I'm sick as hell today, so this'll be a shorty.
The Minnesota Wild have been good so far. Really good. Inexplicably good, in fact. They've allowed just 10 goals against in 8 games. Only 4 of them have been at ES. the Toronto Maple Leafs seem to allow more than that each and every game they play.
Not to take anything away from Lemaire, the players or the goaltenders, but that pace is pretty much unsustainable. Trap and revelatory Swedes aside, there would have to be a goodly amount of breaks for and almost none against to allow only 10 goals in 8 games in the NHL.
When I saw that ridiculous GA number, I figured the Wild would be tops in most, if not all, defensive measures thus far. Not so. They're only mediocre at preventing shots against (although this says nothing about shot quality), suggesting at some point pucks are bound to start finding the back of the Minnesota net with a little more regularity. Whether that new trend begins tonight or not remains to be seen.
It may not matter if the Flames aren't significantly better than their last outing. Nothing about the defeat to the Sharks was notable beyond the fact that the team stunk at just about everything. Globally, Kipper is still pretty ordinary and the PK - like all of last year - is still struggling to reach even middling levels of efficacy. Iginla and crew were pretty bad against San Jose, but have been excellent overall, so I expect a return to form tonight. The Captain seems to play well against Minnesota for some reason, so those with him in your pools should be excited. Tanguay, on the other hand, has been a little off to start the season (Im not sure the point on the PP is the best place for him), but he's an elite player, so Im confident he'll turn it around (hopefully, because he's the guy I have in MY pools).
Anyways, expect a typical neutral-zone clogged snore-fest tonight. Let's go with a Flames 3-2 OT victory. Nolan and Iginla (2) for the Flames, Burns and Gaborik for the Wild (on the PP of course).
