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This is Michael Russo's 18th year covering the National Hockey League. He's covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005 following 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. Michael uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio and seen weekly on Fox Sports North.
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Posts about Wild practice
Wild has arrived in Chicago for a Thursday must-win
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: May 8, 2013 - 4:34 PM
The Wild didn’t practice today but held availability at the airport before flying off to Chicago.
Quick blog as I need to catch up to them. Obviously, you know the details: Win Thursday night in Chicago, or the Wild’s 2012-13 campaign is over.
The team is 7-3 all-time in elimination games. It has twice rallied from 3-1 deficits in history.
But the Blackhawks are the Blackhawks and clearly are not going to watch to come back to Minnesota for a Game 6.
Here is captain Jonathan Toews, who was quoted by Mark Lazerus in a Chicago Sun-Times blog today: "I think we'll learn from Game 3 [because] we had the chance to really take control of the series. We knew exactly what to expect from their team, that the first game in their building was going to be a really good one for them. And to be able to throw that effort back in their face would have been huge for us, showing them that even their best might not be good enough -- and we didn't do that at all. This is a chance to kind of redeem ourselves for the way we played in Game 3. Everyone's saying we haven't played our best game yet in this series. We've got to get as close to that as we can."
Wild coach Mike Yeo wouldn’t divulge the starting goalie (if he knows). All three – Nik Backstrom (whom I think starts), Josh Harding and Darcy Kuemper are on the trip.
“We like to keep the other team guessing,” Yeo said, jokingly. “So we’re not only going to not tell them who our starting goalie is, we won’t tell them who our backup goalie is. Really leave them in the dark.”
Yeo said Mike Rupp is on the trip, but Zenon Konopka and Clayton Stoner are not.
He wouldn’t discuss potential lineup or line changes, potential power-play personnel or tactical changes. He again said it’s up to the coaches to provide the proper adjustments to make the players succeed.
Veteran Matt Cullen said it’s important for players not to get overwhelmed by the task at hand. If that happens, it’ll infiltrate Thursday’s must-win game.
“You have to narrow your focus,” Cullen said. “We have to focus on our power play, we’ve got to focus on getting our energy level back to where it was a couple games ago. And I think that we see that when we do that we can win and be very successful. So for us, we’ve just got focus on the small things that you need to do and the rest will take care of itself.”
He said of the veterans: “It’s all about leading by example and if we can go out and play the way that we can, we’ll be fine.”
We’ll see what happens Thursday. I don’t see it ending in the Wild’s favor. Frankly, it’s been a weird series.
It’s been one of the more well-mannered, blasé playoff series imaginable.
Other than a few customary skirmishes, there’s been little anger or malice, at least compared to the others around the league.
There’s been no trash talking off the ice, no dueling press conference smack taking, no public gamesmanship, like complaining about diving or dirty plays. The most controversy in the series has been both teams faintly accusing the other of cheating on faceoff.
There’s been nothing but … respect.
Here’s Zach Parise after the Game 4 loss: “There’s a reason why they were on top of the league all year and why they went 20-some games without a loss. They’re a very good team. We have to play a great game to beat them.”
Here’s Patrick Sharp heading into Thursday’s Game 5: “We expect Minnesota to come in and play their best game of the series here in Game 5. They’re a well-coached team, they’ve got some hard-working players over there. They’ve got a lot of character. So they’re going through a few injuries like everyone does this time of year, but no question they’re going to show up and play hard.”
So sweet. I have to get to my gate. I may freshen this up from the air. If not, the pregame skates are 11 and noon Thursday. Talk to you after.
Wild vs. Blackhawks blog: Pominville returns to practice; PHWA voting process
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: May 6, 2013 - 5:25 PMWith the Wild hoping to even its series with the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 4 Tuesday (8:30 p.m.), injured Jason Pominville took part in this morning’s optional practice. He was unavailable to the media and coach Mike Yeo was vague about his availability for Game 4 – partly because it’s the playoffs and probably because he doesn’t know.
After all, Yeo thought Pominville was ready before Game 1. But the winger woke up in Chicago not feeling right following a strenuous practice the day before and hasn’t played in the three games since.
My guess is he’s not ready yet. Stranger things have happened in the playoffs, but besides the fact that you don’t want to rush the vet back in if he’s hurt, today was only his second practice (and an optional one at that) since the April 23 injury, so who knows where he is fitness wise?
