UPDATED
Bruce Boudreau put the Wild through a good, hard, long, comprehensive practice Thursday as he tried to etch the growing sloppiness out of his team’s game.
Coming off a 5-1 loss to Calgary, the Wild began with passing drills, then a long special teams practice and then basically tried to refine every part of the game.
“You give up 80 shots [the last two games], it means you’re not doing the right things,” Boudreau said afterward. “I think we were out there for, what, an hour? I wanted to work on a few things other than the power play and the penalty killing. Hopefully we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.”
News of the day: Charlie Coyle’s getting a loud and clear message and Alex Tuch will make his NHL debut against the Vancouver Canucks on potentially the top line with Zach Parise and Eric Staal.
For the first time this season, Coyle, who has one goal and 10 assists and 23 shots in the past 17 games, was removed from the power play in practice. Nino Niederreiter took Coyle’s spot on the top unit and Jason Zucker, who has played 11 minutes, 41 seconds total all season on the power play (14 seconds per game) and is second in the NHL (one point behind Connor McDavid) with 35 5-on-5 points, took Niederreiter’s spot on the second unit with his even-strength line. Boudreau said he’s hoping that chemistry moves to the power play.
Zucker said, “It’s a good opportunity for me, and I’ve got to prove myself, too. I don’t think they’re just going to keep me there. I have to prove myself. It’s nice being with Granny and Mikko, and hopefully we can bring our chemistry to the power play as well.”
5-on-5, Coyle practiced on the fourth line today with Chris Stewart and Tyler Graovac.
Parise was moved back to the Staal line with Tuch on the right (please give my story in Saturday’s paper a read because there’s a funny scene setter to start).
The Zucker-Mikko Koivu-Mikael Granlund line remains intact, while the Niederreiter-Erik Haula-Jason Pominville line, assembled last season for the first time in this very Rogers Arena, has been reunited.
Like Boudreau promised in my article in Friday’s paper here, Coyle and Boudreau met.
“He handled it very maturely,” Boudreau said. “I told him what I thought he had to do and I told him I think he was a great player, and I want him to get back to being a great player.”
Coyle said, “We had a good talk. Bottom line I’ve got to produce and play my game and get back to the way I know how to play, and that’s being physical at the start and just being a big body out there. It kind of takes care of itself.”
Coyle usually watches his shifts on a laptop on his own and did a lot of that the past few days. He said, “Watching film I just got to find those soft areas and get in position to receive the puck and put pucks on net. I’ve gotten away from a little bit of that. Sometimes you press too hard and you think you’re doing the right thing and you work too hard. So I just have to get back to clear my mind, play with confidence and just do those little things.
“I’ve got to play on top of my game. That’s the bottom line. I’m looking to do that and keep building [Saturday].”
Here’s an interview with Tuch today:
Tuch
“It’s a lot of excitement, a lot of nerves. I’m just glad I’ll get to share it with my parents tomorrow, they’re flying in. So that’s really big. A little nerves going through me, but it’s a very exciting time and I’m ready to get going.”
On his line: “It was unbelievable, I was talking with Staal a lot, an unbelievable veteran presence, same with Parise. Guys took me in right away, helped me out and answered my questions. Two really good linemates and Schroeds was mixed in with us too, I know Schroeds a good amount so he was helping me out as much as possible too. It was good, maybe a little chemistry to start, but we’ll see.”
Systems the same: “Yeah, pretty much. Lalonde has pretty much the same systems as Boudreau. I’m able to step right in. A couple little tweaks and everything, but nothing I can’t handle. And a good coaching staff is here to help me.”
In Iowa: “I think something I’ve improved on during the year is my play away from the puck. Defensive zone and handling the puck through the neutral zone, not turning the puck over, making the simple plays, stuff like that, I think really changed from the beginning of the year to now. I think they saw it and I think my numbers showed it, being a plus-10 in plus/minus. So I think I’ve taken a big step in that direction.”
Your consistency started to pay off as of late with production? “Yeah, a little bit. It wasn’t just me, I think our whole team started playing a lot better. We started going on a winning streak, and I was injured for a good part of January. But when I came back, I had Pulkinnen and Cannone right there with me. They played unbelievable in the two games I played with them. The team has been rolling and I hope they keep going in the right direction.”
AHL All-Star experience: “It was unbelievable. Pulkkinen gave me the chance to go, which is really nice of him. He’s been there already, so he gave me the nod. Unbelievable experience. Allentown, Pennsylvania, you don’t really think of as a nice little town, but it’s a beautiful town, unbelievable rink, great facilities, they treated us unbelievable. I was just really excited to be there.”
What did you do on the plane: “Watched a couple movies. Flew through Dallas, so it was a longer trip than I thought but it was nice. They put me in a good seat and I was up here in no time.”
What movies? “Second one I watched was Dr. Strange. The first one, I really liked, The Accountant with Ben Affleck. That was an unbelievable movie.”
First class? “I don’t know. Got the window seat first plane so I could take a little nap.”
Not a middle seat like Duby when he was traded here: “Oh really? I didn’t have to do that.”
Phone exploding: “It’s still going off a good amount. Twitter took it then Instagram started going. I got a lot of texts from people back home. It was just really good to see the support system I have back home, I couldn’t have made it without all that support. I’ve said it in hundreds of interviews and so has my dad, ‘It takes a village to raise a boy,’ and it really shows you how many people support you when you make a step like this in your career and how many people are there to congratulate you. I was happy to see that and glad I have all those people’s support.”
That’s it for me. Talk to ya after Saturday’s morning skates!
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