Minnesota Wild: Scoreboard Watch
Feb 9, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Jason Pominville (29) celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period against the Vancouver Canucks at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Wild looked fantastic last night, running over the Vancouver Canucks in a 5-3 win at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The defense was not quite as stifling as it has been but the offense was so good that it didn’t even matter. The win was extra nice because it pulled the Wild within three points of the Canucks in the Western Conference playoff chase.
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Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: The Wild play in Winnipeg tonight against the Jets. The Jets are currently six points clear of the Wild in the Wild Card race but the Wild have three games in hand on the Jets. A Minnesota victory tonight would tighten the standings even further. No official word is out yet on who will play in the nets tonight for the Wild. Devan Dubnyk has been outstanding in his time with the team but Darcy Kuemper is back so there are some thoughts of giving Dubnyk the night off. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune:
Yeo said they'll make decision on #mnwild goalie vs. #nhljets tomorrow. He'll talk to Devan Dubnyk and goalie coach Bob Mason. (1/2)
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 10, 2015
(2/2) #mnwild plays every other game next 9 games after tomorrow, so they don't want to burn Dubnyk out.Kuemper made 28 saves at WPG in Dec.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 10, 2015
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Sitting Dubnyk certainly makes sense in theory and he will have to get some time off soon. It would be difficult to do it tonight though considering how well he has played. The other factor is that Kuemper did not exactly set the world on fire in the AHL for Iowa. It would be ideal to play Kuemper in some games against teams from the Eastern Conference as opposed to the teams the Wild are fighting for playoff positioning. It will all come down to whether or not Dubnyk is ready tonight.
As far as the rest of the race goes, here is our first Scoreboard Watch Primer:
This will be quick. Tonight we will be rooting for the Bruins to beat the Stars. All of the other teams in the hunt for the last couple Wild Card spots have the night off tonight. It’s kind of a bummer that we already need to watch the scoreboard with this much time left in the season, but at least the Wild have played themselves back into the race.
Enjoy the game tonight, and let’s go Wild!