“Today was encouraging,” Yeo said. “I’m not saying that he’s a possibility for tomorrow. I’m not saying that he isn’t. For me, I’m just glad he was on the ice today and we’ll just see what the plan is going forward.”
Afternoon from the bowels of the X, where I've got a ton of writing in front of me. But here is a 2,000-word blog for your review. I will also host a live chat on startribune.com Tuesday at 3 p.m. CT. Be there or be square.
Today’s optional included, for the start of the skate, Sunday heroes Matt Cullen and Jason Zucker, and for all of the skate Pominville, Justin Falk, Jake Dowell, Matt Dumba, Nate Prosser, Marco Scandella, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Carson McMillan, Mikael Granlund, Stephane Veilleux and goalies Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper.
McMillan was called up today because there is a chance he could play Game 4. Dumba was called up because he basically had nothing to gather in Houston. The rest of the Houston vets returned there to pack up their lives.
On Tuesday, a handful more Houston players will likely be recalled, including everybody’s favorite UMD Bulldog, Justin Fontaine. The Wild, like all playoff teams, will have a lot of young guys around for the remainder of the playoffs. That doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily play, but they’ll be here to practice and get a taste of the NHL life. That includes everybody's favorite UMD Bulldog. Fontaine is a long way off from being put into his first NHL game.
My guess is either McMillan or Dowell play Game in place of Mike Rupp. Zenon Konopka didn’t play Game 3. Rupp played four shifts. Normally, you’d be on the ice for an optional if that were the case. Neither was today, meaning Konopka’s foot is an issue and Rupp’s knee.
“Might need some rest,” Yeo said, lying through his grinning teeth.
When I noted Rupp played four shifts, Yeo quipped, “They were hard shifts.”
Yeo said Rupp and Konopka might play. Or, might not.
Stephane Veilleux should earn a second straight game on the fourth line. Played a little under eight minutes, three hits – two on his first shift on menace (and I say that with respect because he’s been great) Johnny Oduya.
“We knew there would be energy in the building and we knew that he would contribute to that too,” Yeo said humorously of Veilleux. “Against a team like this, his skating ability was a big factor of why we chose him. He’s able to get in on the forecheck and he’s able to arrive and apply the pressure.”
Veilleux joked to me that he didn’t need to drink any Red Bull during the game. Said Yeo, “He’s pretty naturally wired. He does have experience. It’s not like we’re calling up a young kid that’s full of energy. He knows how to bring that energy without going over the line, too.”
The big message of the day from the Wild is it’s accomplished nothing so far.
It played in well in Game 3. It won. It’s still trailing in the series.
The Wild expects the Blackhawks to ramp it up, especially physically, and come with a shoot-from-everywhere mentality in Game. 4. The Wild needs to up its level, too.
“That’s the goal, that’s kind of what we’ve been striving for right from Game 1,” Yeo said. “That’s what we said with the playoffs -- you have to elevate your game. Looking at the video, there’s still some areas that we think we could be a little bit better. But at the very least, we have to be ready to bring a lot of the same things that we did last game. Part of the challenge for us next game will be to brace against their pushback. We know that they’re going to come hard and I’m anxious to see how we respond to that.”
There will be a heckuva lot more in the paper. One thing I plan to write about is Jonas Brodin not being named a finalist for the Calder.
As you can imagine, Brodin was humble today, seemed to care less and is just ready to keep logging big minutes to help this team win in the playoffs.
Yeo said, “I’m disappointed. And congratulations to the other players (Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher, Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau and Chicago's Brandon Saad). They’re great players. And I mean this with the greatest respect to them, but I’ve coached this guy all year and we’re here battling in the playoffs and it’s hard to say that we would be if he’s not on our team. This kid is a very, very good hockey player. So it’s disappointing for me.”
Basically, and real quick because I have a ton of writing to do for Tuesday’s paper, but members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association – I’m chapter chairman of the Twin Cities chapter and Vice President of the Northwest Division – votes on the Hart, Norris, Calder, Lady Byng, Selke and Masterton Trophies, in addition to All-Star (First- and Second-teams) and All-Rookie Teams.
Votes have to be submitted to an accounting firm in New York just prior to the first playoff game.
I talked with Kevin Allen of the USA Today this morning about the voting process this year. He is President of the PHWA (@ThePHWA on Twitter).
First, a little history. Ten years ago when Allen took over, there were three votes per chapter. In order to shrink the margin of error (that one or two bad ballots could ruin everything), Allen worked to vastly increase the number of eligible voters.
