As much as things change, the more they remain the same. The Wild has struggled the last few years in games where they play inferior opponents. Case in point, in 2009 the Wild were playing a struggling Ottawa Senators team as they are attempting to crawl back into the playoff picture in a home tilt after a few days break before. The Wild have one of their worst games in franchise history and then head coach Todd Richards holds an optional practice afterwards earning major criticism from frustrated fans who see a team that lacked a sense of urgency. The 2009-10 season went into a tailspin and the team missed the playoffs in pathetic fashion. Yesterday, the Wild played against the New York Islanders after a strong season opener on Saturday. The Wild get out to a miserable start, find themselves down 2-0 in the 1st period and were unable to rally all the way back in a 2-1 defeat. The ugly period on the road is something Wild fans have been used to seeing from their club the past few years. I am not sure what it is, but bad luck and misfortune seems to follow the Wild whenever they play Ottawa. The season before, on their last trip to Scotiabank place the van carrying the majority of the team’s equipment to the arena caught fire and that left the players literally running to local hockey stores to try to buy the gear they needed for that night’s game. We’ll see if fate hands them a similar ‘accident’ prior to tonight’s game.
However, most ‘wounds’ thus far this season have been self inflicted. Take Pierre-Marc Bouchard‘s two-game suspension for example. Whether you wish to agree with his agent, Allan Walsh, and his diatribe about the ‘kangaroo court’ that is Brendan Shanahan and the NHL Saftey Commission the fact of the matter is that Bouchard’s own admission was that he was intending on slashing him. While it was Columbus’ Matt Calvert that inadvertently lifted Bouchard’s stick into his own face and causing damage Bouchard was still intending on slashing him in the hand anyways (at least according to Bouchard’s own statements) but at the very least a completely preventable incident had Bouchard refrained from looking for retaliation at all. I am not saying I completely agree with the 2-game suspension but since the league is showing a level of seriousness for reckless play (which is precisely what took place here) then a suspension is probably warranted but should also be expected. The same goes for yesterday’s game, the team started out sluggish and got themselves in a hole early and couldn’t manage to climb out. As I say to my football team repeatedly, often times games are won or lost far are more about what YOU did than what your opponent did. If the Wild takes care of what it can control I think they should come away with 2 points. Then again, it is against the Senators, so who knows. Can Minnesota break the Ottawa curse?
Click “Read More” for the rest of the article…
1st Period Thoughts: I have to admit, I was a bit worried in the first few minutes of the game. Not that the Wild looked flat, but the Senators were flying all over the ice. They were causing Minnesota a lot trouble in its own zone and Niklas Backstrom found himself in a shooting gallery. Minnesota really had their backs to the wall, and it looked like bad was going to turn into worse when Guillaume Latendresse went to the sin bin for hooking. The Wild’s penalty kill did a good job of wasting little time in gathering up the loose pucks and clearing the zone which never really allowed Ottawa’s potent power play to really get clicking. The penalty kill also changed the tone of the game and the Senators relaxed a bit and this was the opportunity Minnesota needed to start to applying pressure. Minnesota would go the attack, led by the top line of Devin Setoguchi, Dany Heatley and Mikko Koivu who were finding more space than they had against the Islanders. Heatley was hearing it every time he touched the puck and the Scotiabank crowd even serenaded him to a fairly solid “Heatley sucks” chant and the former Senators’ sniper looked as though he was feeding off of the hate and he was finding room and looking to unleash his one-timer. Minnesota was managing to get shots on Craig Anderson who was content to just block shots aside than cover and freeze the biscuit. The Wild would strike first, as Minnesota would light the lamp as Clayton Stoner fired a shot that was tipped beautifully by Kyle Brodziak who ended up boucing it off the ice that evaded Anderson to give the State of Hockey a 1-0 lead. Feeling his team needed a boost, Zenon Konopka decided to drop the gloves against the much bigger Matt Kassian, and the Wild’s enforcer didn’t disappoint as he controlled the fight with a few well-placed jabs. Konopka could only manage a few wild haymakers but failed to connect all that well and the officials would move in to break it up with Kassian clearly the winner. For the Wild this would give them a power play as Konopka was nailed with a 2-minute instigator and a 10-minute game misconduct to go along with the 5-minute major for fighting. Minnesota’s power play moved the puck very efficiently, as they tried to set up the big shot; and Marek Zidlicky let loose with his first big slap shot of the 2011-12 season. Anderson was good enough to keep the Wild at bey and Minnesota would come up empty. Another player who was again making his presence felt, was Brett Bulmer who took a bit of a run at Jason Spezza. Spezza was not happy, and he retaliated with a slash to the rookie’s legs but that would prove to be a costly loss of his temper as the Wild would earn a power play as Spezza went to the penalty box for slashing. Minnesota would take advantage of the power play and Mikko Koivu got the puck near the half wall where he fed Setoguchi in the slot who rifled a one-timer top shelf by a helpless Anderson who really had no chance and the Wild now led 2-0. It was a great recovery for the Wild after the weathered the Senators’ storm early on.
