Minnesota Wild: Opportunity Knocks Tonight Against the Kings

The LA Kings skate into the Xcel Center tonight with the Minnesota Wild looking to build on their strong win on Saturday. This slightly dinged up version of the Kings offers the Wild a chance for a strong win that could gain them a strong footing to propel themselves out front of the division. Here’s a few thoughts on how to do it.

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Tonight’s game against the LA Kings should be an interesting one for the Wild. Coming off a strong win against the Jets on Saturday night, the Wild are looking to build on that to get out in front of many of the other great teams vying for the Central Division crown. An early lead would do wonders for a team like the Wild that is looking to convert some hype into results…sustainable results.

The Kings offer a good opportunity to start a run, because after the Kings the Wild will play only one playoff team the Islanders in their next five games. Don’t get me wrong the other opponents like Boston and Buffalo will offer challenges, but the Wild can and should best them at least on paper. Sure four of the five games are on the road, but they are all those close proximity east coast games where travel fatigue will be minimal.

So with opportunity looming how do the Wild take that first step tonight and beat the Kings at the X?

1) Limit the Shots on Darcy Kuemper– Kuemper has owned the Kings in recent memory, so you’d figure that would bode well. Sure in five starts against LA he posted a 2-1-1 record with a .939 save percentage, but we all know that Kuemper can be a time bomb of mistakes if the team around him isn’t doing what they can to keep the puck away from him. Eight of Kuemper’s twelve losses last year were when he faced 20 shots or more.

Feb 27, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings left wing Kyle Clifford (13) battles with Buffalo Sabres center Zemgus Girgensons (28) for the puck in the first period of the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

2) Match the Kings Physical Play – This is a Kings team that has recorded 73 hits as a team in only two tilts. Kyle Clifford alone has 11 hits in his two games. So as the old saying is fight fire with fire. The Wild need to hit and hit often. As their coach as mentioned it’s the way to get the puck back one, and two with a team like this you need to match their intensity and show your willing to dish it out so they think twice before they dish it out themselves.

3) Ride the First Line’s Momentum – Staal, Parise, and Coyle have played great in the preseason and the first two games. The production of this line needs to continue, and that means lots ice time for them. Most of all they need to continue to play with the intensity that has made them great over the last two games. If the rest of the team sees them play physical and skilled like they did in the Jets game on Saturday things could be good down the lineup.

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4) Pepper Jeff Zatkoff With Shots – Jonathan Quick will not be able to start tonight, so you’ve got the Kings’ backup Zatkoff. In his last game against the Flyers he faced 30 shots and let 4 of em in. This is not a very confident netminder right now, and it would seem that the Kings are vulnerable to allowing north of 30 shots right now. The Wild shot smartly in the Winnipeg game and it showed in the result on the overall shot total, they’ll look to continue to build on that effort tonight, and essentially wear out Zatkoff.

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So with opportunity on the line tonight the Wild should make sure to come out of the gate strong unlike they did against the Blues and Jets. If they press the play from the opening faceoff and stick to a few great game points, like the ones I provided, they should see great success building a great win. It’s not even close to a must win, but in the one game at a time mantra every game is big.