All Shook Up, Still On Top

Wild 3, Tampa Bay 1

Home Boy Makes Team Debut
Mike Lundin, for all the homers out there, made his Wild debut.  Mike is from Burnsville and played high school hockey for Apple Valley.  He's been sidelined since training camp with back spasms and is coming off of a conditioning stint in Houston.  The first game timing is great from the standpoint that Lundin came to the Wild from Tampa Bay.  The Daggett kids (and Paula, truth be known) are over the moon for this guy so you know who was cheering the loudest from our section.  He is delicious to dwell upon, I'll give you Daggett ladies that much. 
**Over 19 minutes of ice time and 5 blocked shots - all while the broadcasters were stating Mike was struggling, pffft.   
    
Warrior Returns
Greg Zanon returned to the lineup Monday night as well and true to form he blocked a shot on his first shift and telling Backstrom: "I got your back, good buddy."  Greg blocked 3 shots in the first period alone.  Chuck Norris is envious.   

Familiar Faces
Always nice to see former Wild players come to town: Marc Andre (TeaCup) Bergeron, Adam Hall and Dominic Moore. 

New Faces
Coach Yeo made his unhappiness with the team's effort very clear and promptly called up David McIntyre and Casey Wellman (yet again) to take over for the newly demoted Nate Prosser and Warren Peters.  Nate needs to focus on what got him here and then be ready for the next time Yeo calls.  Colton Gilles is the healthy scratch - I would have said Stuupitz but that's just me.  Colton's game as dropped so he'll need to bag it after practices and get his game back to where Yeo wants it. 

Mixing It Up
Coach Yeo changing up the lines and gives Cal a spot on the first line in tonight's game.   

Young Pups Recognized
Brett Bulmer and Zack Phillips are invited to tryout for Team Canada's National Junior Team.    

Heatley Sucking
There, I said it.  It doesn't seem to matter who Yeo pairs him up with he can't seem to generate anything except turnovers in our zone.  I'm soured on Heatley but am willing to look at from a different perspective: is Koivu water to Heatley's oil?  Is it that those two need to be split up?  Who drops to second line if that's the issue?  My thoughts are expressed below as the game unfolds.   

First period - awful for the Wild. 
Turnovers (see above reference to Heatley) were costly and the Ning took the lead 1-0.  The boys start to get their poop in a group as the buzzer sounds. 
Second period - much better for Wild. 
Clutterbuck nets his 5th goal in nine games, this one a short-handed beauty from Koivu.  Cal has scored 3 of the 4 short-handed goals for the Wild this season.  The Wild are tied for second in the NHL for shorties.  Hmmm, remind anyone of Wes Walz?  Koivu has set Cal up on all three of his shorties.  Hmmm, anyone think Cal should stay on the first line with Koivu?  Koivu has six game point streak going.   
Nick Johnson battles like Zanon for the puck and feeds a pass to PMB who buries it for the 2-1 lead. 
Brodziak hits the post a dozen times but that just shows he's driving to the net.  It'll go in one of these times, Kyle.
Bergeron of the Lightning has as many turnovers as Heatley.  Good thing they're not on the same team.     
Spurgeon, not any taller than Martin St. Louis, is monster big on the ice in this period.
Schultz even got a shot off, I believe.          
Third period - Heatley, continues his downward spiral and takes a tripping penalty right off the bat, handing Tampa a powerplay.  Stamkos and St. Louis try to make Backstrom look bad but Nik says NO!!
Tampa passing is HID-E-US.  Wild are really lucky on several rushes because of it. 
Stoner having a rough night as well, maybe feels bad for Heatley?
OMG - Stuupitz almost had a good shift with McIntyre missing an open net due wobbling puck. 
Brodziak to Johnson, Johnson trips on the blue line but while sprawling he still sends the puck towards the net. 
Bouchard with another shot on goal - keep it up PMB!!
Heatley can't buy a goal.  He's in the middle of 3 point blank plays and can't his stick on the puck. 
Powe takes butt-end of Malone's stick, by accident, goes to bench bleeding.  Why wasn't that called for highsticking?  Oh, RefNCoach, please 'splain this one to us. 
Johnson determined to score and just misses as the last 2 minutes tick off. 
Heatley again and again, can't get the puck in the net.
Koivu takes a brilliant feed from Spurgeon and does what Heatley can't.  Wild win 3-1 and Koivu nets his 100th goal in the NHL!! 

