Minnesota Wild

Wild Look to Take Advantage of Reeling Flyers
March 22, 2017, 11:58 PM ET [12 Comments]
Dan Wallace
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Wild Game Day number 73
Wild Record (44-22-6 94 pts)
Home Record (24-10-1)

Opponent: San Jose Sharks (33-31-8 72 pts)
Road Record (12-20-4)

Site: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN

Time: 7:30PM CT

TV: Fox Sports North (FSN)

Last Season Results:
1/7 Flyers 4 @ Wild 3 (OT)
2/25 Wild 2 @ Flyers 3

Last result:
11/12 Wild 2 @ Flyers 3

The Wild are back at it tonight on home ice versus a Philadelphia Flyers team that is playing out the string. They are fully capable of putting together a strong 60 minute effort as the proved last week when they went into Pittsburgh and thumped the Penguins 4-0. They then turned right around and got blitzed in New Jersey 6-2, so which Flyer team will show up tonight?

It really should not matter if the Wild play their game. They did that on Tuesday night when they beat the Sharks 3-2 in a game that saw them shut the Sharks down and really limit the chance and good looks at Devan Dubnyk.

The two Shark goals were of the fortunate nature, the first a shot that was headed wide and caromed in off of Marco Scandella, ad of course the second was the result of Dubnyk's own snafu, when he mishandled the puck behind the Wild net.

The Wild played well from the drop of the opening faceoff to the final buzzer and got back to the game plan that we had grown used to seeing for most of the last four months.

Along with the solid effort, was the return of the resiliency that had been missing the last few weeks. The fact that the Wild never panicked when the Sharks tied the game late in the 2nd, as Martin Hanzal scored his first goal in a Wild uniform just 33 seconds later. Charlie Coyle then delivered his 17th of the season 15 seconds after Hanzal's goal.

Chris Stewart again sparked the team when he dropped the gloves with the Shark's Michael Haley just over 2 minutes into the contest. Stewart is showing us just what kind of player he is, and how he can impact a game in many different ways.

I wrote a few times a year ago that Stewart's injury in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs, when Duncan Keith tripped him in the 2nd game of the Blackhawks series, played a significant role in why the Wild were swept that season. We are seeing the kind of player that he is and how he is a difference maker in many ways.

We have seen the Wild sag a bit in games against lesser opponents quite a number of times, but they can ill afford to experience any let down tonight.

The Blackhawks opened the door a bit with their OT loss on Tuesday, and now hold a 6 point lead over the Wild, with the Wild still having a game in hand.

It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!

Let's Play Hockey!