Power in North, chaos in South as Pac-12 reaches midseason
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Eric Staal and Mikael Grandlund scored and Devan Dubnyk stopped 27 of 28 shots to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
Brendan Perlini scored and Darcy Kuemper stopped 30 shots in his season debut for Arizona. Kuemper was making his first appearance against the franchise that drafted him in 2009. He spent parts of five seasons in Minnesota before leaving as a free agent in 2017.
Staal scored the gamewinner with 13:42 to play by converting after a mad scramble in front of the net. After Kuemper stopped Ryan Suter’s initial shot, Jason Zucker tapped it across the crease to Staal, who buried it for his second goal of the season.
The Coyotes entered the night having scored just two goals in four games, including three shutout losses. But they opened the scoring midway through the first period when Perlini scored his first of the season on the power play.
With Greg Pateryn in the box for hooking, Perlini took a pass below the right circle, walked in on Dubnyk and flicked the puck over the goalie’s left shoulder.
The Wild tied it early in the second on Granlund’s second goal of the season. Granlund gathered a pass from Jared Spurgeon near the blue line, skated into the high slot and fired a wrist shot that appeared to fool Kuemper, beating him on the glove side.
Kuemper atoned for that miss just minutes later with a sprawling save to rob Staal on a 3-on-1. He later stopped a one-timer by Zach Parise, who was alone at the left post after taking a pass from Charlie Coyle.
NOTES
Wild captain Mikko Koivu missed the game to attend the birth of his third child. . Minnesota F Matt Hendricks crawled off the ice and limped to the locker room in the last minute of the first period. He did not return. . F Josh Archibald played his first game of the season for Arizona. He missed the previous four games with a lower-body injury.
Associated Press
At the midway point of the college football season, the Pac-12 has already been eliminated from the College Football Playoff debate.
Washington has two losses. So does Stanford. Oregon is the highest-ranked team at No. 12 in the AP Top 25, but has a terrible resume for playoff consideration. And the South is absent from the rankings.
The North is where the power lies, with four teams — Oregon, Stanford, Washington State, Washington — all having a manageable path to winning the division title and a spot in the conference championship game.
The South is ... well, the South.
Here’s a look at how Associated Press writers covering the Pac-12 view the best of the conference at the midpoint of the season:
Oregon was picked to finish third in the North in the preseason media poll. Cristobal has changed the attitude and approach with the Ducks and Oregon would be unbeaten if not for its late collapse at home against Stanford. The Ducks also appear to have the easiest path to a North Division title and a spot in the conference title game with matchups against Washington State and Utah appearing to be the only major challenges remaining. But both of those will be on the road.
Honorable mention: Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre.
Offensive Player of the Year: Colorado WR Laviska Shenault Jr
The sophomore was a relative unknown before the season started. He had seven catches and no touchdowns during his very limited action in his freshman season. It took less than one game for Shenault to surpass that reception total this season and no one has stopped him yet. Shenault has 60 receptions for 780 the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-100 on Tuesday night.
Golden State needed a strong fourth quarter to win on a festive night after the two-time defending champions received their 2018 rings in a pregame ceremony shortly before tipoff and began the final season at Oracle Arena before a move across San Francisco Bay to new Chase Center .
“It’s a great move for the organization. We know that but this place is special, so we want to make sure this is a special season,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Klay Thompson shot just 5 of 20 for 14 points while center Damian Jones scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Warriors in his first career start and 26th game.
Paul George scored 27 points for the Thunder, who struggled to find an offensive groove while missing star Russell Westbrook yards and six touchdowns through six games, although he was slowed last week against Southern California by a toe injury. Honorable mention: Oregon QB Justin Herbert.
Defensive Player of the Year: Washington LB Ben BurrKirven
Burr-Kirven is the Pac12 leader in tackles and it’s not even close. Burr-Kirven has 20 more total tackles than any other player in the conference. He’s been the anchor of a Washington defense that’s had most of the praise directed toward its secondary. Burr-Kirven is averaging more than 13 tackles per game and had a game with 20 tackles against Arizona State.
