I have to admit I have a soft spot for Sonny and Cher. This is probably a Sonny and Cher song more for the middle of the season as opposed to the end of the season but for whatever reason it was the first thing that came to my mind, “The beat goes on, the beat goes on, Drums keep poundin’ a rhythm to the brain, La da de da de, La de da de da” Not overly descriptive, but sort of how my mind feels after a long week. Just more of the same, more road games and more words to type. More plays to describe and more losses to discuss. La de da de da. At the very least, Cher in those days hasn’t been too hard on the eyes. A lot more pleasant to see than the way the Wild has been playing as of late. The self-deprecating humor of Sonny Bono is sort of like Todd Richards‘ post-games where he tries his best not to make fun of himself as the action on the ice has. A comedy of errors, a gaggle of gaffes no matter what you call it has been an ugly finish what once looked to be a promising season.
The beat goes on with call ups and injuries as the Wild bring back Chuck Kobasew (from personal issues) and Cal Clutterbuck while Justin Falk is given a plane ticket back to Houston and Drew Bagnall joins the team for its final road game of the 2010-11 season. So will Minnesota make the beat go on and continue their slide or will they show that the Houston Aeros can beat the Oklahoma City Barons?
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1st Period Thoughts: The first rule of Fight Club is to not talk about Fight Club, but its a good thing we’re not talking about that but instead we saw something that tried to be just that. Just 7 seconds into the game Clayton Stoner decided it would be a good idea to drop the gloves with Theo Peckham. He soon found out that was a mistake as the clearly much stronger Peckham took control, pummelling Stoner with a series of right hands that had the Wild defenseman reeling. It looked as though Stoner was soon going to get clocked but to his credit he stuck in there and tried to throw a few punches at Peckham but to virtually no effect at all. Stoner would slip out of his jersey and he tried throwing one last punch before being punched down to the ice by the OIlers blueliner. Adding insult to injury after starting a fight that only served to get the opposing team inspired, the jersey coming off would have a consequence as he’d earn a 10-minute game misconduct for not having his sweater strapped down. The Oilers were clearly trying to send a physical message that they wished to be the aggressors in this game as Jean-Francois Jacques delivered a pretty solid body check to Carson McMillan that sent him flying backwards; and Brad Staubitz wasted no time challenging him. Jacques would take control and start firing right hands that put the Wild enforcer on his heels pretty quickly. The ugliness continued a few minutes later as Brad Staubitz gave a nice hit on Magnus Paajarvi and just a few seconds after that Staubitz found himself tackled at center ice by Steve McIntyre wailing on him as the Wild enforcer was in a fetal position and the officials dove in to spare Staubitz from receiving anymore punishment. McIntyre earned a 2-minute minor for instigating, 5-minutes for fighting and 10-minute game misconduct. This would give the Wild a 7:00 minute power play. On the man advantage, all Minnesota seemed interested in doing was just pass the puck. They were short, quick passes but no one wanted to pull the trigger and despite a fair amount of puck possession time all that was accomplished was a glorified passing drill. The power play would be discombobulated by a hit by Cal Clutterbuck that caught Peckham off balance and it was interpreted as a 5-minute boarding major and a 10-minute game-misconduct. It was a bogus call but it would turn the power play into a 4-on-4 for about 2 minutes. That too was short lived as former Moorhead Spuds star Chris VandeVelde got the blade of his stick into the grill of Antti Miettinen, giving Minnesota a 4-on-3 power play. The Wild finally were able to cash in on its man advantage as Mikko Koivu slides a pass out to the point where Brent Burns wires a slapper by Devan Dubnyk to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. The Oilers tried to strike back with a few chances off the rush as Jordan Eberle really was playing hungry all throughout that period but Jose Theodore was able to make the stops when needed and the Wild were able to carry a lead going into the 2nd for the first time in quite a while.
