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Post by Bonecrusher on Mar 5, 2021 22:37:31 GMT -6
If you aren't into hockey I would suggest a watch of the Wild.
Kaprizov is what 19 or 20 and he's already a star. So much fun to watch.
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Post by Nick K on Mar 6, 2021 13:07:10 GMT -6
I thought Gaborik was good but Kirill is amazing on so many levels. I see Gretzky like moves sometimes from him. This new Wild team is so much fun to watch that I'm actually watching entire games. I used to watch the 1st period and most of the 3rd if the game was close. If we were down by a couple of goals I'd go watch basket weaving or something. The contributions from Zucarello, Greenway, Foligno, Ek, Fiala, Rask, all 4 lines step up. I've been starved for quality play from a MN team for so long that I'm kind of giddy about these guys. Billy Guerin is killing it. Funny thing is i don't even hear much from Parise and Suter these days. Who would have thunk it?
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Post by Bonecrusher on Mar 8, 2021 14:18:35 GMT -6
I thought Gaborik was good but Kirill is amazing on so many levels. I see Gretzky like moves sometimes from him. This new Wild team is so much fun to watch that I'm actually watching entire games. I used to watch the 1st period and most of the 3rd if the game was close. If we were down by a couple of goals I'd go watch basket weaving or something. The contributions from Zucarello, Greenway, Foligno, Ek, Fiala, Rask, all 4 lines step up. I've been starved for quality play from a MN team for so long that I'm kind of giddy about these guys. Billy Guerin is killing it. Funny thing is i don't even hear much from Parise and Suter these days. Who would have thunk it? Actually Parise was going to retire before this season started. Not sure what made him change his mind. And all 4 lines are really stout and playing very well. Tonight is Vegas again and hopefully on our ice we can beat them. I didn't watch the two games last week as the games are just to dang late in the day. Let's see what tonight holds for us.
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Post by Nick K on Mar 8, 2021 21:20:59 GMT -6
I thought Gaborik was good but Kirill is amazing on so many levels. I see Gretzky like moves sometimes from him. This new Wild team is so much fun to watch that I'm actually watching entire games. I used to watch the 1st period and most of the 3rd if the game was close. If we were down by a couple of goals I'd go watch basket weaving or something. The contributions from Zucarello, Greenway, Foligno, Ek, Fiala, Rask, all 4 lines step up. I've been starved for quality play from a MN team for so long that I'm kind of giddy about these guys. Billy Guerin is killing it. Funny thing is i don't even hear much from Parise and Suter these days. Who would have thunk it? Actually Parise was going to retire before this season started. Not sure what made him change his mind. And all 4 lines are really stout and playing very well. Tonight is Vegas again and hopefully on our ice we can beat them. I didn't watch the two games last week as the games are just to dang late in the day. Let's see what tonight holds for us. Wow! I didn't know that about Parise. That would help the Wild. Zach is clearly on the downside of his career. The magic seems to be missing.
We need to get the power play going. It's been the only sub par aspect so far.
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Post by Bonecrusher on Mar 9, 2021 15:05:57 GMT -6
Actually Parise was going to retire before this season started. Not sure what made him change his mind. And all 4 lines are really stout and playing very well. Tonight is Vegas again and hopefully on our ice we can beat them. I didn't watch the two games last week as the games are just to dang late in the day. Let's see what tonight holds for us. Wow! I didn't know that about Parise. That would help the Wild. Zach is clearly on the downside of his career. The magic seems to be missing. We need to get the power play going. It's been the only sub par aspect so far.
Long story shortened. A good friend who I worked with knew the Parise's very well. Babysat their kids or vice versa, I don't recall but good friends nonetheless. Parise when he got the lower back injury a couple of years ago was really really hurt and that was why he was ready to retire. You don't see him get down in front of the goal that often anymore. Either way I hope he does for his health. Suter could have left years ago as far as I'm concerned. Big time prick to everyone. Thinks he's some great player. He's not. Anyway nice to see them beat Vegas last night.
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Post by Nick K on Mar 9, 2021 16:59:18 GMT -6
Wow! I didn't know that about Parise. That would help the Wild. Zach is clearly on the downside of his career. The magic seems to be missing. We need to get the power play going. It's been the only sub par aspect so far.
