1st round tonight

[Oxbow6]

Okposo wears an "A"for the Islanders...wow. Must be a real storage of character and leadership guys on that squad!!!

[runaroundsioux]

What's frattins status with the leafs these days?

Healthy scratch tonight. Still up with the Leafs,hasn't been playing. Hasn't been the same since re-injuring his knee in Feb.

[Fetch]

I sure like the play by play guys on Hockey night in canada

[Wilbur]

Just seems impossible for the Wild to find a way to beat the Hawks. They're getting great goaltending, but I don't think they'll be able to create enough chances to get to Crawford.

They need a stupid bounce goal here, if the Hawks get up 2-0 I don't think its in the cards for Minnesota tonight.

[Wilbur]

Yuck.......talk about sloppy play.

[runaroundsioux]

I sure like the play by play guys on Hockey night in canada

The play by play guy has that old time Canadian voice. Brings me back to my youth watching CBC up along the Canadian border.

[Oxbow6]

Yuck.......talk about sloppy play.

Koivu has absolutely brutal last night. His TO leads to shorty. Takes 3 penalties. Stark contrast between the "C"s on the ice last night...and Toews was average at best for him.

[scpa0305]

MInny might steal one at home but I have a strong feeling this series is over.

[MafiaMan]

How about the Islanders taking one in Pittsburgh last night?

San Jose up 2-0 on the Canucks...same old story in Vancouver. I actually feel sorry for Roberto Luongo.

[yzerman19]

If the Wild don't win at least one game at home MIke Yeo is 100% gone. In fact, one win probably isn't enough for him to keep his job. You invest almost $200 million into the top free agents on the market and you get smoked by the Hawks...probably not so good in a performance review.

[SiouxScore]

MInny might steal one at home but I have a strong feeling this series is over.

That is what I picked before the series started. I would guess they lose a close one in game 3 and win game 4 to send it back to Chicago and then the Hawks finish it in 5 there. The problem for the Wild was really their horrible play down the stretch of the regular season which caused them to have to face the Hawks. When I saw they would be stuck with the Hawks I was just hoping they would be competitive but if they would have been the 6 or 7 seed and faced Anaheim or Vancouver I would have felt much better about their chances of winning the 1st round series.

[Fetch]

the Wild are still Mild maybe another couple hundred million & they will at least score a couple

[Fetch]

Chicago sure has built a good team

& the Blues too

[MafiaMan]

If the Wild don't win at least one game at home MIke Yeo is 100% gone. In fact, one win probably isn't enough for him to keep his job. You invest almost $200 million into the top free agents on the market and you get smoked by the Hawks...probably not so good in a performance review.

Beat a terrible Edmonton team at home and it's 'hello Anaheim' instead of Chicago.

I still think Yeo gets a third year. This team had a lock-out and injuries to Heatley and Pominville to deal with too.

[Shawn-O]

I sure like the play by play guys on Hockey night in canada

If its Bob Cole...they don't get any better than that.

[yzerman19]

Beat a terrible Edmonton team at home and it's 'hello Anaheim' instead of Chicago.

I still think Yeo gets a third year. This team had a lock-out and injuries to Heatley and Pominville to deal with too.

Excuses don't fly in the pro world...too much money at stake, and the owners are business people.

Every team deals with hardship and injuries...Penguins still played fantastic with Sid out.

I like Mike Yeo as a person- in real life he is a heck of a nice guy- you just have to produce in this league. Expectations were very high this year as a result of Parise and Suter...getting swept or a mere 1 win will not cut it with those expectations.

[MafiaMan]

Excuses don't fly in the pro world...too much money at stake, and the owners are business people.

Every team deals with hardship and injuries...Penguins still played fantastic with Sid out.

I like Mike Yeo as a person- in real life he is a heck of a nice guy- you just have to produce in this league. Expectations were very high this year as a result of Parise and Suter...getting swept or a mere 1 win will not cut it with those expectations.

Parise and Suter didn't bring Stanley Cups to New Jersey and Nashville, respectively, did they? Brodeur, Zajac, Kovalchuk, Shea Weber...

Penguins are still a playoff team without Sidney Crosby...Wild need depth. You basically inserted Parise and removed Heatley...that's not going to win Stanley Cups.

Wild expectations? How about the NY Rangers?

