As I took in a late lunch at the local Chinese restaurant the usual post-meal treat is the fortune cookie. As the tradition goes (from what I’ve been told) take the fortune cookie and split it in half, remove the fortune and eat the entire cookie before reading it. My partner in crime also joined me for lunch and our fortune’s were as follows: “Let there be magic in your smile and firmness in your handshake” and “Make big plans.” I am not even sure what that means for tonight’s game between the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues. Perhaps “making big plans” is a reference for the team to start planning its off-season moves and the Entry Draft? Perhaps “Let there be magic in your smile and a firmness in your handshake” is a reference to the team’s ownership attempting to restore the faith of Wild season ticket holders by offering a price freeze if they renew their tickets soon. Perhaps it means nothing at all, after all its just a fortune cookie. Heck, if it would help the team get out of its current funk I’d consider a tarot card reading, calling the Psychic Friends Network (yes I know its no more), or even consulting a Magic 8-Ball although I’d fear it would simply tell me “Reply Hazy, try again” or “Ask again later.”
It could be worse the Magic 8-Ball could say, “Outlook not so good,” or “My sources say no” and “Very doubtful.” I know the Wild’s playoff chances are virtually non-existent but this team could use a dose of luck so it can at least finish the season with a little positivity over its last 7 games. Everyone needs a little hope, and for Wild fans its no different as they agonize over the direction of the season on the Wild.com message board. So can Minnesota reverse the slide or will misery have more company after tonight’s tilt between the Wild and the Blues?
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1st Period Thoughts: Sort of a strange period. The Wild had good energy to start the period; with Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen showing good jump at the start of the game. Minnesota was also showing a little edge physically as Clayton Stoner lowered the boom on a pinching Ian Cole along the dasher. Koivu was being very assertive, dangling the puck around the Blues’ defenseman before sliding a pass over to Andrew Brunette who dropped it back to Marek Zidlicky who fired a laser of a wrist shot by Ty Conklin to put Minnesota up 1-0. After the goal it was all the Blues who bottled Minnesota up in its zone with a stifling forecheck. It didn’t matter which line the Blues used, as their 4th line of Cam Janssen, Ryan Reaves, Phil McRae punished Minnesota along the boards. The Blues were also taking every opportunity to fire the puck on goal and Niklas Backstrom was struggling to lock down rebounds and it was only a matter of time before that hurt Minnesota on the scoreboard. A blast by Kevin Shattenkirk from the point was stopped by a partially screened Backstrom but he gave up a huge rebound and the puck went over to Matt D’Agostini who pulled the trigger on a low shot that eluded a sliding Wild goaltender to tie the game at one goal apiece. Minnesota really was playing rope-a-dope as the Blues continued to pour it on, and their pressure turned into Wild penalties as Matt Cullen was tagged for hooking. The Wild’s penalty killers challenged the Blues point men well and kept the puck to the perimeter. St. Louis was still able to put shots on goal and Backstrom continued to fight the puck, and another big rebound again turned into a great scoring chance for D’Agostini but his bid went off the side of the goal. Minnesota got the big kill but St. Louis went back on the attack as Cam Janssen started throwing his body around taking a few good runs at various Wild players. The shots continued to pile up for the Blues while the Wild was patient before it earned a little relief as Patrik Berglund was tagged with a slashing penalty. Minnesota would pounce on a very predictable play as Mikko Koivu won the draw and worked it down low to Brunette who made a quick pass towards the slot where Antti Miettinen banged home a one-timer from close range to give the Wild a 2-1 lead. St. Louis continued to be physical, and their pressure again would force a costly mistake. This time it was by rookie defenseman Jared Spurgeon who had time with the puck deep in the Wild zone attempted an ill-advised diagonal pass that was intercepted by Adam Cracknell and he moved in and got Backstrom to sprawl before wrapping it around him for an easy goal to tie the game at 2-2. In many ways the Wild were really dominated in the period, not just physically but especially in terms of shots being out shot 17 to 4. The Wild need to pick up their game or they’re going to find themselves trailing in a hurry.
