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I think so. I think they will win.

The Blues have given up 10 goals in their last two games while scoring only one. Granted, they  played Pittsburgh and Anaheim. Based on stats they Blues are the favorite:

2.86  GFA , to the Wild 2.12

2.86 GGA, to the Wild 3.38

Perhaps the most interesting state for this match up is 5 on 5 goals for/against ratio. The Blues are 8th in the league in this stat, the Wild are dead last meaning we don’t score 5 on 5 goals. 

Which leads me to look at the Blues penalty situation since that is an area where the Wild excel. The problem is they are fairly disciplined team averaging only 10 minutes per game. The good news there is that the Blues are average at best killing penalties.

Another interesting thing to look at is which periods the teams seem to more active in. The Wild seem to be most active in the 2nd and 3rd periods while the Blue seem to have scored more goals in the 2nd than in the 1st and 3rd combined. However, the Blues have given up only 3 goals in the 3rd period and that’s the fewest in the league.

I think tonight it will be very important for  the Wild to score early. The Blues are 3-0 when leading after the 2nd while they are 0-3 if trailing after the 2nd.  The fact that the Blues are 2-1 when they score first and 1-2 when they trail first adds more weight to the Wild needing to come out fast.

Players to watch:

Wild= Mikko Koivu (He was a beast against the AVs), Zidliky two assists last game.

Blues: Tkachuck & Kariya (wiley vets), T.J. Oshie (From Warroad),David Backes (from Blaine).

In Mikko Koivu’s first game as the official permanent  captain of the Wild he lead the team to their two goals and shootout victory.

In the first period it was Koivu’sshot that produced a nice rebound for Burns to flip it home. In the 3rd period scored a goal and another power play chance and then had the winning goal in the shootout as well.  I guess it’s only fitting that he dominated the first game as Captain.

The Avalanche gave the Wild an 10 minutes of one man advantage time and the Wild scored PPGs #9 & #10 (that’s the 2nd most in the league).  The Wild also won the hitting battle (30-21), Takeaways (10-5) and won more faceoffs (31-26).  It’s my opinion that these numbers show that the Wild are being aggressive and working hard on the ice.

Unfortunately, the Wild are again giving up way too many giveaways, they gave the Avs better than a 3-1 advantage in this key stat. While the effort seems to be there now, they are still playing pretty sloppy. Passes are not crisp and accurate, puck movement isn’t fluid……puck-handling in general isn’t good. Granted, some of this has to due with the getting familiar with the new system/players and injuries not allowing for them to get familiar with each other. Still, not acceptable though.

Boogaard went Godzilla on Koci…….about the only thing he’s good for so we’ll put a “+” next to this game to keep track of it as being “productive” for him.

The Three Stars:

Koivu: (DUH!)

Backstrom: Looked great again.

Zidlicky: Seemed to have  a skate near the puck all night.

Interesting season stats:

The Wild are #9 in PP%, #2 in PP Opportunities, and have the second most PPGs in the league. They are surprisingly good on the PP. Say goes for Penalty kill.

If only we could be playing a man up or a man down all game!

The Wild are 15th in the league in SOG, but I think if you re-ranked teams based on SOG during even strength they would be near the bottom.

I guess what I’m getting at is that it’s not good that half of your goals are PPGs andthat you probably have more PPSOG than even strength SOG. I’m not sure if it’s under performance by the players, lack of talent, or poor scheming but they can’t seem to get much going without a PP.  So far this season the Wild have scored about 1 goal per 10 minutes of PP time andonly 1 goal per 42 minutes of even strength time.

However, I’m very happy with the level of effort on both sides of the puck and the overall performance in the defensive zone. As stated above, I’m also extremely happy with how well the penalty kill and power play teams are doing.

If they can only be slightly above average on even strength the Wild would be winning a lot more games. This could be the beginning of better play, nice overall game for the Wild and a great game to watch.

According to Michael Russo:

Cal Clutterbuck is now skating with the teams and ,while he won’t play tonight, it looks like he may be ready sooner than expected.

Martin Havlat is also skating with team and may be back soon. Could be in the lineup tonight.

Petr Sykora is skating again and should rejoin practice soon.

Kyle Brodziakhas a minor upper body injury but should play tonight.

All in all, sounds like the injury issue is getting better!

Tonight should be an interesting night for more than one reason:

#1- It’s the firest Wild home game in quite some time.

#2- They are wearing their “Miller High Life” Jersey’s tonight.

#3 – Chuck Kobasew should make his Wild debut.

#4- It’s Koivu’s first game with the “C”.

