Wild's Powerplay Prevails Over Oilers

With so much hoopla surrounding the team and the team itself putting an emphasis on the game, home openers are always my favorite games to go to.  The pre-game ceremonies were well done, as usual, with the introduction of some members of the inaugural (loudest ovation going to Darby and Walz), the announcement of the number one moment (Bruno's OT goal, obvious), and the introduction of the roster.  On to the game...

The Wild had a good game, not a solid 60 minutes (and as a Wild fan you start to expect the Wild to only play 2 solid periods of good hockey), but at least a good 45 minutes. The Wild came out pretty well in the first period, but they got bogged down by penalty troubles.  The Edmonton Oilers weren't able to connect on their powerplay chances early on as the penalty killers were on their game last night.  Antti Miettinen was able to get the Wild into the 2nd period with a 1-0 lead but the Wild did what they always do and came out sluggish in the 2nd.  For the first 10-15 minutes of the game it was all Edmonton, with Dustin Penner's powerplay tally and Tom Gilbert's rocket off of the face-off giving them a 2-1 advantage, but you never really felt like the game was out of the reach for the Wild.  The Wild were able to tally 3 unanswered goals, all on the powerplay,  two from Mikko Koivu and from Matt Cullen, and essentially put the game away.

Obviously the Wild was great on the powerplay against the Oilers going 4 for 6 last night and generating great opportunities with Cullen at the point and Brunette behind the net, the real question now will be whether or nor the Wild can generate those same chances even strength.  The pkers have to be the unsung heroes of the night with some debatable calls, but they were able to keep the Oilers in check sans the Penner goal.

Notes:

• Loud ovation for Pierre-Marc Bouchard when the players who weren't dressed were announced...and I giggled to myself at the polite applause when James Sheppard was announced (though I kind of felt bad when I saw him wave).
• I'm totally in love with Cullen now.  He was great on the powerplay and I definitely noticed him, in a good way, everytime he was on the ice. 
• Honestly, I didn't really notice the Oilers' young phenoms.  Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle were non-factors throughout the game, and I only noticed Magnus Paajarvi because of his size and him drawing penalities (and occasionally falling down).
• I don't really like the new game programs, it's probably because it's still the same price as the old ones but now they're smaller (just a folded up poster-sized paper).
• Oh, and I'm kind of late on this, but a great article by Mike Russo on former Wild now Oiler Kurtis Foster.
• Question: Were the refs in this game NHL refs or replacement refs because some of the calls were absurd.

UP NEXT: Saturday vs. Columbus Blue Jackets, 7:00pm CT

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Wild, 1 vs. Rangers, 2

With the way that this team has been playing, the Wild has as much of a chance to get into the playoffs as the Ottawa Senators. It was a night of what-ifs, and with the stretch the Wild have been on and with the position that they've put themselves in, they can no longer dwell on the what-ifs, and the what-ifs are no longer a comfort to fans. The Wild were outplayed by the Rangers, and basically had no puck possession, no sustained pressure in the offensive zone, so basically no offense at all. After Colton Orr took an additional roughing minor in his fight with Owen Nolan, Antti Miettinen took and ill-advised interference call in the the offensive zone, and negated the powerplay opportunity for the Wild. During the 4-on-4 play, with 4.4 seconds left in the first period, Nikolai Zherdev scored to give the Rangers the 1-0 lead going into the second period. The Wild weren't playing all that well in the first and going into the second, you thought that they would've gained momentum when Marian Gaborik scored his first goal since December 23 more than a minute and a half into the second period to tie up the game, but in less time than it took for the Wild to tie the game up, they were again trailing the Rangers when Scott Gomez scored 43 seconds after Gaborik tied the game (now you know you didn't have the game tied long when the opposition scored before you're goal was even announced on the PA). I don't know how the Wild expected to tie the game when with 6 minutes left in regulation the team takes a too many men on the ice penalty, and just when the penalty is about to expire, Nick Schultz does a bone head move and shoots the puck over the glass. That's four minutes of wasted time, and with two minutes left to try and generate offense the Wild did nothing. With Niklas Backstrom on the bench for the extra attacker, the Wild did nothing...well, not nothing, Kim Johnsson took as slashing call with 33 seconds left in regulation to put the Wild out of its misery.