Slowly, but surely, and in order to try to get a level of geographic balance, there wound up being about 68 votes in the West and 68 votes in the East, including what Allen called at-large votes (national writers that see everybody).
Today, the PHWA relies on recommendations from the Chapter Chairperson. To vote, you have to be a member. This year, there were 178 voters – the most in our history (every member doesn’t get a vote).
The breakdown of eligible voters this year, according to Allen, were 46.4 percent from Eastern cities, 32.8 percent from Western cities and 20.8 percent from international chapter members who cover no specific teams.
Allen doesn’t buy into the Eastern bias theory, saying, “Quality voter is a quality voter regardless of where he’s located. If you look at the way things have turned out historically, there’s no evidence ever to suggest there’s been geographic imbalance.
“I have great faith in our ability as an association to vote for what we think are the right people. This isn’t like the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s. This is the day of the Internet and the availability of NHL Network. I just can’t believe things happen in the NHL without our members knowing about it. I think our votes knew who he was and what he was about.”
“This year, Rookie of the Year was a little difficult. In my mind, our group didn’t pick the guys I thought would be finalists. That doesn’t mean we’re wrong. It just means people didn’t think the same way I did.”
Allen provided some examples to show there’s not an Eastern bias. Allen noted that in 2010, Duncan Keith won over Eastern golden boy Mike Green when there weren’t even 60 eligible Western voters. Last year, Shea Weber came within a whisker of winning the Norris. He was on 146 ballots (more than Erik Karlsson). Last year in the Calder, Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado) and Ryan-Nugent Hopkins (Edmonton) went 1-2.
One thing I personally think is flawed about our voting system is the imbalance among chapters. I don’t know how to fix it unless you go back to the same amount of votes per chapter, but for instance, Phoenix chapter has 1 person who votes, Nashville 2, Minnesota 7, Montreal 12.
Obviously, in a case like this year, you’ve got to see Brodin to really appreciate how good he is and how impactful he was to the Wild. And this year, there were significantly less Western voters.
I also think this was a very difficult year for members to vote. West writers only covered games vs. West, East voters only vote for East. There were 48 games in 99 days, so there weren’t a lot of off-days to watch other games between teams we don’t cover on television. Also, the large chunk of our voting members are not traveling beat writers.
So to me, it’s incumbent on writers to take voting seriously and do their homework. I didn’t have a good sense of many of the Eastern players this year because of what I wrote above. So I talked to scouts, a few GM’s and lots of Eastern writers for their thoughts on players.
Similarly, I received emails and a few calls from Eastern writers about what’s going on this West.
Personally, I’m not convinced every writer does the same thing.
As for Brodin not being a finalist, I look forward to seeing the final tabulations. I still believe a lot of members are very point-centric when it comes to voting. In other words, they scan the stat sheets and vote. If you do that, Brodin’s not going to jump at you. To disprove that, folks have noted Nail Yakupov to me. He wasn’t a finalist despite leading rookies in points. Of course, he went on a tear the last few days of the season and by then a lot of voters cast their ballots. That’s why I never vote until after the regular season is over. I want to see who makes the playoffs, how players performed through an entire 82-game season (or 48-game season this year).
So I’d be very interested to see how many ballots Brodin didn’t even appear on. And if that’s the case, then that’s disappointing.
I can tell you, the Wild’s real disappointed in Brodin not being a finalist, and frankly, this could have cost the team bonus money for him. Now, they are worried Ryan Suter will even be a finalist. We’ll find that out Tuesday.
Allen did plan to reach out to GM Chuck Fletcher today to discuss the PHWA’s voting process.
As for Blackhawks news, no Dave Bolland or Ray Emery for Game 4. Agitating, hard-hitting forward Dan Carcillo has been scratched for three straight games. It wouldn't shock me if he played as a response to the Wild outhitting Chicago last game.
Coach Joel Quenneville said he might play. And, he might not.
Quenneville and Yeo are speaking from the same coach’s handbook.
From Rachel Blount:
Here is Coach Q on Calder Finalist Saad: "He’s had a real nice year for us. He’s come into the NHL maybe under the radar when he started the season, but the appreciation for what he contributed to our team game from start to finish was very strong. I think that line, his consistency, absorbing more responsibility as the season went on, being on special teams, getting quite a few minutes, the confidence that we used him was based on how well he played and how consistent he played. His strength and his size and his anticipation on both sides of the puck are going to make him a nice player going forward. But a real good start to his career."
