RD1 GM1 04/17 vs Wild (8:50?PM CT) - iacta alea est

[dyhp]

This is what happens when you vote for Democrats.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Also no even strength goals in almost 5 periods has gotta sting for a team that thought it had some offensive depth.

[dyhp]

Also no even strength goals in almost 5 periods has gotta sting for a team that thought it had some offensive depth.

[Troy McClure]

With game two on Wednesday, there’s no way Pavelski is playing in it. Plugging his spot with Kiviranta isn’t going to help. Can they call up Bourque? They need offense.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Also no even strength goals in almost 5 periods has gotta sting for a team that thought it had some offensive depth.

[dyhp]

With game two on Wednesday, there’s no way Pavelski is playing in it. Plugging his spot with Kiviranta isn’t going to help. Can they call up Bourque? They need offense.

In my typical playoff anxiety I feel like he is done for the series.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Time to panic. Everyone run in circles.

[dyhp]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that Dallas didn't have any even strength goals in 5 periods.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that Dallas didn't have any even strength goals in 5 periods.

This is an excellent point and thank you for making it.

[dyhp]

Time to panic. Everyone run in circles.

I'm pretty sure no teams in the history of sports has ever come back from a 0-1 deficit.

[Knives Out]

It's far from over, but this one stings.

Stop being positive.

I feel like the Wild are going to play tired/banged up for the rest of the series now LOL. They completely emptied the tank. Plus we’ll finally get to enjoy some Klinger turnovers in our favour. A gentleman’s sweep is afoot.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Time to panic. Everyone run in circles.

I'm pretty sure no teams in the history of sports has ever come back from a 0-1 deficit.

agreed

[dyhp]

It's far from over, but this one stings.

Stop being positive.

I feel like the Wild are going to play tired/banged up for the rest of the series now LOL. They completely emptied the tank. Plus we’ll finally get to enjoy some Klinger turnovers in our favour. A gentleman’s sweep is afoot.

You better be right.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

If the Stars lose, Knives has to admit that Robertson is actually quite skinny. He just has a baby face.

[Knives Out]

My Chinese grandmother taught me that everyone is *fargin'* fat in their own way.

[ScubaSteve]

I can already taste the phoned in “disappointing ending, but so many positives this year to build on” articles that Heika will copy and paste from last year.

[Alyosha0999]

Ya boys, it would've been better to face Seattle obviously...if the stars do somehow manage to win this series(which they wont) they'll be so banged up for the Avs that they wont have enough in the tank...this is what i meant by heiskanen(played mediocre; has to actually DRIVE TO THE NET and stop looking to pass all the time when he does enter the zone); Oettinger, Robertson, Hintz all being too young to win the Cup. Plus this team is not tough enough...NO ONE to stand up for Joe until Dumi can charging in.

[ToddM]

If the Stars can come out and play the way they did last night, they'll get swept in four games by 3-2 scores in four straight double overtimes.

[Math]

My god, what was Härlëÿ doing on the right corner just next to Miller with no one covering the slot? Rookie mistake, this is significantly on him.

On the good side, the Stars played like *poo poo* most of the game and only lost in OT. That's somehow encouraging but they weren't ready and well prepared. My concern is how can this team respond to the Wild's physicality because the Stars have been molested with little to no responses. The moment when Robertson was checked by Foligno without paying attention around was symptomatic, and on one really stood up after that.

In the playoffs, depth allows you to make a deep run with middle/bottom-6 guys making the difference. I won't say that losing Pavelski is not a big deal but they need to figure that out and guys like Domi, Marchment, Benn, Seguin, Dell'Andrea really need to go to the next level. The Wild is more balanced on its two first unites and they were 7-3-3 without Kaprizov in the line-up. So going after him won't serve much IMO.

Forget the records, the regular season and nice plays. This is the playoffs, time to get ugly on the muddy battlefields and eat *poo poo* in the trenchs.

[SaintAngerBH]

Anytime one team is getting chance after chance after chance in overtime but not scoring, the other team is going to eventually score. Happens nearly every time.

[slaps]

The *poo poo* reffing and dirty hit aside, I didn't see anything that indicates the Stars can't beat the Wild. That was literally everything the Wild had to give and it ended on a cosmically fluky bounce. The Stars were nowhere near 100% for whatever reason. If they can actually settle down and play, they can beat the Wild.

Also, someone pointed out that every time the Wild throw a hit, they are taking contact too. Can they keep that up for all the games? They were completely knackered well before the end of the game.