That’s the good stuff. The bad stuff is that Colorado comes into the game with the 3rd largest margin of victory in the league and they are healthy. The Avs have been outstanding on both sides of the ice this year scoring 28 goals while only giving up 18.

I think the Wild have a first line that can hang with Colorado’s first line but with all of the injuries it could be a big night for their 2nd and 3rd lines. Things could  work out better for the Wild if they can get a favorable line matchup for their first line. Given that the Wild have played pretty well the last couple of games, they are at home, and have more depth with Kobasew I think the Wild are poised for an upset here.

Players to watch:

Photo courtesy of Resolute

Wild= Andrew Brunette (probably their best player so far), Belanger (surprisingly good so far), Kobasew (see what he can contribute)

Photo Courtesy of FrenchKheldar of Wiki Commons.

Avalanche= Matt Duchene (the rookie has been almost a PPG player in the last few), David Jones (PPG+ over the last four), Cody McLeod (PPG+ lately) and you always have to watch Hejduk.

The way they are playing right now the Avs 2nd line are nearly as good as their first which could be very dangerous for the Wild. If the Wild lose this game I think you will see that the AVs second line had a huge part in it.

Photo from facebook via Risto

Not a huge surprise. Last year’s best player and well respected player in the locker room, Mikko Koivu, was named permanent captain by coach Josh Richards today.

Well deserved, I’d say, even though the beginning of this season has not been that great this year.

Even so Koivu is clearly the leader of this team and has been a steady and important part of the team for some time now.

I think the players probably had already named him the captain in the locker room anyway but I’m glad to here Richards thinks the same as me.

On a weekly basis I will be posting some thoughts on the rest of the local pro sports team (sometimes college teams as well).  What can I say? I love sports.

Minnesota Vikings:

Another great wins on the log for the Vikings. Now 6-0, Brad Childress appears to be getting close to receiving a contract extension (like it or not). Once again the defensive backfield looked terrible. Sure, Winfield went out and Paymah looked like a high school kid out there but this wasn’t the first time this year that the DBs looked bad. Favre, once again, looked great.

Look for rookie 3rd round pick  Asher Allen to be active this week against the Steelers and either him or Sapp to start at corner if Winfield can’t go. Paymah was not ever intended to have play corner. He’s a good special teams player and that’s why he’s on the team. I think Allen or Sapp will look a lot better.

The Vikes could really use a by week with Peterson,Sapp,Winfield,Hutchinson,Loadholt, and others all being dinged up.  The good news: The Steelers have 4 wins against teams with a total of 4 wins. The bad news: Polamalu is back.

For more (Better) Vikings coverage check out The Viking Age

Timberwolves:

It looks like the Wolves will be without Love (pun intended) for 6-8 weeks while he recovers from surgery on his broken hand. To make matters worse, Jefferson has injured his achilles, the severity isn’t known at this time. So the Wolves are a team with a lack of overall talent (much like the Wild) have their two best players out (similar to the Wild).  This could be a rough stretch to start the season, even more so than expected.

On the bright side I think Brewer has looked decent so far and may actually be a passable SF this year. Flynn has not looked as good as I thought he would but has shown several flashes of his potential which is very exciting.  I refuse to talk about “The player that shall not be named”.

For more (and probably better) coverage check out Dunking With Wolves.

BUT STILL MANAGE TO LOSE.

The 2-1 lost the the division rival Canucks was tough. It was the first game in my estimation that the Wild gave a solid effort for a full three periods. Defensively the team looked good, Backstrom was very good in goal.

The Wild figured to be a offensively challenged team before the season started but with Havlat,Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Petr Sykora and Cal Clutterbuck all out the Wild are pretty well offensively castrated from a roster point of view. They only mustered 18 shots on goal and not many of them were good scoring chances.

The news has not gotten any better with The Star Tribune revealing that PMB will be out at the least another 10 games.

Michael Russo also notes that the Wild have put Sifers on waivers in order to send him down to Houston and make room for Kobasew. I don’t think anyone will be claiming him.

The Wild is trying to fill the gaps with the acquisition of Chuck Kobasew, which is an indication of how long they expect PMB to be out since while he’s on LTI (Long Term Injury) his salary does not count toward the cap. Kobasew will cost $2.33m toward the cap. So it will be interesting to see what happens to the roster when/if PMB comes back.

Kobasew should be a big help given the current roster situation. He’s a streaky scorer who has scored 20+ goals and 30+ points in three of his six seasons. Not a huge trade but the Wild give up a couple of prospects for a guy who can help the team.

CORRECTION: The Wild sent Weller and 2011 2nd round pick and this year’s 4th rounder (Fallstrom) to the Bruins for Kobasew.