GDT: 11/7/13 - Minnesota Wild @ Washington Capitals - 6:00PM CST - FSN

[mezcal]

Agreed. And Yeo. Anyway you slice it, Koivu doesn't get it done offensively. Yeo just continues to make odd coaching decisions after odd coaching decisions. At some point you've gotta come down on your coach and captain.

 

[rynryn]

we didn't sit back completely in the third, but we definitely sat back more. if we played every minute like we were tied we'd be alright.

As much as everyone (including his personal cheerleader, Russo) thinks Coyle is fantastic, i don't think he's quite up to 100% yet. When he gets there that line is really going to tear people up.

 

[behemolari]

Stop trying to bring the refs into this. Yes they were a factor, but they're not something the Wild can control.

What they can control is how much time they spend in their own zone. Every second we let the Capitals spend in our zone is time where the Capitals could score at any second.

The Wild simply did not do the things they needed to do to put this game away. They should have attacked relentlessly during the third. They should have had movement on their powerplay. They should have made much better use of the 4 on 3 to open OT.

There are entirely too many things the Wild could have done differently to try to place the blame for this one on the refs.

ok we must have cultural differences here, that would never happen outside NA or those refs would never again whistle a game. im not blaming refs but saying yeos tactic was what it was and would bring a win without refs ****ing their part, you understand there is a difference?

 

[Avder]

If we win the skills competition everybody is happy. When we lose Koivu and Yeo need to be let go.

I wouldnt be happy even if we won in the skills comp. The Wild let the game slip away.

ok we must have cultural differences here, that would never happen outside NA or those refs would never again whistle a game. im not blaming refs but saying yeos tactic was what it was and would bring a win without refs ****ing their part, you understand there is a difference?

Do you understand the difference between focusing on things you can control and complaining about things you can't?

Do I know for sure that we would have won had we been aggressive during the third? No, of course not. But I know damn well we would have had a better chance, and maybe that goal doesn't even happen if we keep them hemmed in their own zone instead of letting them hold us in ours.

I think sitting back and trying to turtle was an ignorant decision, especially after it became apparent that the Caps were gaining huge momentum. The Wild need to dictate play in situations where they lead so that the opposition gets desperate and is forced to take chances that lead to us getting even better chances when they make mistakes.

 

[LemaireisGOD]

http://www.stateofhockeynews.com/2013-articles/november/wild-vs-caps.html

Not a bad effort, except in the 3rd they played too conservatively instead of playing to win the game. Loving the way the top two lines played. I have a full game recap plus prospect updates on Gunnarsson, Bertschy, Labbe and Belanger. Enjoy!

 

[Nharris31]

Tom Reid and bob Kurtz were really mad about the pick also.Those two usually agree with the refs.

Also when did defense carrying the puck into the offensive zone, became or how is it called the trap.

 

[Northland Wild Man]

Tom Reid and bob Kurtz were really mad about the pick also.Those two usually agree with the refs.

Also when did defense carrying the puck into the offensive zone, became or how is it called the trap.

If those two get mad you know it's bad.

Does anyone have a video of that?

 

[DeuceMN]

Not that bad of a game.

Too passive in the third. Couple of non calls by the refs, a tripping on Parise, and the pick on Brodin - that was pretty stupid...

Unless I missed something, I was disappointed to see Coyle as our third shooter and not Parise.

Holtby is a ridiculous goalie, geesus that dude is good.

Overall though, we played pretty well, and so did the Caps. I do feel that if we had been more aggressive in the third we really could have taken that, but hopefully they'll learn from this.

 

[Northland Wild Man]

Not that bad of a game.

Too passive in the third. Couple of non calls by the refs, a tripping on Parise, and the pick on Brodin - that was pretty stupid...

Unless I missed something, I was disappointed to see Coyle as our third shooter and not Parise.

Holtby is a ridiculous goalie, geesus that dude is good.

Overall though, we played pretty well, and so did the Caps. I do feel that if we had been more aggressive in the third we really could have taken that, but hopefully they'll learn from this.

Parise got hit in the wrist by a puck about 30 seconds before the shootout in OT.

 

[Jongdo]

Parise get hurt end of the game, but he is Ok.

 

[57special]

Should we be worried about Parise? His hand/arm were pretty swollen.

Shhhhhh !

It's an upper body injury.

