In January I wrote that the Minnesota Wild were done. They were sitting in 12th in the west (with only the tanking Edmonton and Arizona propping them up), and that with all their talent and potential, pinning their hopes on a goalie that hadn’t won a playoff series ever — dating back to his junior hockey days — was reckless.
I was wrong.
Perhaps that’s a bit of an understatement.
I was REALLY wrong.
Once they got into the tournament, the Wild undoing the top-seeded team in the Central Division for the second straight year isn’t a surprise. They got the perfect matchup for their speedy style. St. Louis isn’t a plodding team, but their hard-checking style was simply a bad match for Minnesota’s speed. Look no further than Game 1, when Jason Zucker scored the first goal of the series. He blew past Zbynek Michalek at the left faceoff circle, fired a tight-angled shot that goalie Jake Allen kicked back to Zucker, who picked up the rebound and wrapped it around the unattended back-side of the goal in the blink of an eye. That should have been a good indication of what the Blues were facing.
St. Louis had their opportunities to really take control of this series, but ill-discipline late in Game 1 was costly, as was throwing away momentum in a 2-2 series at home in Game 5. Coming off an impressive 6-1 win in a hostile environment in Game 4 — when the Wild really could’ve taken a hold of this series and ended it early — St. Louis laid an egg in a 4-1 loss in Game 5.
So now, Minnesota gets its playoff nemesis: The Chicago Blackhawks. In a rivalry Minnesotans would have you believe goes back to the Norris Division (even though it really doesn’t because it’s not only a different franchise than the North Stars, it’s a franchise that still exists in Dallas), the Wild will face a far sterner test than they just did. But a much different task than the last two years of playoff heartbreak by the Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks depth has been an asset all season, with 10 double-digit goal scorers — including their top-9 forwards. And like any team that has had Scotty Bowman in the organization, it boasts a strong dedication to a team-defense concept. But for the first time in its playoff history, the Minnesota Wild will have an advantage in having an established, No.1-goalie between the pipes.
There are huge questions about who Joel Quenneville starts in goal. Corey Crawford got shelled in the first period of the series and sat on the bench as Scott Darling pitched two shutout periods and 27:45 of scoreless overtime play in a win. Crawford started game two and gave up six goals in the loss. Darling started Games 3 and 4 at home (both wins) but melted down in the third period of Game 5 and the first period of Game 6). Crawford relieved in the latter of the games and gave up no goals in 48-plus minutes in the series-clincher.
So can the Wild pull a second straight upset? The Wild are doing just fine once I declared them done, but the fun ride ends here. Chicago’s experience — no matter who plays in goal — matters here. Certainly Minnesota is closing the gap and they are a better team than the one that lost last year in Game 6 (and a much better one that lost two years ago in 5 games). Last year’s series had four home-ice blowouts in the first four games, before Chicago won a pair of 2-1 decisions to close it out. Chicago will in seven this year, but if anything, this series will show that the Blackhawks are running out of margin for error against Minnesota.
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