Top of the evenin’ to ya laddies and lasses out there. Of course its St. Patrick’s Day, a day set aside to commemorate the patron saint of Ireland. Its a day where lots of people all over the United States and Canada claim to have a little Irish in their heritage as the perfect excuse to wear green and celebrate in style at pubs and bars all over your community. No team in the NHL is better for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day than the Toronto St. Pat’s. The St. Pat’s existed from 1918 to 1927, before they became the Toronto Maple Leafs. Unlike the Maple Leafs, the Toronto St. Pats did have a bit more luck during its existence comparatively to the last 43 years for the Leafs as they managed to win a Stanley Cup in 1922. Toronto is hoping proud Irishman Brian Burke can rebuild the Leafs into a Cup contender once again. Only time will tell.
There is another team that sometimes finds itself clad in ‘green’ that could use some luck of the Irish and that is the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have had a rough go of it since just prior to the trade deadline where they are 3-6-1 over their last ten games. Minnesota is in need of some lucky bounces / breaks to go their way if they are to have any hope at all of making the playoffs. As of right now the team is dangerously close to ‘mathmatically eliminated’ which means their overall chances are about slim to none. I am not the most optimistic person out there, but for those of you that are this team has to earn a victory tonight no matter what. So whether you’re Irish or not, bring out whatever lucky talisman you may have and wish a little luck for the Wild because they’re going to need it. Will luck be enough for a victory tonight?
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1st Period Thoughts: Minnesota had some excellent jump in their skates to start the game. The 2nd line of Kyle Brodziak, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Martin Havlat created a little havoc on the forecheck early. There definitely was a sense of urgency as it was Minnesota swarming early, instead of sitting back and weathering a storm by the Sharks. Antti Niemi had to be alert right away as Minnesota was taking every chance it could to pull the trigger. The Sharks tried to rally back and they were activating their defense a bit to hold the offensive zone and Ian White was particularly troublesome, very shifty and using quick turns to create some time and space and their quick passing would draw a tripping penalty on Greg Zanon. The Sharks power play was even more dangerous as they worked a tic-tac-toe play to Logan Couture who appeared to be perfectly set up to score, only to be denied by a desperation stacking of the pads by Niklas Backstrom. The Wild would neutralize the power play on a pretty play by John Madden who stole the puck and then banked a long pass off the boards allowing Matt Cullen to skate it down as he drew a slashing call on Dan Boyle. With the ice a bit more open 4-on-4 both teams would go on the attack and the action would go end to end. Minnesota tried to counter attack, and in a 4-on-2 Cal Clutterbuck fed a long cross-ice pass to Matt Cullen who ripped a shot that was gloved by Antti Niemi. With a short power play Minnesota had a great chance early on as Mikko Koivu got a puck in the high slot and he fired a backhander that was stopped by Niemi that Andrew Brunette attempted to pounce on but an out of position (referee) Kevin Pollock blew the whistle even though it was still loose in the crease. The Wild came up empty on the power play, and the Sharks would strike as Torrey Mitchell fed a pass to Jamal Mayers who sped past Marco Scandella who was caught flat footed and he beat Backstrom with a backhander to put San Jose up 1-0. It has to be seen as a bit of a softy as Backstrom was unscreened and the only real move Mayers had was to unload a backhander. The goal had to be pretty demoralizing as with the lone exception of Couture’s chance, the Wild had the better opportunities in the period. The Wild would appear to get in some more trouble when Clayton Stoner was tagged with a holding call. Minnesota was aggressive on the penalty kill, attacking the puck carrier and the Wild would turn their luck around with some hard work as John Madden led a shorthanded rush into the Sharks’ zone as he attempted to pass the puck to Marco Scandella and the puck deflected off the skate of Dan Boyle and back to Madden who quickly fired a shot by Niemi to tie the game at 1-1. The Sharks almost came back and tied the game as Joe Thornton stepped into a slapper that struck the right post squarely and out. Minnesota had to feel pretty good with their resilient play, and at the very least seemed to be matching the Sharks’ energy. Lots of good effort by players on all lines in this game so far.