 

[Kaptain]

Agreed. And Yeo. Anyway you slice it, Koivu doesn't get it done offensively. Yeo just continues to make odd coaching decisions after odd coaching decisions. At some point you've gotta come down on your coach and captain.

good god

 

[DeuceMN]

Ah damn... I was hoping Yeo was just being crazy...

Had to watch the Caps feed tonight, and they really liked to overlook most things that did not revolve around the Caps. Even made some LeMaire jokes Sigh.

I hope Parise will be alright soon.

 

[57special]

we didn't sit back completely in the third, but we definitely sat back more. if we played every minute like we were tied we'd be alright.

As much as everyone (including his personal cheerleader, Russo) thinks Coyle is fantastic, i don't think he's quite up to 100% yet. When he gets there that line is really going to tear people up.

Yeah, Coyle looks like last year's version since he's come back. It takes a while to get timing and game conditioning back.

 

[OpRedDawn*]

Not beating these east teams could really come back and bite us, especially when our rivals in the west are racking up tons of wins against them.

We beat them system wise and play wise, but sadly we still don't have the name recognition to compete with verizon/geico/nhl

 

[Gaps]

Name:

1) A 1st line center we can one-for-one swap Koivu for.

2) A coach we can replace Yeo with.

1) Giroux

Jesus Christ, these complainers give me an early morning headache.

 

[vitogor]

Some overreactions in this thread are absolutely hilarious. Keep 'em coming guys

 

[OpRedDawn*]

How many losses will it take for them to realize that you can't turtle like that? We dominated 5on5 play. The chances of us going up 3-1 were much higher than it going 2-2. Just a pathetic gameplan. Just like the typical vikes, where they don't play to win, they play not to lose. And the majority of a time, that causes you to lose

 

[b0rn2beWild]

Granlund ~65% in FEL in shootouts and 100% in Finland national team. Yeo has given him 0 opportunities in shootouts. Otherwise, he was hot player there tonight so he would have deserved the shot.

 

[Temego]

Granlund ~65% in FEL in shootouts and 100% in Finland national team. Yeo has given him 0 opportunities in shootouts. Otherwise, he was hot player there tonight so he would have deserved the shot.

Gargamel is probably at best Yeo's 7th shooter after Coyle, Heatley and Niederreiter.

 

[urho]

Granlund ~65% in FEL in shootouts and 100% in Finland national team. Yeo has given him 0 opportunities in shootouts. Otherwise, he was hot player there tonight so he would have deserved the shot.

Altough he's been worse since 2011 or so and Russo says he isn't scoring in shootout-drills. I wouldn't put that much weight on the latter part, tho, he's known to practice new moves etc. in drills. Game situations are completely different, you have to be able to handle the pressure and so on.

 

[Zeke14]

Thought this was as good a place as any to ask this question -

Who gets the next start on saturday? Do they go back to Backstrom since Hardings win streak has ended? Wild don't play a back-to-back for another 5 games - backstrom should draw back in before then.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Thought this was as good a place as any to ask this question -

Who gets the next start on saturday? Do they go back to Backstrom since Hardings win streak has ended? Wild don't play a back-to-back for another 5 games - backstrom should draw back in before then.

I hope not. Harding has just been too good for him not to get a non-back-to-back start.

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Backs is going to start Saturday. He hasn't started in a while and we cannot risk playing Harding too much.

 

[tomthestone*]

I hope not. Harding has just been too good for him not to get a non-back-to-back start.

That's the popular thought, but I have to disagree with the masses on this one. Despite how incredibly Harding has played this year, his usage needs to be scaled back at some point in the near future. The occasional break is necessary for starting goalies, and his workload has been heavy and imbalanced to say the least. The true horses in the NHL start 60-65 games in a given regular season. I'd argue Harding is not in that workhorse class -- nor should he be -- yet he's started 10 of the last 13 games and missed one contest due to an injury. Harding has meant a lot to the Wild's fast start, but rolling him out there or "riding the hot hand" to this degree is akin to playing with fire.

Based on what Backstrom has shown (or rather hasn't shown), losing Harding for any length of time could cripple Minnesota's chance to get involved in a real cup chase this spring. Even if there isn't an injury, Harding might not be this effective later if he plays too many minutes during the front half of the season. Somebody might want to call up San Jose and ask how Nemo is doing after playing all but 60 minutes in October.