Wild vs Ducks Preview 12-5-2014

Tonight, the Minnesota Wild look to avenge a loss to the Anaheim Ducks from earlier this season.

After a huge win against the Habs on Wednesday night, the Wild have another tough matchup tonight against the Ducks who are currently tied with the Vancouver Canucks with the lead in the Pacific Division. To make matters worse, the Wild will be without the services of Ryan Suter again, the young defensive core will have to come up huge again tonight as they did on Wednesday.

Suter, who is still showing symptoms of the mumps, will miss his second consecutive game after starting in every game for the Wild since he signed in 2012. The Wild will need another strong game out of Christian Folin again who played, in my opinion, an awesome defensive game against the Habs. He assisted what should have been his first career NHL goal as the puck deflected off Jason Pominville‘s stick as he was ducking Folin’s shot. See Pominville’s post game reaction here:

The Wild are currently one of the hotter teams in the NHL going 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and are still one the league’s best home teams with an 8-2-1 home record. The Ducks, on the other hand, are 7-3-2 on the road this hear and hold one of the leagues best road records. Tonight is a game where, as much as I would love to see a win, would be satisfied with an overtime loss. But, I thought that going into the Montreal game and they were able to hang on to their 2-0 lead.

If the Wild want to earn 2 more crucial points tonight, they need to play fast and they are going to have to score more than two goals. Some teams you can score 2 goals and win, that will not work against the Ducks. I predict tonight to be a 4-3, or 5-4 type of game with nifty goals and chippyness throughout the game. Look for Perry to cause havoc in front of the net.

Watch this hit Corey Perry laid on Jason Zucker in 2013. I was actually in attendance at this game and it was worse in person than it is in the video. We booed him pretty heavily as he deserved.

Darcy Kuemper will need to be solid again, he won’t need to record a shutout, but he will need to make those game saving saves in the crucial moments of the game for the Wild to hold serve again at home. Here are my three bold predictions:

1. The Wild will score a power-play goal. You heard me, they will do it! After being booed and distraught after failing to score on a 5-3 and a 5-minute major, you know they will be stronger, faster, and smarter in every power-play opportunity they get tonight. If you play the Hat Trick Challenge, say Yes to this question! If you don’t play, download the Hat Trick Challenge app, it’s fun to guess different scenarios in hockey games across the league, plus you can win free tickets!

2. El Nino will attack again. Nino Niederreiter was quiet in Wednesday’s game. I think a storm is brewing. Watch up for him tonight, I wouldn’t surprised if he scored a goal and an assist tonight. He leads the Wild in power-play goals this year and most of those goals are on the second power-play unit. I would love to see Yeo move him up to the first unit, maybe will see that tonight or in the near future. Something has to change.

3. The Wild will score at least 4 goals tonight. As I said above, you won’t beat the Ducks with a 2-goal effort. I think the Wild will come out fast and score 2 goals in the first period. A late rally by the Ducks, but the Wild will hold it off and come ahead 2 points richer. Tonight will be entertaining to say the least, always is against these Ducks.

Now, grab your orange hats, and let’s go Duck hunting!