Western Conference Playoffs - Round 2: Blackhawks vs Wild (Hawks win 4-0)

[Northendzone]

Wow, that woman sitting behind quenville is quite the fan. Wonder what her name is?

[thefoss1957]

Ridiculously bad luck for Dubnyk...tough turnover in neutral zone leads to a 2 on 0 shorthanded breakaway...Dubnyk makes the stop...but...puck ricochets off his body, off his stick knob and trickles over the line for a tough own goal...Credit goes to Toews.

[thefoss1957]

Vanek misplays a zone entry with under 1 minute left in the 2nd, the Wild relaxes for a second recovering from the zone because the delayed offside...Kane was cherry picking at the far blue line, instead of going off for a line change, as his linemates did...Keith with an accurate stretch pass...Kane breakaway...2-0 'Hawks, going to the 3rd.

[thefoss1957]

Dumba scores a goal on a PP after Rozival took a penalty at the end of the 2nd...a goal that was almost as bad as the Teraveinen GWG the other night, Crawford whiffed with the glove hand...

Later, TT forced a turnover in the neutral zone, and Sharp got a partial breakaway, as the Wild were caught in a change.

3-1 'Hawks with 11 minutes left in the 3rd.

[thefoss1957]

Kane ENG to close out the scoring...4-1 final

[hwy19man]

The goal with twenty seconds left in the second period, that sunk the Wild.

[thefoss1957]

Certainly this series isn't over...but, I find it unbelievable how optimistic the St. Paul Pioneer press columnists are, with headlines like: "Down 2-0, Minnesota Wild in their sweet spot" http://www.twincities.com/wild/ci_28...ota-wild-their

Minnesota's puck management was DREADFUL on Sunday...Devan Dubnyk didn't look as special as the Press had painted him, coming into the playoffs...and the Wild were only able to sustain offensive pressure a small handful of times throughout the game.

I expect that the Wild will get a boost from their home crowd in game 3...but, I anticipate a split in the next 2 games...

And, in any case, the Wild will STILL have to find a way to win in Chicago, to have a chance in this series...and Yeo hasn't yet found a way to beat Q, when Q controls the line matchups.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Entirely expected results so far. Was really hoping for some more shakeup out of the west this year, but Chicago will be back in the conference finals for a 3th straight season

[nmhen]

Ugh. The Wild simply must play mistake-free hockey against Chicago. Which they cannot do.

Game one was fairly even, really soft goal by Duby on the winner, but credit to Teravainen (sp?) for getting it there I guess.

Game two was an absolute clinic in patient, opportunistic hockey by Chicago. They are just such pros. No one gets out of their head, and they have the weapons to finish chances.

They just have the Wild's number.

Minny must win both at home, quite obviously.

[nmhen]

Originally Posted by thefoss1957

Certainly this series isn't over...but, I find it unbelievable how optimistic the St. Paul Pioneer press columnists are, with headlines like: "Down 2-0, Minnesota Wild in their sweet spot" http://www.twincities.com/wild/ci_28...ota-wild-their

I like Chad Graff (the Pioneer Press Wild beat writer). He's a nice kid. But Mike Russo at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is the authority on the Wild in town.

I don't care for any of the columnists at the Pio, and the only columnist at the Star-Tribune I like is Souhan - and I've really only started to read him this year when he started doing podcasts with Russo - and seemed much more personable and interesting because of them.

Minnesotans are an odd breed of sports fan. Annoyingly quick to pull the ripcord on a game or season - which is a result of all the losing. But with a sneaky homer streak that comes out of nowhere sometimes. Especially when it comes to hockey. It's regarded as this birth right that you are automatically the smartest hockey fans in America if you're born there. That might even be true, on average. But I'm not about to try to quantify it, and who the hell really cares? Every Minnesota-born player who doesn't play for the Wild is automatically better than the non-Minnesota players who do. And we should go out and acquire all of them. And we should be able to trade Matt Cooke for Kyle Okposo, and the Isles should probably also give us their next three first rounders as interest paid for stealing away One Of Us for a few years. It's crazy.

