What’s up hockey freaks? Missing the Iowa Wild these days? Well, don’t fret, because the Stanley Cup Playoffs are heating up!
Tonight features three Game 7’s…Flyers @ Rangers, Wild @ Avalanche, and Kings @ Sharks. If you use your technology properly (read: DVR), you should be able to watch all the action. Or you can always head to Johnny’s HOF on Court Ave. in downtown Des Moines to be a part of our Minnesota Wild watch party, and consume your hockey that way!
There’s nothing better than playoff hockey, and the first round is always awesome because of, if for no other reason, the quantity of games. Tonight is a special tonight for sure, as it marks just the 5th time in NHL history that three, Game 7’s have been played on the same day.
Here are a couple of quick thoughts on each of the match-ups:
Wild @ Avalanche:
The home team has not lost in this series, so the Wild have their work cut out for them…however, in Games 1 & 5 in Denver, the Wild held a lead late in regulation before the Avalanche tied it with an empty net behind them. Thus, Minnesota has proven they can put themselves in a spot to be successful on the road tonight. I think a good start (even or ahead at the 1st intermission) really bolsters their chances of winning, and I’m expecting Mikael Granlund (2g, 2a, +4 in the series) to have a big game. Granlund has always excelled in the spotlight, as evidenced by the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. I expect him to be a difference-maker in some of the grittier areas of tonight’s game – defensive zone play, the face-off circle, etc. Another guy who has been quiet on the score sheet but had several chances in Game 6 was Nino Niederreiter. Any type of offensive outburst from him tonight would be a huge bonus. As for the Av’s, I’m going to key on Matt Duchene. Game 6 was his first outing of the series, and his first game after missing a few weeks due to injury. It will be interesting to see how much better he is tonight after getting a game under his belt.
Flyers @ Rangers
This battle between long-time rivals has had a noticeable trend thus far: no team has won back-to-back games. The Rangers claimed Game 1, the Flyers Game 2, etc. And now, here they are at three games apiece, with the Rangers getting a chance to eliminate the Flyers for the second consecutive night. Home ice advantage should work in the Blueshirts favor, UNLESS the Flyers strike first, and play with the lead for a chunk of the contest. If that happens, the Rangers faithful may get restless and it could actually work against the home team from a momentum standpoint. Let’s be honest here: the Flyers haven’t played a great series. Goaltender Steve Mason is a big reason why they won two of the three games they’ve claimed (Games 4 and 6) and the Flyers PP is clicking at 31.6% through the first six contests. The Flyers must “execute” better. That means crisper passing, cutting down on their turnovers, getting pucks deep, etc. For the Rangers, they need to get Rick Nash (0g, 4a) on track, as he’s been eerily quiet in the series. Discipline is also going to be a huge factor with neither side wanting to gift wrap a power play to their opponent.
Kings @ Sharks
Just a few days ago, this was certainly the most improbable of all the Game 7’s that will take place tonight. However, I think it may turn out to be the most intense, spirited game of them all. These two teams absolutely hate each other. The Kings have won three straight after it appeared they would be golfing by now. L.A. will look to make history, as they could become just the fourth team EVER to advance in the playoffs after erasing a 3-0 series deficit. Current Kings forwards Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were on the 2010 Flyers team that was the last club to pull off that feat, so my guess is they will lead the charge tonight. The Sharks will start Antti Niemi between the pipes (he was benched for Game 6). I like the move by Sharks head coach Todd McLellan to come back with Niemi. He’s won a Stanley Cup before, and he’s going to be extra-motivated having been snubbed for the Game 6 start. I don’t think either team goes quietly in this one, but if I’m a Sharks fan, I’m hoping they gain some confidence early in the game, especially with their star players having struggled in their three consecutive losses.
Before I get on out of here, I wanted to comment on the extra-attacker strategy employed by Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy in the playoffs. Roy’s decision to pull his goaltender with about 3 minutes left on the clock in three of the games against the Wild has the world of hockey talking. In fact, here’s a piece on NHL.com from yesterday http://bit.ly/1kpQv5B where senior writer Dan Rosen delves into the strategy a bit. The maneuver has been “copied” already in the playoffs as Rosen touches on. Although a bit of a “revolutionary move” in the NHL, I’ve actually seen this done in the AHL plenty of times before. Kevin Constantine, who now coaches in Everett of the WHL, used to do this all the time when he was in the AHL with the Houston Aeros, Minnesota’s farm team at the time. Constantine, a former NHL head coach for the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, would pull his netminder with 5-plus minutes on the clock if the situation presented itself. I remember him telling me that it was more of a way to help his team gain momentum than anything else. For instance, say the Aeros were down 4-2 with 4:30 left in a ho-hum, regular season game in November. Well, “KC” (as he was known) would pull his goalie if the team wasn’t generating much offensively. He’d play it on a shift-by-shift basis, meaning the goaltender would go back between the pipes if there was a defensive zone draw, or if the team pulled within one goal, etc. Now, I never witnessed this, but if my memory serves me correctly, I remember Barry Brust (a long-time minor league goalie who had a cup of coffee in the NHL) telling me that he was once pulled by “KC” with like nine minutes left in the third period! Nine minutes! From a coaching (and personality) standpoint “KC” was definitely different, but in a good way. He was innovative in his on-ice strategies, and not afraid to take chances. Look, no coach is going to make the right call in every situation, and as Roy learned against the Wild in Game 6, sometimes an outside-the-box maneuver will backfire.
Look for another blog coming in the next week or so on the future pipeline of the Minnesota Wild: prospects like Gustav Olofsson, Kurtis Gabriel, and others…
Enjoy the Game 7’s tonight! Go Wild!
– Radio
ALL THINGS WILD 