Game 51 Post Mortem
Well, it’s official.
Niklas Backstrom is pissed off, and he all but said so to the Star-Tribune following last night’s shootout loss to Detroit.
“You look at the goals, we’re giving too much to the other team,” Backstrom said. “It seems we’re in the same spot we were at the beginning of the year, that we haven’t improved on a lot of things. We are 50 games deep. That’s frustrating. It seems every night the same things cost us the game.”
So wait.
You’re telling me that the team hasn’t yet realized that defense is a problem?
Is there anyone that didn’t see that last month?
But the big news to come from last night’s game is the injury to Josh Harding. No word has been released yet on how serious the injury is, or how long the young netminder will be out, but any injury is bad news for the Wild at this point – especially with Niklas Backstrom’s confession that his confidence is wavering.
On the upside, though, Backstrom was solid last night. He gave up two goals on 18 shots and made some big saves in the breakaway competition at the end of the game. While it wasn’t quite enough to get the win, he did show signs of righting the ship.
What’s most troubling about last night’s loss, however, is that the Wild got off to another horrific start. In ten games this month, the Wild have mustered just six first period goals – a troubling statistic, to be sure.
In fact, in the four games since their two goal “outburst” in the first period against Vancouver, Minnesota hasn’t scored a first period goal.
What is encouraging, however, is that Minnesota scratched an important point out of a game that, by all rights, shouldn’t have gone to a shootout. They dug deep and came back from two goals down – again.
On top of that, Brent Burns returned to the ice to play a little over 13 minutes of ice time – a return that Head Coach Todd Richards graded as “decent.”
He played 13 minutes, 36 seconds, and coach Todd Richards called his return “decent.” Burns, who missed in the fifth round of the shootout, was on for two goals against and will receive some video work, Richards said.
Essentially, what the Wild can take away from last night’s contest is this:
It wasn’t a failure, but it certainly wasn’t a success either.
Wild Nation’s Three Stars
1) Drew Miller – The unheralded of the Miller brothers (you know, the other being the one who’s won a few games this season for Buffalo) had a phenomenal game. One goal on one shot, plus the shootout winner.
2) Shane Hnidy – The Wild d-man had his first two-point game of his career, assisting on both tying Wild goals. All that in just ten minutes of ice time.
3) Todd Bertuzzi – Big Bert continued his resurgence with the Wings, scoring his 14th of the year in the first and notching just over 23 minutes in ice time against the team and fans that hate him so.
Wild Fall to Bruins 2-1 in Shootout
Finish, finish, finish.
No, I’m not talking about the Finnish trio of Niklas Backstrom, Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen.
Instead, I’m talking about the Wild’s lack of finishing skills.
Once again, on Wednesday night, the Wild were stymied by the “hot hand” in net as the team failed to score more than two goals for the eleventh time in 23 games. Despite outshooting the Bruins by a margin of 29-16, the only goal that the Wild could muster was newcomer Andrew Ebbett’s tip-in goal just over halfway through the second period.
Ebbett managed to impress early and often in this one, as his speed and his skill shone through as he centered the team’s best line of the evening, playing pivot to Owen Nolan and James Sheppard.
After being placed on waivers twice so far in this young season, once by Anaheim and once by Chicago, Ebbett tipped an Owen Nolan shot past Rask to tie the game at one.
This is the second time this month that the Wild has failed to capitalize on a big win after a long layoff – the first being the month’s first game against Vancouver.
In addition to their injury problems, which have been well documented, the Wild skated a man down in Wednesday’s game due to a late illness to Miettinen, making him a late scratch.
You wouldn’t have guessed that the Wild were a man down on the evening by their effort, however. The team came out strong and controlled play, not allowing the Bruins to have a shot on goal until 6:30 of the first period.
The Bruins made the shot count, however, as Byron Bitz tipped a shot from the point by Derek Morris past Backstrom to give them the early lead.
Despite tying it in the second, the Wild could never quite get the edge on the Bruins and the game went to an extra frame for the third time in the last six games and, just as in the other two, the Wild suddenly became inept in the shootout.
The story of the game, however, was the play of Tuukka Rask who was starting his fifth straight game in the absence of the injured Tim Thomas. Rask stopped 28 shots in all, including five in overtime (one of which was a marvelous chance by Mikko Koivu at point-blank range) and three of four shootout chances. With the victory, Rask improved to 7-2-1 in the season, while Backstrom fell to 8-9-3 on the season with the loss.
The Wild play again at 1 pm CST against the Colorado Avalance on Nov. 27.