2nd Period Thoughts: The game would simmer down quite a bit after the 100 penalty minutes that marked the 1st period. The Wild were showing a little better jump to start the period as they had a power play working for them early and a quick little rush by Mikko Koivu turned into the 2nd goal as he threaded a pass into the slot where a crashing Jared Spurgeon buried a quick shot by Dubnyk to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. Edmonton struck back quickly after a strange sequence as Jordan Eberle charged up the ice with Chris VandeVelde and Drew Bagnall couldn’t find the puck in his skates and the Oilers kept working it towards the Wild crease where Theodore couldn’t get a handle on it and Teemu Hartikainen shoveled the puck into the gaping net to cut Minnesota’s lead to one, 2-1. The shorthanded goal would give the Oilers some momentum and start to go on the attack and they had some great chances as Jim Vandermeer rang a shot off the crossbar, and Linus Omark set up a great point-blank chance for VandeVelde that was denied by Theodore. Minnesota would create a few odd-man rushes late in the period as Matt Cullen raced in on the breakaway but as he tried to dangle around Dubnyk he’d be shut down with a quick kick of the leg pad. A few moments later Kyle Brodziak found some space behind the defense and he fired a wrister from the slot as Dubnyk got just enough of a shoulder on it to deflect it up and into the netting over the glass. The Wild kept taking their chances to press the attack and Mikko Koivu would lower his shoulder and drive to the net causing VandeVelde to haul him down for an obvious penalty. Minnesota wouldn’t be able to do much of anything in the last 40 seconds on the man advantage but had to feel good about still having their lead going into the 2nd. I really liked how well Chris VandeVelde was playing for the Oilers; looking very strong as I remember him with the Spuds and the Fighting Sioux.
3rd Period Thoughts: The Wild really put it into overdrive in the 3rd period; outhustling and outworking the Oilers for loose pucks. Minnesota was turning its offense into defense as they kept firing shots on goal, and forcing Edmonton to come up the full length of the ice as they backchecked well and then went back to working the puck deep. Edmonton tried to mount an attack of its own, but physical blueliner Drew Bagnall as he erased Jordan Eberle along the boards. Bagnall continued to be a thorn in the side of the Oilers as he did not hesitate to hit anyone that got too close to the Wild’s crease. Playing in his first NHL game he wasn’t shy about being physical and he obviously understood that is why he was given a shot with the big club. He even got a matching minor when he got into it with Teemu Hartikainen later in the 3rd. Minnesota would get really lucky in the closing minutes as the Oilers stormed the crease and a puck appeared to go into the goal before the whistle blew as NHL referee Frederick L’Ecuyer waived it off. The replay showed the puck crossing the line and the phone call came down from the guys in the booth at the arena to talk about it but L’Ecuyer would have none of it and more or less said his call was going to stand. It should be noted that is an officials decision to make; since they can consider the play dead when they were thinking to blow the whistle as opposed to when they actually blow it dead. I have little doubt that was pretty deflating to the Oilers who felt they were robbed of a goal. The Wild salted the game away with an empty netter by Andrew Brunette to earn a victory 3-1.
Jose Theodore was solid, making 28 saves in the victory. Defensively it was a much better effort as the Wild defense was more physical near its crease and did not give the Oilers clear travel through the middle of the ice. I thought Jared Spurgeon had a tremendous game. He really stepped up his game after Stoner was given the boot, and he made smart plays and showed plenty of poise in the Wild’s zone. His calmness under fire really sets him apart and I can see why he has earned the trust of the Wild coaching staff. I also really liked the game of Drew Bagnall. Plenty of sandpaper to his style of play, he wasn’t going to let anyone get near the crease without feeling a pretty fierce shove and he knocked down several Oilers’ forwards who wandered into the Wild crease. No doubt Bagnall’s debut made a real good impression on the Wild coaching staff. That was missing against Vancouver and another reason why Justin Falk was demoted.
On the other spectrum on this was the incredibly foolish decision of Clayton Stoner to start a fight just 7 seconds into the game. Stoner drops the gloves, gets absolutely dominated by Theo Peckham who is an immensely strong player and to make matters worse he didn’t tie his jersey down and gets ejected putting the Wild a man short on defense for the rest of the game. Rookie mistake or not, that simply can’t happen. Especially to a team that has been ravaged so heavily by injuries.
