| UPCOMING GAMES |
| NO SCHEDULED GAMES |
|
LAST 10 GAMES
|
| 5/9 |
MIN 1 at CHI 5 |
Lost |
F |
| 5/7 |
CHI 3 at MIN 0 |
Lost |
F |
| 5/5 |
CHI 2 at MIN 3 |
Won |
OT |
| 5/3 |
MIN 2 at CHI 5 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/30 |
MIN 1 at CHI 2 |
Lost |
OT |
| 4/27 |
MIN 3 at COL 1 |
Won |
F |
| 4/26 |
EDM 6 at MIN 1 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/23 |
LAK 1 at MIN 2 |
Won |
F |
| 4/21 |
CGY 4 at MIN 1 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/18 |
MIN 1 at SJS 6 |
Lost |
F |
| Won-3 Lost-6 OT-1 |
|
 Minnesota Wild
News
Schedule
Roster
| What We Learned: Complaining about NHL officiating? Time to fine these sore losers (Puck Daddy) |
| Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
No one is ever going to be totally happy with the ways in which the NHL's referees or officials make their decisions. We can all agree on that.
If there's a game in which neither team is whistled for a penalty, both will likely complain that the refs missed calls on the other. If there's a game in which both teams receive 10 power plays, both will complain that the referees were overly harsh in doling out discipline. No one is ever especially happy with calls that go in between those two extremes, either, because unless you win, you aren't happy. And sometimes, even when you do win, you aren't happy.
It's tough to know what, exactly, brought all this to a head in these playoffs. Alex Ovechkin complaining about a league-wide conspiracy in Game 6 after the end of Game 7; Jonathan Toews stamping his feet when his team got clobbered on home ice by its archrival; Sidney Crosby saying the league needs to institute video review for puck-over-the-glass calls; Jonathan Quick abusing officials because the Kings gave the Sharks a two-man advantage in overtime.
Doesn't it strike anyone as being a bit much?
No one likes to lose in October, let alone in the second round of the playoffs, and you might even say that the refs have made a bit of a spectacle of themselves in the last few games. The best thing a ref can do, the old saying goes, is not be noticeable, and things have admittedly gotten a bit out of hand in some instances.
But nonetheless, can you imagine the eye-rolling or outright mockery in Chicago if Henrik Zetterberg had said the same things Toews did after they got creamed in Game 1? Or the uproar if Ryan Callahan of the lionized New York Rangers had complained about a conspiracy to push the series longer? Or the furor if Joe Thornton had done what Quick did after the Sharks gave up a similar late-game 5-on-3 advantage that allowed the Kings to tie Game 1?
What it boils down to is being a sore loser. |
| Posted: 05/20/2013 |
| Sharks fined $100,000 for GM's comments (The Associated Press) |
| SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- The NHL fined the San Jose Sharks $100,000 on Saturday for general manager Doug Wilson's comments criticizing the league for forward Raffi Torres' suspension for the rest of the second round of the playoffs. |
| Posted: 05/18/2013 |
| Chicago Blackhawks streaking again, this time on the penalty kill (Puck Daddy) |
| In 2012, the Chicago Blackhawks’ penalty kill failed them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
They gave up 4 goals on 19 chances in a loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, who entered the postseason with the 29th best power play in the NHL. The Hawks had the 27th best PK in the regular season; those struggles continues in the playoffs.
So they remedied that in the offseason, bringing in Los Angeles Kings assistant coach and penalty kill architect Jamie Kompon. After the lockout ended, they converted offensive forwards Marcus Kruger and Michael Frolik in special teams defenders.
The results were stunning: The PK provided the backbone for the Blackhawks’ 24-game streak with at least one point earned, and the team gave up the fewest power-play goals in the regular season (18) while finishing with the third-best penalty kill (87.2 percent).
