GDT: 1/21/14 - WILD @ STARS - Heater/Suter Birthday Edition / 7 pm CST / NBCSN, TSN2

[Northland Wild Man]

A few more games with refs that have an anti-Wild bias and I may be done with this league.

 

[Puhis]

This game in a nutshell:

 

[ThatGuy22]

Atleast we don't have to worry about breaking up a hot line when Parise comes back. There wasn't one tonight.

 

[OpRedDawn*]

Wild embarrassed on national tv by our former team. All is right in the nhl

 

[LemaireisGOD]

My take...

http://www.stateofhockeynews.com/2014-articles/january/wild-vs-dallas-stars.html

Heatley must've gorged himself on a little too much birthday cake for how he was lumbering slowly around the ice, oh wait that's just he does most of the time anyways. Pathetic, and there is zero excuse to be that flat and lazy after having an extra day off. Lots of standing and reaching instead of hustling and battling out there. I have a full game recap, an Iowa Wild update as well as prospect updates on Dumba, Labbe and Lucia.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Wonder what happened to cause Russo to need to leave for a bit, hope everything is OK in his life.

 

[MNjens]

Thank god I was working for this one. Just so typical of the Wild. I know we have a lot of young players but come on.. so bi polar this team. Hate to say but with the schedule up coming I smell another dreaded losing streak.

Parise coming back soon hopefully gives this team a swift kick in the ass

 

[space321]

Just sucks that the game I get to watch on TV (here in Canada it was on TSN2) was such a ****** one. Turned it off after the 2nd. Incompetent play by the Wild and the refs weren't making any sense.

 

[Minnesota]

Word.

 

[Northland Wild Man]

Did I hear it correctly that Dallas will retire Modano's jersey when the Wild play down there again in March?

If that's true it's really a slap in the face, and I really hope Dallas falls down to the bottom of the standings.

 

[Nharris31]

I thin kuemper throwing the stick sums up this game.

 

[NHL1674]

Did I hear it correctly that Dallas will retire Modano's jersey when the Wild play down there again in March?

If that's true it's really a slap in the face, and I really hope Dallas falls down to the bottom of the standings.

No doubt they picked that game because of the ties between the North Stars and Dallas Stars. They just announced the activities that will be taking place that evening, but they already set that date (game match-up) months ago. Pretty sure it was announced last summer.

Article

 

[PezRadar]

Did I hear it correctly that Dallas will retire Modano's jersey when the Wild play down there again in March?

If that's true it's really a slap in the face, and I really hope Dallas falls down to the bottom of the standings.

I think they were going for the opposite effect. Just like Modano having his last trip to MN while with the Stars and how you guys gave him a rousing ovation. I think they believe Wild fans here in the Dallas area or who may fly in would offer the same.

I think you MAY be looking into it just a tad much. It's to be nationally broadcasted on NHL network prior to the game.

 

[TwiztedHeat]

I hate Dallas so much. Hate everything about them. Screw Modano and his comments back in the day on how they'd never have won in MIN. Screw retiring his jersey when they play us. Screw Norm Green. I just can't stand that franchise, not a damn thing about it. I hope they continue to freefall.

 

[BagHead]

I think they were going for the opposite effect. Just like Modano having his last trip to MN while with the Stars and how you guys gave him a rousing ovation. I think they believe Wild fans here in the Dallas area or who may fly in would offer the same.

I think you MAY be looking into it just a tad much. It's to be nationally broadcasted on NHL network prior to the game.

Got to agree with this guy. I hate the Stars as much as anyone (when I was 9 years old, my parents got divorced and the Stars left town. Terrible.) but you guys are being willfully ignorant to their intent if this is making you angry. Besides, can't you be happy for one of the North Stars best players? Sure, he's a bit of a tool, but he was our tool for a while.

On topic, I missed the game last night and caught the highlights this morning on NHL.com. Was it really as bad as they look? Poor Keumper, not that he wasn't making any mistakes himself in those highlights, but he looks like he was pretty solid, anyway.

 

[Jarick]

If Kuemper wasn't playing well in the first, Dallas would have had twice as many goals.

Did you know the Wild has had one PP goal in the last eight games? That's 5%. None in the last six games either.

In January, the Wild are now 7-3-0, with two wins coming in OT or SO. The other concerning part is that they have been outshot by 60 shots in that stretch. And only two of those teams are in the playoffs as of right now (Colorado and Los Angeles).

 

[Ladde]

Yeah the Wild have been playing poorly looking at the stat sheet but somehow they have still won games.

 

[BigT2002]

Yeah the Wild have been playing poorly looking at the stat sheet but somehow they have still won games.

Well that has been because the games are more low scoring. The team is not going out and shooting 40 shots a game anymore. They are lucky to even get 20 now. Meanwhile opposing teams are figuring out how to handcuff us. Keep us deep in our zone and either push until they are exhausted or stand up in the neutral zone and make us forecheck for the puck.

Granted this was one game, but this has been a lot of the games this season. They just cannot get out of their zone and when they do they cannot sustain any type of offensive attack. As much as I hate NBCS broadcasters (seriously they still cannot say Granlund or Brodin's names right) they hit the nail on the head about 3/4 of the way through the 2nd when they said "their defense needs to stop playing back so much, you are not going to win games defensively at this point." And sure enough if you watched, both D were sitting back haphazardly in case Dallas got the puck and pushed up the ice really quick. Yeo had zero confidence in the team to win after the 1st.

 

[Jarick]

Wild are really missing Spurgeon on the back end. After the top pairing, there's nobody who can move the puck up the ice. The fact that they keep forcing Ballard into the lineup shows how dreadful the puck movement is.

 

[OpRedDawn*]

Yeah the Wild have been playing poorly looking at the stat sheet but somehow they have still won games.

That's the crappy part of today's nhl

 

[BigT2002]

Wild are really missing Spurgeon on the back end. After the top pairing, there's nobody who can move the puck up the ice. The fact that they keep forcing Ballard into the lineup shows how dreadful the puck movement is.

While I agree, he is terrible at defense

 

[tomgilbertfan]

While I agree, he is terrible at defense

Spurgeon or ballard? Because spurgeon is not terrible at defense.

 

[Puhis]

Spurgeon or ballard? Because spurgeon is not terrible at defense.

This. In fact, he is really good defensively when it comes to body positioning and shot blocking. Also, I recall him being third in hits within our team, so he's clearly not afraid to play the body either. Of course, his size is somewhat of an issue since his reach isn't very good but he can still play D effectively.

 

[Dampland]

This. In fact, he is really good defensively when it comes to body positioning and shot blocking. Also, I recall him being third in hits within our team, so he's clearly not afraid to play the body either. Of course, his size is somewhat of an issue since his reach isn't very good but he can still play D effectively.

If only we could have transplanted Spurgeon's ability into Justin Falk's body. That would have been great.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

If only we could have transplanted Spurgeon's ability into Justin Falk's body. That would have been great.

We could've made a poor-man's Suter if that were possible.