2nd Period Thoughts: One step forward, one step back. As much as the Wild turned things around in the 1st period to power their way to a 2-0 lead that momentum would completely evaporate in the 2nd. This evaporation could be tied to a single play, as Clayton Stoner was freight trained by a devastating (and clean) hit by Ottawa’s Chris Neil. Neil caught Stoner with his head down as he was skating the puck out from behind his goal, and the hit was right to the middle of Stoner’s chest and he fell backwards with his helmeted head bouncing off the ice. To Stoner’s credit he got right back up and finished out the shift, although he was checked out by the Wild’s Athletic Trainer Don Fuller on the bench. Yet the hit, seemed to raise the energy level of the Senators and they started to swarm in the Wild end. Niklas Backstrom quickly found himself under siege as the Senators created a nice variety of chances, including a few dangerous shots from up close and somehow the big Finn managed to make himself big enough to stop the puck. Colin Greening and Jason Spezza were taking every opportunity to take the puck to the crease where they hoped to jam it by Backstrom. Minnesota’s Brett Bulmer, Guillaume Latendresse and Cal Clutterbuck tried to answer back with some physicality of their own but to mixed results. In the case of the youngster Bulmer, his over exuberance to hit Neil for his shot on Stoner earned him a minor for charging. Thankfully for the Wild, the Senators’ power play (most notably Sergei Gonchar) was inept enough not to threaten much with the man advantage. In fact, Gonchar received some absolutely scathing boo’s by the home crowd that made anything raspberries they gave Heatley seem mild by comparison. The Senators were persistent, and they would cut the Wild’s lead in half on a simple play to shovel the puck towards the goal after some good hard work by Nick Foligno, where Chris Neil directed the puck on goal where it was stopped by Backstrom and as Peter Regin chipped a shot off the first rebound he created another and Foligno buried the loose biscuit. Backstrom protested, but to no avail and in all honesty, he really should have been at his defense who failed to clear away two rebounds instead the Sens players attacking the crease. Matt Kassian tried in vain to get Chris Neil to drop the gloves but he wanted no part in it as the Sens clearly had momentum on their side. The Wild were officially outshot 13-2 in the period, but that really doesn’t fully describe how badly Minnesota was dominated this period. They were quite lucky to escape still leading by one.
3rd Period Thoughts: The 3rd period was a bizarre mix of the 1st and 2nd in terms of the Wild’s level of play. Minnesota would add to its lead on some good battling in front of the net where Nick Johnson got to the crease and the puck would glance off the skate of Senators’ rookie David Rundblad‘s skate and it would slide in. The play was reviewed but the puck clearly crossed the goal line completely and Minnesota gets the goal, 3-1. Ottawa would rally back, thanks to the warrior-like performance of Chris Neil who again brought the puck towards the crease before slamming a shot home. That play was also reviewed but the puck clearly crossed the line and there was no whistle despite the fact it was initially waived off. NHL referee Don VanMassenhoven would announce its a good goal and Minnesota’s lead was right back to one. Minnesota was on its heels and Ottawa continued to battle and outwork the Wild; and frustration started to build. Coincidental minors called on Cal Clutterbuck and Milan Michalek after a scrum on Neil’s goal would make it 4-on-4 for the next two minutes. It would boil over into a incredibly stupid high sticking call on Marek Zidlicky who hacked Zack Smith in the helmet. A cold look of disbelief was on Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo‘s face as his team would now be down a man and giving the Sens a 4-on-3 power play. Minnesota was scrambling on the power play and as it morphed to a 5-on-3 the Wild were really being stretched out by the quick passing of the Senators but Ottawa’s snipers couldn’t manage to solve Niklas Backstrom. Just as one penalty expired the Wild were unable to clear the puck and former Cornell stand out Colin Greening fired a shot by a deflated Backstrom to tie the game at 3-3. It was at this point the Wild finally started to show a little desperation and energy. 2nd line winger Guillaume Latendresse and 3rd liner Colton Gillies were really starting to throw their weight around as well as being effective on the forecheck and both players had a few quality chances in the closing minutes of the 3rd period. Minnesota really was pouring it on late, but it was too little too late and the game would go to overtime.
