Well hello again, hockey fans! Welcome to Week #2 of Your Name Is Wild!
For those of you who are new to the column, here's the scoop: The NHL season is a long, tedious journey. We decided that this season we would ask TCDroogsma of the blog Wildly Biased to stop by each week and give us an update on our local squad.
Droogsy, what'd we miss?
After an opening week that found the Wild winless & in last place (though with 2 points to their name), the Wild spent Week #2 touring their new Central Division digs. Tuesday night they headed down to Nashville to battle the Preds and then returned to St. Paul to host the Winnipeg Jets & Dallas Stars.
Obviously it's still incredibly early in the season, but all three of those teams are likely to be teams that the Wild will be battling for a playoff spot come spring. Ceding points to them at any point in the season is bound to have long-term repercussions.
The Week That Was:
Tuesday 10/8 - Nashville: 3 Wild: 2
Before I get into this one, let me just state that the Wild & Preds have a long history of playing strange games. These are two franchises who have always, always been built around defense, goaltending, and coaching systems designed to maximize each of those strengths. If you're willing to overlook the aesthetics of the franchises (mustard yellow vs. Iron Range Red? C'mon, now...), they're actually incredibly similar franchises (to the point that they've shared Joel Ward, Ryan Suter, Sergei Zholtok, Brad Bombardir, Jeremy Stevenson, Eric Nystrom, Andrew Brunette & Matt Cullen as players and Craig Leipold as an owner).
Which is why it's all the high-scoring, flailing-goalie, crowd-animsoity-fueled games are so strange. And Tuesday night was no exception.
Tuesday night's game doubled as Nashville's home opener, which meant that the sellout crowd was bound to be raucous. Throw in the fact that Ryan Suter, the hero-turned-villain, would be sharing the ice with fourth overall pick (and Ryan Suter replacement) Seth Jones as Jones made his home debut and everything should add up to a loud building and a fired up Preds squad.
Except the exact opposite happened. The Wild took the opening faceoff and hemmed the Preds into their own zone. On the next shift Wild enforcer Zenon Konopka beat up Richard Clune, sucking the life out of the building. Seth Jones then made his mark by taking a high-sticking penalty, leading to a power play in which Zach Parise scored. In the first five minutes of the game the Preds had essentially managed to silence theirr own crowd.
But then everything changed. Kyle Brodziak took a penalty. 15 seconds later Mikko Koivu took a penalty. 30 seconds later Filip Forsberg scored his first career goal for the Predators. 29 seconds later Colin Wilson picked a corner over Niklas Backstrom. 5:46 of game time gone by and it was now 2-1 Predators.
If you can believe it, that wasn't the strangest part of the game. Things really took a turn for the peculiar 5:00 later when typically useless former Wild player Eric Nystrom came barreling down on a breakaway. Wild defenseman pursued Nystrom, eventually catching up and slashing him across the left leg. Nystrom then fell (or dove, in my opinion), into Niklas Backstsrom, pinning Backstrom's leg against the left post.
The play left Backstrom limping to the bench and Nystrom waiting at center ice, given a penalty shot for his troubles. Poor Josh Harding had to enter the game ice cold and try to stop his former teammate. As you can probably imagine, he failed miserably. 3-1 Preds. And this was all in the first period.
Not surprisingly, the ensuing two periods failed to live up to the action of the first. Jared Spurgeon cashed a goal in the second to cut the lead to 3-2, but that was all she wrote. The Wild put up a good fight, outshooting the Preds and controlling play for large stretches of the game, but it just wasn't their night.
Wild Player Of The Game: Josh Harding - In my Season Preview I listed "The Health Of The Goalies" as one of my "5 Things To Watch" this season. Hards stepped into a brutal situation and played very well while stopping all 19 shots following Nystrom's penalty shot.
Impression Of The Game: Remember in the 90's when Blur & Oasis were feuding? Their fans all chose sides and spewed vitriol while those who didn't care about either band struggled to understand why two bands who are, on the surface, essentially the same could hate each other so much. That's what the Wild/Preds rivalry is going to look like to the rest of the hockey world.
Thursday 10/10 - Wild: 2 Winnipeg: 1
The Wild returned to The Silver City on Thursday to host the Winnipeg Jets for the first time as division rivals. Ever since the NHL relocated the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg it's been assumed here in Minnesota that it's only a matter of time before the rivalry develops in earnest. This year's realignment of the divisions (putting the Wild & Jets in the revamped Central Division) has only sped up the process.
