Almost every kid knows that feeling from Elementary School, that anxious moment when out at the playground kids pick teams for football, kickball, baseball or hockey. It often goes beyond just wondering whose team you’re going to end up on, as much as you may simply hope to avoid the indignity of being picked last. The last kid selected sort of feels humbled and probably more than a little embarrassed at the thought of being the kid no one wanted or that the team that got them felt ‘stuck’ in doing so.
In professional sports it works in the opposite direction. The guys sent away first are the ones that probably feel as though they’re the least wanted while the last few hopefuls that remain probably feel very fortunate. It means the team thinks they’re close or ready for NHL action. There is no question that the anxiety level of players like Jason Zucker, Cody Almond, Michael Keranen, Stephane Veilleux, Mathew Dumba, Christian Folin, Brett Sutter and Stu Bickel, are going to be pretty intense this evening.
As Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Michael Russo stated here, the team wants to see how these young hopefuls can handle the pressure and physical intensity that personifies the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are going to be playing with a mostly NHL lineup, so this will be a true live-fire test of these youngsters to see if they can survive this crucible of a pre-season game. Who stood out in tonight’s game?
1st Period Thoughts: The Blues game plan was rather predictable, intimidate the Wild as much as you can since they’re playing a lineup featuring mostly youngsters. It didn’t matter if you were tough guy or not; as the Blues were even taking runs at goon Joel Rechlicz. Rechlicz’s foolishly took a run at Ryan Reaves after he got lit up by the Blues enforcer on a big, clean hit. His attempt to get after Reaves resulted in a Blues’ power play. Minnesota would’ve been in deep trouble early on if it hadn’t been for some terrific play in the crease by Niklas Backstrom. The Wild found themselves under siege as they struggled to create much of anything offensively. It wasn’t until 9:27 into the 1st that the Wild finally registered a shot on goal as Christian Folin hammered a shot on goal from the point. The Wild could not seem to find any time and space to move the puck at least at even strength. The Wild were able to pick up a few power plays but were not able to create much offensive pressure on the man advantage. Backstrom kept Minnesota in the game with a great odd-man chances for Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko. Minnesota wasn’t backing down and Stu Bickel dropped the gloves with Paul Bissonnette, and the former Golden Gopher wasted little time pummeling the Twitter personality. The fight seemed to inspire the Wild to stand up for themselves. Whether it was a slash or a big hit by Charlie Coyle on Reaves, the Wild showed some backbone. Minnesota was in need for a big play, and Jason Zucker would provide that as he caught Patrik Berglund snoozing a bit with the puck and the Las Vegas-native pilfered the biscuit and then ripped a wicked wrist shot by Jake Allen with under a minute left in the period. 1-0 Wild. The Blues were a bit stunned and they’d have another ugly turnover in its own end as Cody Almond was the thief this time and his hard shot was fought off by Allen. Minnesota had to feel fortunate to be leading 1-0 after being outshot 11-4. Give Backstrom most of the credit for that. Penalty kill for the Wild was also solid so far, not allowing a single shot in two attempts.
