To the uninitiated, a rivalry between the Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames doesn’t sound like it ranks top five in the NHL. Maybe not even top 20.
They haven’t played in the same division since the Western Conference divisions were reformatted. They haven’t played each other in the playoffs.
December 6, 2018
Despite that, these teams have had some absolute wars in the last four years.
In the first period of an early December game during the 18-19 season, Giordano stuck out a leg and kneed Wild captain Mikko Koivu. Koivu was injured on the play. That alone is something Wild fans have not gotten over.
Dumba then gave Mikael Backlund a major concussion with a massive open ice hit with 54 seconds left in the 2-0 Flames victory. Ryan Lomberg left the bench, chased down Dumba immediately after the hit on Backlund and enacted vengeance in the form of an instigator penalty. That was all one game.
Hearing, suspension for Lomberg. A fine given to Bill Peters that surely ownership had no issue covering.
Their next game, 12 days later, Tkachuk fights Dumba in the first 40 seconds of the game. Relatively quiet fight, Dumba injures his knee somehow while grappling. Later that match Ryan Suter fought Sam Bennett.
The two teams haven’t gotten along since then— and a year to cool off in isolated divisions didn’t seem to help.
Jump forward to today
Given how last game went, 26 PIMs, a scrum after almost every play, one player left with injury, five roughing minors, two uncalled fighting majors.
Tonight’s game has some potential.
It would be nice to be able to fill you in on what to expect when the 31-14-6 Calgary Flames conclude a two game series against the floundering 31-16-3 Minnesota Wild, but until the puck drops— there are quite a few uncertainties regarding the resolve of the Minnesota Wild.
∙ Will the Wild come roaring back at the Flames given the physical beat down last game happened to be?
∙ Will their offence finally rekindle tonight after scoring 3 or less in seven of their last nine games? For a team that averages 3.72GF/GP (3rd in the league), that’s an important factor. In fact, their only two wins their last six games were 7-3 and 7-4 triumphs over the Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings respectively. If they can’t score right now, their defence can’t pick up the slack.
∙ All but two players on the Wild posted a CF% above 50%. Will the Wild get their tempo back to where it needs to be?
If the answer is “yes” to all or any of those three questions, then tonight’s opposition has a chance at winning the game.
One thing that is certain is that this game is going to be a physical one.
To his and his team’s credit, per Micheal Russo of the Athletic, here’s what Wild Head Coach Dean Evason had to say about his team’s effort and how they’re responding:
Evason said his players practiced like they were “pissed off,” adding, “We should be. We were embarrassed. It’s the first time this year that we did not compete in a hockey game. … That’s not who we are, so the group knows that. We all know that. We got outcompeted in all areas, and not just players. We all did. We shouldn’t be a very happy hockey club, and we weren’t in practice today.”
Prepare for the next chapter in the NHL’s most underrated rivalry tonight at 6pm MST. You’re going to want to tune in to this one.
These were the practice lines yesterday.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk
Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman
Lucic-Monahan-Toffoli
Lewis-Richardson-Ritchie
Dube-Ruzicka
Hanifin-Andersson
Kylington-Tanev
Zadorov-Gudbranson
Stone
Markstrom
Vladar
Overload coverage
Four of five non-empty net Flames goals were scored due to the Wild blowing coverage.
Goal #1:
Top right you see Toffoli pinching in from the point. Off screen is Wild left wing Marcus Foligno who is still covering the defensive point Toffoli was on.
Goal #2
Matthew Tkachuk, bottom right, picking up the rebound. Six feet away is the guy who should be neutralizing his stick.
Goal #3
See Erik Gudbranson out there all alone at the point? Zadorov draws the swarm of disorganized Wild players over to him and dishes a pass to Gudbranson. The Wild now three forwards low and two on the wrong side of the ice. Erik takes his time and loads up the trebuchet to make it 3-1.
Goal #4
Bottom right is an uncovered Andrew Mangiapane putting a rebound away.
The Wild blew their coverage and the Flames took full advantage. If Minnesota can’t shore up their coverage by puck drop; the Flames have a very high probability of winning this game.
No small parts
It’s not unfair to say that at the start of the season most Flames fans were uneasy about the prospect of Brad Richardson being a role player on the 21-22 Calgary Flames. One Flames writer went to the point of labelling him “Bad Richardson” in a preseason article.
You’ll be happy to hear that said writer has gone a full 180 on the player. He’s not fast, he’s not physically imposing, but he’s found a way to be effective. Dragging Wild star Kirill Kaprizov with him to the penalty box for a roughing penalty was the highlight of his 25 game season.
The 4th line center drew two minors in the game. He also got PIM machine Ryan Hartman to take an interference penalty. Huge impact for a guy playing 11:07.
Richardson has drawn six penalties in 25 games this season. His penalties drawn per game played is at .24.
According to naturalstattrick.com’s accounting of penalties drawn and games played, here are the top six Flames penalty drawers:
Tkachuk — 0.352
Dube — 0.24
Richardson — 0.24
Ritchie — 0.24
Coleman — 0.22
Mangiapane — 0.215
Not counted are players amassing less than ten games played.
Speaking of agitating
If the Wild were indeed practicing like they were “pissed off”, then the Flames need to take full advantage. This is a team with a plethora of tricks to bring out while using their physical play as a PIM lightning rod.
The Wild need their offence going at optimum efficiency. If the Flames can pull the rug out from under them with untimely penalties; they’ll leave the state of Minnesota two points higher in the standings.
Trevor Neufeld
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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