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!
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