The Blackhawks were careful to say Monday that they do not need to respond to the Wild's effort in Game 3 as much as they simply need to take care of their own business. While they stressed the need to be more physical, they also said that has to happen within the context of their style.
Chicago winger Patrick Kane warned that too much emphasis on hits could knock the Blackhawks off their usual game. If they stick with the speedy, skilled style that won them the President's Trophy and augment it with enough muscle to fight back, he said, they will be right where they need to be.
"You want to be physical, you want to ramp up the intensity and bring a little bit more to playoff hockey,'' said Kane, whose five assists put him in a three-way tie for fourth place in the NHL's postseason scoring race. "But sometimes if you're worried about bringing too much intensity and physicality, you're not worried about doing the things we did to score a lot of goals this year--which we did. We need to just try to get back to the way the Blackhawks play hockey.
"We want to play fast. Teams can try to be physical against us, but when we're playing fast and moving, it's tough to catch us. ... When we're playing well, we have a lot of players rolling. It's a shift after shift continuance where teams are struggling to contain us. Usually, when you bring that heat for a full 60 minutes, teams are going to struggle with that.''
Coach Joel Quenneville reminded his team that it showed flashes of that Sunday. It just didn't sustain it, so that will be the goal Tuesday. He does want to see a little more edge to his players as well. He used words such as passion, emotion, urgency and directness to describe what he wants from them Tuesday and said he does not think Chicago has "given (the Wild) our best.''
"I think we'll see a very intense team,'' he said of what he expects from the Blackhawks in Game 4. "I think when you watch other playoff series, you can see the animosity, the hatred, the battles. That's playoff hockey. That's the level we've got to get to, and we'll go from there.''
Chicago winger Patrick Kane warned that too much emphasis on hits could knock the Blackhawks off their usual game. If they stick with the speedy, skilled style that won them the President's Trophy and augment it with enough muscle to fight back, he said, they will be right where they need to be.
"You want to be physical, you want to ramp up the intensity and bring a little bit more to playoff hockey,'' said Kane, whose five assists put him in a three-way tie for fourth place in the NHL's postseason scoring race. "But sometimes if you're worried about bringing too much intensity and physicality, you're not worried about doing the things we did to score a lot of goals this year--which we did. We need to just try to get back to the way the Blackhawks play hockey.
"We want to play fast. Teams can try to be physical against us, but when we're playing fast and moving, it's tough to catch us. ... When we're playing well, we have a lot of players rolling. It's a shift after shift continuance where teams are struggling to contain us. Usually, when you bring that heat for a full 60 minutes, teams are going to struggle with that.''
Coach Joel Quenneville reminded his team that it showed flashes of that Sunday. It just didn't sustain it, so that will be the goal Tuesday. He does want to see a little more edge to his players as well. He used words such as passion, emotion, urgency and directness to describe what he wants from them Tuesday and said he does not think Chicago has "given (the Wild) our best.''
"I think we'll see a very intense team,'' he said of what he expects from the Blackhawks in Game 4. "I think when you watch other playoff series, you can see the animosity, the hatred, the battles. That's playoff hockey. That's the level we've got to get to, and we'll go from there.''
PREGAME PARTY
The Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL) announced plans for a pre-game party from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, prior to the team’s 8:30 p.m. faceoff against Chicago in Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. The party will take place along the sidewalk between Gates 1 and 3 of Xcel Energy Center.
“Minnesota is the State of Hockey, and Saint Paul proudly serves as its capitol as we celebrate the return of Stanley Cup Playoff hockey and an invigorating Wild win on Sunday,” Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said. “With the later start of Tuesday 's game, we encourage fans to come and be a part of the playoff atmosphere. Festivities will include the Wild pre-game events at Xcel Energy Center as well as all the activity at the other downtown establishments.”
The party will include live music by Five Man Advantage, food and drink, including a beer garden, a Hockey Lodge tent with new playoff merchandise, along with a Beard-A-Thon tent. Fans can register to win one of two pair of tickets to Game 4 at the Beard-A-Thon tent. In addition, KFAN 100.3 FM will broadcast live from 3-8 p.m.
The Wild encourages all fans to get downtown early and visit the pre-game party and other downtown St. Paul establishments. Xcel Energy Center gates will open at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Game 4 will be broadcast on FOX Sports North locally, and NBC Sports Network nationally, in addition to CBC throughout Canada.
