In 1996, Danny DeVito produced a film starring Cameron Diaz and Keanu Reeves with supporting cast members like Courtney Love and Dan Akroyd in a romantic comedy called Feeling Minnesota. The plot goes something like this, Freddie (Diaz), a former stripper is marrying Sam in order to repay a debt to a nightclub owner named Red. Yet Freddie ends up falling in love with Jjacks (Reeves) and they run off together. Sam finds them and is jealous and looks to shoot Jjacks but accidentally ends up shooting Freddie, who is wounded but lives. Somewhere in between your typical lame jokes and gratiuitous kissing Freddie and Jjacks rekindle their relationship after a falling out and they live happily ever after. Kind of screwed up don’t you think? Well, that ‘feeling’ could also describe the Minnesota Wild at this point. Like Freddie’s (the team) character in the film, the Wild are a formerly dysfunctional team hoping to repay the debt of gratitude owed to its fans by placing a good product on the ice, despite being married to a system put in place by Wild Head Coach Todd Richards (Sam) that may not suit the current lineup to its fullest. Freddie (the team) is not that happy and still wishes it was with Jacques (Lemaire aka Jjacks) instead as it feels a greater level of comfort in that system. The team tries to improve its condition with some coaching changes as well as a few tweaks to its roster but the jury is still out on whether that will work. So will Richards’ be able to show team management and its fans that his system can win or will he be like Sam, shooting the object of his affection and failing miserably? Will the fans clamor for a new coach that embraces defensive hockey like Jacques (Jjacks) like Michel Therrien perhaps?
Tonight will go a long way in helping answer some of these questions as it pits two teams with very different trajectories against one another. The young, dynamic and rejuvenated Edmonton Oilers who have taken advantage of their years of misery in the standings, at the draft to acquire quality young talent like Magnus Paajarvi, 1st Overall pick from 2010 Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle who is already a co-leader in points for this youthful squad. Meanwhile, the Wild seem to be sliding in the opposite direction. With a few quality players like Mikko Koivu and Matt Cullen flanked by a cast of underachievers, 3rd line calibre role players and NHL journeyman in search of better results its hard to feel overly optimistic about the course of the season after you’ve already dropped two games to another young and inexperienced team after falling twice at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. So if you had to choose; which one would you go with? A team on the rise or a team on the decline? Wild coaches, management and fans hope they’re wrong, but they’re none too hopeful and it will be interesting to see how they are recieved when they hit the Xcel Energy Center ice for its first home regular season game of 2010-11. Will the fans be “Feeling Minnesota” or will they just feel sick to their stomach?
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The first period would have some terrific intensity as Minnesota tried to set the tone early with a strong forecheck. Perhaps they were a little too exuberant as Minnesota would take four minor penalties thanks to some tight officiating by NHL referees Marc Joanette and Ghislain Hebert. Minnesota’s penalty killers, notably forwards John Madden and Cal Clutterbuck did a fine job of disrupting shooting lanes and not allowing the Oiler’s big shooting point men Kurtis Foster or former Bloomington Jefferson star Tom Gilbert to unload the one-timer with a clear lane to launch the biscuit. Between the pipes, Niklas Backstrom was able to find the puck through the bodies and make the key stops to avoid placing the Wild in an early hole. The Wild would have a tremendous shift from its 4th line of Cal Clutterbuck, Brad Staubitz and Kyle Brodziak as they kept the Oilers’ bottled in their zone with hard work along the boards and taking their opportunities to fire the puck at Nikolai Khabibulin. Finally, the officials would call a penalty on the Oilers, this time a very marginal hooking call on Dustin Penner and Minnesota would take advantage of the opportunity. After struggling to get established, Cam Barker would outlet a long pass to Andrew Brunette who moved into the Oilers’ zone where he fed a nice diagonal pass to Antti Miettinen who managed to sneak past Jim Vandermeer and the quick Finn tapped a shot by the Edmonton netminder to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Minnesota continued to attempt to apply offensive pressure as much as it could when it wasn’t serving time in the penalty box. Two more penalties would threaten the Wild’s lead, but again Minnesota’s penalty kill would stand fast killing two penalties in quick sucession to keep their 1-goal advantage going into the 2nd period.
In the 2nd period, Minnesota would again recieve a great shift from Latendresse, Brodziak and Staubitz where they’d frustrate the Oilers by playing physical and sustaining the forecheck, but their exuberance would be penalized when Guillaume Latendresse was tagged with a tripping call. The penalty would hurt as the Wild’s penalty killers were unable to keep the Oilers off the scoreboard any longer after Dustin Penner blistered a one-timer by Niklas Backstrom after a nice pass by Ales Hemsky. The goal got the boo’s going a bit at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota would try to rally back, but the team would abandon the forecheck and the Oilers were able to take the play to the Wild. The Oilers would add to the anxiety building in the arena, as Tom Gilbert took a Shawn Horcoff faceoff win that caromed off the boards and he would step into a slap shot that beat a surprised Backstrom to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead. At this point the Wild looked a bit more desperate, and Minnesota’s defenseman started to pinch to help press the attack and the pressure would yield a few Wild power plays. On the man advantage, the Wild moved the puck well and its obvious that Matt Cullen is a huge improvement over previous attempts by the Wild to develop a power play quarterback. Minnesota would threaten with a few in close chances but Khabibulin was able to shut down the first Wild man-advantage of the period. The Wild would re-group and Minnesota’s top line of Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette, and Antti Miettinen would assert itself and was able to create some pressure, where Magnus Paajarvi struggled to slow down the Wild captain giving the State of Hockey another power play. It would be a costly mistake for the Oilers, and after some terrific puck movement the puck would end up on the stick of Matt Cullen who nearly lost it in his skates and he would side step a defender before threading a pretty cross-ice pass to Mikko Koivu for an easy tap in goal to tie the game at 2-2. Minnesota would earn another power play, as Cal Clutterbuck drew an open ice hit from Jim Vandermeer just before the puck arrived for an easy interference call. The Wild would move the puck much the same way they did on the previous man advantage from the boards for a cross-ice pass to Cullen who tried to put a shot on goal but the puck would hit a few legs and make its way to Khabibulin who made the initial stop, and Mikko Koivu was there to shovel it home for a 3-2 lead. The Oilers were not happy and they did their best to spoil the celebration as Colin Fraser and Antti Miettinen would exchange some words as well as a facewash or two earning them both a trip to the sin bin. Minnesota would manage to hold off an Oilers’ counter attack led by Ales Hemsky and Dustin Penner who seemed to be the only Edmonton players able of creating much in the way of offense in the Wild zone. The Wild would shadow both players effectively, and take their one-goal lead into the 3rd.