Honorable mention: Utah LB Chase Hansen.
Freshman of the Year: Oregon State RB Jermar Jefferson
For a program in a full rebuild, Jefferson is a true star in Corvallis. Jefferson is leading the Pac-12 averaging 144 yards per game rushing and has 12 touchdowns. He’s rushed for at least 100 yards in four of the past five games, including 254 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Arizona State. Jefferson has two games with four rushing TDs already in his freshman season.
Honorable mention: USC QB J.T. Daniels.
Most Surprising Team: Washington State
The Cougars (5-1, 2-1) were picked to finish fifth in the Pac-12 North, yet are ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25 entering this week’s showdown with Oregon and have control of the North Division race in their hands. The Cougars have benefited from a friendly schedule, but they beat Utah at home and are a blocked field goal against Southern California away from being undefeated.
Honorable mention: Oregon
because of knee surgery last month.
Oklahoma City trailed by 10 at the break then came out of halftime making 9-of12 shots to go ahead 69-66 before the Warriors rallied.
Versatile Warriors AllStar Draymond Green, limited during the preseason by a sore knee, wound up with two points, 13 rebounds and five assists in nearly 33 minutes. Kerr plans to monitor his minutes in the early games.
“He told me if you look tired, I’m taking you out, so, maybe I’ll try to hide it,” Green joked at morning shootaround.
Curry, who shot 11 for 20 with five 3s, notched 17 30-point performances during his injury-shortened 2017-18 season.
These teams met in a season opener for the first time — though the Warriors won on the road against the Seattle SuperSonics in 1983.
Golden State lost last year’s opener at Oracle after a title run, 122-121 to the Rockets.
Most Surprising Player: Washington State QB Gardner Minshew
No one was quite sure what to expect from the graduate transfer stepping into the uncomfortable situation of being the quarterback filling the spot that was supposed to be occupied by Tyler Hilinski before Hilinski’s suicide last January. Minshew is averaging 403.7 yards per game passing — best in the country by nearly 70 yards — and has thrown 19 touchdowns against just four interceptions.
Honorable Shenault. mention:
Most Disappointing Team: Arizona
There was buzz the Wildcats (3-4, 2-2) should be the favorites in the South before the season with all the excitement surrounding the arrival of Kevin Sumlin. Very little has gone right for the Wildcats, beginning with their seasonopening loss to BYU. The Wildcats are eighth in scoring offense, 10th in scoring defense and 11th in total defense. It hasn’t been a good debut for Sumlin.
Honorable mention: Washington. That’s probably not fair to Washington (5-2, 3-1), but any hopes the conference had of making the CFP rested largely with the Huskies. With two losses, those playoff aspirations are dead.
Most Disappointing Player: Arizona QB Khalil Tate
Just like his Wildcats, there was a ton of hype around Tate, who entered the season as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. But the usually mobile dual-threat QB has been rather pedestrian. Most shocking has been the lack of a running game from Tate, who hasn’t topped 40 yards rushing in a game this season. Tate aggravated an ankle injury last week against Utah.
Honorable mention: Stanford RB Bryce Love. Injuries have derailed Love’s season and ended his preseason Heisman hopes.
MOMENT OF SILENCE
The Warriors showed a photo of late Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen on the big screen wearing a Portland hat, offering a tribute and moment of silence. Allen, a Microsoft co-founder who also owned the Seattle Seahawks, died Monday in Seattle from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to his company Vulcan Inc. He was 65
ROCK THE VOTE
Kerr encouraged fans to register to vote in a #RockTheVote message on the scoreboard, while the Warriors also did so on social media with Twitter and Facebook posts.
THE RINGS
Players’ rings — what the team said are the first reversible championship rings ever — were lowered from the rafters with blue and yellow lightsabers.
Kerr called them “obscenely beautiful” and noted he much prefers the banner raising for its significance.