Minnesota Wild: Three takeaways from strong result versus Vancouver Canucks
The Minnesota Wild went into their tilt with the Vancouver Canucks on a three-game losing streak and looking genuinely frustrated.
Beginning a three-game stretch in Western Canada, the Minnesota Wild knew they needed to get it rolling with a good start, but actually found themselves behind in this game early on.
Vancouver’s newest addition, Josh Leivo lofted one past Devan Dubnyk on the Canucks’ first shot of the game and you had to wonder whether this was a sign of things to come.
However, this didn’t feel like recent nights, where there was no puck luck for the Wild. Whether it was the ineptness of the Vancouver outfit or the Minnesota Wild were actually stepping their game up is anyone’s guess though.
Whatever happened though, the Wild managed to respond to going a goal down, notching a reply on the power-play.
The second period once again saw a slow start from the home team, but again once they started shooting, they managed to score. The tell-tale signs of not focusing on the defense enough and not giving Devan Dubnyk the protection he needed were there, though maybe not as much as recently.
Insistent that they weren’t going to succumb to a fourth defeat in as many games, the Minnesota Wild fought their way back into the contest, drawing two penalties in succession and netting on both the corresponding power-plays, just 55 seconds apart.
Suddenly there was energy in the team again, even causing a bit of a drama at the end of the second period when Greg Pateryn was called for boarding Jake Virtanen.
A third period that required the team to simply hang on and not surrender any late goals like they had a few days’ earlier against the Toronto Maple Leafs and the losing streak was over. Here are the three key takeaways from the Minnesota Wild’s 3-2 win:
Good things happen for the Minnesota Wild when Granlund and Zucker combine
When Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund are on the ice together, the Minnesota Wild have netted 13 goals at even-strength. On the power-play, you’re looking at 8 goals when they’re together.
Their relative Corsi For (per 60 minutes) when together at even-strength is 10.86; meaning in simple terms, the Minnesota Wild are putting almost eleven more shots on the opponents’ net when the pair on are on the ice together than when they’re not.
Quite simply, the duo are driving each other to be even better than they already are.
This was evident against the Vancouver Canucks; in all situations, they logged 14:09 ice-time together, managing a Corsi For of 51.72% (meaning they were on the positive end of shot attempts). They had eight scoring chances and two goals too.
You need only look at the deftness of the passing between them to realise that there is a chemistry that has developed.
Now granted, in this game it was the power-play that sealed the win, but just because there’s one less opposing player, it doesn’t always mean that the Minnesota Wild are going to benefit.
On this occasion, the combination of Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker was near unstoppable; the saucer pass cross-ice completely splitting the Vancouver Canucks defense:
What a saucy pass by Granny. pic.twitter.com/timkuoDzHA
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 5, 2018
It’s not the first time this year that a passing sequence between the pair ended up with the puck in the back of the net and is unlikely to be the last.
Given that Granlund is now on 28 points in 27 games and Zucker on 18 points in 27 games, you’d put safe money on them both sitting high on the point-scoring chart for the Minnesota Wild come season-end.
The Minnesota Wild power-play finally finds it’s feet
Against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Minnesota Wild power-play wasn’t able to capitalise on the man-advantage. On this occasion, against the Canucks, the opposite was the case.
The Minnesota Wild had three power-play opportunities and put the puck in the back of the net on all three. In fact, all three goals were power-play markers; whether that says something about the even-strength game play is a whole different question.
When looking at the power-play statistics of late for the Minnesota Wild, I was actually pleasantly surprised. I hadn’t noticed how many goals were going in on the man advantage – in the last ten games, they’ve recorded 11 power-play goals, ranking tied 5th in the entire NHL since mid-November.
It also isn’t the first time this season they’ve managed three power-play markers; also occurring against Edmonton in October. A good sign, given they’re upcoming on the calendar!
More from Analysis
- Here we go. Minnesota Wild head into pivotal Game 5 matchup
- Yeah, Game 2 was ugly. How will the Minnesota Wild respond at home?
- Fleury injury just the latest hurdle for the struggling Minnesota Wild so far
- Minnesota Wild to get a test with challenging homestand
- Minnesota Wild: Filip Gustavsson gets his time to shine in net
What has been great to see is that the power-play is no longer relying solely upon the point shot of Ryan Suter, Matt Dumba or Jared Spurgeon.
They’re now looking to get passes and have the opposition goaltender moving laterally across the face of his net.
This is vital in the modern NHL; a point shot can too often be blocked or interrupted on its path to the net, even if it is a slap-shot.
Passing back and forth, provided you open up the passing lanes, is proving the most effective way to get a goalie moving and thus opening up another area of the net, provided it occurs swiftly. Between Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund, they’ve got this one sussed out.
We also saw the power of the tipped shot in-front, not once but twice; that has to be the goal of the defensemen sitting on the blue-line, instead of lining up a booming slapper like they might’ve yesteryear!
Shot blocking and hitting makes a difference for Minnesota Wild
Maybe it was the nature of the game, given that both the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks would’ve had some air of desperation to their play, neither wanting to lose a fourth straight; but the hitting and shot-blocking numbers were up on previous games for the Wild.
Matt Dumba, as has often been the case this season led the way with 4 hits, with Matt Hendricks and Joel Eriksson Ek both lining up 3 apiece.
Such was the game that Jared Spurgeon was on the receiving end of 4 hits from Canucks’ players and Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin and Greg Pateryn all copped 3 each. When we said there was an air of desperation, we weren’t kidding!
In fact, Greg Pateryn might’ve taken the desperation a step too far, giving up a boarding penalty for his hit on Jake Virtanen. Off the hit, the Canucks’ player was slow to his feet but did return in the third period, so you’d hope he’s okay.
Additional to the hitting, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon once again led the way with 3 and 4 shot blocks respectively.
It is these elements of both defensemen’s games that often can be overlooked. Being willing to take a hit or jump in front of a shot on net can be the difference-maker between the puck going in or not.
The Vancouver Canucks weren’t about to tone their game down so these guys had to step it up and performed admirably in their roles.
Now, even with the players stepping up and scrapping out the 3-2 victory, there is still room for improvement.
Next. Is it time to make a trade?. dark
The Minnesota Wild will need to be on the A-game against a red-hot Calgary Flames that notched nine goals in their outing against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Luckily for the Wild, they also conceded six!
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.