Just the Wild's luck that the Anaheim-Nashville game goes into extra sessions (and the only thing I was rooting for in that game was that it would end in regulation) and each teach has at least a point. Edmonton lost to Detroit, but St. Louis shutout the Kings, so the Wild are now 11th in the Western Conference...and quickly sinking...

Notes:

• Craig Weller and John Scott were the healthy scratches.
• Colton Gillies had a TOI of 3:02; he was on the ice for Gomez's game winning goal, took one shift after (10 minutes between the shifts) and was benched in the third.
• Scary incident in the first when Kurtis Foster lost an edge going into the boards and one of the refs fell on top of him, his skate hitting Foster's head; Foster was OK and played the rest of the game.
  
• Stats: NYR won 65% of the faceoffs (which is closer than what it really was), 70% at even strength; Johnsson was -2 last night
  
• It was a pretty physical game with 60 total hits in the game and "gatherings" after whistles; even Gaborik was physical, credited with 4 hits and pretty good one on Markus Naslund.
• Clutterbuck vs. Avery, Nolan vs. Orr

UP NEXT: Today @ New York Islanders, 6:00pm CT

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Avalanche, 2 vs. Wild, 3 SO

Mikko Koivu said that it may have been the biggest goal of the year so far for the team, it probably is the biggest goal in Nick Schultz's career (seeing as he only has 21 career goals in 7 seasons in the NHL), but it was the overall effort of the play that created the game-tying goal with 1:46 left in regulation that draws my praise. It was an unbelievable play (and great effort) by Eric Belanger to keep the puck from going over the blue line and getting it to Dan Fritsche, who eventually feed the puck to Schultz for his second goal of the season, and first since December 20 in St. Louis a span of 38 games. The Wild started the game out well, getting good scoring chances (a couple from Boogey), but after a good powerplay from the Wild when Cody McCormick took a penalty, the Avalanche turned on the pressure and were getting better scoring opportunities. The game went into the second with no scoring until Cody McLeod scored 9:21 into the second off of a Ben Guite wrap around. Stephane Veilleux scored 1:44 after McLeod tying the game at 1 when he tipped in a Martin Skoula shot from the point. Ryan Smyth scored almost 3 minutes after to give Colorado the one goal lead going into the third period, and then fans just got a sinking feeling going into the third look at the Avs stats: the Avs were 19-0-0 going into the third with a lead. For as bad as a team that Colorado has been this season, those were numbers that you wished that you could just ignore, and when Nick Schultz tied the game with just under two minutes to go in regulation, I was just glad that they got a point. The game eventually went into the shootout where Niklas Backstrom was able to stop Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos (Wojtek Wolski scored...don't feel bad Backs, he's the NHL's best shootout scorer, going 10 for 11 this season) as Koivu and Marek Zidlicky (Pierre-Marc Bouchard was stopped)scored on Peter Budaj for the win, and the two points.

How good does a WIN make you feel?...at least for a couple of hours.

Notes:

• Happy birthday to Craig Weller yesterday! And his birthday present was being the healthy scratch for the Wild, along with John Scott and Colton Gillies. Brent Burns is still out and according to Russo, it'll be a while before Burns gets back.

• Kurtis Foster was back in the lineup for his second game of the season, his home debut, and his first game back at the X in a exactly a year, ironically it was against the Colorado Avalanche.

• Zidlicky is now 3 for 5 in shootouts as all 3 of his goals in the shootout have been the shootout deciding goal.

• Tom Reid, the Wild's color analyst on the radio, has shut it down to recuperate from knee surgery; Kevin Falness, the Wild's radio producer, will be filling in for Reid.

• 5 of the last 8 games for the Wild have needed extra sessions to decide the winner, in those five games the Wild have won 2 (one in OT, one in SO) and lost 3 (two in OT, one in SO).

• The Wild's April 5th game at Detroit has been picked up by NBC, so instead of a 4:00pm CT game start the game will start at 11:30am CT; it is only the 2nd time in franchise history that the Wild will be televised on NBC. NBC has also picked up a Detroit, Chicago game at the end of the season (and here I thought that NBC only thought that there were four teams in the NHL).

UP NEXT: Friday @ New Jersey Devils, 6:00pm CT (great...we get a well rested Martin Brodeur, because he won't be playing tonight against the Hurricanes, coming off of his 552nd NHL leading win...that's just wonderful!)

