Sure looks like San Jose has our number this season. This Celebrini kid is going to be a problem for the Wild for years to come. I did like The Wall/Askarov matchup, looking forward to a nice rivalry between these 2 ‘tenders! Both are entertaining!
55 points in 41 games is pretty good. I’m happy with the 1st half of the season. Believe it or not, the Preds are in 4th place in the Central 15 pts. back with a couple of games in hand. Also, Winnipeg, last year’s President’s trophy winner, is in last place in the league! Yikes! The condensed schedule, I think, has hurt Winnipeg.Â
I thought our centers were a little exposed yesterday, as San Jose kept Celebrini away from Ek. That left Yurov to have to handle Celebrini, and I think he’s got some work to do still. I also thought our beefy line with Foligno-Sturm-Trenin was not fast enough to catch San Jose’s players to make that big of an impact. It was nice to see Foligno get off the 0 goals, maybe he’s saving his dozen for the 2nd half?
I am hoping that Hynes has a bunch of PP1 practices. Now is the time to redesign this PP to match the skill level we now have. What I’d like to see is much more movement and breaking down the schemes of the opponent’s PK. I’m not so sure we need to use the rimming method to get set up, in fact, we should probably have several different set ups, trying to make the opponent look like they’re in a fire drill. I’d also like to see a higher shot volume. These guys can move very fast now, we don’t need a methodical scheme.Â
The thing to watch going forward on this trip is do our centers match up? The Ducks will be another fine test for this. I still believe we are an RHS sniper away, but it might also include a 2nd line center too. No team is perfect right now, and only 3 teams seem to be pulling away….all in the Central. The way the Avs are playing, they may have clinched a playoff birth by the Olympics.Â
From a mental standpoint, I wonder how it feels to know in January that the likely candidate to face in the post season is Dallas? And, Dallas is strong down the middle.