2nd Period Thoughts: The Wild had a good initial two minutes to start the 2nd, creating a nice scoring chance right away as Mikko Koivu fired a shot that was steered wide by Niemi. After that, it was rope-a-dope as the Sharks were swarming in the Minnesota zone. Patrick Marleau and Devin Segoguchi were really causing the Wild fits. Clayton Stoner was playing strong though, being physical when he had to be but also using his stick nicely to poke away a puck from Joe Thornton who appeared to have a step on him. Niklas Backstrom was the real key though, making all kinds of stops all through the period. It was only a matter of time, as the Sharks took back the lead when Logan Couture sort of ping ponged a puck that bounced off sticks, bodies and off the post and by Backstrom. Minnesota tried to answer back and they steadily began to tilt the ice back in the Wild’s favor with some good puck control in the Sharks’ zone. The Wild’s defense was stepping up and holding the zone and Antti Niemi started to find himself under siege. He had absolutely no chance on that ‘shot.’ Minnesota’s persistence finally paid off as Martin Havlat found a little space where he delivered a perfect saucer pass to Kyle Brodziak and he unleashed a quick wrister that beat Niemi to tie the game at 2-2. The Sharks would pour it on once again, and Patrick Marleau was flying around and he attempted a wrap around that was stonewalled by the quickness of Backstrom as he went post to post before making the rather matter of fact glove save. In the closing seconds of the period, the Sharks really started to pour it on with a line of Torrey Mitchell, Joe Pavelski and Kyle Wellwood throwing every puck they could on goal forcing Backstrom to make a series of saves to keep the game tied at two going into the 3rd. Minnesota could breathe a sigh of relief but will need to dig deep if they expect to earn a victory. Backstrom made 20 saves in the period, he could use some more help, don’t you think?
3rd Period Thoughts: The Wild started the 3rd the way the 2nd ended, that being sitting back and just hoping to stay alive and the result was San Jose operating with near impunity in the Minnesota zone as Backstrom again found himself under siege. You can only play rope-a-dope for so long before the opponent’s hustle is going to draw a penalty as Clayton Stoner goes to the box for holding. The Sharks power play worked the puck out to the point where Patrick Marleau blasted a shot from the point that struck Brent Burns and eluded Backstrom to put the Wild behind, 3-2. The goal had all of the feeling of “here we go again” and you could see it in the body language from the Wild as they looked to the ceiling in disgust. Stoner left the box, yelling profanity at himself as he headed back to the Wild’s bench. Minnesota would try to rally back but San Jose was denying time and space and not giving the Wild anything to look at in terms of shooting and passing lanes. The Wild tried to ramp up their forecheck, but they’d get themselves into trouble as Brad Staubitz tripped up Jason Demers who coughed up the biscuit to Chuck Kobasew for an easy call. Staubitz didn’t earn any more points from Head Coach Todd Richards as he’d yap to the official about the call earning him a 10-minute game misconduct. The Wild did pretty well on the penalty kill, using good active sticks and passive pressure to kill it off without incident but what was really lost was time the Wild desperately could’ve used to go on the attack in search of the game-tying goal. Minnesota would lose another key player due to lack of discipline when Martin Havlat and Torrey Mitchell would exchange slashes and a few cross-checks earning them both a trip to the sin bin. With the ice a bit more open 4-on-4, the Wild were taking every opportunity to go on the attack. Minnesota would pull Backstrom with about a minute left, for a last ditch effort to tie the game but wasn’t meant to be as the Sharks would simply fall near the top of the crease absorbing the puck and killing off valuable seconds and they’d hold onto win 3-2.
Niklas Backstrom certainly cannot be blamed for this loss after stopping a career-high 47 shots. He kept Minnesota in this game until the very end, and his focus level was tremendous as he often had to contend with traffic near his crease. Even on the pucks he didn’t see, his positioning and movement post-to-post was rock solid all night long. Other than the goal to Jamal Mayers I felt he had a superb game. Defensively the Wild were ok at times and disastrous in others. Marco Scandella looked every bit the rookie. He was very passive throughout most of the game, and he made foolish turnovers even in moments where he had plenty of time to think and make a good pass. Its not a good time in the season to have a player making those kinds of mistakes. Minnesota did end up with a shorthanded goal on a Herculean effort by John Madden that really gave the team some hope.