Wild Notes: James Sheppard once again played a strong game at wing, getting his second assist in two games and giving him a season-high two-game point streak. … Guillaume Latendresse, the player the Wild received in exchange for Benoit Pouliot, is currently unavailable to the team due to work visa issues. The team hopes that the issues will be resolved in time for the team’s annual day-after-Thanksgiving matinee on Friday against the Colorado Avalanche. … Pierre-Marc Bouchard met briefly with Boston’s Patrice Bergeron Wednesday morning. Bergeron, who has missed large parts of the last two seasons with concussions, had advice and some encouragement for Bouchard. Bouchard has only played in one game this season due to a concussion. … After starting the season with just one goal and two assists in 11 games, Owen Nolan has five goals and three assists in his last 12 games. … Wednesday’s game was Shane Hnidy’s 499th career game. … In addition to Miettinen being sidelined due to injury, the Wild were missing Martin Havlat, Brent Burns, Petr Sykora and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, all due to injuries.
Game Recap: Ducks 3 Wild 2
The way it’s looking now, the Minnesota Wild have a long way to go to even be competitive.
Once again, the team spoiled a terrific performance by goaltender Nikas Backstrom, who stopped 33 of 36 shots, with defense that would make any self respecting coach cringe.
The team’s poor defense caused them to fall behind early again off of two Corey Perry goals and, despite their best efforts, they couldn’t catch up.
The team was ineffective with the puck, couldn’t win a battle and often was mindless in its own zone and in the neutral zone. Quite simply put – they stunk.
In just a few short months, the team has forgotten absolutely everything that was pounded into their heads day after day under Jacques Lemaire and, contrary to what many may thing, it isn’t a good thing. Not only that, but they are forgetting things that have been pounded into their head since they began playing organized hockey.
In addition to the poor play, the team’s most talented scorer, Martin Havlat, is now day-to-day with a groin injury.
Here are some of the big storylines from last night’s game:
The Six Million Dollar Benchwarmer
For the second time in three games, Havlat was benched for an extended period of time due to poor play.
Ryan Carter, who scored the eventual game winner, was Havlat’s man as Havlat was streaking out of the zone. When Kyle Brodziak fanned on the pass out of the zone, Carter was left uncovered for the rebound.
After the defensive gaffe, Havlat didn’t see the ice again in the second period and saw the ice for just 26 seconds in the third before going off with his injured groin.
Which leads me to…
Where Are the Stars?
Havlat, Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns. A combined two goals, seven assists and a collective minus-18.
If the Wild are going to be a winning team, they need their best players to be our best players.
I don’t mean any disrespect to Eric Belanger and Andrew Brunette, both of whom are playing marvelous hockey at the moment, but if they are going to lead the Wild in scoring, this team is in trouble.
Havlat, Koivu and Burns all have looked horrendous on the ice for the Wild for the majority of this season thus far and they will be the center of things needing to turn around if this team is to going to get going. Plain and simple, they need to be better. They need to step up and take control and they need to be the dynamic players that they can be.
A Little Help Please?
Look. We all know that a goalie’s job is to stop the puck.
It’s as simple as that.
But what this defense has done to Niklas Backstrom this season is absolutely criminal. On each of Anaheim’s three goals, he was absolutely, one hundred-percent hung out to dry. In fact, it was the same way on the majority of the goals he gave up against San Jose and against Anaheim in the teams’ first meeting.
He needs to make big saves in order for us to have a chance to win, but come on people. He shouldn’t be facing as many odd-man rushes as he’s been facing. He shouldn’t have to deal with the team making a line change when the puck is in the neutral zone. He shouldn’t have to watch every single botched pass or clearing attempt turn into an unimpeded scoring chance.
This is exactly what he has had to do this season and you’ve got to wonder how much longer it’s going to be before the normally calm, cool and collected Backstrom lights his teammates up in the locker room.
This defensive unit has taken a goaltender just one year removed from a Vezina nomination and given him the numbers of a goalie still trying to find his game.
This isn’t about the Wild allowing higher quality shots than they did under Lemaire’s system. This isn’t about the team giving up one or two more high quality shots. This is about the team giving up shots that would be considered gifts to any player in the NHL that doesn’t have a set of 2×4s for hands.
They’re a Ragtag Bunch…
But who is leading this ragtag bunch?
On the ice, it’s certainly Brunette and Belanger.
But off the ice?
When is enough, enough? When does this get so bad that someone steps up and tries to emulate a Toby Keith song on the players who aren’t playing?
In the movie “The Rocket,” there is a point in time where the Habs coach, Dick Irvin, tells Rocket Richard that he’s scratched for the game. Richard promptly turns over a couple stick stands and storms out of the locker room. Irvin looks at his players and points at Richard, saying “That’s what I want.”
When does someone step up and do something this dramatic in the locker room – something that will throw a spark into this team.
They need someone to step up and show the team that they hate to lose because, right now, I’m not so sure anyone on the team does.
