I’d like to think that throughout my 4+ years of writing about hockey for Bloguin and others that I tend to stay fairly objective in my observations and thoughts about the Wild. Don’t get me wrong, I love this team even when it drives me to near madness or causes me to lose sleep when it goes on a swing to the West Coast but I’d like to think that my want to see the team succeed, and someday bring home a Stanley Cup is tempered by the reality I see on a nightly basis. I detest ‘homers’ and deplore broadcasts that have a clear hometown bias. It is for this reason why I like the Wild’s radio announcing duo of seasoned play-by-play man Bob Kurtz and former North Stars defenseman Tom Reid. I think they’re honest, insightful, and for the most part stay fairly neutral even though they are employed by the team. I don’t think fans in Minnesota would really want it any other way. Homer broadcasters to me lose a lot of credibility when they make excuses over a team’s poor play or whine incessantly about the officiating because they don’t see it going their team’s way. I loathe fans who are this way on message boards and blogs. I value a fresh perspective, with the homer glasses stored far away or discarded altogether.
With an emphatic “Take that!” was the response of Kurtz after the Wild’s Andrew Brunette scored a few minutes after watching NHL officials Marc Joannette and Dean Morton do nothing as Edmonton’s Theo Peckham repeatedly cross checked the Wild’s Martin Havlat right in front of Joannette who made no call at all. Very rarely does Kurtz get as worked up about the officiating as he did right then. I’ve never heard him so animated or angry at a call / non-call in all of my years listening to him broadcast Minnesota hockey (and that includes the North Stars). Check it out for yourself here http://twaud.io/qcyk . What you don’t here is what happened after Peckham’s crosschecks to Havlat and his later challenging of the Wild winger to a fight was moments later when Oilers tough guy Zach Stortini decided to grab and initiate a fight with Brent Burns. Burns clearly wanted nothing to do with Stortini who dropped the gloves and started throwing punches as he attempted to skate to the defense of his teammates but the Wild defenseman kept his gloves on and just held on taking a few punches to the back of the head before the officials moved in to break it up. Burns would later tell Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Michael Russo that it was a ‘bad’ Gordie Howe hat trick as he ended up getting tossed with a game misconduct for merely holding on (gloves on) and getting hit in the back of the head. It was one of those moments in hockey were as a fan you say, “really? A game misconduct for holding on? Really?” Meanwhile, Peckham did not even receive even a minor penalty for his repeated cross checks right in front of an official. A few minutes later, Peckham would drop the gloves with Brad Staubitz. In a fight that was fairly even before Staubitz pulled Peckham down to the ice, he’d be tossed with a game misconduct and an instigator. Wild Head Coach Todd Richards was more or less speechless after the game, not wanting to comment on officials as much as the actions of the Oilers that seemed to go more or less unpunished. He also attempted to joke about the possibility of having to pay a $10,000 fine for Staubitz’ fight saying his wife would write the check. That reminds me of a fight a long while ago where the Wild’s Kyle Wanvig cost then Head Coach Jacques Lemaire $10k and he became a regular healthy scratch for his lack of discipline. Earlier today, the league rescinded Staubitz’ instigator thus taking Richards off the hook for $10,000. With all of this drama hanging over its head the team makes the trip south to Calgary to battle the struggling Calgary Flames. The Flames have had plenty of drama of their own as the Canadian media seems to be obsessing over its assertion that the team should part with franchise keystones Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff and Robyn Regehr so the organization can rebuild properly and be freed of its salary cap purgatory that it presently finds itself in. So which team will be able to suppress the drama long enough to earn a win tonight?
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1st Period Thoughts: After a pretty slow start, the Wild got a little lucky early as Kyle Brodziak made a great play to dive and swat a pass over to Martin Havlat who drilled a shot by Miikka Kiprusoff. The fact Brodziak lost the puck actually worked to the Wild’s advantage on the play as the momentary loss of possession drew three Flames defenders towards the loose biscuit only to watch the Minnesota forward and swat a pass over to Havlat whom they had left all alone. The goal gave the Wild the spark it needed and you could sense an increased level of jump in their skates. Minnesota was using quick little passes to avoid the Flames forecheck and as Calgary started to chase they’d start to get their arms up as they finished their checks and that gave the Wild its first power play when Anton Babchuk was tagged for elbowing. The Wild wasted little time in making the Flames pay for their lack of discipline, as Matt Cullen and Mikko Koivu worked from the wall out to the point and back down to the wall where Koivu wound up and hammered a slapper that utilized a nice screen by Brunette to find the twine to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. Just as it was last night, the Wild would relax a bit as they carried a 2-goal lead. Calgary was trying to take advantage of Minnesota’s relaxed posture as Jarome Iginla stole a puck in the neutral zone where he raced into the Wild zone in a 2-on-1 with Brendan Morrison but luckily for the Minnesota, Iginla’s pass bounced over the stick before Morrison could tap home what would’ve been an empty net goal. Minnesota may not have been working a 2-man forecheck but they were counter punching well, stepping up and being physical near the blueline preventing Calgary from getting their forecheck going. Some excellent hard work by Pierre-Marc Bouchard as he put a shot on goal and followed it up as he stormed the Calgary crease frantically tried to poke check it home to no avail but Minnesota’s pressure was giving Calgary a lot of problems. I like the way the Wild steadily increased its pressure by challenging more through the neutral zone and being physical and this kept Calgary at bey. Perhaps Minnesota felt a little too secure using the glass repeatedly to alleviate pressure as Clayton Stoner tried to lift a puck off the glass to get out of trouble but ended up becoming a nasty turnover that nearly ended up in the Wild net if not for a great stop by Niklas Backstrom who did not have much work throughout the period. A solid 1st period for Minnesota.
