Minnesota Wild: Limiting shots against was key to road-trip success
By Luke Ryan
More than any one statistic, the shots against count stands out on the recent seven game road-trip for the Minnesota Wild. The team was particularly stingy on allowing their opposition to take a shot.
Of course, we all know that limiting the shots on net hugely reduces the chance that a shot will go in. If you’re not shooting, Devan Dubnyk or Alex Stalock in the Minnesota Wild net isn’t busy!
During the road-trip, across their seven games, the Minnesota Wild had the tenth lowest total in the league for shots against. Of the teams doing better than them, only the Calgary Flames played the same amount of games in that period; everyone else played less in that time.
Only Columbus, Dallas and Ottawa played more than seven games in that period, so it’s very much fair to say that the statistics aren’t just being cherry-picked to suit the narrative; the statistics actually point to a very strong set of defensive games.
In seven games, the Minnesota Wild let 186 shots go through to their net. 17 of these went in, but even conceding that many, they were third among teams playing seven games.
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On the road, the match-up game is never easy so these results speak a lot to the ability for Minnesota Wild head coach, Bruce Boudreau to roll through his lines comfortably and without huge concern for who faces who.
The recent resurgence of Joel Eriksson Ek, Nino Neiderreiter ending his goalless streak and Jordan Greenway re-finding his game are no doubt down to the coach trusting his players and giving them the opportunity to succeed.
An above average face-off winning percentage of 51.8% over the period lends to the narrative too.
Face-off wins, whether it’s right or not, can be seen as a key part of a good defensive strategy. It’s far easier to defend if you have the puck, after all.
Perhaps most interestingly, the Minnesota Wild penalty-kill, which currently ranks a league fourth-best running at 85.2% wasn’t a bearing on their recent away form. In fact, they were down at 82.3% on the road. Small numbers in terms of the difference, but it’s these simple little things that bite you, especially in someone else’s building.
Moving forward, the Minnesota Wild will no doubt look to shore up the recent drop in penalty-killing figures and continue to stifle the shots on their net.
Shawn Boudrias is a big player hopefully with a big future. dark. Next
Given they surrendered forty-plus on one game earlier this year, it’s safe to say they’ve already done a fair bit of fixing.