In the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs … well, it’s been perfect: 20 times shorthanded, 20 kills, including a perfect 17-for-17 in Round 1 against the Minnesota Wild (17.9 percent in the regular season. |
| Posted: 05/18/2013 |
| Jack Adams Award: Bruce Boudreau vs. Paul MacLean vs. Joel Quenneville (Puck Daddy) |
| The NHL announced the finalists for the Jack Adams Award on Friday, as Bruce Boudreau of the Anaheim Ducks, Paul MacLean of the Ottawa Senators and Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks are up for the trophy presented to the head coach who has "contributed the most to his team's success," as voted on by members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association.
We imagine it warms Mike Babcock’s heart to see Quenneville get a nomination, being that President’s Trophy winners don’t always get the Jack Adams love. Then again, it’s hard to ignore a coach who guides his team to 24 straight games with at least a point to start the season.
It was a bumper crop for great NHL coaching performances this season, which is bad news for Jack Capuano of the New York Islanders, Mike Yeo of the Minnesota Wild, Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Babcock and especially Michel Therrien of the Montreal Canadiens.
Who takes home the Jack?
|
| Posted: 05/17/2013 |
| Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 1 (The SportsXchange) |
| CHICAGO -- Snapping a 1-1 tie that existed from the middle of the first period, the Chicago Blackhawks exploded for three goals in the third period to trounce the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 in Wednesday's Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series. |
| Posted: 05/15/2013 |
| Chicago Blackhawks vs. Detroit Red Wings: Puck Daddy’s NHL 2013 Stanley Cup Playoff Preview (Puck Daddy) |
| The Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings will meet in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 15th time and this will be the final meeting as conference mates. When the Red Wings move to the Eastern Conference next season once realignment kicks in they'll face the Blackhawks only twice a year going forward, unless the two meet in a Cup Final.
For now, they'll face off for the right to play in the Western Conference Final, a round where their last two playoff series against one another took place - both 4-1 series victories by the Red Wings.
Chicago cruised to the top spot in the West and their second Presidents' Trophy in franchise history, while Detroit stood on the playoff bubble before clinching a place in the postseason on the final day. To get to the second round, the Blackhawks ousted the Minnesota Wild in five games, while the Red Wings went the distance before knocking off the No. 2-seeded Anaheim Ducks.
Are the Red Wings just another step in the Blackhawks' road to a Cup? Can their long-timer division rivals upset the balance of power in the Western Conference? |
| Posted: 05/15/2013 |
| Puck Daddy’s 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 staff prognostications (Puck Daddy) |
| In which your friends at Puck Daddy attempt to pick the winners of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Our first-round picks are here.
Greg Wyshynski, Editor
Penguins in 6
Rangers in 6
The Penguins’ goaltending situation scares the bejesus out of me. So does Craig Anderson’s goalie prowess. So does the fact that Ottawa is one of those teams piling up compelling storylines – Karlsson’s comeback, Spezza’s potential one, Paul MacLean-as-walrus, a ton of unsung heroes – that sometimes lead to a team of destiny vibe. But the Penguins are too good and too deep to lose this series.
The Rangers and Bruins is going to be a slobber-knocker. I give the Rangers the advantage in goal with Lundqvist and their scoring depth is a bit better than expected. That said, it’s time for Nash to become a force, and I think this is the spot for it. The Bruins were exposed a bit in the Leafs series, miracle comeback be damned.
Blackhawks in 6
Sharks in 7
If Detroit plays as it did in Game 7 against the Ducks, this is going to be a very tight series. But I think Chicago knows it played average hockey against the Wild and will course correct. Plus, they’ll exploit the Wings’ defense in ways the Ducks did not.