In the 3rd period, Minnesota finally exhibited that killer instinct by having a strong 3rd period where they forechecked well and kept the Oilers at bey. The Oilers would not help their cause as former Wild defenseman Kurtis Foster would take two lazy penalties that robbed Edmonton of momentum and gave Minnesota a chance to extend its lead. Mikko Koivu would win a faceoff and draw it back to Matt Cullen who was working the point and he’d wind up and unload a slap shot that would deflect off the skate of Edmonton’s Tom Gilbert and by Khabibulin to give Minnesota a 4-2 lead. The Oilers gave only a token effort to try to get back into the game, and Minnesota seemed to be going out of its way to give Mikko Koivu a chance at a hat trick. Although there was a little luck in play too, as Ales Hemsky set up Sam Gagner perfectly for what should have been an easy tap in goal but his shot would strike the post. It was a solid effort where Minnesota demonstrated how effective its forecheck can be when the team as a whole commits to executing it. The Oilers would pull Khabibulin with nearly 2 minutes left in the game, and Minnesota’s defense clogged up the neutral zone and kept its sticks active to deny passing lanes and ended up having 3 attempts at adding an empty net goal, the closest one coming off the stick of Brent Burns who banked a shot off the boards only to see his shot strike the pipe and go out. The crowd would stand on its feet over the last 30 seconds as the team earned its first victory of the season.
Niklas Backstrom made 24 saves in the victory. For the most part he was very solid for the Wild, the only real ugly goal was the Tom Gilbert shot which more or less caught him not paying attention. Down the stretch the Oilers had a few good chances up close and he preserved the Wild’s lead and clearly played well enough for his team to win. Defensively the Wild played far more responsibly, with the lone exception of one terribly foolish outlet pass attempted by Marek Zidlicky. The penalty kill was pretty solid for the Wild, giving up very few prime scoring chances and collapsing down near the crease at the right times. Greg Zanon needs to ease up on the penalties, as the team’s best shot blocker losing him for 2 minutes is almost like giving the opposition a 2-man advantage.
Offensively, the team wasn’t able to create much 5-on-5, and most of its pressure came on the man advantage. As much as I’d love to see the team tally 4 power play goals per night, that simply is not going to happen all too often. The team must find more ways to create scoring chances at even strength. Guillaume Latendresse split time between the 2nd and 4th lines, and was one of the few players outside of the top line that was able to establish offensive pressure, using his big frame to shield the puck. Two players who were nearly non-existant were Chuck Kobasew and Martin Havlat. These two players have some offensive ability and they cannot just be cherry pickers waiting for the opportunity to fall on their laps, they need to look to create offense and be assertive. The Wild’s top line was again the workhorse and a 3-point night was a great home start for the Minnesota captain, Mikko Koivu.
Todd Richards’ system certainly looked good tonight and when the Wild forechecked it was stifling, but I think this also proves that it must be a 60-minute effort. It can’t be every 3rd or 4th shift as it was against Carolina. So are the fans ‘Feeling Minnesota’? Probably, but the effort and the results must continue in order to keep that feeling going.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, Martin Havlat, Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Cullen, Chuck Kobasew, Eric Nystrom, Brad Staubitz, Kyle Brodziak, Guillaume Latendresse, Justin Falk, Greg Zanon, Cam Barker, Marek Zidlicky, Brent Burns and Nick Schultz. Jose Theodore backed up Niklas Backstrom between the pipes. Clayton Stoner was a healthy scratch, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard is still trying to work his way back into the lineup.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by Let’s Play Hockey were: 1st Star Mikko Koivu, 2nd Star Matt Cullen, 3rd Star Marek Zidlicky
~ The announced attendance was 18,449, which is a figure I would question since there were more than a few empty seats. A subtle sign of the angst surrounding the Wild.
Wild Prospect Report:
LW – Brett Bulmer (Kelowna Rockets, WHL)
2010-09 Stats: 7GP 4G 1A = 5pts 16 PIM’s -6
Brett Bulmer started off fast, netting a hat trick in his first game back in the WHL he has struggled to find the back of the net since. The tall and lanky Prince George, British Columbia-naive is a decent puckhandler but has struggled defensively as the Kelowna Rockets are off to a terrible start, currently sitting in last place in the British Columbia Division. The 6’3″, 175lbs winger showed some dazzle at the Wild’s prospect camp this summer, and surprised many with his willingness to throw his body around against many established NHL’ers in pre-season action. The Wild are gambling on Bulmer’s continuing development to turn the promising winger into a key component in the team’s long-term future.
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