2nd Period Thoughts: It only took a few minutes for the NHL to get another example of why it should consider at the very least a modified form of no-touch icing as Curtis Glencross sent Wild defenseman Clayton Stoner careening into the boards. I immediately wondered if I had witnessed another Kurtis Foster like event as he slammed against the wall. A small scrum took place as Greg Zanon skated over to let Glencross know what he thought of his highly dangerous hit. It doesn’t take much to send a player into the boards like that and while I doubt it was malicious on his part, it is very fortunate this crash didn’t end in a catastrophic injury. Stoner was reeling in pain as he was on his hands and knees before gingerly skating off the ice and heading back to the Wild locker room. He would return but in the meantime Glencross was tagged with a 5-minute major and rightfully so. On the power play, Minnesota was really controlling things early as they operated with near impunity in the Flames’ zone for the first minute of the man advantage. Even though they had a ton of puck possession time the Wild were too patient, as they attempted to set up the perfect shot instead of just peppering Kiprusoff with shots. The Flames’ penalty kill would ramp up its aggressiveness and predictably the Wild power play really started to struggle, as they had great difficulty in getting set up in the offensive zone. The Wild had one good chance late in the power play on a one-timer by Cal Clutterbuck but that was about it and with the big kill the Flames fans were back into the game. The Flames tried to go on the attack and this would get Minnesota into penalty trouble. On the penalty kill the Wild did a nice job of keeping Calgary to the perimeter, forcing them to settle for shots from the point. Niklas Backstrom was very solid, making some fine glove saves with traffic near his crease and when he couldn’t manage to gather the puck into his pads he had good support from his forwards and defenseman. A blast from the point by Jay Bouwmeester caromed off the boards and hit the back of Backstrom’s leg pads and for a brief moment the puck lay just inches from the goal line before it was swept away by an alert Mikko Koivu. I really felt the Wild were controlling the pace of the game even on the penalty kill as Calgary was not finding any time and space to work with and they had more jump in their skates then the more rested Flames. Minnesota followed up two consecutive penalty kills with a strange line of Chuck Kobasew, Andrew Brunette and John Madden. The scrappy line stormed the Flames crease where Madden tried to jam a puck by Kiprusoff who made the save and the puck was gathered up by Brunette behind the goal where he fed Madden with a nice return pass and he tapped it by the Calgary netminder to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead going into the 3rd. A huge turning point in the game.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Flames looked fairly inspired to start the period, swarming all over the Minnesota end but the Wild were able to deflate that momentum completely when Cal Clutterbuck’s wrister beat Kiprusoff on what should’ve been a fairly routine save to put the Wild up 4-0. The goal demoralized the Flames, and despite some token efforts by some of Calgary’s role players like defenseman Adam Pardy who ripped a shot that struck the crossbar the hometeam couldn’t buy a goal. If the shot didn’t end up on goal, they fanned on the opportunities and Minnesota was continuing to counter attack. The energy line of Kobasew and Madden would connect again after a failed clearing attempt by Anton Babchuk ended up on the stick of John Madden who ripped a wrister on Kiprusoff that he stopped with his leg pad but the rebound went out into the slot where Chuck Kobasew demonstrated tremendous athleticism in turning and backhanding a shot by Kiprusoff as he was being knocked down to put the Wild up 5-0. There was no fight in the Flames, the fans started to abandon Scotiabank Saddledome in droves. Moments later on a routine clearing of the zone by the Wild that went on goal as Kiprusoff stopped it and played the puck he was met by a very loud Bronx Cheer. The Wild added one last goal on a great hustle play by Kyle Brodziak who dove to push a puck out of the zone up to Cal Clutterbuck who sped into the Calgary zone where he threaded a perfect pass to Havlat who lifted it over Kiprusoff to give Minnesota a 6-0 lead. At this point you had to ask yourself if you were really watching the Wild who were poised and aggressive at the same time. Although part of that obviously was helped by the fact the Flames had given up at this point. Boo’s rained down for the home team as the final horn blared. It was just good feelings all around as Backstrom returned from injury to deliver a shutout.