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Wild Rallys from 3-0 to Win in OT

Who would've thunk it, huh? I really didn't (as you can see in my random thoughts), and I'm positive those in Minnesota watching this late game didn't, but the Wild rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in OT to steal 2 points from the San Jose Sharks. Gosh, how excited was Mikko Koivu when he scored the GWG in OT with 13.3 seconds left?, and he outta be. After Joe Pavelski scored his second goal of the game in the second to make it 3-0 Sharks, this game looked done for the Wild, but the Wild did what so many teams have done against them this season. The Wild scored two late goals in the second period 1:28 apart by Koivu and Pierre-Marc Bouchard to cut the deficit to one goal, and the momentum was swinging toward the Wild. And with 7:37 left in regulation, the Wild complete the comeback off of a Marek Zidlicky bouncer from behind the red line that got through Brian Boucher (I love that Zidlicky didn't even know that he scored until his teammates told him because he was headed for a change).

There's just something about this team...just when you think that there done and out, they pull you back in with a win like this against a team as good as the Sharks. But I've still jumped ship, and am planning to stay off until I see what happens at the end of this road trip. Maybe then I'll consider coming back and hoping the Wild make the playoffs...for now, I'm a pessimist (even though the Wild are only a point out of 8th).

Here's a look at the game tying goal by Zidlicky (LOL at the lone Wild fan cheering that goal):

Notes:

• The Wild weren't the only team last night that rallied from a 3-0 deficit as the LA King defeated the Dallas Stars in 5-4 in OT.
• The Wild had no powerplay opportunities in the game, only the 4th time in franchise history that this has happened.
• Russo: "Apparently, by the way, Owen Nolan was very sick tonight. He played through it, but he got sick — so to speak — throughout the game on the bench. He only played nine minutes."...You gotta love his dedication to the team and the game.
  
• It looks like Kurtis Foster is going to get his first NHL game this season in almost a year since breaking his leg at HP Pavilion on March 19th either in LA or Anaheim; apparently he could've played last night, but expecting that would've been too much.
• Anyone see how Calgary's trades did last night? Jokinen with two goals, including the GWG, and Leopold with a goal.
  

UP NEXT: @Los Angeles Kings, 3:00pm CT

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Oilers, 2 vs. Wild, 3 SO

Pretty crucial win for the Wild yesterday against Edmonton, but you can say that about every game until the end of the regular season as the Wild look to make the playoffs, I just wished that they didn't give Edmonton the 'loser point' yesterday...anyways...

Solid game by the Wild against the Oilers yesterday, not totally exciting, but at least there wasn't any major brain farts by the team. Niklas Backstrom had a solid game yesterday, even after being run over by the Oilers a couple of times, but where were the Wild while Backstrom was being run. I understand not wanting to take a retalitory penalty, but you got to protect the goalie, especially this goalie who has stolen games for the Wild, and especially the way that the Oilers were taking a run at Backs. Eric Belanger scored late in the first period to tie the game at 1, and Antti Miettinen (who actually didn't 'miss-the-net-again') got his first career shorthanded goal to give the Wild a 2-1 lead, but with a little over 6 minutes to play in the game Sam Gagner scores to tie up the game, and it headed into extra sessions. Backstrom stops all four attempts by the Oilers in the shootout, and Koivu scores the game winner to give the Wild the extra point. With the win, the Wild take over sole possession of second place in the NW division with 57 points, one point ahead of the Vancouver Canucks.

Notes:

• Great cele by Koivu with the shootout winner, just totally HILARIOUS! And he's sporting a pretty nice shiner too; wonder where he got that?
• With 7 hits against the Oilers, Clutterbuck becomes the first player to reach 200 hits this season.
• Schultz played in his 500th career NHL game; Nolan played in his 1,100th career NHL game.
  
• Wow, an actual win against a team that played the night before.
• Kurtis Foster played with the Houston Aeros in his first game since breaking his femur in a game against San Jose last March. Foster had 2 PIMs and didn't register a point in his return to game action, but it's obviously a huge step for him, and it won't be long until he'll be in the Wild lineup again. Aeros won 6-3 over the Chicago Wolves.
  

UP NEXT: Wednesday vs. Colorado Avalanche, 7:00pm CT

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