Overtime Thoughts: Minnesota clearly was the team looking to press the attack in the extra time. Minnesota was taking its chances but Ottawa was content to play rope-a-dope and bide its time for a shootout. I think the Wild were hurt a bit by a lack of speed from some of its better offensive players; and the top pair of Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley were guilty of over handling the puck and being far too unselfish. On a few different occasions they passed up chances to fire a shot on goal and its pretty simple. If you want to score you got to shoot the puck and with a guy like Craig Anderson who has a tendency to sit too far back in his crease you might as well take a chance and let it go because you never know if you’ll get lucky. Yet they passed up on the chances and the game would go to a shootout. At this point you could sort of sense where this was going.
Shootout Thoughts: The Senators opted to shoot first which was a testament to the confidence they had going into the glorified exhibition event. Their first shooter was Milan Michalek. Michalek raced up the ice and he very efficiently pulled off a forehand to backhand deke before sliding a backhand 5-hole on Backstrom who seemed a bit surprised at the speed the play unfolded in front of him. Minnesota’s first shooter was Mikko Koivu and the team captain took a fairly straight approach by his standards where he attempted his patented forehand to backhand deke (shelf) move only to lift a shot wide of the mark. Immediately I thought his miss was due in part to not taking his normal wide approach which buys you time to pull off the move and have an optimal angle to put a shot underneath the crossbar. Ottawa’s next shooter was Jason Spezza and he took a rather relaxed approach to the net before beating Backstrom with a quick wrister 5-hole to give the Sens a commanding 2-0 shootout lead. Again, another 5-hole goal. Get the message Backstrom, please. Minnesota’s next shooter was Matt Cullen. Cullen would race in and make a quick shoulder deke before firing a shot by Anderson to keep the Wild alive. Now all of the pressure would be on Backstrom to stop Daniel Alfredsson and give Minnesota a chance to win it. Alfredsson would take off towards Backstrom and he’d fire a wrister that beat Backstrom 5-hole to win the game 4-3. (shaking my head) What in the hell are you thinking Backstrom?
The paltry performance in the shootout marred what was a terrific game by Backstrom where he made 41 saves in a losing effort. Admittedly he got lucky a few times as he flopped around his crease far more than you normally see from the positionally sound goalie, but he gave the Wild every chance to win this game (apart from the shootout). Defensively the Wild were a bit erratic. Especially near the crease the Wild were not strong enough in my opinion. Clayton Stoner was the only Wild defenseman that seemed to have any semblance of physicality (even though he got crushed) in this game.
Offensively the Wild had flashes of brilliance but at key moments the Wild were not taking their shots when the opportunities presented themselves. Minnesota again got a power play goal, but more hustle would’ve likely drawn additional penalties perhaps giving the Wild a chance to really pull away from the Senators but it didn’t happen and Ottawa was able to hang around. I’d also give the Senators’ Chris Neil credit as he kept finding ways to spark his club and also bring his team back from the brink of defeat. The Wild needed someone to step up in that fashion and it didn’t quite happen.
Mike Yeo, “Does it stink that we lost a pont, yea it does, but I am not trying to take anything away from the guys, because some of them worked hard. We have to have some push back, we have to build from within.” He felt the team sat back and went into ‘safety mode’ as the Senators began to apply pressure. Yeo also asserted that his young players need to know how to play when the team has a lead. Yet I would argue this game was derailed by a stupid penalty by one of his most veteran players in mercenary defenseman Marek Zidlicky who selfishly hacked Zack Smith and opened the window of opportunity for the Senators. Give credit to the Senators for pouncing on the chance but Zidlicky should be ashamed of himself for making such a ‘rookie’ mistake.
This is the type of game where you look back at the end of the season and say, “damn, that was two points we should have had.” Good teams don’t let games slip away like that and all you can hope disappointing games like this are few and far between.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild’s roster tonight was: Mikko Koivu, Devin Setoguchi, Dany Heatley, Matt Cullen, Guillaume Latendresse, Cal Clutterbuck, Kyle Brodziak, Darroll Powe, Brett Bulmer, Nick Johnson, Matt Kassian, Colton Gillies, Marek Zidlicky, Greg Zanon, Clayton Stoner, Jared Spurgeon, Nick Schultz and Marco Scandella. Josh Harding backed up Niklas Backstrom. Pierre-Marc Bouchard (final game of his 2-game suspension) and Brad Staubitz (the final game of his 3-game suspension) were the scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Niklas Backstrom, 2nd Star Chris Neil, 3rd Star Daniel Alfredsson
~ Attendance tonight at Scotiabank Place was 19,455.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