In anticipation of the seeds of rivalry being planted, my buddy Phil & I made our way down to the Xcel Energy Center to catch this one in person. Not surprisingly, so did several thousand Jets fans. While it's always nice to have the combative energy of opposing fans in the building, it's especially nice when those fans are thoughtful, passionate Manitobans and not the simple-minded, poorly-dressed, drunken idiots who make up the Blackhawks fanbase. Fun change of pace.
Another fun change of pace: The Wild finally being rewarded with a W for outplaying an opponent. The Wild played their most complete game of the year against the Jets. They dominated all three zones on the ice. They got timely goals from Jonas Brodin in the first period and Matt Cooke in the second. The defense (especially a rejuvenated Clayton Stoner) made life easy for Josh Harding by limiting the Jets to just 15 shots on the night. And Harding looked great assuming the responsibility of #1 goalie for the time being.
Wild Player Of The Game: Clayton Stoner - After being a healthy scratch in Nashville Stoner came out and played with a fire that I haven't seen in years. He'll never be mistaken for Kim Johnsson with the puck, but Stoner played to his strengths by clearing the puck from his own zone quickly, hitting everything that moved, & even scrapping with Dustin Byfuglien. When Stoner plays up to this level the Wild's defensive corps starts looking very deep.
Impressions Of The Game: A lot of hockey pundits think this is the year that the Jets take a step forward and the Wild take a step back. Thursday night was only their first meeting of the season (and fourth game overall), but watching Devin Setoguchi burn all his energy running around and not score while Matt Cooke, the guy the Wild signed by trading away Setoguchi's salary, score the game-winning goal is a fine microcosm of just where these two franchises are at.
Saturday 10/12 - Wild: 5 Dallas: 1
Saturday night was a night of firsts in St. Paul:
It was the first time the Stars & Wild faced off as members off the same division.
It was the first time the Stars showed off their ridiculous new sweaters in St. Paul.
It was the first time Justin Fontaine scored an NHL goal.
It was the first time Mathew Dumba scored an NHL goal.
It was the first time Nino Neiderreiter scored as a member of the Wild.
As you can probably imagine, those last three are biggies.
The new-look Stars rolled into town with a new coach (Lindy Ruff), a new franchise player (Tyler Seguin), and some new green sweaters (LOL) hoping to occupy that same middle-of-the-division pack that the Wild, Predators, & Jets are fighting for. Yet again the Wild fought off a would-be rival in convincing fashion.
The Wild dominated this one from start to finish. Justin Fontaine scored his goal a mere 12 seconds off the opening faceoff, setting a franchise record for fastest goal to start a game. Matt Cooke scored 10 minutes later and the Wild were up 2-0 after the first period.
They'd push the score to 4-1 by the end of the second period while welcoming Mathew Dumba & Nino Niederreiter into the franchise record books as well. By the time Zach Parise buried the Wild's fifth goal of the game in the third period the Wild had pretty much flushed away all the doubt that had started to envelop the franchise during the troubling season opener.
Yet again the Wild held an opponent under 20 shots and yet again Josh Harding held the fort, stopping 18 of the 19 shots that came his way. A dominant victory in every facet of the game.
Wild Player Of The Game: Mathew "Odd Future" Dumba - While it's not totally fair to single out Dumba's first career goal on the same night Fontaine got his 1st, Dumba showed too much this game to leave it unacknowledged. He's only 19 but it's becoming very clear that Dumba is here to stay. His confidence is clearly growing with every shift on the ice. By the end of the game you found yourself praying for the puck to find it's way to him just to watch him wildly fire another shot on net. Good times.
Impressions Of The Game: Dallas hasn't been able to figure out if they're a playoff team or a rebuilding team for years now. Different GM, different coach, different players, same old result. Positivity abounds in St. Paul as the Wild head out on the road for the next week.
Monday 10/14: Wild at Buffalo
The Wild kick off an exhausting 4-games-in-7-days tour of the new Atlantic Division tonight in Buffalo. Despite the Sabres current status as the worst professional sports team in Buffalo the game does provide some intrigue as the first time the two teams have met since the Sabres traded Jason Pominville to the Wild last season for Matt Hackett, Johan Larsson, and two draft picks. Pominville has stated that, since he was traded on an off-day last season, this will be his first chance to see his former teammates as well as building employees & fans in Buffalo.