Tweet Of The Game
Russo's : "Backstrom denies Shannon on breakaway because it wasn't in a shootout."  Funny, cuz it's true.  Backstrom was in his place of zen and peace Monday night so he must have gotten some sleep...meaning new baby at home is sleeping. 
Runner Up goes to Wysyinski: "Pretty sure I just witnessed a sequence in which Dany Heatley couldn't buy an *empty net* goal."

UP NEXT - Wild at Edmonton...REVENGE TIME!
  

Home For The Holiday

Too Much Tryptophan
The day after Thanksgiving Day game is historically a good one for the Wild, having won the majority of those matinee meetings while the rest of the world was busy shopping.  There have been a couple of stinkers and last Friday was one of them.  It wasn't the worst game the Wild have played on Vicki & Dee's Annual Day After Thanksgiving Game Date.  No, that honor goes to the 2007 Wild team who managed to lose 4-0 to the pathetic, anemic Columbus Blue Jackets.  Vicki and I stood up to leave on a number of occasions during that fiasco.  We were so pissed off we couldn't even speak the whole way back to our cars.
After the win over the Preds the night before Thanksgiving this year (Wild hosted & beat the Preds last year too, BTW) I felt sure our guys would come out rolling for the win on Friday.  I especially wanted them to do well knowing that Vicki was starting a new tradition with Emily for this game.  And it was the Oilers for crying out loud - we OWN the Oilers, especially at home. 
Whether it was too much turkey, too much shopping Friday morning or getting too cocky from the winning streak, the Wild were pretty much cooked birds from the first drop of the puck.  Don't even get me started on what a waste of bench space Staubitz was for this game...what a moron.  He's my "why, God, why" player of the Yeo era. 

Leftover Turkey
I looked forward to Sunday's game thinking the guys would respond like they did in California and we'd be right as rain.  After an extremely sweet and very emotional tribute to Derek Boogaard the guys got right to business and scored first on the powerplay - beautiful goal by Cullen.  Calgary got the next 2 goals due to some shoddy defensive play and an absentminded goalie for the Wild.  Evidently becoming a father left Backstrom in a place of shock and nonsleep, not his usual place of zen and peace.  The Wild tied the game up but Calgary chased Backstrom from the net by scoring for the third time before the 10 minute mark of the first period.  Harding came in, alternately standing on his head and laying on his back, making saves like he was born to it.  The Wild had a couple of good shifts in the second but the powerplay was listless - to the point of getting booed by the home crowd.  The third period got off to a bad, bad start: Harding was on a field trip somewhere out of the net.  Calgary made it 4-2.  And then they scored again.  Put a fork in it, the Wild are done.  While they've owned the third period in recent games, they aren't the Red Wings - the only team I know of that can overcome a 5-2 deficit in the waning moments of the third period.  The Wild got booed off the ice when the final buzzer went off.  They deserved it.  Yeo was not a happy coach during the post game presser.  Not. Happy.       
My favorite moment of the game: Iginla chirped the Wild bench on his way to his own bench and one of our guys squirted him with a water bottle.  Funny as hell, but that's unsportsmanlike and off to the penalty box went Stuupitz...not that he's ever missed when he's not on the ice.            
  
Wild fans have had a taste of winning and we're hungry for more.  We've seen the team all pulling on the same rope and it's a beautiful thing.  Now cut the crap boys, and get back to playing Yeo's way.  Tampa Bay is in town and you have the opportunity to take my second favorite eastern conference team down.    

Chance Of A Lifetime
It made for some funny headlines around the league but I'm sure it was simply nerve wracking for Paul Deutsch.  With Backstrom attending to the birth of his first child and Matt Hackett's plane from Houston not arriving until 6:00 p.m. the Wild needed some backup insurance for the net.  Paul fit the bill and stepped up to the challenge, signing an amateur tryout contract for the game on November 23.  He's no stranger to the Wild nets, as you'll read in the link to Russo's Rants, but I'm sure Paul never dreamed he'd be dressing for real at 51 years of age.  I'm guessing that's one less thing on his bucket list.

Hockey Players Get It Done 
Kris Letang gets his nose broken, is treated by the team physician and then returns to the game to net the winning goal in overtime.  Sidney who??  Click here for story and videos.  Hockey, real men play it.    

Daddy!
Niklas Backstrom became a first time father this last week. I'm sure he's getting lots of congratulations and advice from all the dads on the team.  I'm sure he's getting lots of hands on training in the diaper changing room too.  That could be why his glove saves are off...just sayin'.  Onnea, Niklas!     

