Minnesota Wild Continue Dominance on Home Ice
By Nick Fritz
Sep 29, 2014; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward
Zach Parise(11) celebrates his goal with forward
Jason Pominville(29) and forward
Mikael Granlund(64) during the first period against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
It can be argued the Minnesota Wild are the most complete team in the National Hockey League right now. On home ice, there is no argument. The State of Hockey has become an awfully difficult place to play for opposing teams. The Minnesota Wild are 10-1-0 in their last eleven games at the Xcel Energy Center.
If I had to break it down into an equation, it would look something like this…
1 excellent team + 18,500 hockey crazed fans = dominance
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Not only do the Wild win at home, they usually put on a show. Over the home stretch I mentioned, the Wild have outshot their opponents by a staggering 360-232. Something about St. Paul seems to put some extra pep in the Wild’s skates.
When asked the reason for the success, forward Jason Zucker said, “It definitely helps having this fan base behind us every night. So thanks guys for coming out and we’ll keep winning.” Things are really rolling for the Wild right now as they lead the central conference.
With all that has gone well, there were two not-so-good streaks plaguing the Wild. On Saturday night, they both came to an end on the same play. With a flick of the wrist, Thomas Vanek finally netted his first goal as a member of the Wild and the dreaded 0-28 power play drought came to a long awaited end.
Zach Parise was sick of talking about such a drought as he joked, “Yeah you guys can talk about something else now.”
We’d love to Zack!
The Wild will need every bit of their home ice advantage as an equally impressive Penguins team comes into town Tuesday night. If past performances are indicative of future results, the Wild will put forth their best effort at the X.
Minnesota Wild Leaders:
Points: Zach Parise (10)
Assists: Thomas Vanek (7)
Goals: Jason Zucker (5)
Shots on Goal: Zach Parise (46)
Ave. Time on Ice: Ryan Suter (28:57)
Hits: Ryan Carter (17)
PS: Mikael Granlund decided to teach a little wrist shot 101 on Saturday. Check out this thing of beauty.