Toews admitted that the outdoor game probably meant more to the Wild than the Hawks, who have been in four of them now, and three in the last three years.
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But it was a different sport that invaded Minneapolis today.
The snow falling Sunday afternoon at TCF Bank Stadium reminded the Wild winger and Minnesota native of the early mornings and late nights he spent learning to skate as a youngster. Perhaps most of all he’s been vocal during the games by being constantly in the ears of the players while they are on the bench letting the players know he’s in the game and ready to let them know how to make the next shift better.
Penguins 4, Sabres 3: Kris Letang had three assists and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots for visiting Pittsburgh, which improved to 9-3-1 in its past 13 and moved three points ahead of ninth-place New Jersey in the Eastern Conference. The team has responded well, scoring five goals on all three games during their trip through Western Canada. That was Lou Nanne, who coached the Minnesota Alumni team.
Shortly after the game, I found myself at a local upscale restaurant next to a table of Blackhawks fans and Chicagoans.
“The band was playing, and everybody was excited for the start of the game”. The Blackhawks have won all three of the playoff series between the clubs – all of which have been contested in the past three seasons.
Minnesota is starting to close the gap in the wild card race.
The Minnesota Wild will look to continue their win streak this Sunday when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Wild were 2-0 up inside the first seven minutes thanks to goals from Matt Dumba and Thomas Vanek, before they doubled that advantage through Nino Niederreiter and Jason Pominville in the second period. Last year the Wild was struggling and was on the verge of missing the playoffs but made a trade to get goalie Devan Dubnyk who saved the Wild season last year.
He was adamant on one point, though: “I’m not trading high picks and some of our top prospects for rental players….”
“It’s great Minnesota finally got a game”, said Jennifer Kuhlman of Esko. The Minnesota Wild are averaging 2.6 goals per game and are scoring on 18.6 percent of their power plays. Chicago lost defenseman Michal Rozsival at 15:14 after he was assessed a game misconduct for a hit that knocked Wild forward Jason Zucker out of the game.
It took 23 years, but Nanne got his wish as the North Stars won for the final time in the rivalry with Chicago and 38,000 fans were able to cheer on the players they grew up watching one more time.
Kesler scored in the second and third periods to help the Ducks into a 5-1 lead, with Patrick Maroon, Ryan Getzlaf and Kevin Bieksa also finding the net.
The weather forecast is calling for a temperature of around 36 degrees and cloudy skies, which makes for near-perfect conditions for a game out in the open.
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Nonetheless they didn’t anticipate that their side will come out with such exceptional game that will outsmart Blackhawks. The 27-year-old superstar also had an assist in the first meeting with the Wild and scored one of his team-leading 34 goals in the second for his 29th point in 33 career encounters versus the club.
