3 Things Noticed On A Frustrating Opening Weekend

 

Iowa played their first two games of the season under new head coach Brett McLean this past weekend, but all the pre-season hype would be spoiled in suffering a sweep by the Henderson Silver Knights.

There was a lot to observe, and I wanted to write a full recap, but when I started writing, it looked rather boring.

Instead, let’s talk about a couple of things I noticed while in attendance for these two games.

1: Special Teams Issues

Iowa went a combined 0-for-6 on the power play this weekend, and whenever they were on the ice for the power play, it looked disorganized.

The Wild were very conservative with shooting, resulting in constant back-and-forth passing. One flaw noticed was that multiple times in both games, they would pass to the slot, even if nobody was there to pick it up. This allowed Henderson to create some easy turnovers.

Meanwhile, on the penalty kill, Iowa allowed 3 out of 8 attempts from Henderson. I could compare this to last season’s unit, which ranked 30th in the league in PK%, but then again, it’s only the first two games, and it could change at any time. However, the Wild should really go back to the drawing table if they do not want to struggle throughout the season.

2: Khaira/Lucchini/Beckman

The Wild had a few flashes of offense, spearheaded by the line of Jujhar Khaira, Jake Lucchini, and Adam Beckman. Lucchini and Beckman scored goals on Friday, both assisted by Khaira. Then on Saturday, Lucchini and Beckman would record assists on Simon Johansson’s goal.

The line also has a good combination of speed and good stick handling, and could hopefully become a shining spot on the Iowa offense.

3. McIntyre Lacked

Zane McIntyre started in front of the net on Saturday, where he really struggled throughout all 3 periods.

Henderson only recorded 16 shots the whole game, but McIntyre let in 6(not counting an empty-net goal). Sure, some of it could be blamed on screens and relatively lax defensive play by the Wild, but a couple of the goals scored by Henderson could have been easily preventable.


It was a disappointing weekend for sure, but there is some confidence that the Wild can sort some of their problems out by next Friday when they travel north of the border to meet the Manitoba Moose.

Also, I need to mention this absolutely crazy fight between Kale Kessy and Henderson's Layton Ahac on Friday night. If you haven't seen the video for this, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?