Wild 1, Islanders 2
UGLY - UGLY - UGLY
I could only listen to the KFAN stream from the Wild's website for this game as NHL GameCenter had the game blacked out. I can't imagine that was due to lack of ticket sales for the Wild since they ultimately announced a crowd total of 18,209. It must have been the Islander's doing, at least that's what I'm going with. Whatever the reason I was pretty bummed to say the least, given that I really wanted to see Jarod Palmer's NHL debut as well as seeing Kyle's line move up to the second line slot. I didn't think this would be a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination but I figured it would be good to see how the guys worked to fill in the gaps left by Koivu, Bouchard, Latendresse, Setoguchi and Wellman.
UGLY - that's the word of the game. Our guys were definitely not playing Yeo Hockey. Stupid penalties, bad passing, lack of possession, inability to clear our zone. It didn't help that the refs were blatantly not calling penalties on the Islanders throughout the entire game. I don't usually like to call out the reffing but these guys were so bad I thought we were back in pre-season. The fans booed the team off the ice after the second period: Islanders outshot the Wild 15-4. Part of me was thinking it was undeserved due to the team missing 4 key players. Part of me was thinking it was warranted considering the Wild's been touting how interchangeable the Houston players and the Wild players are due to Yeo's system. I'm going with the warranted boos because the guys, regardless of AHL or NHL affiliation, were not playing hockey the way Yeo expects them to. Jarod Palmer was the only player who should have any kind of a rough time adjusting since it was his NHL debut. The rest of the guys have been here, done this enough that it should be second nature. To make my point: 4 of the 9 shots the Wild took through the second period were from Jarod Palmer. Heatley, Cullen, Clutterbuck, Brodziak: ZERO.
The third period saw our guys skating better and the Islanders making bad plays. Thanks to Cullen forcing a turnover DanysTurtleneck got the puck on net and Clutterbuck put the rebound past Montoya to tie the game. They held on to force overtime which guaranteed the Wild remained in first place. Jarod Palmer was ROBBED of his first NHL goal and Backstrom stood on his head at the other end during the five minutes of OT. Msconduct tweeted the Aeros' stats for shootouts - Zero percent. Not what I wanted to see. What The Fuck was Yeo thinking having Zhidlicky in the shootout??? Cullen and Heatley couldn't get the job done either and the Islanders win the game in the shootout.
Bad News: Wild on three game losing streak.
Good News: Wild have 2 points in the last three games they've lost.
Favorite Tweets From The Game
3. RussostribMichael Russo - end of 2nd period:
2. ChurchOfYeoChurch of Yeo - Second intermission sermon: PLAY THE F**KING GAME!
1. walz3737Wes Walz - 1 minute into the 3rd period: Wild have them right where they want them..
I'm sure the Islander's back up goalie has heard this all of his life but it's just too good to pass up:
Kiss A Boo-Boo, Make It Better
From Russo:
The Wild have sustained 112 man games lost to injury through 33 games. Here’s a look at some of the key ones:
Player; Position; Injury; Dates Missed; Games Missed
Cal Clutterbuck; W; upper body/2 thighs; sporadic; 4
Casey Wellman; W; wrist; Dec. 14-present; 2+
Clayton Stoner; D; Broken finger; Oct. 29-Nov. 12; 7
Devin Setoguchi; W; Knee; Dec. 8-present; 5+
Greg Zanon; D; groin; Oct. 22-Nov. 27; 16
*Guillaume Latendresse; LW; concussion; Nov. 12-Dec. 10; 16+
Josh Harding; G; neck; Dec. 8-14; 4
Justin Falk; D; upper body; Nov. 28-present; 9+
Marco Scandella; D; concussion; Nov. 13-19; 4
Marek Zidlicky; D; concussion; Nov. 17-Dec. 13; 13
Mike Lundin; D; back; Oct. 8-Nov. 27; 23
Mikko Koivu; C; leg; Dec. 16-present; 1+
Niklas Backstrom; G; groin; Dec. 4-6; 2
Pierre-Marc Bouchard; W; nose/head; Dec. 14; 2+
*sidelined again with a concussion
West Coast Trip Coming Up
Late night games for the week before Christmas against the Canucks, Flames and Oilers. For those of you who will be up late wrapping presents, addressing cards and baking cookies you'll have some good company at least. I think it will be a good week to put together some posts filled with some fun holiday themes and funny hockey folks to follow via twitter, blogs and web sites.
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