3 things the Minnesota Wild can be thankful for this Thanksgiving – Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild have been up and down this season, and they are one of the NHL’s hottest teams in the month of November. Everything seems to be setting them up for a high injury toll. American Thanksgiving is here, which means two things: First, there are many things to be thankful for, and second, this time of the season often marks the postseason.
The Wild have a lot to be thankful for so far this season, like their pitching, their defense, their overall play, the list goes on and on. In this article, we will look at a few things that have been appreciated this season, starting with goalteting.
Goalteing is wild to keep it
They’ve only played 24 games so far this season, but it’s been a rollercoaster show for fans and players alike. It started out of frustration and funk; They couldn’t find a way out of that including their Goaltenders. However, goodetives introduced what started to get them out of the hole they were in, and continue to find themselves winning.
It’s true, they should have scored points to get the wins again, but without the strong resilience they’ve had, those goals won’t matter. Even their most recent win against the Chicago Blackhawks would not have been possible without a lot of resilience. They had to find a way to come back after falling behind, but Colleting bounced back after those goals.
Filip Gustavsson and Jestavs Wallstedt have become one of the most powerful figures in the NHL, and it’s easy to see why they were at the top of the most praised list. While everyone knew if Gustavsson was up to it, wallstedt started as a question mark but quickly proved to be what he was hoping for. While his game isn’t perfect, he’s still improving and getting better with every game he plays, and he’s doing so while getting wins again, which is impressive.
Wild ability to bounce back
The way the month of October went, it would have been wildly easy to just sit back and let the frustrations continue to creep into their game. They were very close to turning the season away from them, and it looked like nothing was going to go away; However, they found a way to turn the page when November started. They were like a brand new team when they started in November, and even though they were still going to make mistakes, they were finding ways to win.
The simple mistakes they made at the beginning of the season started to go, then came back, they were a complete team, but they made things work. Mats Zuccarello returned to the team, and his presence gave them a new energy that they lacked in the beginning. While he wasn’t the only lot to find a way out, he was a big reason for it.
They took it one win at a time and eventually moved from 29th place, eight first place in the NHL on November 1, to tie for 3rd place but they got nine points first place on November 27. They climbed impressively in the standings, but the top team, the Colorado Avalanche, continues to eliminate everyone in the league.
It doesn’t matter, Indele should be proud of their efforts because last month, it seemed like a distant hope, but now they are surrendering to the playing field. Again, much can change; They had over 50 games to go, but they proved themselves.
Staying wild in the penalty box
In spite of everything that happened in the month of October, the sewage remained crooked and coming out of the penalty box. There have been a few here and there, but it’s coming to an end, they’ve found ways to avoid fines. While their number of penalty minutes doesn’t show it, they are near the bottom of the league in terms of penalties taken.
The reason they are higher in minutes is because of the penalties they have taken. It was the big penalties, the game, and the fouls that raised the number of minutes and made it look like they took more than they had. In fact, WHOVE issued 98 penalties and only 69 were taken. They are eighth in the league for most penalties taken and 31st in the league for penalties taken.
Related: WISH can continue to survive recent injury setbacks
It can seem difficult to get yourself out of the penalty box when the other team is playing badly and trying to push the buttons, but staying disciplined and sticking to the game plan can be difficult. However, even when things got really tough, the Wild stuck with it and now it’s being rewarded. Also, there are some areas to be careful and not get caught with big fines, but overall, they did a good job and hopefully it will stay that way as the season goes on.
WISH can have a very long list of things to be thankful for, such as their top line, their defense, basically everything about their overall game. These are just a few of the big things that made the difference and got them where they are now. Hopefully they can use this past month as an example of how they want to play and continue to deliver wins.
