“Flash – Ah – He’s a miracle, This mornings unprecedented solar eclipse, Is no cause for alarm, Flash – Ah – King of the impossible, He’s for ev’ry one of us, Stand for ev’ry one of us, He’ll save with a mighty hand
Ev’ry man ev’ry woman ev’ry child, With a mighty Flash” are the lyrics to the Flash Gordon theme song as composed by legendary rock group Queen back in 1980. The movie attempted to mix the 1930’s science fiction action hero with the late 70’s rock / disco style and the result was a cult classic. I wouldn’t say I’m a big fan of the movie, but the cheesy special effects and predictable storyline are precisely what I think of when I see the ‘new’ logo for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning themselves feature some tremendous talents in young phenom Steven Stamkos, cagey veteran Martin St. Louis and a resurgence from team captain Vincent Lecavalier led by their youthful coach Guy Boucher. Boucher may not be Ming the Merciless, but to some believe his 1-3-1 style of play is a dastardly plot that could ‘ruin’ the game of hockey. While Boucher is not the first coach, who embraced a defensive approach to the game that was maligned for what some people believed to be stripping hockey of its entertainment value few have every seen such a dramatic reaction to that style of play as the Lightning did when the Philadelphia Flyers came to town on November 9th, 2011.
Is Guy Boucher the new villain of the NHL?
Flyers’ Head Coach Peter Laviolette decided to compel the Lightning to actually forecheck by sending its forward across the blueline by waiting for him to cross. If he didn’t, the Flyers sat back and moved the puck just enough not to draw a whistle. So far its been an isolated incident, but it got NHL General Managers talking about it. Ultimately they decided against any sort of regulation against the 1-3-1 or the Flyers dramatic strategy to counteract it so who knows if we’ll see it again. Minnesota is finishing up its 6-game homestand in this nationally televised contest tonight. Will the Lightning strike in Minnesota or will the Wild’s strong defensively play make this Flash fizzle?
Click on “Read More” for the rest of the article…
1st Period Thoughts: Physical. That was certainly something worth noticing early in the opening period. In the past few games, I’ve felt we’ve been a little soft. Tonight, the hits came early and often. Hit were both along the boards and in the open ice. With last night’s moving tribute to Derek Boogaard some have wondered if the team has missed that physical presence. It is possible that tonight the Minnesota Wild are trying to say that we can be physical without needing a bona fide enforcer. Just like the Wild are a team that scores by committee, some of the physical plays were by committee as well where two or even three players take on a single Tampa Bay player who has the puck. That method worked surprisingly well early in the game. I don’t know if it was a way for the team of saying “we’re going to work together to get you off the puck” or more of a “we saw what you did against Philadelphia, and if you insist on that nonsense, we’re going to make things difficult for you, but in a different way.” While there were moments where the Lightning truly demonstrated that they are the faster of the two teams, the Wild’s team defense and goaltending worked hard and kept Tampa Bay off the scoreboard. What is a welcome relief after last night’s abomination, has been the fantastic first period play of Minnesota goaltender, Niklas Backstrom. In the first twenty minutes, Backstrom faced eleven Lightning shots, all of which he stopped. He looked much more composed and solid, and one can only hope that this continues for the next two periods. What definitely needs to change in the coming periods, is for the Wild to get sustained time in their own offensive zone and get more quality shots on goal. With the greater speed and offensive talents of the opponent, Minnesota will need to work harder than they already have.
