Learn about the Minnesota Wild & the game of hockey with some Film Study!
We’re starting something new here at ClutterPuck! We’re going to study the film of Minnesota Wild goals scored in every game* from now until the end of the season. We’ll study the film to see how the Minnesota Wild succeeded and/or failed in every game. If you want to get better, you study. Then you keep doing the things you did well and learn from the things you did wrong. If you Bring The Clutter and don’t back down from failure or success, you’ll be better for it in the next game. Players get better if they Study the Film!!!
Film study will always consist of how the goals were scored, what the offense did right and what the defense did wrong to allow the scoring chance and any intricate details like if the puck was tipped or deflected off anything to help it go into the net or there was something else that created the play beforehand!
*Well, probably not empty-net goals unless there is an obvious reason to look at them.
We’ll usually do them in chronological order and we’ll sometimes do the opponent’s goals as well. Some goals are more obvious than others as to why they happened but if there’s something we can point out that will help our readers and/or players, young & old, understand the game more, we’ll post about it.
The Minnesota Wild started yesterday’s game with an absolutely great goal from Marcus Foligno and one of the greatest things about this goal is every Wild player on the ice touched the puck to make it happen.
You can tell where everyone is to begin the play. Marcus Foligno just received the puck from Ryan Suter.
You don’t see it in the replay but the puck was dumped in down the right boards by Jets forward Patrick Laine. Wild G Devan Dubnyk stopped the puck behind the net then passed it back around the corner to the half-wall (Dubnyk’s left if he was facing the neutral zone). It kind of got caught between Laine & Wild D Ryan Suter but Suter got the loose puck and passed it up to Marcus Foligno and he started skating down the left side. He has linemate Luke Kunin ahead of him up the middle but it would’ve been a tough pass so he passed it back to D Jared Spurgeon.
Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was at the faceoff dot near Ryan Suter when the play started and he started skating forward to be a part of the play when Foligno first got the puck. He gives Spurgeon a passing option. Jets F Mark Scheifele turns around to defend Spurgeon opening up the pass and some space for Ek who catches the pass and skates to the offensive blue line with it then passes off to Luke Kunin on his right side. Kunin was ahead of the play so he had to hold up to stay onsides. He sees Ek has some speed and a step on the defenseman so he gives the puck right back to Ek but Ek doesn’t have much of a chance at a shot because Jets D Tucker Poolman came over to defend him but Ek knows he still has his left wing open so he makes a beautiful backhand pass back to Foligno who has an open net just asking for a puck to be put into it!
So, that was the offensive side of the play. Defensively, there are some issues that Winnipeg might “study” before their next game and maybe even on the flight home or wherever they were going. I don’t care where they’re going.
The first thing that sticks out to us is good old goal-scoring Jets F Patrick Laine. He had 2, maybe 3 chances to break up the play. He could’ve won the battle for the puck on the half-wall. He stopped skating once he saw the pass go back to Spurgeon and he took 2 strides to get within reach (stick-reach) of Marcus Foligno, the player who scored the goal. TWO STRIDES! To compare. Jets F Kyle Connor, who was behind the Wild goal line pressuring Dubnyk to make a play, took almost 16 strides to get back to defend Kunin. Jets F Mark Scheifele took 4 strides to try to get back in the play and he wasn’t a factor in the play.
Don’t Coast Your Way Through Life! It won’t be pretty if you do!
Here’s the biggest problem from back-checkers and we already alluded to it with Patrick Laine. All 3 Jets forwards ending up coasting and watching the play and the puck. Our saying when you’re a Puck-Watcher…
”If you’re watching the puck, you’re going to watch it go into your own net!” – ClutterPuck
To us, the rule for backchecking is to get even with the player so you can make a play on the puck. Don’t reach and don’t coast! Patrick Laine had the best view of that goal. If you want to be a spectator, go buy a ticket!
Some other notes about the goal:
- Joel Eriksson Ek drove hard to the net. Because he did that, he forced the defenseman to come over to him which left Foligno open for the pass.
- Ek also started skating hard as soon as he saw Foligno had the puck in his own zone.
- Every Minnesota Wild player on the ice touched the puck. It went Dubnyk, Suter, Foligno, Spurgeon, Ek, Kunin, Ek, Foligno….GOALLLLL!!!
- Offense is more fun than defense for most people but Winning requires both and Winning is A LOT more FUN than Losing!
We’ll tackle Luke Kunin’s Game-Tying Goal next!!!
Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think in the comments or on social media on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and always….