2nd Period Thoughts: Minnesota got the first quality scoring chance of the period as Folin held a puck in the offensive zone where he set up Nino Niederreiter for a scoring chance at point blank range that was denied by Allen. The chippy play that permeated the 1st continued as Rechlicz finally got his chance to drop the gloves with Reaves. It was the nasty heavyweight fight one would expect as both pugilists were throwing big punches until Reaves wrestled Rechlicz to the ice. The fight seemed to light a fire underneath the Blues who really began to pour it on offensively. Backstrom had lots of activity in and around his crease, and you could sense a shift in momentum. The Blues persistence would be rewarded as the Wild found itself unable to clear its own zone and St. Louis would tie the game as Berglund rocketed a one-timer by Backstrom. With the game tied at 1-1 the chirping and chippy play continued as Justin Falk dropped the gloves with Bissonnette. It was a clear win for Bissonnette as he controlled the fight from the start. The fight didn’t get Minnesota moving any better as the Blues continued to keep the Wild bottled up in their own end. Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo would call a timeout to tear into his team who appeared to be in a fetal position at this point. The Wild still were on the ropes as Backstrom made a huge save to deny Jay Bouwmeester before getting run over. Wild Athletic Trainer Don Fuller would check on the 36-year old’s well-being and after working out the cobwebs with a quick skate he’d be ready to go. Minnesota would again wait until late in the period as Zucker set up Erik Haula for a blistering shot that was snagged out of the air by Allen. The Wild felt pretty lucky after the 1st, perhaps had to feel even more fortunate to still be tied after 2 periods of play where they were thoroughly dominated by the Blues. Backstrom is certainly was getting plenty of work to this point as Minnesota was being outshot 23-10.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Blues picked up where they left off, carrying the play with a strong attack that kept Minnesota scratching and clawing just to keep the game close. The stalemate did not last long as Tarasenko set up Jordan Leopold for a bomb where he found the twine just a little past the 5 minute mark of the 3rd. 2-1 Blues. After the goal, the Blues’ kept up the pressure thanks to a reckless high sticking call on Mathew Dumba. Minnesota couldn’t buy a shot to save its life as the Blues kept the puck away from the Wild and the youngsters were not able to provide a lot of push back. The Wild really only seemed to be interested in keeping the result respectable, unlike the Vikings against the Green Bay Packers. The chippy part of the game would come back as David Backes swung his stick at the back of Zucker’s leg as Coyle stepped up to defend his teammate. Coyle would get tangled up with Ian Cole; and they’d got sit for two minutes apeice for roughing while Backes, the instigator got nothing at all. The nastiness wasn’t over yet as Keith Ballard would spear Alex Steen and then get tied up with Kevin Shattenkirk and both players would drop the gloves. Both players would end up with 3 penalties apiece but the Blues were given a power play and they’d get an insurance goal because of it. Backstrom, who had to feel as though he was out there by himself made good first save on Paul Stastny only to have it tapped home by T.J. Oshie, 3-1 Blues. With nothing else to lose, the Wild would pull Niklas Backstrom for an extra attacker with 2:19 left in the game. It didn’t turn out too well for the Wild as Mathew Dumba coughed up the puck to David Backes who buried an empty netter to seal a 4-1 victory.
Pretty tough to place any blame on Niklas Backstrom, as he stopped 33 shots in the loss. He kept the shorthanded Wild as long as he could. Backstrom weathered an ugly collision and kept playing well keeping Minnesota in it all the way to the 3rd period. Christian Folin had a strong game, while Mathew Dumba struggled a bit. The penalty kill was pretty good for the Wild; giving up just a single goal on 1 out of 6 tries.
Offensively was where the Wild suffered the most; unless you count their misguided attempts to fight back. Minnesota managed a paltry 15 shots on goal which were registered few and far between. The Wild never really managed to cause any kind of real trouble in the offensive zone beyond a few isolated opportunities.
With all the nastiness this game had, you have to imagine it means a potentially ugly game on Saturday as Minnesota finishes its pre-season schedule against this same Blues squad. While you certainly do not hope to see the Blues take liberties with the likes of Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek, etc its a likely approach for St. Louis who understands all too well they have the Wild in their psychological crosshairs. The Wild better be ready to bring it or even with the team dressing its stars it could suffer a similar fate.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster tonight was as follows: Erik Haula, Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter, Brett Sutter, Stephane Veilleux, Joel Rechlicz, Jason Zucker, Kyle Brodziak, Tyler Graovac, Cody Almond, Michael Keranen, Zack Phillips, Justin Falk, Christian Folin, Mathew Dumba, Keith Ballard, Jonathon Blum and Stu Bickel. Ilya Bryzgalov backed up Niklas Backstrom.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Vladimir Tarasenko, 2nd Star Jordan Leopold, 3rd Star Paul Stastny
~ Attendance was 12,103 at Scottrade Center.
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