Game Recap: Wild 4 Ducks 3
The end result definitely made what it took to get there bearable.
But just barely.
After two periods of some of the sloppiest hockey I’ve ever seen the Wild play, the team rebounded and in a big way.
During the first two periods, the Wild’s play was absolutely atrocious. They were giving away odd man rushes like candy on Halloween, to the point where they actually gave up a 4-on-1 at one point. In fact, the only reason that the fans in the X had to cheer during the first 40 minutes of the game was when the result of the Twins game trickled down.
But then big John Scott stepped onto the ice in the third.
Scott was determined to stay with the team, no matter what, this season so he took boxing lessons with Derek Boogaard over the off season and man did it show. Say what you want about fighting’s place in the game, but this fight was one of the ones that actually had a purpose.
Scott started and ended the fight with a big right hand and the end result was pugilism specialist George Parros looking up at the rafters, wondering what train just hit him.
The end result for the Wild? A spark of energy that the team hadn’t had all game long.
Suddenly, it just clicked. It was one of those moments when, all of a sudden, you could see everything just make sense to the team. After two periods of playing tentative, sloppy hockey, suddenly the team was loose, they were going out and actually just playing hockey instead of worrying about who needed to be where.
It started after Joffrey Lupul went off for hooking. Just over a minute into the powerplay, Mikko Koivu got the Wild on the board, and the team took off. Just under six minutes after that Petr Sykora notched his first goal in a Wild sweater and the crowd began to stir — there was something special in the works. Then, when Ryan Whitney went off for tackling holding, the X began buzzing. Could we be seeing yet another spectacular finish to a Minnesota sports game?
Eric Belanger would give the fans their answer just over a minute in as he beat J.S. Giguere on a goal that you could barely tell made it in the net it came out so quickly.
So, why not. Let’s go to overtime.
It didn’t take the Wild long in OT, as Kyle Brodziak took a page from the Cal Clutterbuck notebook and goaded James Wisniewski into taking a penalty after the whistle.
Petr Sykora scored his first goal in a Wild sweater on Tuesday.
That set up Andrew Brunette, who knows a thing or two about game winners, to be the star of the night and cap the team’s comeback with a goal on the powerplay 3:02 into OT.
“Backs” to Basics
Despite what the stats indicate, Niklas Backstrom played a relatively solid game. All three goals were a direct result of a defensive lapse by the team and only one of those three goals Backstrom had any sort of chance on.
Don’t let the stat sheet fool you. Backstrom is a top flight goalie. But your goalie can only do so much.
On Lupul’s goal, there is absolutely no reason why Lupul should have been standing, untouched, in front of the team’s net. The result? An easy tip in for the young sniper.
On Artyukhin’s, it was a significant lack of back checking that resulted in the Russian forward being wiiiiiiiide open in the slot with an empty net in front of him. The extra “I’s” are to emphasize just how open Artyukhin was. Let’s just say that my one year old daughter could have buried that shot with no problem.
On Koivu’s goal, the only one that Backstrom had any chance on, he was left untouched in the slot. Give any NHL player that much time in the slot (except for maybe Derek Boogaard) and they’ll kill you.
The bottom line is that the Wild have a world class goalie behind them, but they need to give him the chance to make the save. On only one of the Ducks’ three goals, Backstrom had that chance and, on that one, Koivu had to bounce it off the pipe to get the goal.
Rivalry Renewed
I’d equate this game to the first time you see an ex-girlfriend in a few years. You start out amicably, but by the end of the night, you remember why the two of you broke up.
This was a lot like that.
The teams started out relatively calmly. There was some physical play, but nothing that wasn’t to be expected.
But by the end of the second period, these two teams looked to be back to flat out hating each other again. Even to the point where the two teams were looking to extend the extra curricular activities after the game had ended.
I’d tune in the next time these two teams face off on the 14th.
Time to Shine
Here’s the deal, and I can’t believe I’m actually going to say this.
When he wasn’t trying to avoid rogue goalies last night, Benoit Pouliot actually looked pretty good.
He didn’t get onto the score sheet and he didn’t play a big role in the game with only 5:11 in ice time, but one thing is for sure. In that 5:11 that he was on the ice, you noticed him — and not in a bad way either.
He was throwing his weight around and he honestly seemed to be buying into the checking role that he was playing.
In fact, watching from up above, I got the sense that people might just think that he’s not trying hard out there because he just skates so darn effortlessly. The man looks like he’s actually skating above the ice instead of on it.
With Bouchard out indefinitely with an injury and the team not calling up any more forwards as of yet, Pouliot has a golden chance that he needs to seize.
Bottom line, he needs to make it impossible for Richards to remove him from the line up — something that I think he is more than capable of.