Backstrom was very solid, with 37 saves in his first game since New Year’s Eve. Other than one moment where he looked a little gingerly on a save where he stacked the pads he showed no signs of his injury, moving well laterally as well as showing good strength when the Flames tried to storm the crease in attempt to jam it by him. Defensively I thought the Wild were very solid. Jared Spurgeon had perhaps one of his best games in a Wild uniform last night. He looked confident, moving the puck effectively and was not a big liability in his own zone. Brent Burns, Nick Schultz, Clayton Stoner and Greg Zanon did a great job at making Jarome Iginla a non-factor and forcing Calgary to settle for shots from the perimeter. The penalty kill did a fine job of pressuring the puck carrier and giving Calgary’s key triggermen much time and space to work with.
Offensively the Wild were again very opportunistic, jumping out to a quick lead to put Calgary on their heels right away. The Wild looked sort of tired at the drop of the puck, but Havlat’s goal just 3:25 in got the team’s legs going and at that point Minnesota was in control of this game. On the power play, Minnesota should’ve managed to score at least one goal during Glencross’ 5-minute major and a lack of initiative to shoot the puck really thwarted what should’ve been a golden opportunity for the Wild. There were lots of good things happening offensively but one player who stood out to me the last few games has been Kyle Brodziak. Not known for his offensive skills, he really seems to have found a new level to his game. It is still predicated on hustle, but at times I’ve started to see that he has some reasonable puck skills as well and tonight he had 3 assists. Brodziak, Brunette, Madden, Kobasew, Clutterbuck, and Havlat all had multi-point games. The Wild have outscored their opponents 14-1 over their last 3 games. Do I think this will continue, probably not but you certainly saw an increased level of confidence as the game went on and with the scoring so spread out its infectious and hopefully they can ride this wave of good feelings for a while.
So the other big issue from this game is whether Curtis Glencross’ check is suspensionable. I think it is, and the experts at TSN (Mike Peca, Keith Jones, James Duthie, and Bob McKenzie) agree that Glencross endangered Stoner needlessly. Glencross does have a past and I wouldn’t be surprised if NHL rules czar Colin Campbell issues a 1 or 2 game suspension. The only thing Glencross has working in his favor is that Stoner was not injured in the play, but that fact should not mean he gets nothing at all in my opinion.
Maybe best of all when just looking at this game, the Wild finished 4-1-1 in their season series with the Flames. They do not have to worry about playing them anymore and that in itself has to feel awfully good as its the best level of success the team has had against Calgary since the early years of the franchise. Minnesota will have another tough test on Saturday when it travels to HP Pavilion to take on a very disappointing San Jose Sharks squad. I have a feeling the Sharks are going to try to be physical and rough up the Wild but if they can play the way they did last night I think they have a pretty good chance at earning another road victory.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette, Antti Miettinen, Chuck Kobasew, Eric Nystrom, John Madden, Kyle Brodziak, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Brad Staubitz, Cal Clutterbuck, Martin Havlat, Jared Spurgeon, Clayton Stoner, Greg Zanon, Nick Schultz, Cam Barker and Brent Burns. Anton Khudobin backed up Niklas Backstrom. Marco Scandella, Cody Almond and Jose Theodore were the ‘healthy’ scratches. Marek Zidlicky (shoulder), Guillaume Latendresse (groin and sports hernia) and James Sheppard (knee) are still out long term.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Niklas Backstrom, 2nd Star Martin Havlat, 3rd Star Chuck Kobasew
~ Attendance tonight was 19,289 at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Wild Prospect Report:
F – Mikael Granlund ~ HIFK Helsinki (Sm-Liiga)
2010-11 Stats: 20GP 3G 15A = 18pts
Finally free from his injury Mikael Granlund is playing as if its business as usual in his 2nd full season in the Sm-Liiga which is about on par with the American Hockey League. While some may be a bit concerned over the fact Granlund has just 2 goals, the super shifty Finn can finish and has tremendous hands. His ability to set up teammates is a reason why HIFK is one of the top scoring teams in the Sm-Liiga. In many ways he plays a style of game that is very similar to Pierre-Marc Bouchard; a smallish playmaker with terrific vision who is remarkably tough to take off the puck due to his quickness and ability to turn on a dime. He will not be confused for a two-way player but his development is crucial for the Wild that has not developed a quality offensive forward since Bouchard and he was drafted back in 2002 so needless to say its been a while.
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