Stanzel’s Sports Takeout — BREAKING NEWS: 4-26-23.
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Back to Mon-Wed-Fri this week with the Wild’s playoff schedule helping the cause.
NEW Make Glove not W.A.R. on the Twins’ Michael A. Taylor by yours truly over at Pulltab: https://www.pulltabsports.com/blog/michael-a-taylor-has-been-a-mazing-in-cf-for-twins
Twins Win Season Series vs. Yankees for First Time in 22 Years
We’ll start on a positive note for Twin Cities sports fans. The Yankees blitzed the Twins again, 6-2, securing their first season series win against the Bronx Bombers in 20 years.
A night after Sonny Gray allowed no runs in seven innings, Joe Ryan allowed just one earned run in seven. He’s 5-0 and MLB’s first five-game winner this season.
He held the Yankees in check until Byron Buxton unloaded a massive two-run homer, complete with a bat flip.
Later in the sixth inning, Trevor Larnach also launched a two-run shot.
Even with a four-run lead, Rocco wasn’t messing around, using Jorge Lopez and Jhoan Duran in non save situations.
The last time the Twins won a season series against the Yankees, Minnesota won in the 10th inning on a passed ball with Mariano Rivera on the mound.
Amazing video of Buxton being told it had been 22 seasons since the last series win (Buck doesn’t read the game notes).
Same teams in a Wednesday getaway day matinee at Target Field.
Wild, Evason on the Brink After Blowout Game 5 Loss; Flower Returns in Game 6?
Thanks to Takeout subscriber Jim for tonight’s Wild lede: “Hope is not a strategy.”
Dean Evason has been outcoached in now four post-seasons, but none quite like this series, and that includes last night’s 4-0 Game 5 loss in Dallas. Sure, another awful penalty in the opening minutes caused Marcus Foligno to be tossed from the game. But where is any adjustment on a woeful power play, a terrible penalty kill or any kind of movement to light a fire under his two best offensive players.
We’ll start with the call on Foligno, because Wild fans will again blame the loss on this for the second straight game. Just 2:14 in, Foligno went to check Radek Faksa. Never extended his leg, never did anything but skate in a straight line. He ran into Faksa - maybe an interference penalty, but Faksa went down in a heap in what wound up a knee-to-knee hit. Foligno was given a five and a game misconduct, which honestly may have saved the Wild further embarrassment and penalties.
Here’s the thing. Foligno ran his mouth after Game 3. Officials don’t like that. Don’t think for a minute, if there was any benefit of the doubt to be given, that Foligno would get it. Keep your mouth shut, play the game.
And of course, it took the Stars just eight seconds to score to make it 1-0.
The Stars benefitted in the second period as well. Ryan Suter played a puck with a high stick - no call - and on the other end it quickly went to a 3-0 margin. It was not a challengable play, since it happened in the defensive zone.
Refereeing aside - you can’t win a game with zero goals.
Back to Deano. Kirill Kaprizov has gotten beat up certainly, but he’s got zero even strength points in this series, and no points at all since he scored the series’ first goal late in the first period of Game 1. Matt Boldy, who Wild fans thought would somehow save a playoff series 25 months ago, looks overmatched. Mats Zuccarello is floating around and holding Kaprizov back. For the third game I’ll suggest putting Gus Nyquist, one of if not the Wild’s best forward this series, with either Kaprizov or Boldy. You can’t overhaul the PK (two more goals tonight) in Game 5 of a playoff series, but you can’t just sit around and hope something will change. The Wild allowed six Dallas power plays, despite everyone knowing they’re being watched. Minnesota, especially its top players, skated with zero urgency and went 0-for-3 with the man advantage. The Wild had six skaters late to Dallas’ five and somehow gave up a 3-on-1.
So now it’s crunch time. Filip Gustavsson hasn’t been very good since Game 1. Maybe he needed Game 3 off for a break too? It sure seemed like a foregone conclusion the net was his for the entire series, but do you really think Evason will let a first-year playoff goaltender lose three in a row with a Hall of Famer on the bench? I’m almost positive we’ll see Fleury in Game 6 Friday at The X - two off days to let this one resonate.
I’m sorry to say I predicted the Game 5/6 situations after Game 4.
Seventy-eight percent of NHL teams who win Game 5 when it’s tied 2-2 win the series. The Wild has four times been eliminated on home ice - once by Dallas and St. Louis, and twice by Chicago.
Nuggets Prevail Late to Eliminate Wolves
Plenty of what ifs headed into the summer for the Wolves, but the biggest one will be what if Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid hadn’t missed the playoffs. Minnesota put up an amazing fight, tying the Nuggets through three quarters in Game 5 before Denver ultimately earned a 112-109 win to clinch the series. Add in Kyle Anderson’s facial injury, and you just weren’t winning in Denver with a six-man rotation.
A coming out party for Anthony Edwards - check out this block and fallaway jumper just minutes apart. Guards aren’t supposed to be able to jump that high.
But ANT didn’t attempt a shot in the fourth quarter until he tied the game with 1:46 left. Towns did the same 36 seconds later, but the Wolves just had no answer for Nikola Jokic late (or anytime in the series, really). Jokic put in an offensive rebound with 52.8 seconds left - the Nuggets’ 16th offensive rebound of the night. After ANT missed on the other end - and Jokic maybe got away with a foul - Jokic converted a 3-point play as KAT fouled out on the other end.
The Wolves STILL had a chance after Jokic missed a free throw with 2.5 seconds left. Down three, Chris Finch took a timeout and Edwards’ game-tying 3-point attempt was just long. The Nuggets surprisingly didn’t foul, up three.
It will be an interesting summer for the Wolves.
Tim Connelly, who traded a slew of draft picks for Rudy Gobert, could be headed to Washington for a similar job after one team. Gobert is too soft for this team. He was brutal last night, missing out on multiple key rebounds.
Finch just can’t get this team on the same page. Nick Nurse, Finch’s former coach and the 2020 NBA Coach of the Year, was fired last week.
I’d see what I could get from KAT. He just doesn’t do enough, especially in crunch time, for the max contract. He did score 21 in the second half last night, but it wasn’t enough. Changing the culture on this team may just mean cutting ties with the one guy left from the losing years.
I’d figure out a way to re-sign Reid, and you’ll need to if you ditch KAT and Gobert.
Ask ANT what type of players he’d like around him, and do it. Don’t screw up this generational talent.
Loons Earn Third-Round Win in U.S. Open Cup
Things got off to a rough start for the Loons in their U.S. Open Cup third round game at second tier USL Detroit City. The fell down 1-0 early but recovered for a 3-1 win to advance to round four. The U.S. Open Cup provides a chance for some “other” MLS players to see action - St. Louis Park’s own Emmanuel Iwe scored the game-winner for the Loons. The Round of 32 draw for the U.S. Open Cup will take place Thursday.
The Loons host FC Dallas in MLS action on Sunday at 8.
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