Offensively, the Wild counterpunched ok. They had some good puck possession, but not nearly enough chances from in close and to Niemi’s credit he was making those few point-blank range stops when he had to. The power play was non-existent but that was due partly by the fact the team sat on its heels throughout much of the 2nd and 3rd period which had Minnesota playing defense instead of being on the attack and drawing penalties. I thought Kyle Brodziak had a tremendous game, he was assertive and making things happen on nearly ever shift. The magic 3 goal benchmark seems to be a challenge beyond Minnesota’s capabilities as of late and offense really was the big let down throughout the whole trip scoring just 4 goals in 4 games.
The painful fact is the Wild failed to register a single point on the 4-game road trip. Now Minnesota sits back 6 points from the 8th and final playoff spot and in a game of hangman this team has just one more appendage to add to be hanged. Its hard to imagine how they’ll get it done now. Wild Head Coach Todd Richards did his best to be optimistic although you could sense a level of dejection when he told reporters during the post-game press conference, “You create a lot of your bounces and you create a lot of your breaks, the 2nd period we give up 20+ shots and spent a lot of time chasing, we didn’t do enough to warrant a power play for us.” He added, “we had some guys that put it on the line tonight, but we needed more goals to do that.” When asked if the team had the players to compete against the more loaded Western Conference teams like Vancouver and San Jose he tried to defend his players saying he felt they are good enough to compete against them. (shrugs) Not sure if I agree with that. The problem is, its too late to change it at this point in the season. I hope Minnesota is ready for what will probably be a tough battle on Saturday against Columbus.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, John Madden, Matt Cullen, Eric Nystrom, Brad Staubitz, Chuck Kobasew, Kyle Brodziak, Cal Clutterbuck, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Martin Havlat, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella, Nick Schultz, Greg Zanon, Clayton Stoner and Brent Burns. Jose Theodore backed up Niklas Backstrom. Warren Peters, Cam Barker, Guillaume Latendresse and Marek Zidlicky were the healthy scratches. Josh Harding (knee) and James Sheppard (knee) are on injured reserve.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Joe Pavelski, 2nd Star Niklas Backstrom Patrick Marleau
~ Attendance tonight was 17,562 at HP Pavillion.
Wild Prospect Report:
LW – Brett Bulmer ~ Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
2010-11 Stats: 55GP 18G 29A = 47pts 103 PIM’s -12
Brett Bulmer has finally returned from injury as the Rockets try to prepare themselves for the post-season. Bulmer was out with a knee injury but returned to a 5-0 loss at the hands of the Seattle Thunderhawks last night, going a -1 for the contest. The 6’3″ power forward has been battling consistency issues all season long, and it will be interesting to see how long it takes for him to get up to speed and being a regular on the Rockets’ scoring sheet. The Wild surprised a lot of teams by taking him so early in the 2nd round (39th Overall) in last year’s draft so his health and development are very important for a team who has been trying to re-stock its prospect cupboard. He’s at his best when he plays with a little edge and part of this season has been spent pushing that envelope where a player’s toughness can both help and also hurt a team. In the Hockey News‘ Future Watch issue, Bulmer was rated as the team’s 5th best prospect by Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
LW – Johan Larsson ~ Brynas (Eliteserien)
2010-11 Stats: 43GP 4G 4A = 8pts 18 PIM’s
You will not be awed by his numbers, but ‘Mr. Grumpy’ as he’s known by his teammates is the kind of player opposing teams hate to play against. He simply will not be outworked, and his gritty play along the boards makes him a natural source of irritation to his opponents. The youngster’s hard work was noticed and was the main reason why he played on Sweden’s top line at this year’s U-20 World Junior Championships in Buffalo, NY. His offensive totals may not reflect his offensive abilities, but the role he’s playing for his Swedish Elite league team is on the team’s energy line and many NHL scouts believe he’s capable of supplying more points if put in a role to do so. That versatility should serve him well and his style sounds like a good match for the forechecking style of play Todd Richards wants to play.
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