Game #30: Minnesota Wild vs Ottawa Senators, Thursday December 16, 2010 at 7:00pm CST, Xcel Energy Center [GAME PREVIEW]

Tonight is another one of those games that cause a bit of anxiety on my part.  Between the tightness of the Western Conference where the Wild need every point they can get and the poor record we have against the Ottawa Senators is enough to make any sane person want to cover their faces.  To make things even more anxiety causing, is the fact that this year’s Senators are behind the Wild in the league standings.  I personally can’t remember a time that Minnesota was better than Ottawa in the four game stats I have listed above.  It’s a bit mind boggling to tell the truth.

Although perhaps many of us will be able to put aside those feelings anxiety with the pre-game festivities at Xcel Energy Center tonight.  The Wild will be honoring Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee, Dino Ciccarelli tonight.  While Dino hasn’t worn a Minnesota jersey, albeit a North Stars one, since the 1988-89 NHL season, he still has a place in the hearts of countless Minnesota fans.  In fact, in the eight years since he has been eligible to be inducted, many of the letters in the press and calls into hockey talk shows have come from people of the North Star State wondering why he wasn’t in the Hall.  It just seemed odd to all that a man who tallied 1,200 NHL points in his career (608 of those goals) had yet to be inducted.  What ever the reasons that kept him out, have now been surpassed.

So while things may start off happy and uplifting, whether or not the game ends that way is a completely different story.  One bright star on the Wild’s horizon has been the offensive output by defenseman Brent Burns.  While he seems to have found his game, one still has to ask how long it will last.  Burns has had his struggles, whether the back and forth question of whether he was a forward or a defenseman, to last year’s injury, that may or may not have been a concussion.  What’s even more amazing, is that Burns is second in the league for goals by defenseman.  Other bright spots on the horizon are the eventual returns of Matt Cullen and John Madden.  Whether either of them play tonight is one thing, they are however practicing again.

Hopefully the team that shows up tonight is able to take the feel-good moments before the game starts combine it with the bitter taste of defeat against Anaheim, and roll it into something that comes out kicking tonight.  Like many, I can handle a loss as long as it is a hard-fought loss.    However, I’d rather have a hard-fought win.

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