FACEOFF: 2pm Central
TV/RADIO: NBC/WIND-560am
THOUGHT THEY WERE JAMES DEAN FOR A DAY: Hockey Wilderness
WHERE WE’LL BE, AND YOU SHOULD BE: Sheffield’s in Lakeview
A lot of people have asked or wondered aloud whether Game 1 was Minnesota’s best punch and if they’re now out of answers. I’ve always thought that we’ll see Minnehaha’s best punch today. This is the first playoff game at Excel Energy Center since well before this blog existed, and you know that crowd is going to baying for blood from the word go (assuming they can get out from the snow).
With that in mind, the more conservative approach we’ve seen from the Wild in this series, at least to start games, is probably not going to be in evidence in the opening frame this time. Expect the Wild to come out flying, getting the puck behind the Hawks defense and then trying to sacrifice those same d-men to Mayan gods against the end boards. It’s almost certainly going to be frantic and pressured. Cal Clutterbuck might spontaneously combust.
