Dave Cokin
Bonus Play Thursday
53 WILD @ 54 FLYERS 7:05 PM
Take: 53 Minnesota Wild
No line for this game as I’m writing this, but it’s not very difficult to make NHL numbers. This one should have Minnesota as a small road favorite, I’d say likely in the -115 to -120 range, and I’ll be on the Wild.
If you’ve been watching the Wild, this is a completely different team now than they were prior to the firing of Mike Yeo as head coach. Minnesota has become much more aggressive offensively since the change behind the bench took place, and the early returns are very encouraging.
John Torchetti is now in charge, and while he’s officially just the interim head coach, he’s making a great case to have that interim tag removed.
Make no mistake, surges when there’s a coaching change are not at all unusual. So the fact that the Wild won four straight under Torchetti before getting knocked off by the Islanders on Tuesday night is not the shock of the ages. Teams will frequently go on short burst runs like this one, only to quickly enough regress to their previous form.
I suspect that might not be what takes place with the Wild. This team has talent and they underperformed with Yeo as head coach. I’m not suggesting that Minnesota is suddenly a viable contender to hoist the Stanley Cup. But they ought to be a pretty fair team, and I’m of the opinion there’s still some winning tickets that will get cashed by looking to play on this squad.
The loss to the Islanders wasn’t as lopsided as the 4-1 final might suggest. Minnesota still had a territorial edge in the game and while the result might not have been to my liking as I was again on the Wild in that game, I wasn’t discouraged by the loss.
Minnesota will be down a couple of good players tonight due to injury, but the Flyers will also be missing a key contributor with Claude Giroux unlikely to play. I’ve played the Wild in each of their last four games and I like the idea of staying on this club until I’m convinced their run is over. Minnesota has to travel to Washington for the back end of two games in two nights on Friday. So it’s really vital that they get the deuce in the more winnable game, which is this evening against the Flyers.
Philadelphia’s own good run appears to have concluded, as the Flyers have now won just three of their last ten. The higher-ups have also made it clear they will not be adding at the NHL trade deadline, which to me is kind of a white flag as far as getting to the playoffs is concerned.
The Wild are in considerably better position in the West. They’re just four points back of Colorado for the last spot and Minnesota also has three games in hand. I see this as a big game for a team that’s on a bit of a roll and I’ll be backing the Wild tonight.