Pominville practicing for the Wild; Dumba, McMillan recalled
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: May 6, 2013 - 11:30 AMWild right wing Jason Pominville, who missed the first three games of the postseason and final two games of the regular season, has just taken the ice for today's optional practice.
Don't get your hopes up yet that he is returning for Game 4.
1) He has practiced once since being injured April 23.
2) Even though he looked great in practice, he woke up on the morning of Game 1 and didn't feel right.
In other news, the Wild has recalled forward Carson McMillan and defenseman Matt Dumba from AHL Houston and are practicing today. They join Stephane Veilleux, Mikael Granlund and Jake Dowell, who were recalled yesterday. Again, this doesn't mean they're in the lineup. It means Houston's been eliminated and the Wild can start having so-called "Black Aces" around.
The Blackhawks have eight. That's how Mike Rupp's career began 10 years ago, incidentally. Got in for Jersey and wound up scoring the Cup-clinching goal against Chuck Fletcher's Ducks.
Also, the time of Thursday's Game 5 will be set tomorrow by the NHL.
Wild excited about first home playoff game in 5 years; Veilleux on way?
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: May 4, 2013 - 5:30 PMWith his team fresh off a 5-2 beating in Chicago and down 2-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarters, Wild coach Mike Yeo kept things status quo in practice today.
I’d still be surprised if things are completely status quo in Game 3.
Whether that means fiddling with line combinations (splitting Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu for the first time this year?) or calling up reinforcements from its minor-league affiliate, we will have to see.
The Houston Aeros do play a deciding Game 5 tonight in Grand Rapids. Perhaps a couple players rush up here from Michigan on Sunday morning (a Mikael Granlund or a Justin Fontaine maybe?) or maybe tonight (Stephane Veilleux?).
Veilleux makes sense. Mike Rupp just looks to be immobilized by his banged-up knee and the Wild could use more speed and banging. I thought Zenon Konopka played a real good Game 1, but maybe the Wild looks to change up a few of the fourth-line forwards. We shall see. Torrey Mitchell can move to center if Veilleux slotted in and Rupp did play.
Of course, the Wild has recalled Veilleux twice in recent weeks and didn't play him either time.
On line changes, Yeo today simply said “maybe.”
After last night’s game, Yeo said he already had a good idea of changes he wanted to make. He said he was more talking about the Wild’s game and adjustments he wanted to make. But obviously, in the playoffs, he couldn’t want to tip his hand to the Chicago Blackhawks, so he admitted he wanted to be intentionally vague today.
“The bottom line is we have identified some things and we’ve discussed them and we’ve worked on some things and we’re just real excited to come back and play again [Sunday].”
Niklas Backstrom practiced today, along with Josh Harding and Darcy Kuemper. Yeo joked that he would decide the goalie “some time before the game.” I quoted Backstrom in Saturday’s paper, but he didn’t sound like a guy that’s able to immediately jump back into the crease yet though.
Jason Pominville, who has practiced once in two weeks and we know that didn’t go well, didn’t practice today, nor did Clayton Stoner.
On the loss of Pominville, Yeo said, “I wish we had him in the lineup for sure. He’s a good player for us -- especially his experience, his leadership -- but we’ve got enough in the lineup.”
Sunday at 2 p.m. (NBC exclusive on TV, KFAN on radio and Fox Sports North on the postgame show) is the first home playoff game in five years. The Wild finished the year 1-5-1 in its past seven at home and last time it was in this arena was the 6-1 whipping against Edmonton – the one that forced Minnesota to have to win in Denver to make the playoffs and the one that cost Minnesota the opportunity to face Vancouver, down 2-0 to San Jose, in the first round instead of Chicago.
Will the fans be excited or equally ready to jump on the Wild at first sign of trouble?
“I think this place is going to be rocking [Sunday] and we’re excited for that,” Yeo said. “We wish that it was a different scenario, instead of coming back down 2-0. But the reality is we’re going into tomorrow’s game with the opportunity to play a first home game in five years and we should be excited about that. Just because we’re down 2-0, it doesn’t mean that this series is over. I myself have been a part of series where we’ve come back from being down 2-0 (both in the minors and twice in Pittsburgh when the Pens won the Cup in 2009) and I know there are other people [in the locker room] that have as well. But certainly the importance of [Sunday’s] game probably doesn’t need to be discussed a whole lot.”
(Editor’s note: Pens had a few more gamebreakers than the Wild).
