Want to vote for some Minnesota Wild end-of-season awards?
⚠️ Hey #mnwild Fans! We need your help! ⚠️
This Thursday (May 6), we will be giving out our fan-voted #mnwild Player Awards for the 2021 season! But in order to have fan-voted awards, we need fans to vote!
Please take 2 minutes to fill out your ballot: https://t.co/DjtveewHPw pic.twitter.com/yCbXicVnE4
— Sound the Foghorn Pod 🚨 (@SoundTheFoghorn) May 1, 2021
Games this week:
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The last four home games of the regular season. The Wild have really dominated when at home (18-5-1, .771, +29 goal differential). The only question now is whether these games will matter.
With the win over St. Louis on Saturday, the Wild have guaranteed that they will finish no lower than 3rd in the division. Getting home ice in the playoffs would require the Wild to either...
- Pass Vegas (6 points back, two head to head games remaining) which means Minnesota has to win almost everything and get some help.
- Pass the Avalanche (2 points back, no head to head games, Colorado with a game in hand) which means Minnesota has to win almost everything and get some help.
The only way these remaining games matter is if the Wild knock out two regulation wins against Vegas. Anything else means the playoffs will start on the road.
Current Standings:
| Rank | Team | GP | Pts | Magic Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vegas | 53 | 77 | 5 (division) - 2 (R1 home ice) |
| 2 | Colorado | 52 | 74 | 6 (R1 home ice) |
| 3 | Minnesota | 53 | 73 | 0 |
| 4 | St. Louis | 52 | 57 | #4 seed clinched |
| 5 | Arizona | 55 | 52 | eliminated |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 52 | 48 | eliminated |
| 7 | San Jose | 54 | 48 | eliminated |
| 8 | Anaheim | 55 | 42 | eliminated |
St. Louis will be the #4 seed and will start the playoffs against the division winner.
Kirill Kaprizov Corner
**screams**
.@KaprizovKirill sends the game to OT! pic.twitter.com/3RRpovRQDm
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) April 30, 2021
Kirill is playing ministicks with Spurgeon and his kids. I am dying. pic.twitter.com/KvfNnCV60r
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) May 3, 2021
Leaderboards
| Player | G | Player | A | Player | Pts | Player | xGAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaprizov | 27 | Greenway | 25 | Kaprizov | 49 | Kaprizov | 15.2 |
| Fiala | 20 | Kaprizov | 22 | Fiala | 39 | Eriksson Ek | 12.9 |
| Eriksson Ek | 19 | Zuccarello | 22 | Zuccarello | 33 | Spurgeon | 9.4 |
| Zuccarello | 11 | Fiala | 19 | Greenway | 31 | Sturm | 8.9 |
| Foligno/Sturm | 10 | Spurgeon | 18 | Eriksson Ek | 30 | Foligno | 8.8 |
D-men getting assists tonight!
I want a Bonino hat trick.
The Wild look sloppy tonight. Bad team to do that against.
The internet informs me that I am wrong and this is the referees fault. Hmmm.
Kaprizov!!!!
Holy shit!
😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯😯
Both teams pull goaltenders.
Still not used to watching a team that can score
**just screaming**
*checks score in the clip*
*sees time left in period*
*checks final score*
Man that sucks for the Golden Knights.
hot damn.
Sharks clinging to a 4-3 lead on the Avs in the 3rd.
Avs tie it, going to OT.
Avs win it in OT, as Martin Jones is still...not great.
Couple things to point out:
Best points percentage in Wild history:
2021 - 0.686 (70 points in 51 games)
2016-17 - 0.646 (106 points in 82 games)
Highest goals per game in Wild history:
2021 - 3.27 (167 goals in 51 games)
2016-17 - 3.21 (263 goals in 82 games)
ooo, re: GPG, and 51 vs 82 games, is there any correlation as the season progresses with GPG rates? One might think that teams fatigue slightly later in the year. Could they really maintain that record pace? Does this record need an asterisk?
Through 51 games in 2016-17, the Wild had 170 goals, so a slight dropoff from there to the end of the season...
I knew it!
(They also had 73 points through 51 games in 2016-17)
But this fact contradicts my memory that the Wild have never had a team that scored goals.
We'll have to do a 2016-17 season rewind in the offseason.
If you write I will read it.
I would also read a 02-03 rewind
Or 90-91
Oh my god, Kirill. What a big goal.
They're going to offer him north of $60 million.
Oh my god, Kirill. What a big goal.
They're going to offer him north of $70 million.
He's so fucking good. I just can't believe this year he's having.
That was an intense, fun game. Fleury really played big again, and both teams came into this ready to send a message.
It stinks to lose a game late, but it's easy to console ourselves with 12 points in 8 games against Vegas.
I have to think the Wild are locked into the 3 seed now.
Loved that ridiculous save Talbot had in the third
He's really good:
The first period had:
Kaprizov's 22nd assist - new Wild rookie record.
Sturm's 10th goal - the 8th Wild rookie ever to get to 10 goals, the first year Minnesota has had two rookies reach the 10 goal mark.
You're going to be tired of me saying this but ...
Kaprizov is so much fun!
Add another OT winner to his resume.
He's really good.
So good!
Circling back to the conversation above, no matter what happens over the last three games, this will be the best season in Wild history by points per game in the standings.
Chances of overtaking the Avs? And how much does it matter?
Wild need to win all three and have Colorado lose 2 in regulation.
Colorado-Vegas on Monday has the Knights being able to clinch the division with a win.
Otherwise Colorado has three against the Kings.
I'd say its unlikely they catch/pass the Avs (I don't think they win all three games), but it would be really good for the Wild to start at home.
I think the biggest question for me that no one is talking about is how much Marcus Foligno makes the Wild better.
The Wild looked overmatched sometimes against the Avalanche, but Foligno missed 6 of the 8 games against Colorado this year, and Minnesota's puck possession is so much better when he's in the lineup.
If he pushes the needle just a little bit toward evening the possesion numbers it becomes a battle of goalies. And i think the Wild can win that.
I'll have to check out the home/ away split for puck possesion for Minnesota and Colorado.