Game #39: Minnesota Wild vs Edmonton Oilers, Thursday December 29, 2011 at 7:00pm (CST), Xcel Energy Center [GAME PREVIEW]

I have no idea why this was the first idea that popped into my head but when I heard NHL Safety Department czar Brendan Shanahan‘s explanation why he didn’t suspend Cody McLeod for his hit on Jared Spurgeon the first thing I thought of was Imogene Coca from National Lampoon’s Vacation where she said Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) should be put behind bars for killing her ‘loveable’ pitbull ‘Dinky’ and driving over the speed limit.  Imogene Coca’s portrayal of the cantankerous, opinionated, and judgemental Aunt Edna was classic, and turned a rough road trip into a nightmare for the Griswolds.  Especially after she eventually passed away, presumably after eating dog urine laced sandwiches during a brief stop over at a rest stop.  Her quiet death was not discovered for several hours where everyone simply assumed she was sleeping.  Upon discovering that she had passed away, the family was rather disturbed; especially son Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and daughter Audrey (Dana Barron) who were sitting next to her in America’s favorite vacation vehicle, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster.  So they tied Aunt Edna’s corpse to the roof of their station wagon where they drove to Flagstaff, Arizona to drop it off with her son Normie.  Normie wasn’t home to receive his mom’s corpse, and with the rain falling they placed her body in the backyard, sitting in a lawn chair with a note attached explaining what happened.  Absolutely ridiculous right?!?!  But its a comedy its meant to be ridiculous, then I wish someone would tell the NHL it can stop acting as though it were a lampoon of a professional sports league. 

   Is the NHL and Brendan Shanahan trying to be funny with these explanations?

For those of you who missed it; Brendan Shanahan explained that there was no suspension to Cody McLeod because he was simply putting his hands on Jared Spurgeon’s back to let him know he was there and that in no way did that contribute to the violence of the commission.  Are you joking?  Cody McLeod placed his hands on the defenseman’s back to let him know he was there and thus he’s absolved of any responsibility?  Wow, I wish I would’ve used that defense anytime I was guilty of a crosscheck or any other infraction.  Maybe I should’ve told the official, no when I tripped up the opposing forward I was simply tapping his skate blade to let him know I was there so can you please not call a penalty?  The full 24 hours of silence on the issue was bad enough, but the excuse turns this non-suspension from wrong to flat out insulting.  Perhaps if they ever decide to remake the movie, perhaps they should cast Shanahan in Eugene Levy‘s role as the car salesman.  Sure, the Antarctic Blue Super Sportswagon with the CB Rally Fun Pack didn’t come in and the only alternative in stock is the Metallic Pea Wagon Queen Family Truckster.  Riiight.  Like Levy’s character, he must’ve thought Clark Griswold was quite a fool to even attempt such a weak excuse as that.  Same thing goes for Shanahan.  He must not think too highly of the Wild or his fans so he trots out a complete joke of a reason to justify what happened.  I guess Dale Hunter was just letting Pierre Turgeon know he was there when he closelined him in the playoffs years ago or Todd Bertuzzi was just letting Steve Moore know that he was there when he drove his head into the ice.  Its funny, people questioned former NHL rules czar Colin Campbell for his judgment and apparent lack of consistency but eve he is starting to look pretty credible compared to his replacement.  To use Shanahan’s patronizing reason and to modify a line from the film you could say, “you think you hate no explanation now, but wait ’til you hear it!” 

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The Wild lost its 8th game in a row Wednesday night with a 2-1 shootout loss to the hands of the Nashville Predators.  The much improved effort of the team made some say it was a moral victory but when you’ve lost 8 games in a row isn’t that pretty tough to say with a straight face?  I’m glad to see the team put forth a better effort, giving them a chance to win but when you’ve lost 7 straight only to lose again in the shootout I doubt you feel as though you’ve turned things around.  Minnesota had a great night from Josh Harding, but again a lack of offense doomed it to this woulda, coulda, shoulda fate.  As a wise old saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  This team is now in 2nd place in the Northwest Division behind rival Vancouver who has been surging as of late and sits in 6th in the Western Conference. 

Minnesota returns home to face the Edmonton Oilers for the last time in the regular season.  The Oilers have given Minnesota some problems as of late and its cast of young, dynamic talent have been more than a handful for the Wild’s patchwork defense.  Edmonton also possesses plenty of firepower and the added bonus of Wild killer Ryan Smyth makes them that much more threatening to a team that is probably feeling a little down lately.  Talented young forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and sniper Jordan Eberle have also been adept at finding the back of the Wild’s net this season.  The Oilers are in no position to catch the Wild right now as they are in 13th in the West and 13 points behind Minnesota currently, albeit with 3 games in hand on the State of Hockey. 

Between the pipes, Nikolai Khabibulin has been tough to beat as his goals against average and save percentage are amongst the best in the league.  The Wild would also be wise to stay disciplined as the Oilers have the 2nd best power play in the NHL.  A few games back, it was Brad Staubitz who foolishly allowed Darcy Hordichuk to goad him him into taking two roughing double-minors which cost Minnesota in their last game played at home against Edmonton.  Hopefully, Staubitz has learned his lesson as the Wild need to do all that they can to right the ship and earn 2 points tonight.  Hordichuk, who claimed he had been waiting for years for his chance to take a pound of flesh out of Staubitz turtled rather easily.  It will be interesting to see if Edmonton tries to use that once again and I have no doubt Oilers’ head coach Tom Renney may give it another shot.  What’s to lose?  The Wild did call up Aeros enforcer Matt Kassian tonight who is a legit heavyweight, perhaps to send a message to the Oilers perhaps?

Minnesota has scored just 10 goals in its last 9 games.  Its pretty tough to win many games 1-0.  The Wild must find more ways to score goals.  I saw a Tweet mentioned by NHL Network from injured sniper Devin Setoguchi that he’s glad to be skating and hopes to be back soon.  Unfortunately I do not expect to see him ready to go for tonight’s game.  The Wild have been getting some points from its top line as Dany Heately, Mikko Koivu and Pierre-Marc Bouchard have been finding their way onto the score sheet a little bit more through this losing streak, but there has been next to nothing as far as offensive contributions from anywhere else.  The 2nd line has more or less become a non-factor while the 3rd and 4th lines are now completely irrelevant.  The lesser told story during Minnesota’s successful start was that the team’s 3rd line was chipping in quite a few points that made many sort of ignore the fact its top line was underachieving.  Now the opposite is true and ironically enough the team isn’t scoring as much as it used to.  Kyle Brodziak, Nick Johnson, and to a lesser extent Darroll Powe are far less of a factor and the scoring depth that buoyed the team’s fast start is now a major reason success has eluded the team. 

The Wild must turn it around soon.  I think they have the talent to do so; despite the injuries.  These guys just have to dig deeper and want it more than they presently seem to.  The team has played without Guillaume Latendresse and Setoguchi for a good portion of this season, and they managed to win games.  Its time to be a bit more like ‘Dinky’ and show more fight.  Let’s just hope the NHL doesn’t tie us up to the bumper of the car and then drive off. 

Injury Report:

Minnesota:    Devin Setoguchi (left ankle), Jared Spurgeon (lower body) , Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), Clayton Stoner (groin),   Casey Wellman (wrist) 

Edmonton:  Taylor Fedun (broken right femur), Cam Barker (left ankle), Ales Hemsky (sinus infection, questionable), Alex Plante (facial laceration, questionable), Ryan Whitney (right ankle tendinitis, questionable), Andy Sutton (undisclosed)   

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