would like to see.

[JimBuck]

I think your referring to the term "not moving your feet" which is typically associated with hooking/slashing penalties. I do agree, maximum effort is what I'd like to see out of any pro team. There's a reason I don't watch NBA Basketball.

I know the Wild have been guilty of quite a few of these calls but I feel like they are really clamping down on penalties during the regular season....i.e. interrupting scraps and calling the most marginal infractions. Let em' play.

[spearchucker]

I may be mistaken, but if "moving the feet" are lazy penalties, wouldn't it require more effort to reduce those?

So then I say it isn't just that there is more effort this year, but it is maximum effort we as fans would like to see.

Of course it requires more effort to play harder and move your feet instead of reaching with the stick! We get our top guys worn out on the PK all night and they never get a chance to play hard in the offensive zone which is how you win hockey games. We shouldn't have Bruno with 15 min of ice time.

[spearchucker]

Latendresse had an MRI on his groin that showed damage so it sounds like they are going to hold him out a while, but don't know how long. This isn't good.

[scsavre]

The Wild 3-3-2, I think that is better then most of you would have predicted. Obviously if we turn the 2 ties into wins we would be looking pretty good.

I am still predicting playoffs for us, if we can get healthy.

[schmitty3]

Big win tonight. Backstrom was amazing the net!

[LundProAngler]

Yep, Backstrom was huge.

It's a tough job shutting down Ovie and the boys and he did it!

[spearchucker]

Big win tonight. Backstrom was amazing the net!

Backstrom played great, but it was the whole team around him that played well. The D shut them down before they got into the offensive zone. Ovi was offsides all night. We also only took 2 penalties all night instead of 10 which is what has killed us all year.

[spearchucker]

Mittens is out indefinitely with a concussion from the Dustin Brown hit the other night.

[schmitty3]

Another great game by backstrom. He seems to be seeing the puck really good so far this yr. They needed him tonight as they got out shot 36-16. But a wins a win.

[Bear55]

Nice to see Backstrom start to earn that big paycheck he gets. Although the team better pick it up a little because he can't win every game for us.

[spearchucker]

Nice to see Backstrom start to earn that big paycheck he gets. Although the team better pick it up a little because he can't win every game for us.

The difference is that the Defense is clearing the puck a lot better and not running all over leaving the area in front of the net open.

[Bear55]

Good to hear, I have been in the woods so I haven't seen many games and just going off highlights.

[OnAFly]

Well, I might be the only guy on here not deer hunting this weekend. First time since I was about 10 that I've missed it.

We came out ok. Good to get on the board a bit after the Flames started the scoring. TERRIBLE second period. Lots of dumping the puck out of our zone, no offensive pressure. Best chance was by Staubitz. That's never good.

So far the third is looking ok. Got one more on the Flames at least. Now lets keep it that way.

[OnAFly]

So, the Wild last year at this time at 6 points, this year we have 14. Maybe we'll wind up slipping into that 8th spot for the playoff this year after all.

[spearchucker]

I will reiterate my get rid of Barker theme. The D looks good, but I think he was on the ice for every goal scored against us. He just quits skating and looks like he doesn't know what the heck he is doing.

[JimBuck]

Good to see Havlat get a goal for once. Defense did look pretty solid against the flames. It sucks we win 3 in a row and now have to wait until Thursday. Hopefully we can keep that momentum.

Any word on Latendresse?

[spearchucker]

Latendresse sounds like he is a ways out yet. We need him. This isn't going to hold up forever with all these young kids playing. We needed the break to heal up some injuries. Hopefully Zidlickey and Kobasew will be back by Thursday.

[OnAFly]

They are saying week to week on Lats. Not sounding good.

Staubits moves his feet faster than anyone on the ice, yet moves slower than anyone on the ice. He looks like he's driving the Fintstone's car out there.

I can agree on Barker's play as of late. Flipping the puck out of your zone and to the other team half way through your shift should be a benchable offense. I can't stand it when a guy flips the puck out and we lose possession especially when they are not being pressured.

[spearchucker]

Another ugly game for the Wild. They should put Barker on a 1 way flight to anywhere but where the Wild are playing. I have seen Bantam defenseman play better than he did last night. Obviously with a 5-1 loss he wasn't the only problem, but he was on for at least 3 of the goals against.

They announced attendance as 3500 in Atlanta. It looked like a High School game.

[JimBuck]

Looked pretty rough out there last night. Backstrom was hung out to dry on quite a few of those goals. Defense didn't appear to be firing on all cylinders. The forecheck wasn't much better but we did see some flashes of hope when we could connect a few passes for a breakout. As was said earlier, I get really sick of inexperienced defense just dumping the puck into the neutral zone. I'm fine with dump and chase, or getting it deep to get fresh legs out there. These neutral zone flips are killing us with quick counter-attacks.

[spearchucker]

I agree with the neutral zone flips. All this does is prevent us from changing lines and allows them the reset and attack again. Why aren't all the Skoula bashers all over Barker? I would take Skoula any day over Barker. At least Skoula could skate.

[OnAFly]

Barker was bad, so was Nystrom.

Nystrom: -8, 0G 1A 1P. Why is this guy playing? I don't know how many times I've seen replays of goals against as heard, "Nystrom leaves his man and (his man) scores."

He's terrible offensively and defensively. Why is he still playing?

[OnAFly]

+1 on the neutral zone flips...drives me nuts. Broomball team I was on did that constantly. Makes for a long game.

The sad part about Skoula was that he really picked up his game 3 months before he left. It was like a light bulb turned on and he was dependable. Then he left. We should have given him another 1 year contract to see if he could keep up the good work. I know I'll take cr ap for saying that.

[spearchucker]

Nystrom is a -8 because he is always matched up against the other teams top scorers, but he has been bad lately. You know it is bad when my kid that plays Squirt hockey is pointing out how bad the defense was playing. He was pointing out how they are not hustling and were always out of position.

[spearchucker]

Falk had a bad game, but he is the only defenseman with a +1 rating. All others are -.

[spearchucker]

The sad part about Skoula was that he really picked up his game 3 months before he left. It was like a light bulb turned on and he was dependable. Then he left. We should have given him another 1 year contract to see if he could keep up the good work. I know I'll take cr ap for saying that.

I agree, at least the guy could skate forwards and backwards. Other than the occasional brain fart, I thought he was a decent defenseman.