When?LGH
Focus turns to The OC:Chicago Tribune
Who Wins:Sportsnet
This is the epitome of tough luck:TSN
Nate, I dig your numbers but the headline….:538
Can’t Wait:Grantland
I never travel far without a little big star:ESPN
Everybody wants to be special here:HockeeNight
Your hand, your answer:LGH
Lights that flash in the evening:Chicago Tribune
There wasn’t a damn thing I could do or say:SBNation
Jesus rides beside me, but he never buys any smokes:DP
…Sorry Killion, I couldn’t resist following your lead.
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Game Time: 8:30PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, SportsNet (Anglo), TVA2 (Franco), WGN-AM 720
Blood Makes The Blade Holy: Hockey Wilderness
Mark it 2-9 in road Game 3’s now. On Tuesday night the Hawks won their first road game three since 2010 in the second round against Vancouver, and even in that series it was to take a 2-1 series lead. And now for the first time in the Renaissance Era the Hawks have the opportunity to end a series unblemished on opposition ice.
Seven straight Game 3 losses on the road, huh? Maybe the Hawks pulled this one out just because they were sick of that stat. Or maybe they pulled it out because they basically gave the Wild the Million Dollar Dream for the first 40 minutes, and then Crawford proved why he’s still the best goalie in this series for the 3rd (although he didn’t have to make that many highlight reel saves). Or maybe because Hjalmarsson. Oduya, Keith, and Seabrook were at or near their best. Or maybe all of the above. Still, this series kind of feels like the Hawks listened to all the chatter about how the Wild really meant business this time, and said, “Oh? Watch this.” And now they’ve got Minnesota’s nuts in a vice.
This one will go down in the end as a goalie win, but you don’t get through a deep run in the spring without a couple of those. The encouraging thing is that Crawford was aggressive, not getting too deep in his net and standing tall among the scrambles that took place in the 2nd and 3rd. He could have gotten caught a couple times early when he again dropped down too early and lost his net, but as the game went on that happened less and less, the prime examples being coming out to meet Granlund on his breakaway and stopping the Finn again late in the 3rd on a high rising shot. Also helped that Pominville once again lost his radar on where the net it. Most of all, Crow’s rebound control was superb, and that’s where the Wild really profit. Not so tonight.
Let’s go through the rest:
at
Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, CBC (Anglo), TVA (Franco), WGN-AM 720
Raspberry Beret: Hockey Wilderness
With the series now shifting back to the Twin Cities for games 3 and 4, the expectation is that the momentum will naturally shift back to the Wild, given the Hawks’ abysmal record in game 3’s on the road under Joel Quenneville. The only victory in 10 tries has been Game 3 in 2010 in Vancouver, but that doesn’t mean that anything is a foregone conclusion tonight.
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Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, CBC, Sportsnet360, TVA2 (Franco), WGN-AM 720
Twin/Tone Records: Hockey Wilderness
While it took a little bit of a roundabout way of getting there, the result in game one on Friday was the same as it has been for now three years and counting for the Hawks and Wild. And if this is going to be a series, the Wild are going to need to empty the tank this evening in hopes of returning to the Twin Cities with a split.
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Game Time: 8:30PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, SportsNet (Anglo), TVA3 (Franco), WGN-AM 720
Mall of America: Hockey Wilderness
And so it was fated to be, for the third year in a row, and the second in the West semifinals, that the Hawks and Wild would meet. And for the first time out of those three, there is a feeling across the hockey community that the Wild will be more than just a foil or a speedbump for the Hawks.
Time to clean up the rest of this preview, with a brief glance at the special teams and then try and guess how it’s all going to go.
On the power play, the Wild have for years been terrible. That changed in the first round, and you can mostly pin that on the presence of Matt Dumba. The Wild went 4-for-12 in the series against St. Louis, which isn’t a lot of chances in a six-game series but certainly is enough power play goals. Dumba had one, and set up one or two more with the cannon he has from the point. It gives them a second point-man with a big shot, with the other being Jason Pominville, who they don’t always use on the point. With Neiderreiter, Vanek, Parise, and Koivu all bodies that can make plays around the net, and the problems the Hawks had with the Predators down low on the power play, this could become an issue.
