The Minnesota Wild entered this playoff collection with a real shutdown duo. As proficient as Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek are on the offensive facet of the puck, they play a stable two-means sport. They’re massive, robust, expert, and win puck battles on the common.
Forget the Wild’s hulking fourth line. If John Hynes desires to erase a line on the opposing staff and get some targets for good measure, the Boldy/Eriksson Ek combo is his finest wager.
As Minnesota comes dwelling for Games 3 and 4, Hynes will get a chance to indicate off his abilities as a tactician. Dallas should put their gamers on the ice earlier than every face-off, which supplies Hynes the means to set matchups all through the subsequent two video games. That permits him to attempt to engineer favorable conditions for scorers like Kirill Kaprizov. Just as importantly, he will get to resolve which line he’ll use Boldy and Eriksson Ek to stifle all through the sport.
The query is which line to make use of for that. Even with out Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin, the Dallas Stars are deep in scorers. 40-purpose-scorer Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen are on Dallas’ prime line, and 40-purpose-scorer Jason Robertson and expert veteran Matt Duchene are simply behind them on the depth chart.
It’s a decide-your-poison scenario for those who’re in Hynes’ sneakers. However, after the first two video games, Robertson’s line emerges as the clear reply of who to throw Boldy and Eriksson Ek at.
Marcus Foligno fired shots at the Stars’ play at 5-on-5 after Minnesota’s Game 2 loss. “They’re looking to play five-on-four,” he informed the media. “I mean, that’s their game. They can’t hang with us five-on-five.”
In lots of methods, that is borne out over the first two video games. Minnesota out-scored Dallas 4-2 at 5-on-5, and so they stored most of Dallas’ finest gamers in verify, with one exception: Robertson.
Robertson, Duchene, and Mavrik Bourque have performed 19 minutes, 43 seconds collectively at 5-on-5. In that point, they’ve held a 12-to-5 lead in scoring possibilities, per Natural Stat Trick. Without the Robertson line on the ice, the 5-on-5 scoring chances are high useless-even in the scoring likelihood division: 24-to-24.
Looking at how Glen Gulutzan set his matchups, it appears he was concentrating on the Kaprizov line and the Jonas Brodin–Jared Spurgeon protection pairing. Both make sense. Robertson’s largest weak spot is his pace, however that downside is mitigated when dealing with 30-somethings in Ryan Hartman, Mats Zuccarello, Vladimir Tarasenko, Brodin, and Spurgeon.
Putting Robertson head-to-head towards Kaprizov additionally forces the Wild’s celebrity to defend. Robertson is the finest participant on the Stars when it comes to grinding down opponents on the cycle. His offensive-zone possessions could be lengthy, with defenders having to chase his 6-foot-3 body throughout the zone.
Kaprizov’s usually a great defender, however that is not the identical scenario for his linemates. Robertson would not even have to attain to succeed towards Kaprizov’s line. In reality, he is performed Kaprizov to a scoreless draw via 10-and-a-half 5-on-5 minutes. But each second Kaprizov’s in his personal zone defending is a second Kaprizov is not terrorizing the Stars’ protection.
It’s labored. The Wild have generated zero scoring possibilities in Kaprizov’s head-to-head minutes towards Rantanen. The Stars have 5.
The excellent news is that Kaprizov can (and has) exploited considered one of Dallas’ prime traces. Kaprizov has out-chanced Rantanen by an 11-6 margin. Until Rantanen and Johnston can show they will sluggish Kaprizov, there isn’t any purpose for Hynes to cease attacking Rantanen.
The dangerous information is that even with Hynes’ most popular matchups, Minnesota won’t have a real reply to Robertson. Eriksson Ek lined up towards Robertson for 5 minutes, and in an admittedly minuscule pattern, Robertson held a 4-to-0 scoring likelihood benefit. But that is the finest reply Hynes has at his disposal, and he has to match his finest shutdown line with Dallas’ most profitable line and see what occurs.
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