[SaintAngerBH]

The *poo poo* reffing and dirty hit aside, I didn't see anything that indicates the Stars can't beat the Wild. That was literally everything the Wild had to give and it ended on a cosmically fluky bounce. The Stars were nowhere near 100% for whatever reason. If they can actually settle down and play, they can beat the Wild.

Also, someone pointed out that every time the Wild throw a hit, they are taking contact too. Can they keep that up for all the games? They were completely knackered well before the end of the game.

Yeah. I get the same feeling. By game 3, the tank should be totally empty if the Wild continue to play like that. By then, the Stars' skill can takeover and the Wild will be unable to match it. Hopefully.

[Math]

Very fair point there. The Wild came in full hit-everything-with-full-speed mode to shake things and steal game #1, and it worked. But you can't keep that pace on a constant basis. Now the ball is on the Stars' side and I'd like to see much more from the middle-6 guys.

I'm also not into the home-ice advantage thing and it's not a significant factor anymore in today's hockey (I made a quick analysis in the past and basically home teams wins between 47% to 56% of their games in the postseason the last five years of compiled data, I'd like to push a deeper look at it.). Still, I think it's easier to start a series on the road: you have less pressure, if you lose it's still fine, if you win it's all bonus.

[SaintAngerBH]

The Stars were better on the road this year anyway, right?

[cdanew]

My god, what was Härlëÿ doing on the right corner just next to Miller with no one covering the slot? Rookie mistake, this is significantly on him.

That picture is very misleading. The fluke bounce makes it looks like everyone is out of position when in fact it was the Wild player who was in the worst position - just a bad bounce made it the right position.

[ToddM]

Yeah the Wild's alleged physiciality completely disappeared after two periods. I don't recall a single hit in OT...despite them not having the puck for long stretches in their own zone, which is usually when you see hits thrown.
We basically hit two and maybe three posts, the skinny shaft of the goalie stick and two diving stick plays to deflect open net slam dunks, all in OT. Will the Wild have that level of luck again? Possibly! I certainly hope they think they can rely on that moving forward.

[Troy McClure]

This angle shows Dumba lining this up and jumping through Pavelski.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Yeah the Wild's alleged physiciality completely disappeared after two periods. I don't recall a single hit in OT...despite them not having the puck for long stretches in their own zone, which is usually when you see hits thrown.
We basically hit two and maybe three posts, the skinny shaft of the goalie stick and two diving stick plays to deflect open net slam dunks, all in OT. Will the Wild have that level of luck again? Possibly! I certainly hope they think they can rely on that moving forward.

They weren't as lucky as you're saying though. Despite "controlling" the OT periods, the Wild still had as many high quality chances as the Stars.

They weren't that physical after taking out one of our leaders, but that was just smart. I wouldn't have been either.

Basically game one could not have gone worse for Dallas. But it's only one game at least.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

My god, what was Härlëÿ doing on the right corner just next to Miller with no one covering the slot? Rookie mistake, this is significantly on him.

That picture is very misleading. The fluke bounce makes it looks like everyone is out of position when in fact it was the Wild player who was in the worst position - just a bad bounce made it the right position.

Bingo

[Troy McClure]

Yeah the Wild's alleged physiciality completely disappeared after two periods. I don't recall a single hit in OT...despite them not having the puck for long stretches in their own zone, which is usually when you see hits thrown.
We basically hit two and maybe three posts, the skinny shaft of the goalie stick and two diving stick plays to deflect open net slam dunks, all in OT. Will the Wild have that level of luck again? Possibly! I certainly hope they think they can rely on that moving forward.

They weren't as lucky as you're saying though. Despite "controlling" the OT periods, the Wild still had as many high quality chances as the Stars.

They weren't that physical after taking out one of our leaders, but that was just smart. I wouldn't have been either.

Basically game one could not have gone worse for Dallas. But it's only one game at least.

And I'm not ready to declare repeatability of playing like it's OT hockey for regulation time going forward. The Stars did look very good by generating more chances than the Wild and generally controlling play, but we only saw this after 60 minutes of play. Game two isn't going to start with both teams having run a 10K prior to pick drop.

The Wild defense seems to be a solid group of skaters, and the Stars need to realize chipping the puck off the glass from their own end or dumping it it from the neutral zone wasn't working because the Wild D were getting to those loose pucks before the Stars forwards. Maybe the physical game from the Wild caused some of those panic chips and dumps (also the name of my Tex-Mex themed B&B), but the Stars didn't need to be so quick to get rid of pucks.

With Pavelski out, I prefer to see a faster skilled guy inserted into the lineup to help with winning races and moving the puck, but it's probably going to be Kiviranta.