Long story shortened. A good friend who I worked with knew the Parise's very well. Babysat their kids or vice versa, I don't recall but good friends nonetheless. Parise when he got the lower back injury a couple of years ago was really really hurt and that was why he was ready to retire. You don't see him get down in front of the goal that often anymore. Either way I hope he does for his health. Suter could have left years ago as far as I'm concerned. Big time prick to everyone. Thinks he's some great player. He's not. Anyway nice to see them beat Vegas last night. Right on Suter. He's an above average d-man and no more. 6-7 out of 10.
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Post by levine on Mar 10, 2021 13:55:51 GMT -6
We might just have a 2nd rookie star:
Rookie Kaapo Kahkonen is ‘boring’ in net, and that’s OK with Wild
By DANE MIZUTANI | dmizutani@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press PUBLISHED: March 9, 2021 at 1:14 p.m. | UPDATED: March 9, 2021 at 1:14 p.m.
As dominant as Wild goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen been between the pipes this season, nobody would know it by talking to him. At least he is self aware.
“I probably sound really boring on these interviews,” the 24-year-old rookie from Finland said with a smile. “It’s just the daily work, I believe, that matters and doing those little things right.”
It’s not so much that Kahkonen is cliche as it is that he’s extremely quiet. He doesn’t offer up much insight after games. It doesn’t where he’s coming off a shutout like he did in Monday’s 2-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, or if he just got lit up like he did in a blowout loss to the Colorado Avalanche earlier this season.
That quietness from Kahkonen is akin to that of fellow countryman and former Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom.
Most everyone remembers Backstrom from his days manning the crease for the Wild. He was very quiet off the ice, and in a lot of ways, very quiet on the ice, too
No situation ever looked too stressful for Backstrom. He was cool, calm and collected, and that seemed to rubbed off on the rest of his team.
That’s exactly how Kahkonen plays. Which maybe shouldn’t come as a surprise considering both guys hail from Finland.
“I’m not trying to focus on being calm or quiet,” Kahkonen said. “I’m trying to focus on being patient. I think that’s the key word there. I would probably put it that way.”
That style of play is something Wild coach Dean Evason said is hard to coach. Usually a player has it or he doesn’t.
“You can enhance the training of it, for sure, in today’s game,” Evason said. “My guess is he’s been like that his entire life.”
In addition to his calmness, Evason has continuously lauded Kahkonen for his compete level.
“He’s the type of person who doesn’t care about anything except getting in the net and competing,” Evason said. “There’s no stress. There’s not any type of maintenance. He just goes about his business.”
Kahkonen’s meteoric rise this season has put the Wild in an awkward spot.
Though presumed starter Cam Talbot, a eight-year NHL veteran in his first season with the Wild, has been playing pretty well as of late, it’s hard to justify taking Kahkonen out of the lineup right now. He has won seven straight starts — a franchise record for a rookie — and doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
It might be worth riding Kahkonen until the wheels fall off. Especially in an condensed 56-game season. After all, he is 10-4-0 in 14 games for a Wild team that is 14-8-1. He is a big reason the team is in the upper portion of the West division standings as it nears the halfway point of the season.
“Even last year when he came in (from the Iowa Wild), he played great for us,” captain Jared Spurgeon said. “Maybe a bit more confident this year knowing what’s going on. It helps that (he has) confidence playing the puck. He gets out there and stops it, and he can move it pretty quick as well, and hard. If we’re in trouble, he knows what to do with it.”
While some might mistake Kahkonen’s unflappable nature for boringness, he’s OK with that, and the Wild certainly are too if it’s going to yield these types of results.
“You want to look calm,” Kahkonen said. “Then my teammates see I’m doing (my) job and they can focus on their job. I think that’s what it’s all about. It’s good to hear it looks like that. That’s what I’m trying to do here.”
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Post by Bonecrusher on Mar 10, 2021 16:31:05 GMT -6
Another game tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. 2-0 win on Monday can we repeat that?
6:00 NBCSN
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Post by levine on Apr 20, 2021 8:59:16 GMT -6
Kaprizov broke Marian Gaborik's Wild rookie scoring record. Kaprizov reached his total in 27 fewer games than Gaborik.
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