2nd Period Thoughts: The result was kind of predictable when you consider how badly the Wild were outplayed in the 1st period. Minnesota again found itself on its heels in its own zone as St. Louis operated with impunity in the Wild’s end. An early delay of game call on Miettinen put Minnesota on the penalty kill had the Wild doing its best to take away passing and shooting lanes as St. Louis made lots of small quick passes to free up point shooters like Alex Pietrangelo. Luckily for the Wild they were able to get the kill but Minnesota couldn’t get almost anything going offensively. As soon as they crossed the red line they found themselves blanketed by Blues’ defenders. The wheels of this game really would come off with about 7:00 into the period when the Blues drove the puck down low and former Warroad star T.J. Oshie dished the puck towards Chris Stewart who fanned on a shot but the puck would glance off the skate of a retreating Pierre-Marc Bouchard and then tapped in as Niklas Backstrom overcompensated a bit as he slid out of the way giving Chris Stewart an easy tap in goal. Just about 20 seconds later the Blues would add another as the Wild tried to go on the attack and a blocked shot by Nick Schultz where it hit the stick of a Wild forward attempting to screen turned into an easy outlet pass for Pietrangelo to David Backes who raced in all alone on a breakaway where he beat Backstrom with a quick wrist shot to put St. Louis up 4-2. With the Xcel Energy Center crowd clearly neutralized, the Wild almost gave up another goal just a minute later as a terrible pass from deep in the Minnesota zone by Greg Zanon that was intercepted in the slot by Andy McDonald who ripped a shot that struck the crossbar and out. The bad turnover prompted Wild Head Coach Todd Richards to call a timeout to chastise his team and Richards ranted and raved from the bench while Minnesota’s players seemed uninterested in what he had to say. Not a good sign for the coach. Worse yet, a few moments after the lecture from the bench, Chuck Kobasew managed to register the first shot of the period which was received with a heavy and sarcastic Bronx cheer. St. Louis would relax its posture a bit and in the last few minutes of the period the Wild went on the attack as their defense started to pinch a bit. For a few moments the Wild actually looked like a team that was capable of sustaining a forecheck and it made you wonder where this sense of urgency had been all game long. The frustration was clearly still there for the Wild as Brodziak was tagged with a slashing call in the final minute. Minnesota was being out shot 35 to 11 at this point. Yea, I want the season to be over too.
3rd Period Thoughts: There really isn’t much more to say, because if the wheels came off in the 2nd period in the 3rd the car went over the proverbial cliff soap opera style burning and rolling over as it makes its way to the bottom of the rocky ravine. The Wild was half-heartedly attacking and St. Louis still looked hungry and was still carrying the play. It was a veritable shooting gallery in the Wild zone, as the Blues were pressing to add to their lead. St. Louis would finally add to its lead on a long range shot from the point by Alex Pietrangelo where the puck bounced off the glove of Backstrom and trickled into the goal, 5-2 Blues. The boo’s rained down as you saw many fans get up and start making their way to the aisle to leave the arena. A few minutes later the Blues would add another goal as St. Louis aggressively forechecked in the Wild zone while the Minnesota defense stood around, reached and did little besides that and Patrik Berglund hammered a slap shot by a way out of position Niklas Backstrom who looked as though he wanted to sit on the Wild bench to make it 6-2. For whatever reason, the Wild tried to answer back with a good shift from its top line working the puck down low as Brunette made a nice little move to elude Nikita Nikitin and he fed a backhanded pass on a nice little tic-tac-toe play and it was Miettinen finishing for his 2nd goal of the game to make the game only mildly more respectable in a 6-3 rout. The boo’s rained down again in the closing seconds.
