Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4-21-23.
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Wild/Wolves at Home Tonight
Would you believe that the Wild and Wolves have won a playoff game on the same day JUST ONCE in history? You probably would.
Can you name that date? On the same night Andrew Brunette scored in Game 7 to end Patrick Roy’s career, the Wolves beat the Lakers. April 22, 2003. That’s 20 years ago Saturday, which conceivably could be when the Wild game tonight wraps up.
To recap, the Wild is tied 1-1 heading back to The X in a game you’re guaranteed to see Filip Gustavsson in net. I’d imagine Joel Eriksson Ek will return, too. The Wild has to do something to get Kirill Kaprizov going - getting him away from Mats Zuccarello and alongside playmaking Gustav Nyquist may do the trick. I think we’ll also see a change on D, with either John Klingberg or Alex Goligoski returning. Maybe both. Defensive misgivings aside, the Wild needs Klingberg on the power play.
The Stars have scored five PPG in this series - it goes without saying the Wild needs to stay out of the penalty box. Dean Evason did (rightfully) accuse the Stars of diving (not a new concept for them).
Not much to say about the Wolves, who simply must win tonight. No doubt the home crowd will energize them, but this isn’t a team that puts together 48-minute games, and you need one of those to beat the Nuggets.
Twins Blown out at Fenway; Home vs. Washington Tonight
A close loss, followed by two blowouts - one for, one against - for the Twins in Boston this week. Kenta Maeda was knocked out of the game - literally - when a batted ball hit his ankle, and Takeout favorite Emilio Pagan followed him to allow six runs in Boston’s 11-5 win.
Here’s the thing - there’s no good time to pitch Pagan. He’s got a 7.88 ERA. The Twins don’t get blown out - except for when he’s pitching - so it’s not even like you can save him for a game you need a long outing from your bullpen.
The Twins are 11-7 and host a five-win Nationals team for three this weekend. Not exactly good baseball weather on tap, we’ll see if they get all three in. Yankees in town next week…
Listless Loons at Seattle on Saturday
The Loons try to snap a two-game losing streak with a late night affair in Seattle on Saturday. Minnesota has scored more than one goal just once in seven games. And it’ll be a quick turnaround for their third round U.S. Cup match Tuesday against Detroit City in Michigan.
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