[Oxbow6]

Penguins are still a playoff team without Sidney Crosby...Wild need depth. You basically inserted Parise and removed Heatley...that's not going to win Stanley Cups.

Spot on...Koivu has stunk for weeks. Was a -6 in April. Coyle isn't a top 3 guy IMO. Cullen is still a 2nd line center but his forwards aren't. Lots of playoff games are won/lost by play of the 3rd lines. Huge difference in this series.

[Shawn-O]

Excuses don't fly in the pro world...too much money at stake, and the owners are business people.

Every team deals with hardship and injuries...Penguins still played fantastic with Sid out.

I like Mike Yeo as a person- in real life he is a heck of a nice guy- you just have to produce in this league. Expectations were very high this year as a result of Parise and Suter...getting swept or a mere 1 win will not cut it with those expectations.

It is a business, but they won't suffer at the box office if they bring Yeo back for year 3. I think they bring him back.

[SiouxScore]

Spot on...Koivu has stunk for weeks. Was a -6 in April. Coyle isn't a top 3 guy IMO. Cullen is still a 2nd line center but his forwards aren't. Lots of playoff games are won/lost by play of the 3rd lines. Huge difference in this series.

I think the tough thing for the Wild in this series is you have 2 very talented rookies on your top 2 lines and they deserve to be but they are out there trying to play against guys like Toews, Kane, Sharp, and Hossa who will take advantage of every little mistake they make. I think both Coyle and Zucker will be top 2 line players but at this stage they still have some growing to do. The Hawks 3rd and 4th lines as well as 3rd set of D have been the big advantage in this series. I wouldn't be suprised to see the Wild with a whole new 3rd line next year with Bouchard being a UFA, Clutterbuck being a RFA, and Brodziak just really not playing very well all season. The Wild should have some more improvement on D next year with the young guy Dumba likely making the team and he looks to have a very solid future ahead of him.

[MafiaMan]

I believe Barry Melrose's pre-season prediction of the Stanley Cup Finals pitted New York against Minnesota.

[Oxbow6]

I believe Barry Melrose's pre-season prediction of the Stanley Cup Finals pitted New York against Minnesota.

Correct but he revised it on Monday...Hawks vs Pens.

[sioux rube]

I believe Barry Melrose's pre-season prediction of the Stanley Cup Finals pitted New York against Minnesota.

He also said Wisconsin would win it all.

[farce poobah]

I think the tough thing for the Wild in this series is you have 2 very talented rookies on your top 2 lines and they deserve to be but they are out there trying to play against guys like Toews, Kane, Sharp, and Hossa who will take advantage of every little mistake they make. I think both Coyle and Zucker will be top 2 line players but at this stage they still have some growing to do. The Hawks 3rd and 4th lines as well as 3rd set of D have been the big advantage in this series. I wouldn't be suprised to see the Wild with a whole new 3rd line next year with Bouchard being a UFA, Clutterbuck being a RFA, and Brodziak just really not playing very well all season. The Wild should have some more improvement on D next year with the young guy Dumba likely making the team and he looks to have a very solid future ahead of him.

Chicago has a very talented rookie on their top line as well.

The Wild problem is not with their top 6 players. I agree with your point that the problem is lack of depth and lack of production from the rest of the roster.

Brodziak -18

Heatley -12

Gilbert -11

Falk -9

Mitchell -8

The fact these guys are in the lineup every night is tribute to how thin the NHL-ready talent pool is for the Wild.

As a result of a thin roster, Yeo has over-played his top guys. Game 1 was such a gamble - put 41 minutes in Suter's legs! - that was worth trying, but as the series goes on the Wild top players will get even more leg-weary. This reminds me of Chicago last 2 years, but this year Quenneville has really spread out the playing time. For example Game 1 Roszival (!) with 27 minutes led the Hawks.

Lack of depth is not Yeo's fault. That's with the General Manager. I think he deserves another year.

[Wilbur]

I think its already been said. The Wild just don't have the depth. I think they thought they'd get more out of Granland this year, and I know Suter likes to play a lot of minutes, but in the end it just drags on him and by the end of a game he's just gassed. I think the foundation is there with guys like Zucker, Parise, Suter. Now add a blueliner or two to compliment Suter, and have more than one line that is an actual scoring threat.

In the world of NHL playoff hockey line matching is huge. The funny thing about this series is that the Hawks are so deep up front that they don't care who the Parise line plays against. They're just basically worried about themselves.