Thursday’s tilt against the Buffalo Sabres was refreshing. Aside from the early goal scored by the Sabres, the Wild played the way the did earlier in the season. They took a lot of shots, controlled the puck, and played with lots of speed.
The Wild were also able to connect on the power-play twice which was rewarding for the Wild who had another power-play skid snapped. The line shake-ups seem to have worked out for Yeo. The Fontaine-Brodziak-Carter line exceeded expectations, each scoring two points and creating tons of momentum for the Wild early in the game. Ryan Carter even surprised himself by patiently “bunting” a falling puck in the net.
I was also very pleased with the Gopher line. Although they didn’t post any points, I thought they looked good together after their first game, and they had some good opportunities later in the game, I look forward to watching that trio develop into a physical, speedy, scoring threat.
As written by Dustin Nelson, Zach Parise will not play on against the Stars, but there is a chance he could play during our matinée match-up against the Jets on Sunday, read more here. In other news, the Wild sent rookie defensemen Christian Folin down to Iowa and brought up Justin Falk, more on that here. Marco Scandella and Jonas Brodin are still sidelined due to illness. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, Scandella and Brodin will not travel to Dallas.
Last season, the Wild finished 2-2-0 against the Stars, the home team won each matchup. Historically, the Wild have not fared well in Dallas. Since the Wild came into the league, they are 4-16-6 in Dallas and 1-14-5 since 2003. All good things….or bad thing, must come to an end, right?
The Stars are coming off two big road wins in Arizona and Los Angeles but went 0-5-2 in the seven games prior to that. The Stars are 27th in goals against at 3.3 goals per game and are only 1-3-4 at home this season (5-3-0 on the road).
Last game I made three predictions, only one was correct with the Wild connecting on the power play. Jason Zucker had his chances, and Ryan Suter didn’t find his way on the score sheet. Here are my bold predictions for today’s matchup in Dallas:
1. The Wild will score on the power-play…again! The Wild moved the puck well and got quality shots against Buffalo. I won’t discredit the Sabres, I truly believe the new power play lineups were all playing well together and getting in position to create opportunities. Look for a strike on the Wild’s first power-play opportunity to silence the home crowd.
2. Justin Fontaine will get his second goal of the year. Let’s face it, the guy is due, he has been all over the ice in recent games and is playing very well with Kyle Brodziak and Ryan Carter. Although he is only averaging about 11 minutes a game, he makes his presence known and is consistently making plays, I think he will be a big factor in today’s game.
3. Thomas Vanek will get two points. Once he gets his scoring touch back, I think he will be unstoppable. He has shown so far that he can make nearly impossible passes look easy. He has assisted on many goals where he saucers the puck across opposing defenders and right on the tape for tap-in goals. Erik Haula and Vanek have looked like a great pairing this year and Jordan Schroeder played well with them on Thursday. This line will be very effective in today’s game as well.