I asked Yeo if he would consider splitting Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise (no goals): “We’ll consider everything. If we think that that’s what we need, then that’s something that we would be willing to do for sure. Again, we’re coming home. It’s a little bit of a different situation now. The first game was a good game, so I think because we played one game that wasn’t good, I don’t think we need to reinvent the wheel here either.”
At home, Yeo will get last change, which means if he wants to avoid the Parise-Koivu head-to-head match vs. Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews, he would have an easier ability to do so. But Yeo noted that in Game 2, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville wasn’t overly concerned with matchups and he threw out a number of lines against Parise and Koivu.
Parise pointed out to me that Hossa and Toews and Brandon Saad haven’t scored 5-on-5 either. If it’s because the Wild’s top line is doing a good job neutralizing them, the danger of avoiding that matchup then becomes that maybe Hossa and Toews light up the Wild.
This is why playing Chicago is so problematic. The Hawks have tons of weapons. The Wild does not.
On the potential of splitting Koivu and Parise, Parise said, “Two ways you can look at it. I think we’ve gotten some good opportunities. We haven’t given one up to Toews’ line either 5-on-5. Unfortunately they’re the ones that are up 2-nothing. So you look at our line and we haven’t scored yet. On the flip side the line we’re playing against haven’t scored either. But that’s obviously not good enough. So we’ve got to find a way. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against, we’ve got to find a way to get some offense. I think we’re playing good away from the puck in limiting their chances when we are out against Toews’ line, but we have to do a better job protecting the puck and getting some zone time and capitalizing. We have to capitalize on our chances.”
Parise said, “There’s always a way [to beat a better team]. I think this game right now is about taking advantage of weaknesses and I think we have to do a better job of exploiting some different things that they do and that they do well, we have to do some things to counter them. And I don’t think we did a good enough job of that from game 1 to game 2.”
For instance, in Game 1, the Wild did a great job gapping up at the blue line and continually poke-checking pucks and breaking up entries by Chicago. The Hawks seemed to adjust with stretch passes last night to get pucks behind the Wild D.
“Yeah, I did notice that,” Parise said. “I did notice that they started to do that a little more and they were able to hop behind our D. I think that’s something that we’ll have to at least be aware of.”
That’s it for now. I will talk to you Sunday – or I will update the blog tonight if I become aware of possible callups.
Wild injury updates from practice
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: May 2, 2013 - 1:45 PMGoaltender Niklas Backstrom, right wing Jason Pominville and defenseman Clayton Stoner all missed practice today for the Wild.
Coach Mike Yeo said all are day-to-day. Pominville definitely won't play in Game 2. While Yeo said Backstrom and Stoner will travel to Chicago with the team, we obviously saw what Backstrom looked like when he left the ice during warmups in Game 1 and Stoner only played eight minutes the other night -- two shifts in the first period after getting hit hard by Chicago's Andrew Shaw.
So I'd suspect Josh Harding starts in goal and Stoner is doubtful to say the least.
Justin Falk took Stoner's spot on the Tom Gilbert pair. Only change to the power-play units is Charlie Coyle replaces Tom Gilbert on the No. 2 unit and Pierre-Marc Bouchard plays the point.
INNESOTA WILD ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR PRE-GAME PARTY
THIS SUNDAY, MAY 5 BEFORE GAME 3
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL) announced plans for a pre-game party between 12-1:30 p.m. Sunday, prior to the team’s 2 p.m. faceoff against Chicago in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. The party will take place along the sidewalk between Gates 1 and 3 of Xcel Energy Center.
The party will include live music, food and drink, including a beer garden, an appearance by the FOX Sports North Girls, as well as face painting and a Hockey Lodge tent with new playoff merchandise. Fans can meet former Wild Captain Wes Walz and find out about the Minnesota Wild Hockey School summer camp. There will also be autographs from former Minnesota North Stars Don Beaupre, Jack Carlson, Brad Maxwell and Tim Young. In addition, KFAN 100.3 FM will broadcast live from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
The Wild encourage all fans who will be attending the home games to download the official Wild app for iPhone and Android to be a part of the special in-arena pre-game show. To download the app, search for ‘MN Wild NHL’ in the App Store or the Google Play Store.
The Wild will face the Blackhawks on Sunday at 2 p.m. in a nationally televised game on NBC. Game 2 is Friday night in Chicago at 8:30 p.m. on FS North (locally) and NBC Sports Network (nationally).
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