Wild vs Ducks

Wild 1, Ducks 2

- Corey Perry is ridiculously talented. 
- Parros' mustache deserves it's own zip code it's so awesome.  First favorite tweet of the night: "Parros goalie interference, helped a bit by Schultz; Harding survived his mustache; Wild PP." from Russo. 
- Fuckin' All Star scoooooores!!  1-0 Wild.  Live it up now folks, let's see how long it lasts.  What- Zidlicky got an assist on that and it was a powerplay goal?  Hell has frozen over folks. 

Latest OttawaGh0st take on Dany:
 
Just brings me to tears laughing so hard every time one of these videos gets posted!
- Who are these guys?  10 minutes into the first period and we're living in the Ozone, forcing turnovers, shooting the puck like we were born to.  Am I watching the right channel?
 
- Note to Staubitz, oops - you're not here anymore.  Kassian takes on Parros and his mustache and it's a draw.  That's a win in my books when you're fightin' Parros.  Second favorite tweet of the night: "Big heavyweight bout by Kassian and Parros; Good shots both sides; I think Kassian got razor burn on his fists from that stache." yet another one from Russo.

- Ooh La La, Latendresse is tweeting, in French no less!  God Bless google translator.  @thetender48. 

- Harding better hope for a bungee cord from his valentine.  Stay in the net, dude!  Have to give him props though, looking great out there.  Waaay better than his last outing on Jan 31.   

- Prosser looking like a BEAST in the second period.  Keeps gettin' better. 
 
- Confusing to hear "Koivu" and see a Duck trying to score on Harding.  Pesky big brother Saku.  

- Jonas Hiller = Vacuum.  Keeps sucking up Wild shots on goal.

- Really nice to hear someone other than Doc Emery calling a game on NBCSports.  Need to have a break before playoffs start when I'll be hearing his voice ringing in my ears 24/7.

- Bad McMillan, Bad.  4 minute highsticking penalty for drawing blood.  Wild killed it off like it ain't no thang...who are these guys??   

- Buster doing the potty dance.  He's got good timing with the second period coming to an end.  He doesn't ask for much in life: bowl of food & water, potty breaks, hard run at the park and a soft bed to sleep on.  Oh yeah, throw in a good scratch in just the right places.  I need to pattern my life to that simplicity.  Everything I need to know I learned from my dog.

- Gigantor The Linesman: who is that guy?  He's like 8 feet tall.  Okay, it's 6 foot 9 inches but c'mon, that's huge!  Mike Cvik makes the NHL players look like pee-wee kids on the ice next to him.    

- Harding has stood tall all night long but finally gets beaten by Hagman and the game is tied 1-1.  Was that Mikko who turned the puck over? 

- Third favorite tweet of the night: "That at least shut down the Wave; what did I miss a memo the last games? Quit it." Russo on a roll tonight.

- Decided at last minute to tape the Westminster Dog Show instead of flipping back and forth.  Good decision. 

- Curses and Fire Ants on Corey Perry.  Ducks 2, Wild 1 with seven and a half minutes left.

- And now the Wild fall apart.  Bad decisions with the puck, inability to clear the zone.  They have to break this habit. 

- Last two minutes are frenetic!  It's not that the Wild played poorly during the first 58 minutes but man, if they had put in that kind of effort early on in the game they might have scored a goal or two more.  Entirely different outcome possible.  Giving Hiller his due cuz he was huge in net for the Ducks tonight. 

- Second game in a row where Heatley has produced but nobody else has.  Think he wants a trade? 

- Fourth favorite tweet of the night: "It's going to feel really good when the Wild is finally good after sticking with them through this. #positiveselftalk" courtesy of ms.conduct. 

Okay, off to Westminster to find out who's Best In Show - Lord Stanley knows it isn't the Wild.  

Wild Woes

Express Yourself
I haven't been able to post after the last few games.  Not because of technical difficulties.  I wrote several posts and ended up deleting them.  I found, upon review after walking away for awhile, that the posts were filled with hate, loathing, more than a few effinhiemers and not much else.  Not that venting isn't good for the soul but I hadn't written anything that the attendees of the last 2 home games weren't screaming at the top of their lungs in real time.  I felt like I should be contributing something more than that.  So I've tried to get down to the nitty gritty of it - the foundation of what's wrong with this hockey picture.  

Make no mistake about it - this team STINKS. It has for some time now. No news bulletin there. The paying fans figured that out 45 days ago.

Powerplay is NONEXISTENT and is UNACCEPTABLE.  

Defense is NONEXISTENT and is UNACCEPTABLE.  Completely unable to clear the zone or carry a puck out.  Refuses to protect their goalies, refuses to check with their bodies, refuses to stand up to the opponent on our own blue line, refuses to shoot the puck. 

Offense is NONEXISTENT to INCONSISTENT at best, and is UNACCEPTABLE.  Doesn't matter whether it's the first line or the fourth line.  No drive to the net, no shooting the puck, no standing in front of opponent's goalie, no trying for the rebound, no going into corners, no checking - whether it's fore, back or hip.

