On one of those pleasant (and seemingly rare) nights in which the Wild and Timberwolves were both at home, and both won their games, we were reminded that the heart-and-soul players on both teams have a certain amount of admirable grit. For the Wild, Ryan Suter logged nearly 35 minutes of ice time after Marco Scandella left the 2-1 victory over Tampa Bay with an injury. It was nothing new for Suter ,who dominates the NHL leader board in ice time, but he even went above and beyond his typical game of around 30 minutes. Zach Parise didn't score in the game, but he's coming off a week in which he was the NHL's First Star. It's safe to say he's back to being the player he was before he attempted to play on a broken foot.
For the Wolves, Kevin Love was knocked every which way in a 109-99 victory over the Lakers. It continued a recent trend for Love, who has fought through numerous bumps and twists in recent games to help carry Minnesota through a stretch without Nikola Pekovic.
This is what we primarily expect from our superstars, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be acknowledged.