The Sharks and Los Angeles Kings are the series of the semifinals. Two teams at the top of their games. Can the Sharks crack the Kings’ defense? Can the Kings solve a locked-in Antti Niemi. This could be a classic, but in the end, it’s the Sharks. Who seem like a team of desti … I can’t even finish that yet. |
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| Red Wings-Blackhawks Preview (The Associated Press) |
| CHICAGO (AP) -- The top of the list includes Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa. Patrick Sharp is coming off another great playoff series, and Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland have come up with big postseason goals in the past. |
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| Boogaard family sues NHL for son's death (The Associated Press) |
| MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- - Joanne Boogaard watched her son Derek duke it out on the ice with other NHL tough guys for six seasons as one of the most feared enforcers in the game, a 6-foot-7 brawler who was not there to skate or score, but to defend his teammates when it was called for. |
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| Crosby, Harding, McQuaid finalists for Masterton (The SportsXchange) |
| Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding and Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid have been announced as finalists for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded to "the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." |
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| Masterton Trophy Finalists: Sidney Crosby vs. Josh Harding vs. Adam McQuaid (Puck Daddy) |
| The NHL on Tuesday announced the finalists for the Bill Masterton Trophy, as center Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, goaltender Josh Harding of the Minnesota Wild and defenseman Adam McQuaid of the Boston Bruins are up for the award that is given “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”
The local chapters of the Professional Hockey Writers Association nominate 30 players for the award; the top three vote-getters were the finalists for the award.
This is the NHL’s "Lifetime Original Movie" award, given to the player who overcame the most horrific ailment (concussions, cancer, catastrophic injuries) or the most personal strife (Jose Theodore winning after the death of his son).
All three of this year’s nominees have varying degrees of heart-wrenching stories to tell.
That said, they could have just announced this year’s field is “Josh Harding and two other guys who didn’t have multiple sclerosis" and been done with it, because Josh Harding is going to win the Masterton.
|
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| Column: Boogaard a sad example for hockey goons (The Associated Press) |
| The lawsuit doesn't read nearly as well as the story, which laid bare the life of an NHL enforcer for all to see. The way John Branch wrote about Derek Boogaard in the New York Times should have been enough to cause even the most hardcore hockey fan to reconsider the peculiar role that goons play in the sport. |
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| What We Learned: Pittsburgh Penguins have to get rid of Marc-Andre Fleury (Puck Daddy) |
|
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
One of the things people said constantly throughout the Pittsburgh Penguins' six-game series victory over the New York Islanders was that their play was well below the expected level of quality.
In fact, the most common refrain was that this particular brand of awful play -- rife with defensive irresponsibility and baffling lack of execution for a team that was pretty much incredible from start to finish this year -- was probably only good enough to get them past a try-hard pretender like the Islanders.
Against a real team, it was generally agreed, this kind of play would result in them losing the series in short order, probably pretty badly.
But that kind of talk ignores two things. First, we were told repeatedly by just about everyone that if there was any team the Penguins, not exactly fleet-of-foot, didn't want to take on in the playoffs, it was these New York Islanders. And yeah, they had their hands full throughout, but still never really looked to be in all that much trouble; the scores were close, yes, but they still only needed six games to put these guys out of their misery.
Second, and more important, is that — lo and behold — the second they took Marc-Andre Fleury out of the crease, they won both games. That's not to say that Tomas Vokoun really won them either game, because he didn't. He posted a shutout in Game 5 because almost any goaltender in the world (with at least one notable exception) would have, but he was also victimized on occasion by the bad defensive work that didn't help Fleury much either.
But the fact of the matter is that if you have pretensions of winning a Stanley Cup, your goaltender has to at least be league-average. The Penguins, with their galaxy of stars and excellent coach and top-quality GM, have that goal. They do not have that goaltender. People will argue that Fleury is a winner, insofar as he won a Stanley Cup. Four years ago. Since that postseason, when he posted just a .908 save percentage and a not-good 2.61 GAA, his save percentage has crept above .899 precisely zero times. This year, when he gave up 14 goals on 128 shots in four games before Bylsma dead-bolted the door to the doghouse from the outside.
Or at least, he should; there's only so many times an entire team can roll its eyes and think, "Oh no, not again," like a pot of petunias, before it's the only reasonable course of action.
I don't know how much longer we need to suffer through the narrative that Fleury is any good at all before it crumbles to sand and is scattered by the wind. That is, if it hasn't done so already behind save attempts like this and this and most notably this .