It may sound strange to say that Niklas Backstrom was not all that great after making 41 saves in the loss but he really was battling the puck all night long. He saw plenty of shots but he also gave up an uncharacteristic amount of rebounds. Perhaps its unfair to be that critical of Backstrom giving up those rebounds but those were the chances the Blues pounced on tonight. Not to mention Backstrom was putting himself out of position more than a few times which is also out of character to the normally positionally sound netminder. Of course the Wild’s defense was even worse, setting up the Blues on a few occasions for prime scoring chances. No power play goals, but St. Louis didn’t really need them as they were able to make 5-on-5 look like a power play throughout most of the game.
Offensively the Wild didn’t do nearly enough. Just 16 shots on goal didn’t provide much pressure at all on Ty Conklin and the Blues. 3 goals on 16 shots is obviously a fairly decent percentage but in this game the team needed to be more assertive offensively for the simple fact to ease the pressure within its own zone but they just didn’t have the desire to make it happen.
Its clear that Todd Richards and the Wild coaching staff was not too happy as they shoo’d out the media and had a closed-door meeting with the team that lasted at least 30 minutes after the game. One could only guess what was said, but it makes you wonder if Richards has lost his locker room. 8-1 loss to Montreal, 4-0 loss to Toronto and now a 6-3 loss to St. Louis all on home ice has turned up the heat on the head coach and even Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune predicts he will be fired. At this point, I’d have to agree with him.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, Matt Cullen, John Madden, Kyle Brodziak, Brad Staubitz, Eric Nystrom, Cal Clutterbuck, Chuck Kobasew, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Martin Havlat, Marek Zidlicky, Nick Schultz, Jared Spurgeon, Clayton Stoner, Greg Zanon and Brent Burns. Jose Theodore backed up Niklas Backstrom. Nate Prosser, Cam Barker, Marco Scandella and Guillaume Latendresse were the ‘healthy’ scratches. Josh Harding (knee) and James Sheppard (knee) are on injured reserve.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by Let’s Play Hockey were: 1st Star David Backes, 2nd Star Alex Pietrangelo, 3rd Star T.J. Oshie
~ Attendance tonight was 18,112 at Xcel Energy Center.
~ The State of Hockey News would like to congratulate Andrew Brunette on a career milestone, scoring his 700th (and 701st and 702nd) point in assists on the Wild goals. Although knowing Brunette, he’ll be more annoyed about getting slaughtered at home again than this personal accomplishment.
Wild Prospect Report:
LW – Brett Bulmer ~ Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
2010-11 Playoff Stats: 2GP 0G 0A = 0pts 0 PIM’s Even
The playoffs have just started in the Canadian Junior leagues and the Kelowna Rockets find themselves in a battle with the Prince George Cougars. For Wild prospect Brett Bulmer he is just coming off a knee injury that has him sidelined the last few weeks so he’s still trying to get back up to full speed. The Rockets took the first game 4-1, with Bulmer recording no points and just a +1 rating as you can see. The Cougars have given Kelowna some problems this season, and with Bulmer being from Prince George he will want to make a statement against his former hometown team. Bulmer’s performance in the post-season will be a good indicator of his value as the intensity of the game increases and some of the foolish penalties that dogged him during the regular season should be eliminated now that the stakes are that much higher. Luckily for Bulmer the Rockets are doing better than he is, now up 2-0 in their series to the Cougars.
NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament Rundown:
#1 North Dakota vs. #4 RPI ~ Many are favoring the WCHA champion North Dakota to have a very good chance at winning the NCAA tournament and they made a strong statement with one of the most dominant performances of the tourney thus far. As of right now they’re the only #1 seed to survive and only time will tell us if they’ll be in the Frozen Four in St. Paul. The Fighting Sioux would get out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Brad Malone early as the Engineers struggled with North Dakota’s physical style. North Dakota would pour it on the 2nd period, drilling 4 goals from Malone, Danny Kristo, Jason Gregoire and Corban Knight to take a 5-0 lead into the 3rd. Matt Frattin would roof a pretty backhander in the 3rd period to seal a 6-0 victory. Aaron Dell was not tested much, making 21 saves in the shutout as the Fighting Sioux await a rematch of the WCHA title game against Denver.