Goaltending is NONEXISTENT to INCONSISTENT at best, and is UNACCEPTABLE.  Backstrom is lost.  It's not just in the shootout, it's in regulation.  Sure there's the aforementioned sucky defense, but there are one to two soft goals Bax gives up in EVERY game these days.  Sure there's the aforementioned nonexistent offense, but when the Wild only score one or two goals per game having a goaltender who gives up one to two goals totally negates any goal(s) his teammates may have scored.  Harshes the mellow, rains on the parade, poops the party. 

No Leadership on the team.  Koivu isn't it.  He's too inconsistent when he does lead and he's too thin-skinned about it when the team doesn't play well.  In addition to that there aren't any guys on the team who consistently leave it all out there on every shift.  Yes, Dany Heatley has stepped up his game lately.  But that doesn't make him a leader.  Where was he six weeks ago?  Completely invisible, along with Setoguchi.  This team is lacking players who are willing to lay it all on the line every shift, every game - despite what the marketing geniuses came up with for this season.  And that's the subject of a whole other post in the near future. 

And Yet...

Yeo doesn't follow up the worst performance of the season (2.7.2012 against the Blue Jackets, led by Todd Richards no less) with a hard practice filled with effinhiemers and drills-till-they-puke. The Wild lost to the team in LAST PLACE IN THE ENTIRE LEAGUE.  Yeo opts instead for a Come To Jesus meeting. It kinda worked. The team came out against Vancouver with a better performance than the JAX game. That's not saying much though.  Insert any of the aforementioned afflictions the Wild suffer from and there's the breakdown of the Vancouver game even though the Wild did seem to have a little jump in their game compared to the last ten.       

Now???

Now Yeo is all of a sudden fed up and can't take it any more??  He's pissed off at the team??  What about that hideous loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets 2 nights before? The JAX are DEAD LAST in the league and the Wild played WORSE than them.  But against Vancouver, third in the league, he blows his top and finally tells the State Of Hockey residents what we knew 45 days ago - this team STINKS.  The only player to pay the price for bad play is Brad Staubitz who is placed on waivers.  Ummm, about two months too late.  Oh, and NOBODY wants him!  He's now playing in Houston making his NHL salary.     

And Yet...        

Yeo scraps yet another practice and has a second air-it-out-come-to-Jesus meeting in as many games.  WTF FOR??  So you can tell these guys they suck to their faces?  That's not a news bulletin for any of them.  Well, maybe for Koivu who was quoted saying he felt the team played well against the Canucks.  Lord Stanley, that's some shades of Martin Skoula never feeling he played badly in post game interviews.  Whatever Yeo said to the team didn't work.  It didn't make an impression.  It didn't mean shit because the Wild lost to the Blue Jackets AGAIN.  This time at home, giving Todd Richards every reason to have a shit-eating grin on his face as he left the bench after the final buzzer.  You think Colton Gilles wasn't smiling as well?  Good for them, they deserve it.  It kills me to say that but it's the truth.  The Wild?  Well, they took the day off afterwards, cuz they deserved it (:-0

Wild vs Ducks Morning Skate
I listened to KFAN's broadcast from the penalty box Tuesday morning.  Chuck Fletcher gave one of the most bland and evasive interviews of his career.  Russo declined to participate in it because "he and Chuck have had spoken to each other enough over the last few days."  C'mon, what the hell does that mean?  Paul Allen from KFAN had the mic to the ice and you could hear the Wild on the ice for their morning skate.  Very subdued, very quiet.  No chirping, no good natured ribbing or calling out to line mates.  Only Matt Kassian was vocal enough to be heard.  Everyone on air commented on the "deadness" of it.  Russo spoke again of how "fragile" the team is.  Fragile??  Multimillionaire players of a kid's sport are FRAGILE??  For the love of Gordy Howe, we're really reaching for reasons to excuse the fact that this group of men need to go out there and earn their pay, plain and simple.  I'm already tired of Mike Yeo and his cliché filled interviews about "care" and "game" and "drive" and "fight" and "mentality" and "process" and "culture".  Give it a rest and start hounding these grown men about earning their paychecks or getting cut loose.  The motivational crap isn't working, it hasn't been for over 60 days now.       

Wild at Columbus, Owen Nolan Retires, Little of This and a Little of That

Wild 1, Blue Jackets 3

After appearing to have gotten back on track for a couple of games the Wild rolled into Columbus and promptly played down to, I mean BELOW the level of the worst team in the NHL this season.  And to a team coached by Todd Richards no less.  And to a team who claimed Colton Gilles off of waiver no less.  There was one highlight for me in this game: Nate Prosser scoring his first NHL goal.  Russo's tweets regarding the Wild's power play kept me laughing through the tears over a game that the Wild should have dominated and come away with 2 points from.  Instead they lose to Todd Richards, Colton Gilles and a team that is ranked 30the in NHL by 11 points.  I could name names of Wild players who failed epically tonight but this just says it all:  Boooooo.       

