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Wild And Jets Renew Border Rivalry |
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Following a successful season opening 2-game road trip to SoCal, the Wild return home to open their home schedule against their neighbors to the North.
The Jets and Wild renew their heated rivalry after a year absence due to the COVID-19 reallignment of divisions. It is always fun when these two teams get together as the fans from both sides are very passionate and typically make the effort to fill the oposing teams building.
That of course will be scaled back I am sure with the pandemic still a factor but the rivalry on the ice will heat up quickly btween these two Central Division foes.
Winnipeg also began their season on the road in Califormia, however their results were not favorable at all as they got thumped in Anaheim 4-1 and then could not complete the comeback on Saturday in San Jose losing to the Sharks 4-3.
They will be fired up after a couple days off to put the first two games behind them. Sometimes it takes a rival to really get the things going and the Jets certainly will have that tonight in St. Paul.
Mark Scheifele returned to the Jets lineup after completing his suspension which carried over from last season's opening round playoff sweep at the hands of Montreal. I would expect the Wild to have their hands full with the Jets top center as he will lead the Jets, who do not want to open the season with a third straight defeat.
The Wild on the other hand played well enough to win their opening two contests but did not play their best either in the process. That said they showed the character of a good team by winning on the road in games where they yielded the first goal in both. They also took control of the territorial play in the second periods of both contests and used their depth to secure the victories.
On Saturday in LA the officiating left Dean Evason and his staff shaking their heads and often barking at the referees, wondering how they could only have one powerplay in a game where they were clearly dominant and the Kings were literally holding on.
That one powerplay was one that saw the Wild maintain control in the Kings zone for much of the two minutes but it was the Wild's second unit that was on the ice for a minute and a half of that advantage. Although they possessed the puck for that long, they appeared to be a step off and were fortunate to have pucks bounce or deflect back to their sticks. That said there was not really much in the way of scoring attempts from that unit.
If there is a weakness in this Wild squad it does seem like this second powerplay unit of forwards is it. Marcus Foligno, I like as a net front presence and Ryan Hartman has more offense to give. Matt Dumba and Alex Goligoski are very strong powerplay point men so their is hope but getting this unit on the same page appears to be the challenge at the moment.
The Xcel will be rocking for sure as the Jets and Wild square off for their first meeting of the young season. High expecations are present with both of these teams and Winnipeg will come in with quite a chip on their shoulders and something to prove.
The Wild will need to weather the Jets storm early if they are to have success tonight...
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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