#2 Denver vs. #3 Western Michigan ~ I doubt many thought the game between the Pioneers and the Broncos had many people thinking ‘barn burner’ but it would end up being just that. After a scoreless 1st period where it actually got a little chippy, it would be Western Michigan that would strike first on a goal from Derek Roehl. The Broncos added another early in the 3rd period on a tally by John Elias. The Pioneers would circle the wagons in the final 5 minutes and score twice in the span of about two and a half minutes on goals from Kyle Ostrow and Matt Donovan sending the game to overtime and came literally within inches from winning in regulation as a shot from Drew Shore just curled wide of the right post in the closing seconds of the 3rd. After another full 15-minute overtime, where there were few scoring chances for either team, the game would go to a 2nd overtime. This is where Wild prospect Jason Zucker would show off his clutch scoring touch as he raced into the Broncos’ zone and ripped a slap shot that was stopped by Jerry Kuhn but the rebound went right back to Zucker who quickly hammered another shot that beat Kuhn to send Denver to the Midwest regional final against WCHA rival North Dakota. Zucker had a huge game, netting the game winner and two assists.
#3 Minnesota-Duluth vs. #1 Yale ~ Yale surprised many last year with its speed and explosiveness offensively and many expected for them to be a strong contender for the national title, but they would be ambushed by another Bulldogs squad in Minnesota-Duluth. UMD would strike first, on a shorthanded goal by Mike Connolly. In the 2nd period, the Bulldogs would add two more as Wade Bergman and Jack Connolly lit the lamp for UMD. Yale tried to rally back and their high powered offense finally was able to solve Kenny Reiter when Brian O’Neill ripped a shot that found the twine to make it 3-1. However, O’Neill would earn a controversial contact to the head penalty on an open ice hit to Jake Hendrickson, an infraction which came with an automatic game misconduct. The penalty seemed to shake Yale’s psyche and UMD would pounce with two quick power play goals from Mike Seidel and Wild prospect camp tryout Justin Fontaine. Yale would make the game a little interesting with two goals in the 3rd period from Broc Little and Denny Kearny but Scott Sandelin‘s squad would go into lockdown mode and seal a 5-3 victory and a trip to the Frozen Four in St. Paul.
#2 Notre Dame vs. #3 Merrimack ~ Another great barn burner took place in the Northeast regional semi-final between the CCHA’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Hockey East’s Merrimack Warriors. The Warriors would jump out to a 2-0 lead with a goal on the man advantage from Kyle Bigos and then a shorty from Ryan Flanigan. The Fighting Irish would answer back with a goal from senior leader Calle Ridderwall on the man advantage. Merrimack would push the lead back out to two on a tally by Rhett Bly, but Notre Dame would rally back again as Edina’s Anders Lee scored his 23rd to cut the lead to 3-2. The Fighting Irish would tie it up 3-3 just past the 5-minute mark in the 3rd and the game would eventually go to overtime. In overtime, it was Anders Lee ripping a shot by Joe Cannata to send his team to the Northeast Final. Wild prospect blueliner Sean Lorenz had no points but was a +2 for the Fighting Irish.
#4 Colorado College vs. #2 Michigan ~ This game was more of a defensive battle as Michigan jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Scooter Vaughn and a late period tally from Lee Moffie. From here the Wolverines would be content to defend their lead as they dropped back into a passive 1-2-2 and simply tried to clog up the neutral zone as Michigan was doing all it could to stop Jaden and Rylan Schwartz. Colorado College kept pressing, but would not get a puck by Shawn Hunwick until about 3:38 left in the game when a shot by Rylan Schwartz trickled in. Penalties haunted the Tigers throughout the game, and a last ditch surge just wasn’t enough and Michigan would advance to the Frozen Four as the West region champion. You could not blame the Tigers’ sophomore goalie Joe Howe for the loss, he made a number of high quality saves to keep his team very much in the game until the very end, stopping 39 in a losing effort.
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