After spending way too much time in the penalty box in Game 1, the Minnesota Wild’s goal in Game 2 Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues is very clear: Stay out of the box.
“We gotta stay out of the crap. We gotta stay out of the scrums, all the extra stuff after the whistles. Play between the whistles,” head coach Dean Evason said on KFAN Wednesday morning. “If St. Louis wants to be physical, if they want to fight, if we do, then go ahead. It’s part of the game. But if they don’t, and we’re not going to, then stay out of the crap.”
Evason thought his club was good between the whistles in Game 1 and awful once play on the ice stopped.
“If you get a glove in the face or a face wash or a punch in the face, it doesn’t hurt that much. It really doesn’t. If you can suck it up and just move forward, take a number. Again, if push comes to shove and someone wants to tangle, then go ahead. But stay out of it.”
Minnesota will again go with three-time Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury in goal for Game 2. Fleury got the start in Game 1 and allowed four goals. There was plenty of speculation that Cam Talbot, who went 13-0-3 in his final 16 starts of the regular season, would get the nod in Game 2, but Fleury is the guy.
“Again, it was a debate,” explained Evason, suggesting Fleury’s box score in Game 1 makes him look worse than he played.
“They score two power-play goals, one was one second after the power play,” Evason said. “We did not do enough to clear pucks, even on the five-on-five goal where [Ryan] O’Reilly’s standing in front of the net. He makes the first save. We can’t ask him to make two, three, four saves. We have to get to those pucks and give him the opportunity to regroup. Make that first save and that’s it. We are going to concentrate on that obviously tonight. We though he played real well.”
Game 2 starts at 8:45 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN and Bally Sports North.