I mean, look, the fact of the matter is that apart from one good playoff run five years ago in which he fell a game short of winning the Stanley Cup for that not-quite-ready Penguins team, he has always been sub-average, and now things are getting markedly worse .
|
| Posted: 05/13/2013 |
| Pregnant Blackhawks fan goes into labour during Game 5, waits for it to end (Puck Daddy) |
| Marian Hossa had a big night for the Chicago Blackhawks in their Game 5 victory over the Minnesota Wild on May 9, scoring twice as his club moved on to the second round. But as it turns out, his impact may have gone beyond that.
Hossa's second period goal, which was a big one, as it pushed the Hawks' lead to three, may have induced labour in one fan. Midway through the middle frame, Donna Lebano, eight months pregnant, started having contractions.
But the diehard Hawks fan wasn't going to miss an elimination game just to give birth to some baby.
"No way was I leaving," Lebano said in a statement. "We are a Hawks family. I had to see the end of the game."
And really, she gave birth to one of these things a year and a half ago. The Hawks haven't been to the second round since 2010. So, you know, priorities.
Out with her three sisters for a girls' night, Lebano ignored her contractions through the end of the second, the intermission, and the third period before being rushed to the hospital to give birth to her second child sometime around the handshake line. From ABC News :
Just hours later, she gave birth to a son, Owen Michael. Owen weighs 6 pounds, 5 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing fine- and already ready to cheer on the Hawks in the next playoff game.
"Owen is such a great baby, very patient. We're doing fantastic and we think of Owen as Hossa's hat trick. Two goals in a playoff game and a baby delivered moments after getting to the hospital is an epic hat trick," Lebano said.
I'm not so sure we can call that a hat trick. It seems like more of an assist to me. But either way, since Hossa picked up another one of those in the third, we'll call it a four-point night for the big Slovak. Way to deliver, guy.
"Nothing like an exciting Hawks game to induce labor,” one of Lebano's sisters told WGN . You heard her. Not acupuncture. Not pineapple. Not even sex . Nothing.
Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney
|
| Posted: 05/12/2013 |
Yahoo!Sports
|
| GAME STATS |
|
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
| HOME |
26 |
15 |
9 |
2 |
| AWAY |
27 |
12 |
13 |
2 |
| TOTAL |
53 |
27 |
22 |
4 |
| MAY STATS |
|
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
| HOME |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| AWAY |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| TOTAL |
4 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
| NORTHWEST DIVISION |
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
PTS |
GF |
GA |
| VAN |
48 |
26 |
15 |
7 |
59 |
127 |
121 |
| MIN |
48 |
26 |
19 |
3 |
55 |
122 |
127 |
| EDM |
48 |
19 |
22 |
7 |
45 |
125 |
134 |
| CGY |
48 |
19 |
25 |
4 |
42 |
128 |
160 |
| COL |
48 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
39 |
116 |
152 |
| WESTERN CONFERENCE |
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
DF |
PTS |
| 1. CHI* |
48 |
36 |
7 |
5 |
53 |
77 |
| 2. ANA* |
48 |
30 |
12 |
6 |
22 |
66 |
| 3. VAN* |
48 |
26 |
15 |
7 |
6 |
59 |
| 4. STL |
48 |
29 |
17 |
2 |
14 |
60 |
| 5. LAK |
48 |
27 |
16 |
5 |
15 |
59 |
| 6. SJS |
48 |
25 |
16 |
7 |
8 |
57 |
| 7. DET |
48 |
24 |
16 |
8 |
9 |
56 |
| 8. MIN |
48 |
26 |
19 |
3 |
-5 |
55 |
| 9. CBJ |
48 |
24 |
17 |
7 |
1 |
55 |
| 10. PHX |
48 |
21 |
18 |
9 |
-6 |
51 |
| 11. DAL |
48 |
22 |
22 |
4 |
-12 |
48 |
| 12. EDM |
48 |
19 |
22 |
7 |
-9 |
45 |
| 13. CGY |
48 |
19 |
25 |
4 |
-32 |
42 |
| 14. NSH |
48 |
16 |
23 |
9 |
-28 |
41 |
| 15. COL |
48 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
-36 |
39 |
|