2nd Period Thoughts: Clearly the Wild chose not to play the physical game to open the second. Because of that, they found themselves trapped in the defensive zone and unable to get to the loose pucks. This unfortunately allowed the Lightning to maintain control of the puck. The lack of physicality also seemed to drain the Wild’s energy. The lack of energy, physicality and near refusal to shoot the puck, allowed for a turnover which led to a Steven Stamkos goal just under six minutes into the period. The frustration seemed to lead to a Matt Cullen slashing penalty shortly after the goal, which once again gives the energy to the opponent. Yet somehow Minnesota found a way to get back into the game, and shorthanded as well. Thanks to a coughed up puck and some patience on the part Cal Clutterbuck the Wild found themselves tied. Minnesota used that shorthanded goal as a catalyst, they almost pulled ahead on a Kyle Brodziak shot, however he found himself curing the post for the second night in a row. One goal is sometimes just enough to recharge a team, and in the second half of the middle period, Minnesota found themselves better able to control the puck, therefore able to get shots on goal. While it’s great to see Minnesota turn things around, it would be even better if they could somehow figure out how to create and maintain that offensive pressure from the start of every game. For whatever reason, the Wild have been one of those teams who are rarely able to play sixty solid minutes of hockey. Due to a Dominic Moore hooking penalty in the second half of the period, the Wild once almost pulled ahead another few times. First, it was Clutterbuck sitting in front of Matthieu Garon almost tallying his second goal of the night. Then it was Brodziak again, and once again with the post. Brodziak has had some fantastic opportunities recently, that one has to imagine that eventually they will start going in again. Of course, it was hard work by the Minnesota Wild that made the difference. It was the hard work by Nick Johnson with an absolutely perfect pass to Pierre-Marc Bouchard who actually took the shot instead of passing and scored the Wild’s second goal of the night. And of course, Brodziak continued to get shots of his own late in the second period, yet no goals. Bouchard’s goal seemed to rouse the Lightning from their nap, as they certainly pushed to get their own shots on goal. Thankfully between great (and sometimes lucky) team play and outstanding goaltending, the Wild head into the locker room with their first lead of the night.
3rd Period Thoughts: The third period pretty much sums up the entire game, well with a few exceptions from the first period. This game also pretty much sums up the season they’ve had this year. There have been ups and downs, but it’s been all about how the team reacts to the down times in their games and season that effects the up times. After two games where they gave up five games, they buckled down and only allowed the one goal by Tampa Bay. But even better, Minnesota got their own chances, and they tried and kept trying all night long. Even better was the goaltending by Backstrom. Not only did he play very well tonight, there’s an interesting stat regarding how he plays in the next game after being pulled in the previous one. He now has a 17-4-2 record with a 1.91GAA and .932 SV% in that all-important game after getting pulled. When you have a goaltender that can bounce back like that, it helps the team bounce back as well. Not only did they bounce back, they are now tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for that all important number one spot in the Western Conference. However, the next real test comes on the upcoming West Coast road trip. It would be nice to get the losses against Los Angeles and San Jose back. I can only hope that they remember the abysmal games in an attempt to never repeat them.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild lineup tonight was as follows: Matt Cullen, Mikko Koivu, Devin Setoguchi, Darroll Pow e, Dany Heatley, Brad Staubitz, Casey Wellman, Kyle Brodziak, Cal Clutterbuck, Nick Johnson, David McIntyre, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Mike Lundin, Clayton Stoner, Greg Zanon, Marco Scandella, Jared Spugeon, and Nick Schultz. Josh Harding backed up Niklas Backstrom. Justin Falk and Colton Gillies were the healthy scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by the fans were: Third star, Matt Lundin; Second Star, Cal Clutterbuck; First Star, Niklas Backstrom.
~ Attendance was 16,628 at Xcel Energy Center.
~ Mike Lundin wore #2 and David McIntyre wore #34 in their Wild debuts.
Houston Aeros Report:
Record: 11-3-2-4 28pts 2nd West Division
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #17 Casey Wellman ~ 11G 8A = 19pts
2. #14 Jon DiSalvatore ~ 8G 11A = 19pts
3. #22 Jeff Taffe ~ 5G 11A = 16pts
4. #37 Justin Fontaine ~ 4G 8A = 12pts
5. #26 David McIntyre ~ 7G 4A = 11pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #4 Drew Bagnall ~ 34 PIM’s
2. #26 David McIntyre ~ 27 PIM’s
3. #41 Jed Ortmeyer ~ 20 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #31 Matthew Hackett (8-3-3) 2.19GAA .926%SP
2. #34 Dennis Endras (3-2-1) 2.46GAA .913%SP
The Houston Aeros split their two-game series this weekend against in-state rival Texas Stars. Friday night the Aeros fell 2-1 in overtime on former Aeros’ defenseman Maxime Fortunus‘ goal with less than 30 seconds left in the extra stanza. The Aeros had better luck on Saturday when Joel Broda got things going with his 1st goal of the season just 42 seconds into the game. Texas answered back just 2 minutes later when Mike Hedden scored. The Stars would briefly take the lead early in the 2nd period on the power play when Jordie Benn found the back of the net behind Matthew Hackett. Houston would respond with 3 unanswered goals as team captain Jon DiSalvatore, and Chad Rau as well as an empty netter by Broda to seal a 4-2 victory. Hackett had 33 saves in the win.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
