Game #13: Minnesota Wild vs St. Louis Blues, Saturday November 5, 2011 at 7:00pm (CDT), Xcel Energy Center [GAME PREVIEW]

Let’s face it.  The fans, including yours truly, were getting nervous, frustrated, and to a degree angry.  It had gotten to a point where no one was sure whether or not the Minnesota Wild was able to score or at the very least, shoot.  We had been promised an up-tempo form of hockey with an emphasis on scoring.  With the off-season roster acquisitions, I know I expected to see results much earlier in the season.  Yet it seemed that Minnesota was stuck in a rut, and not a good rut.  The rut was full of lack of shots and more importantly, a lack of goals. 

But then a funny thing happened.  First the home-and-home series against Detroit, a team considering how they’d played as of late, they should not have beat.  Sure, they didn’t a ton of shots on goal, but it appeared that they were at least trying.  Going into Thursday’s game against Vancouver, the Wild were riding a wave of confidence on the shoulders of one Josh Harding (who currently leads the league in save percentage).  Watching Harding in those two games against the Red Wings, I think many fans were beginning to think “this is the Harding we’ve been waiting to see since we drafted him in 2002.  Then the 2011 Western Conference Champions, the Vancouver Canucks, rolled into town.  Their fans believe every year that they’re going to win the Stanley Cup, and even with their struggles this year, they’re not about to let you forget that they went to the Stanley Cup Finals this past year.  I was nervous considering how the game started, especially after Dan Hamhuis scored just over two minutes into the game.  Early goals like that often don’t bode well for a team, especially a team like the Wild where scoring is a struggle.  Yet, the Wild manages more shots than their opponent and kept them from scoring additional goals.  Whatever they talked about during the first intermission combined with the effort they put forth, changed the dynamic.

The important thing for tonight’s game is two-fold.  First, they need to continue peppering the net, and in tonight’s case that will most likely be St. Louis’ Brian Elliott.  Like Vancouver’s Cory Schneider, Elliott is another one of the goalies that Minnesota needs to find a way to crack.  The best way to do that, is to keep shooting at him, and to get in close.  They’re called “garbage” goals for a reason, meaning they’re not pretty, but they count just as much as a highlight reel goal.  I don’t need beautiful goals or a wide open skating game to be happy.  Win the game, and I’m a happy camper.  You can’t win if you can’t (or in the Wild’s case sometimes, won’t) score.

The other important element for tonight’s game is to shut them down.  The Wild are currently tied for second with the Los Angeles Kings for Goals Against per Game.  The Blues are middle of the pack when it comes to even strength scoring.  You have to shut that down.  When it comes to the Blues’ power play, which is worst in the league, it become just that more important for Minnesota to continue to execute its recently perfect penalty kill.  And since their penalty kill isn’t much better than their power play, Minnesota absolutely needs to capitalize on the man advantage when it comes their way.

Minnesota should be primed to extend their winning streak.  However, with this team, I’ve learned never to count on anything.  When they should win, they lose, and when I expect them to lose, on occasion that surprise me.  All I ask for is a game of confidence.  Go out to win and grant no mercy.  No taking time off during the game.

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