Flipping and Flopping
It became painfully obvious in the third period that Richards may have to re-think his line combinations.
First, Havlat and Sykora looked like two peas in a pod playing together. As much as I love having Bruno on Koivu’s wing, putting Koivu between Havlat and Sykora would give us a bona fide scoring line.
Brunette has proven that he can play with nearly anybody, so why not put him on a line with Sheppard and Miettinen (of whom Bruno has already displayed a fair amount of chemistry with)?
It would give the team a great, gritty, second line with Nolan, Belanger and Clutterbuck and it would also give the team three lines that could be fairly dangerous.
3 Stars
- John Scott - No goals, no assists, 5 PIM. Scottie was the reason for the turn around. His fight against Parros energized the crowd and energized the team.
- Andrew Brunette - Bruno managed to turn what was a pretty bleh performance into a pretty good one with his overtime winner. How does the saying go? Winning heals all wounds?
- Martin Havlat - Havlat was all over the place, assisting on the first three Wild goals. He looks like he’s getting comfortable with the system, so it’s only a matter of time now.
Coming Up…
Check back here tomorrow for our pregame report for the team’s game against the LA Kings and be sure to check Hockey Primetime for my Central Division Notebook tomorrow!
Game Recap: Wild Blank Jackets 2-0
The reigning NHL hits king, Cal Clutterbuck, sent a message Friday night — that he isn’t going to be content just being a checker.
Cal Clutterbuck celebrates one of two goals Friday night against Columbus.
Unfortunately, the storyline of the night wasn’t Clutterbuck’s offensive performance. Instead, it was another ill advised hit — this time, Wild center Eric Belanger on Jackets forward Jason Chimera.
One night after Islanders forward Kyle Okposo was taken off on a stretcher following a Dion Phaneuf hit, Chimera had to be removed from the ice on a stretcher following a check from behind by Belanger late in the second period. Chimera, in his first shift back after being struck in the face by a puck, was driven face first into the glass by Belanger. A Blue Jackets spokesman said that Chimera was coherent as he left the ice and gave the sellout crowd a thumbs up.
The hit was atypical for Belanger, who has accrued just 251 penalty minutes in his eight season career. Belanger was assessed a 5-minute boarding penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct.
The hit put a damper on an otherwise impressive performance by the Wild. The team made the most of their opportunities and the players that were trying to impress coach Todd Richards did just that.
Colton Gillies finished the game with zero points, but put forth a strong effort that saw him tally three shots on goal in just under fifteen minutes of ice time. Danny Irmen also captured Richards’ attention with yet another hard working, solid performance. While it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll make the team, he’s definitely gotten noticed.
“Coming in, I didn’t know anything about Danny Irmen when I got here,” Richards told reporters. ”Watching him skate, he has some skill, he handles the puck well, he moves well enough out on the ice. Now it’s just getting him in game situations.”
As I’ve mentioned before, I think Irmen might actually have the inside track to landing a job on the big squad this season due to the size of his salary. Should Gillies make the squad, he would be due over $1M on a team that is pressed right up against the cap. Irmen, on the other hand, is set to make just a fraction of Gillies — something that will certainly rest on the minds of Richards and Fletcher when making the final roster decisions.
In nets, Backstrom and Harding combined for the shutout with 27 saves between them.
Game Recap: Wild Fall to St. Louis 3-1
Despite outshooting the St. Louis Blues by a margin of 34-21 the Minnesota Wild were unable to skate away with a victory on Tuesday night, falling by a score of 3-1.
The Wild, skating just nine skaters with any significant NHL experience, were outmatched by the Blues for most of the night despite the shots margin.
Anton Khudobin stopped 15 of 17 shots for the Wild.
The Blues made the most of their scoring opportunities, however, with Paul Kariya and Chris Porter notching goals 29 seconds apart to lead them to victory.
“We didn’t have the players that they had, the experience that they had in certain positions, but we competed,” Coach Todd Richards told reporters after the game. “I’m real proud of that.”
Richards also admitted that it was an exhibition game for the coaches as well, needing to work off a little rust behind the bench. He had high praise for veteran defensemen Greg Zanon and Shane Hnidy, as well as the game of Wild holdover John Scott.
He had some pointed words for Benoit Pouliot, however.
“Pouliot has flashes that really excite you as a coach and there’s still some things that we need to fix to make him better.”
The difference, however, seems to be that Richards is willing to work with Pouliot to fix those deficiencies in his game, while former coach Jacques Lemaire was not.
In all, the game went much as it was expected to go, with the Wild only having a handful of players with any experience at the NHL level at all. The players that are expected to be regulars did show some flashes, however, as Kyle Brodziak won 13 of 16 draws (an area in which the Wild desperately need help) and had six shots.
The Wild’s next game is this Friday, at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