The Derek Boogaard Tribute   
I remember the weather when I heard of Derek's passing.  It had been trying to rain, just spattering here and there, all morning.  As I looked at my phone to see the text message "Derek Boogaard Dead" the skies opened up and the rain came in a heavy rush.  It was appropriate since it matched my sobbing tears.  How appropriate that as the Wild presented their tribute to Derek on Sunday the rain started here in Georgia.  Not torrential or a downpour, but a nice gentle rain that left the earth smelling sweet.  God Bless the Boogaard family and Derek's memory. 


You may have to go to the multimedia link on the Wild home page to access the video.  The NHL team sites aren't exactly the most user friendly in terms of video sharing.  

 

Taking On The Blues, Having the Blues

Wild 3, Blues 2 In Shootout

Greetings from Georgia, Y'All - where we're still wearing tshirts & shorts.  Before any of you Minnesnowtans get all up in my grille, just chillax my homies.  I am in weather heaven down south here!  Since it's my blog I get to write about how great it is be outside without a parka, mittens, hat, scarf and snowboots on.  I drove home from the park today with all four windows down on November 19th.  Clearly, I am in the right part of the world these days.    

I am not missing this AT. ALL.

I am being punished by the Hockey Gods for having left the State of Hockey.  That's my price to pay for still having the AC on instead of turning on the heating blanket before leaving for the arena. It is a physical pain I feel when I look at the clock and am reminded that I should be driving to the arena to meet up with Vicki before the game. I still can't believe that we're not heading down the stairs together into the lobby of gate 1 with the big decision to make: watch warmups on the glass, get us some corn dog dippers or let me drool over Wes Walz doing the FSN pregame with Kevin Gorg. I miss the feeling of being "home" at the X. I miss watching Backstrom do his goalie porn moves in person... heavy sigh.  

Vicki, nobody else will get this, but Thanks for your version of this:      


Enough of that - let's talk some hockey, Stanley!

So, the Blues have a new coach since the last time we played them.  In fact, Davis Payne was fired the night after the Wild beat the Blues 14 days ago.  Ken Hitchcock is the bench boss now for the Blues and the team seems to be on the right track again.  They had a 4 game winning streak going into Saturday night's tilt and were just itching to shut down the Wild's 3 game winning streak at home.

1st Period - The team came out with speed and determination.  They were actually defending so well that the Blues got ZERO shots off in the first 7 minutes.  Third line should be the first line, just sayin'.  Why Koivu refused a clear shot is beyond me.  Wild have a bad line change and recover well but then our guys decide to start up a bakery - churning out turnovers for the Blues.  Harding staved off a couple of flurries in front of him but ultimately gave up a rebound that Backes pounced on & the Blues led 1-0. 
2nd Period - Clutterbuck takes a charging call - Lord, help me from becoming a homer but c'mon refs...WTF are you seeing that NOBODY else does???  Maybe it's the snow and the feeling of the holidays fast approaching...Mikko Koivu, all by himself, shoots and scores a short handed goal.  Christmas comes early!  It's his, wait for it...wait for it...SECOND goal of the season.  Game tied 1-1.  Harding had to make some big saves, and he didn't disappoint.  Koivu at the net going for rebounds - who is this guy?  Blues owned this period hands down.  VERY chippy game by the end of the second and I thought for sure there was going to be a scrum at the buzzer. 
3rd Period - Extremely defensive game in the 3rd period...1 shot on goal by both teams until almost half way through.  Crap - perfect pass in front of our net and Harding gets beat by Oshie.  Blues up 2-1.  The Wild are robbed at gun point by Halak every time they drove to the net.  Not for a lack of trying, the Wild are being stuffed big time.  Koivu spent more time at the opponent's net Saturday night than he has all season and it paid off in a BIG WAY - shoots, he scores!!  Tied game with just over a minute left.  OVERTIME, BABY!
OT - Minnesota got pinned down in their own zone for the majority of the overtime.  When Seto gained puck possession his linemates all bailed on him for a change...grrr.  Blues just owned the Wild zone and Yeo had to call timeout in order to get his guys a breather with under a minute to go. 
Shootout - Going in I'm glad it was Josh in net, sorry Backstrom.  Koivu scored!  Doesn't count as a hat trick, but heck - my hat's off to him: shorty, pp goal & SO goal.  Blues scored to tie it.  Cullen scored the winning goal - his wife will have good feedback for him after the game!  The team cleared the bench, swarming Matt Cullen and the props to Josh Harding were sweet to see.