Tuesday 10/15: Wild at Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs have marched to the top of the Eastern Conference, taking the conference by storm & forcing advanced-stat nerds who predicted their demise to re-evaluate their life choices. Of course, as we're slowly finding out, leading the Eastern Conference is like being the best Triple-AAA baseball team, so take this success with a grain of salt. The Leafs play a rough-and-tumble game built on hitting, hitting, timely goals, hitting, & solid goaltending. Should be an interesting test for the Wild.
Thursday 10/17: Wild at Tampa Bay
The Atlantic Division has been jokingly referred to as the "Flor-theast Division" because it contains 6 teams in the Northeast and the two Flordia teams. These teams were included in the division because they struggle to draw at home unless they're playing an opponent with a large, cross-country fanbase. Well, that and the fact that throwing Tampa Bay into the Metropolitan Division is an insult to the word "Metropolitan." For the past decade the Lightning have played the sort of high-scoring-no-defense style that rarely works in the NHL. Not coincidentally, this franchise has missed the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years. The Wild has to make certain this game doesn't turn into a track meet or they may not have any goalies left when they return home.
Saturday 10/19: Wild at Florida
Yup, still a franchise. Well, as much as you can call a team that employs Scott Gomez & Tom Gilbert a "franchise." More a loose collection of poorly dressed hockey players. Well, as much as you can call Scott Gomez & Tom Gilbert "hockey players."
Thursday 10/10 - Wild: 2 Winnipeg: 1
The Wild returned to The Silver City on Thursday to host the Winnipeg Jets for the first time as division rivals. Ever since the NHL relocated the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg it's been assumed here in Minnesota that it's only a matter of time before the rivalry develops in earnest. This year's realignment of the divisions (putting the Wild & Jets in the revamped Central Division) has only sped up the process.
In anticipation of the seeds of rivalry being planted, my buddy Phil & I made our way down to the Xcel Energy Center to catch this one in person. Not surprisingly, so did several thousand Jets fans. While it's always nice to have the combative energy of opposing fans in the building, it's especially nice when those fans are thoughtful, passionate Manitobans and not the simple-minded, poorly-dressed, drunken idiots who make up the Blackhawks fanbase. Fun change of pace.
Another fun change of pace: The Wild finally being rewarded with a W for outplaying an opponent. The Wild played their most complete game of the year against the Jets. They dominated all three zones on the ice. They got timely goals from Jonas Brodin in the first period and Matt Cooke in the second. The defense (especially a rejuvenated Clayton Stoner) made life easy for Josh Harding by limiting the Jets to just 15 shots on the night. And Harding looked great assuming the responsibility of #1 goalie for the time being.
Wild Player Of The Game: Clayton Stoner - After being a healthy scratch in Nashville Stoner came out and played with a fire that I haven't seen in years. He'll never be mistaken for Kim Johnsson with the puck, but Stoner played to his strengths by clearing the puck from his own zone quickly, hitting everything that moved, & even scrapping with Dustin Byfuglien. When Stoner plays up to this level the Wild's defensive corps starts looking very deep.
Impressions Of The Game: A lot of hockey pundits think this is the year that the Jets take a step forward and the Wild take a step back. Thursday night was only their first meeting of the season (and fourth game overall), but watching Devin Setoguchi burn all his energy running around and not score while Matt Cooke, the guy the Wild signed by trading away Setoguchi's salary, score the game-winning goal is a fine microcosm of just where these two franchises are at.
Saturday 10/12 - Wild: 5 Dallas: 1
Saturday night was a night of firsts in St. Paul:
It was the first time the Stars & Wild faced off as members off the same division.
It was the first time the Stars showed off their ridiculous new sweaters in St. Paul.
It was the first time Justin Fontaine scored an NHL goal.
It was the first time Mathew Dumba scored an NHL goal.
It was the first time Nino Neiderreiter scored as a member of the Wild.
As you can probably imagine, those last three are biggies.
The new-look Stars rolled into town with a new coach (Lindy Ruff), a new franchise player (Tyler Seguin), and some new green sweaters (LOL) hoping to occupy that same middle-of-the-division pack that the Wild, Predators, & Jets are fighting for. Yet again the Wild fought off a would-be rival in convincing fashion.
