Game Recap: Wild Fall to St. Louis 3-1
Posted by bcbenzel on September 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment
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.
