Minnesota Wild: Another Blown 3rd Period Opportunity

Another Minnesota Wild preseason game has come and gone, and they are still looking to get in the win column. Here’s our postgame analysis and top performers.

For the second consecutive game, the Minnesota Wild were in a position to win and then lost it with less than 5 minutes remaining in the 3^rd period.

Another strong showing for the Minnesota defense was blemished by a blown coverage in the defensive zone, that allowed an unmarked Dallas forward to slip into the slot for a deflection goal that Devan Dubnyk had no chance on.

I’m going to try something new here with you through the preseason, so let me know your thoughts and feedback if this is something you want me to continue into the regular season or if there are ways you think I could change or improve my format.

After every Minnesota Wild game I’m going to give my Top 3 Wild Performers of the game, and an honorary mention to the top performer of our opponent.

Unlike the #1 line on Tuesday, Wednesday’s top line of Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise appeared to be ready to go for the regular season. They were easily the top line on the night, and played the heavy minutes to show that.

Nino Niederreiter joined them on the top line, and looked to be much better than he was in Winnipeg. That line played 22 minutes on the night, huge minutes for a preseason game, and was on the ice at every important time.

Charlie Coyle and Joel Eriksson Ek got to play with Justin Kloos for most of the night, but Kloos seemed to regress a little from his first 2 games. He was still all over the ice, but didn’t appear to be the same offensive threat he had been thus far.

Mike Liambas got into this game, or at least that’s what the official game sheet tells me. He was on a line with Matt Hendricks and J.T. Brown, but while Brown and Hendricks were pushing the play and asserting their physical play all over the ice I failed to see Liambas anywhere alongside them.

Kyle Rau looked to be getting the roster shuffle, as he played on nearly every possible line he could on the night. Boudreau was either trying to spark some offense, or he was interested to see how Rau fit in every scenario.

Sam Anas was an interesting addition to the Minnesota Wild powerplay. He was the 4^th forward alongside the Koivu line on the 1^st powerplay unit. With the PP now falling to 0 for 9 on the preseason, it could do for some major shake up to put some pucks in the net.