NORTH DAKOTA @ DU - Saturday

[dagies]

For everyone criticizing the dump and chase, you should read the piece Russo wrote in the Star Tribune this morning with quotes from Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu addressing this exact thing.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/193156151.html

All four conference finalists last year -- Los Angeles, Phoenix, New Jersey and the New York Rangers -- dumped and chased.

"We went to the Finals dumping and chasing," said the Wild's Zach Parise, referring to last year's Devils. "We did it more than anybody. And we scored a lot."

"We would all love a game where you can skate it in, curl up and make a play every time. That's not the way the game is played. When we do have the opportunity to skate it in, we all have the green light to do it, but not at the risk of having a D gap up in your face, trying to make a cute play at the blue line, turning it over and having them come right back down on us.

"You learn that as a kid. It's simple, stupid math," captain Mikko Koivu said. "Red line to blue line, you don't want to lose the puck."

The point of dumping the puck is to wear down the opposing defense.

"The best football teams have good running games," Yeo said. "They pound the ball and pound the ball and eventually soften up the defense. Same in hockey. It's easier to defend than to create offense, so you dump the puck to find ways to break them. Early in games, you should actually be doing it a lot because it's not about that shift or that period. It's about investing in the whole game.

"You put a couple pucks in behind the defensemen and let [Cal Clutterbuck] run loose on them, as the game wears on, they'll start to get tired, their gaps will get worse and suddenly everything about their defensive coverage gets softer. They don't want to get hit anymore."

[yababy8]

For everyone criticizing the dump and chase, you should read the piece Russo wrote in the Star Tribune this morning with quotes from Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu addressing this exact thing.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/193156151.html

Dump n chase vs carry is/sb primarily determined by what the defenses positioning is. I think the best teams can do both attacks well.

[scpa0305]

Decent weekend, great Saturday. All in all, this team must find consistency right now. I don't care how many PP's UND had on Saturday...nobody would have beat them that night. All there line played well and the defense also played well.

[Sioux-cia]

Decent weekend, great Saturday. All in all, this team must find consistency right now. I don't care how many PP's UND had on Saturday...nobody would have beat them that night. All there line played well and the defense also played well.

Six goals by six different players says it all!! Love this team!

[hrkac]

anybody else notice the wing to wing passing on three man rushes?

i noticed first period friday, UND used a different attack into the zone on power play by passing the puck back to D at center ice and having the opposite winger curl behind to hit him in stride with speed into the zone. Blackhawks do this with Kane on the PP often. I think it works when the defense is laying back and stacking the blue line. It seemed Denver made an adjustment and started pressuring the puck carrier out of the zone so didn't see that breakout much after that. It was a nice wrinkle though and switched up the dump to start the power play.

[watchmaker49]

Until recently they were dumping and chasing but never coming up with the puck. They were losing the battles on the boards and in the corners. If you can win the battles then d&c works fine. If not then all you are doing is turning the puck over.

[southpaw]

Until recently they were dumping and chasing but never coming up with the puck. They were losing the battles on the boards and in the corners. If you can win the battles then d&c works fine. If not then all you are doing is turning the puck over.

I really noticed this weekend how many battles they were winning in the corners and along the half wall. It was impressive seeing DU defensemen scrambling to reverse the puck and UND players still getting their first.

[watchmaker49]

I really noticed this weekend how many battles they were winning in the corners and along the half wall. It was impressive seeing DU defensemen scrambling to reverse the puck and UND players still getting their first.

The last 2 series they have been.