The Angry Irishman Retires
Not too many NHL players are classier than Owen Nolan.  The fact that he played for the Wild during his 1200 game tenure makes me ever so proud.  Owen logged 132 games in Minnesota from 2008 thru 2010: 41 goals, 37 assists.  In every one of those games Owen gave 110% of himself.  He scored, he fought, he threw checks like nobody's business and even played on a broken ankle.  Cuz that's what a real NHL'r does.  He melted this Irishwoman's heart on more than one occasion.  He was capable of single-handedly carrying the team on his back during a game changing shift or by offering up his personal time at the Children's hospital or at one of the many player appearances I had the pleasure of attending.  Owen finished his career with the same team he led as their captain when he was a younger man, the San Jose Sharks.  They paid tribute to his career:
 
Did you catch that crushing check to Dany Heatley?  Click here for a trip down memory lane when Owen scored 25 goals for MN in his 2008-2009 season. 

Prosser's Legit
Nate did his hometown of Elk River, MN proud on Monday when he signed his first one-way NHL contract extension.  Nate's worked his butt off to get here and it's paid off.  How did Nate celebrate?  Well, by offering up his face as a punching bag in a decidedly one-sided fight with CBJ's Dorsett in Tuesday's game.  Not wanting that to be the last impression Nate shook that off and scored his first NHL goal to tie the game later in the same period.  Congratulations Nate!  
     
Zanon Pissing Me Off
Who the hell does Greg think he is, not talking to the press after bad games?  I'm really tired of him having no comment and refusing to speak to Russo when his play adversely affects the outcome of the game.  He's one of the veteran players on this team.  He's been lauded as Chuck-Norris-Tough and one of the most stand-up kind of guys you'd ever want on a team.  Where's your inner honey badger?  Where's your fortitude of steel?  Where's your balls, Greg?  Be a man, for the love of hockey.  

Blaming The Refs
People, just stop this.  Seriously, the Wild have been and always will be their own worst enemies.  Yes, refs blow calls on occasion but by and large the Wild get what they deserve, as do the rest of the teams in the NHL.   

Wild Trade...Ooh - Ahh!
Casey Wellman was traded to the New York Rangers for Erik Christensen(& Rangers 7th round pick in the 2013 draft) in an attempt to fill the holes left by injured Latendresse and Bouchard.  I'm not sure what went wrong with Casey's chance to crack to the Wild lineup given that he's a product of Yeo's coaching in Houston.  But it was clear he didn't 'pop' whenever he was called up.  I really like Casey and had high hopes for him.  I wish him all the best in New York.  I expect we'll be seeing and hearing good things about him soon, like we do for 90% of all the players the Wild trade away. 
On to Erik Christensen: played under Yeo and Fletcher before so the Wilds' transformation to becoming the Penguins Midwest continues.  He has NHL experience, not at the Seto or Heatley level but more than most of our Aeros boys do.  Erik is cheap, compared to a big name/top six forward.  He's looked really good in his first few games with us.   

How Much Is That Zhidlicky In The Window?
Mr. Whiney got to lace his skates up for the game in Dallas in an attempt to showcase his mad NHL skills to the rest of the teams in the league.  For a defenseman who's supposed to be known for his booming shots on goal and offensive play...well, that wasn't what we saw Saturday night.  Marek is apparently not familiar with the phrase "put up or shut up."  In Columbus he knocked into Backstrom, causing Nik to lose his stick.  As Falk handed Nik his stick to use Marek decided to leave his position to retrieve Nik's stick, thereby allowing CBJ's David Savard to score his first NHL goal.  I'm guessing a bag of used pucks is all we'll be offered for this loser.  Good thing we got Erik Christensen and a draft pick out of the Wellman trade.  And the signing of Nate Prosser - you better believe that's a clear indication that Zidlicky is sooo outta here. 

News Bulletin - Backstrom Sucks In The Shootout
Okay, this isn't really news to any of us Wild fans.  We've known it for years now.  And the fans are rabid to have Nik pulled in the shootout in favor of bringing in Josh Harding for a real chance at getting that 2nd important point of the game.  Russo and Gorg did a great Point - Counterpoint discussion on this subject during the Russo Radio segment on KFAN Tuesday morning: 2/7 - HR 1 - Russo Radio   I usually side with Russo on all things hockey but on this one I have to say I'm with Gorg.  Backstrom already knows he sucks in the shootout and if bringing in Hards is the answer for the time being then he should want what's best for the team, not his 'fragile' sense of confidence. 

NHL Hit Of The Year - Hands Down

It's a bird, It's a plane...It's Dan Paille :)  Sally was salivating on this play and I don't blame her.  Her boy Orpik done good - clean hit all the way.  Props to Paille for getting up and shaking it off.  That's Honey Badger Worthy!  

For Those Who Haven't Had A Ride On The Honey Badger Train