The Wild dominated this one from start to finish. Justin Fontaine scored his goal a mere 12 seconds off the opening faceoff, setting a franchise record for fastest goal to start a game. Matt Cooke scored 10 minutes later and the Wild were up 2-0 after the first period.
They'd push the score to 4-1 by the end of the second period while welcoming Mathew Dumba & Nino Niederreiter into the franchise record books as well. By the time Zach Parise buried the Wild's fifth goal of the game in the third period the Wild had pretty much flushed away all the doubt that had started to envelop the franchise during the troubling season opener.
Yet again the Wild held an opponent under 20 shots and yet again Josh Harding held the fort, stopping 18 of the 19 shots that came his way. A dominant victory in every facet of the game.
Wild Player Of The Game: Mathew "Odd Future" Dumba - While it's not totally fair to single out Dumba's first career goal on the same night Fontaine got his 1st, Dumba showed too much this game to leave it unacknowledged. He's only 19 but it's becoming very clear that Dumba is here to stay. His confidence is clearly growing with every shift on the ice. By the end of the game you found yourself praying for the puck to find it's way to him just to watch him wildly fire another shot on net. Good times.
Impressions Of The Game: Dallas hasn't been able to figure out if they're a playoff team or a rebuilding team for years now. Different GM, different coach, different players, same old result. Positivity abounds in St. Paul as the Wild head out on the road for the next week.
The Week Ahead
Monday 10/14: Wild at Buffalo
The Wild kick off an exhausting 4-games-in-7-days tour of the new Atlantic Division tonight in Buffalo. Despite the Sabres current status as the worst professional sports team in Buffalo the game does provide some intrigue as the first time the two teams have met since the Sabres traded Jason Pominville to the Wild last season for Matt Hackett, Johan Larsson, and two draft picks. Pominville has stated that, since he was traded on an off-day last season, this will be his first chance to see his former teammates as well as building employees & fans in Buffalo.
Tuesday 10/15: Wild at Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs have marched to the top of the Eastern Conference, taking the conference by storm & forcing advanced-stat nerds who predicted their demise to re-evaluate their life choices. Of course, as we're slowly finding out, leading the Eastern Conference is like being the best Triple-AAA baseball team, so take this success with a grain of salt. The Leafs play a rough-and-tumble game built on hitting, hitting, timely goals, hitting, & solid goaltending. Should be an interesting test for the Wild.
Thursday 10/17: Wild at Tampa Bay
The Atlantic Division has been jokingly referred to as the "Flor-theast Division" because it contains 6 teams in the Northeast and the two Flordia teams. These teams were included in the division because they struggle to draw at home unless they're playing an opponent with a large, cross-country fanbase. Well, that and the fact that throwing Tampa Bay into the Metropolitan Division is an insult to the word "Metropolitan." For the past decade the Lightning have played the sort of high-scoring-no-defense style that rarely works in the NHL. Not coincidentally, this franchise has missed the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years. The Wild has to make certain this game doesn't turn into a track meet or they may not have any goalies left when they return home.
Saturday 10/19: Wild at Florida
Yup, still a franchise. Well, as much as you can call a team that employs Scott Gomez & Tom Gilbert a "franchise." More a loose collection of poorly dressed hockey players. Well, as much as you can call Scott Gomez & Tom Gilbert "hockey players."
The Big Picture
After a rough start to the season the Wild now find their record at 2-1-2. Thanks to the magic of the NHL standings they can also claim that they've gained points in 5 out of 6 games this year.
Frankly, positive vibes surround the team right now. The loss of Charlie Coyle has given way to the emergence of Mikael Granlund & Nino Niederreiter. The emergence of Mathew Dumba has solidified the blue line. Hell, even the loss of Niklas Backstrom has given way to one of Josh Harding's hot streaks.
Of course, spin that paragraph another way and the Wild are missing their second line center, starting a 19 year old on defense, and relying on a career backup goalie.
But, like I said, positivity abounds. They won a couple of big divisional games last week and probably deserved a better fate in Nashville. Four road games in seven days will make for a long week, but three of those four teams are very beatable. Here's hoping the Wild come back next week having grabbed at least 6 of the possible 8 points.
There you have it, folks! Week #2 is in the books! All positivity everything!
For more of TCDroogsma's hockey ramblings be sure to give him a follow on Twitter (@WildlyBiased). He can also be found writing about the Wild in greater detail on his hockey blog Wildly Biased.
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