Offensively, the power play cashed in on some of its chances. Just 3 for 7 but it was enough to win the game. I liked how certain line combinations kept things simple. Although the Wild did have plenty of missed opportunities that taken against a better opponent probably would’ve meant Minnesota lost this game. The breakaways for Matt Cullen and Kyle Brodziak are great examples of this. Good teams bury those chances, just watch Detroit.
The 2 points is meaningless, but as the Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Michael Russo pointed out in a recent article, those points believe it or not may come back to haunt the Wild. He pointed out how earning 4 meaningless points down the stretch ended up being the difference in netting this year’s Calder Cup Trophy favorite Jeff Skinner (a guy the Wild really wanted to pick) versus taking Mikael Granlund two picks later. No offense to Granlund who is having a wonderful playoffs for HIFK Helsinki, but selecting a Rookie of the Year are the kind of drafts this team has sorely missed. Oh well, that’s all water under the bridge at this point and now there is only one more game left as Minnesota returns home for a Sunday tilt against the Dallas Stars.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Andrew Brunette, Chuck Kobasew, Matt Cullen, Colton Gillies, Carson McMillan, Eric Nystrom, Brad Staubitz, Kyle Brodziak, Cal Clutterbuck, Greg Zanon, Maxim Noreau, Jared Spurgeon, Clayton Stoner, Drew Bagnall and Brent Burns. Niklas Backstrom backed up Jose Theodore. Martin Havlat, Cam Barker, John Madden, Jed Ortmeyer, Marco Scandella, and Guillaume Latendresse were the ‘healthy’ scratches. Nick Schultz (post-concussion syndrome), James Sheppard (knee) and Josh Harding (knee) are on injured reserve.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Mikko Koivu, 2nd Star Teemu Hartikainen, 3rd Star Pierre-Marc Bouchard
~ Attendance tonight was 16,839 at Rexall Place.
~ The State of Hockey News would like to congratulate to the University of Miami’s (OH) Andy Miele on winning the 2011 Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player.
WHL Playoff Update:
Red Deer Rebels 1, Medicine Hat Tigers 9 ~ Talk about making a statement, and the high powered Tigers’ attack shredded the Rebels in game 1 of the series. The Rebels outshot Medcine Hat 37 to 25 but it was more than enough to crush Red Deer. Wild prospect Darcy Kuemper had the start (as well as the loss) after letting in 5 goals on just 17 shots before getting the hook and was replaced by Dawson Guhle! Yikes! L.A. Kings’ prospect Linden Vey had two goals and four points, while Anaheim Ducks’ prospect Emerson Etem had a goal and two assists in the blowout. Red Deer plays Medicine Hat again tomorrow at 7:30PM Mountain Time.
NCAA Championship Preview:
Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (25-10-6) vs. Michigan Wolverines (29-10-4) ~ The stage is set for a momentous battle on Saturday night between the Bulldogs and Wolverines. Michigan pulled off the upset of the Frozen Four by shutting down the high powered North Dakota offense in a 2-0 shocker as Shawn Hunwick stood on his head to stop all 40 shots he faced. Seniors Carl Hagelin and Louie Caporusso hope to give the Wolverines enough offensive punch to win. Freshman phenom Jon Merrill is having great post-season and will be leaned on heavily to stop UMD’s high powered offense. The Bulldogs have used a lethal power play to overpower their opponents, including Notre Dame. Offensive workhorses Mike Connolly, Jack Connolly and Justin Fontaine have shown uncanny chemistry that will mean the Bulldogs will provide alot of problems for Michigan’s defense to cope with. The Bulldogs have their freshman phenom on defense too in Justin Faulk who provides solid play at both ends of the ice along with tremendous mobility. Kenny Reiter has been the go-to guy between the pipes and most likely the outcome will be made in the crease where Hunwick hopes to replicate his semi-final heroics. Minnesota-Duluth will certainly have the crowd on its side but will that be enough to lead them to victory? OUR PICK: I think Michigan will look to play a rope-a-dope style of game, but it will mean they will have to stay out of the penalty box to win. The Bulldogs’ and their team speed is very effective at drawing penalties. I think UMD prevails.
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