[thefoss1957]

Originally Posted by nmhen

who the hell really cares?

nmhen...I was mostly marveling at the difference in perception between those that cover the games...For Chicago news guys, it is almost always doom and gloom, even when the team is succeeding...Criticism for Crawford for letting in a softy in a 4 to 1 WIN, for instance...

on the matchup itself, the Wild are struggling to deal with the 'Hawk scoring depth...'Hawks had transition goals from each of the top 3 lines, yesterday (the Shorty was triggered by 2/3'rds of Line 1), and even the 'Hawk 4th line has dominated possession on the forecheck.

Offensively, the Wild have been limited to the perimeter, and haven't generated enough traffic or rebound chances.

Your guys have to find a way to win 4 of the next 5...an extremely difficult task.

[nmhen]

Foss: I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. Not sure if you were reacting to that, but if you were, I wanted to clear that up. I was trying to give the provincial homers in Minny a hard time for being provincial homers. That's all.

Agree with your assessment. The Blackhawks controlled the Wild attack last game. Dictated the terms of the Wild's attack is a better way to put it. Chris Stewart is not doing his future earning potential any favors with the way he's played in the playoffs. He's one guy who SHOULD be in front of the net, but he's nowhere to be seen. He's hardly the only problem, and I give credit to the Hawks for imposing their will on the Wild.

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by thefoss1957

Certainly this series isn't over...but, I find it unbelievable how optimistic the St. Paul Pioneer press columnists are, with headlines like: "Down 2-0, Minnesota Wild in their sweet spot" http://www.twincities.com/wild/ci_28042866/tom-powers-down-2-0-minnesota-wild-their

I expect that the Wild will get a boost from their home crowd in game 3...but, I anticipate a split in the next 2 games...

And, in any case, the Wild will STILL have to find a way to win in Chicago, to have a chance in this series...and Yeo hasn't yet found a way to beat Q, when Q controls the line matchups.

How quick those writers forget that it was the same scenario last year and the Wild won both of their home games to tie the series at 2-2.

[thefoss1957]

Looks like Chris Stewart is out for tonight's game...Oduya made a diving poke check, got the puck, and then tripped Stewart into the end boards...as consistently as NHL rules are enforced...this play, legal in passed years, should have been a penalty...but, this fan has given up trying to guess what set of rules are being enforced during the playoffs! It has seemed clear that officials have pocketed rule books, in the post season, not wanting to "affect outcomes"...sadly, this DOES "affect outcomes", Example: teams like Montreal were able to hack the Sens out of the playoffs...but then, against the Bolts, they were upset that the rules once again were enforced for 4 (or was it 5?) PP goals against.

In any rate, Stewart out: "upper body injury"

[hwy19man]

Pregame links.
http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/preview?id=2014030233
http://www.cbc.ca/sports-content/hockey/nhl/game/1540850/preview/



"Due to today's Alberta election, the Blackhawks-Wild game will not be broadcast on CBC TV in the province. Alberta viewers can stream the game to their desktops on CBCSports.ca or watch on TV on Sportsnet 360."

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl-playoffs-3-things-to-know-for-tonight-s-games-1.3061565

Viewers can also get the game on CBC timeshifter channels from Vancouver, Regina, and elsewhere.

[hwy19man]

Those in eastern British Columbia (Peace River and Kootenays) who get their CBC feed from Edmonton and Calgary are also affected from the Alberta election pre-empting the Blackhawks-Wild game.

[nmhen]

Chicago own da Wild.

[thefoss1957]

Originally Posted by nmhen

Chicago own da Wild.

Yeo has to figure out a way to get his top guys away from the Hjammer/Oduya D-pairing...they were MAJOR in shutting down their shooting lanes, and clearing rebounds.

Both team Ds were excellent yesterday, and save for giving too big a 5-hole to Kane, both goalies were too.

[skudr248]

Well looks like were playing Chicago next round

[dammage79]

A well rested Kane makes the Hawks formidable. With Hossa doing his thing and then the rest of the players. Goaltending can be beaten and the Hawks play a style that the Flames can play well against. If flames/Hawks WCF does indeed happen, it's going to a punch for punch knockem down drag em out lots of goals series.