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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.
Also find Russo on Facebook.
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Wild's Mike Yeo wants more hatred, physicality today against the Blackhawks
Posted by: Michael Russo under Stanley Cup, Wild news, Wild pregame skate Updated: May 5, 2013 - 12:10 PM
Josh Harding will start for the Wild in Game 3 against the Chicago Blackhawks at 2 p.m. (NBC, KFAN) at the X.
I am hearing Stephane Veilleux will play for the Wild in place of Zenon Konopka. Originally, I heard Mike Rupp would be out for Jake Dowell, but that doesn’t appear to be the case now. Coach Mike Yeo didn’t want to discuss the lineup.
I’ll update blog if anything changes in warmups.
Yeo expects a good, intense game: “Both teams understand the importance of this game. Clearly we’re going to be a desperate team today. This is a very significant game for us.”
On why the lack of hate and hostility in this series compared to others, Yeo said, “We have a lot of guys that they’re getting their first taste of playoff hockey and some guys that haven’t been a part of it for awhile. There’s no question that I really believe that to be successful, there has to be a level of hatred for the team that you’re playing against. It shouldn’t be hard for us. They’re trying to take away something from us.”
On what he would want a guy like Veilleux to bring and the fourth line to bring, Yeo pointed out that No. 1 he doesn’t want the fourth line to be scored upon. That’s happened twice in Games 1 and 2, including the overtime winner in Game 1.
“One thing in particular that we haven’t done very well is be physical on key guys, and especially on their defensemen,” Yeo said. “You look back at the game and we have opportunities to finish checks on a guy like [Duncan] Keith and we’re not taking those opportunities. We have to understand it’s more than just that play. It’s about investing in the series and making sure that every time they’re going to touch a puck that they know that you’re coming.”
New fourth line for the Wild today
Posted by: Michael Russo under Stanley Cup, Wild news, Wild pregame skate Updated: May 5, 2013 - 11:42 AMWe will get Mike Yeo in 15 minutes, but I am hearing the Wild will have a new fourth line this afternoon.
Zenon Konopka won't play and Stephane Veilleux will be inserted. The goal is clearly speed, energy and big hits.
Veilleux, called up twice in the past few weeks but scratched in both games, has played 460 regular-season games in the NHL and 11 playoff games for the Wild.
More after we talk to Yeo
Wild recalls three from Houston; lineup changes coming?
Posted by: Michael Russo under Stanley Cup, Wild pregame skate Updated: May 5, 2013 - 8:41 AMSadly, the Houston Aeros' season and their existence came to a painful end last night in Grand Rapids as the Griffins beat them 7-0.
The Aeros relocate to Des Moines, Iowa, next year. You've got to feel for their fans and those that work around the team and cover the team. For some coverage, see the great Heather Galindo's 
Twitter account at @hockeygalindo and @3rdIntermission.
Aeros play-by-play man Joe O'Donnell (@aero_joe) tweeted after the game: Aeros fall 7-0...the season is over, and depressingly, the franchise is as well... #thankyoufans #thankyouAeros AND That was, without question, one of the hardest things I've ever done in 8 years as a broadcaster.......
With the Aeros eliminated, the Wild can technically recall the entire team (current NHL contracts) to Minnesota if it so chooses.
As of now, most players are heading back to Houston to pack up, but I am hearing that three players have arrived or on their way to Minnesota.
Stephane Veilleux arrived last night and Mikael Granlund and Jake Dowell are on their way here now.
So I'd anticipate we may have some lineup changes today. No, before you email and tweet me incessantly, Justin Fontaine was not one of those brought up for some reason.
As of now, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is available at noon, but he said yesterday that Dave Bolland and Ray Emery are out.
As of now, there is no pregame access to Mike Yeo. I will let you know if that changes, but you may need to wait until warmups for the lineup.
I will post another blog with the lineup before the game. Enjoy the first home playoff game in five years today folks.
We have a ton of coverage for you in today's Star Tribune and on startribune.com/wild, but here is a fun read from Chip Scoggins on the 2003 team that rode to the Western Conference Finals.
Remember, the Wild will host a pregame party from 12-1:30 p.m. along the sidewalk between Gates 1 and 3 of Xcel Energy Center.
The party will include live music, food and drinks. Fans can meet former Wild center Wes Walz and get autographs from former North Stars Don Beaupre, Jack Carlson, Brad Maxwell and Tim Young. KFAN will broadcast live from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Today's game is exclusively on NBC at 2 p.m. Fox Sports North plans an hourlong postgame show.
Wild excited about first home playoff game in 5 years; Veilleux on way?
Posted by: Michael Russo under Stanley Cup, Wild practice 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 outplayed from start to finish as Blackhawks take 2-0 series lead
Posted by: Michael Russo under Wild game coverage Updated: May 4, 2013 - 12:16 AMOther than a late push in the second period, the Wild was on its heels from start to finish tonight as the Chicago Blackhawks convincingly took a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
Teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series 86.7 percent (280-43) of the time in NHL history. The Blackhawks are 19-2 up 2-0 all-time.
Just no contest. It’s why the Game 1 loss was so big. The Wild put itself in position to steal one from the Blackhawks. It couldn’t get it done and the Blackhawks became the Blackhawks tonight.
They are bigger, faster and deeper than the Wild. If you turn pucks over or can’t make a pass or fail to capitalize, they’ll come at you in waves and eventually make you pay.
“There was clearly another level to their game tonight and I’d say that there’s at least another level to ours that was unfortunately in the wrong direction,” coach Mike Yeo said.
Michael Frolik and Patrick Sharp each scored twice. The first Sharp goal was the killer because it came after Devin Setoguchi trimmed the deficit to 2-1 with 2:03 left in the second period.
Read the gamer for all the details, but the Wild was outshot 48-28 – the 48 shots being the most Minnesota has ever given up in a playoff game – and Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise were not only shut out again, they were each minus-3.
Koivu had a terrible game. Two shots, three minors, the turnover that led to Frolik’s shorthanded goal when the Wild had a chance to tie at the start of the second, a shot blocked that ruined a power play, passes off the mark by several feet.
“I am going to have a tough time sitting up here saying that we’re real happy with anyone,” Yeo said when asked about Koivu’s play. “This is a team effort tonight, and unfortunately it wasn’t a very good one.”
Jim Souhan wrote about Koivu’s game, I believe.
The Wild again generated no sustained pressure in the offensive zone. They left Josh Harding (43 saves) out to dry. And the Blackhawks continually attacked because of turnovers, no puck support, etc.
“We weren’t playing with the pace that we needed to play,” Yeo said. “A large number of the things that we were doing helped them build the speed into their game. They were better tonight from Game 1 and we were worse.”
On what the Wild does now, besides casting this aside and relying on home-ice at the X, Yeo said, “We’re going to have to make a couple adjustments for sure. We’ll look at this and figure out what is it a matter of that we’re doing poorly and what is it a matter of what we need to do differently.
“I already have some pretty strong feelings on both.”
This was a mismatch from the outset. The Wild blew its opportunity to take Game 1. We’ll see where this goes from here, but it’s hard to see how the Wild will figure out a way to compete with the best team in the league in a real short series from here on out.
Early flight. Talk to you after Saturday’s practice/availability.
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