Well hello again, Wild fans! Welcome to Your Name Is Wild: Week #17!
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?
Well hey there, fellow Wild fans. Thanks for stopping by.
Going back to last week, the Wild managed to take two out of three (including an important OT win over division rival Dallas) on the strength of Darcy Kuemper, Erik Haula, Jason Zucker, & Nate Prosser. It was a successful week in that it kept the Wild clinging to the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It was encouraging to see role players and young guys step up and fill in the blanks while Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Jared Spurgeon, & Josh Harding remain on the shelf.
This week found the depleted Wild taking on three difficult tasks: Keep the Stars at arm's length in the playoff race by beating them in Dallas, continue to hold serve in the Central Division by taking on the Blackhawks in St. Paul, and head out West to begin a brutal four game road trip in San Jose.
Let's break this thing down:
The Week That Was
Tuesday 1/21 - Dallas: 4 Wild: 0
When the Wild beat Dallas in St. Paul at the end of last week, it was a big win for a couple of reasons. First, despite ceding a point to Dallas in OT, the Wild's victory meant that they remained 9 points ahead of the Stars for the eighth & final playoff spot in the West. Second, it made this second half of their home-and-home far less significant, which proved to be tremendously important as the Wild have always played terribly in Dallas. Tuesday night was no exception.
The Wild did young goaltender Darcy Kuemper no favors in the first period. Yet again they were vastly outplayed in the first frame of a game (a trend that threatens to sink the Wild on a nightly basis). They were outshot 12-3 in the first period and only the stellar play of Kuemper kept the score at a manageable 2-0. Vernon Fiddler got the Stars on the board by tipping an Alex Goligoski shot from the point behind Kuemper. Erik Cole's corpse continued the scoring when he fired a wrister past Keumps with just over 3:00 remaining, putting an exclamation point on the first period and leaving the Stars in the driver's seat for he remaining two frames.
Now, this has been the script for the Wild lately. During the first act they're badly outplayed (though usually they aren't behind by more than one and, frequently, surprisingly, they're ahead a lot of times). They then battle even in the second and usually carry the third. However, that script has only been running for a couple of weeks. The script of the Wild getting thrashed in Dallas has been running for years.
Tuesday night's second period showed that a couple weeks worth of trends cannot overcome years of history. The Stars came out firing yet again. They outshot the Wild 16-6 on the period while carrying play on both ends of the ice. Bless his heart, Kuemper did everything he could to keep the Stars at bay, but it wasn't enough. Ray Whitney (the second oldest player in the league) finally managed to solve the young goaltender with a move at the side of the net that was so filthy he would have to register as a sex offender in 43 of 50 states. 3-0 Stars at the end of the second.
The Wild managed to outshoot the Stars 9-8 in the third, but that was largely a product off Stars coach Lindy Ruff calling off the dogs and locking down on defense. Jordie "don't call me Jamie" Benn concluded the night's scoring at the 11:22 mark, putting a penalty shot behind a sprawling Kuemper. Kari Lehtonen held on for the what was likely the easiest shutout of his career and the Wild limped out of Dallas like they have a dozen times before: defeated.
Wild Player Of The Game: Darcy Kuemper - The final score (4-0) is ugly, but don't let that throw you, without the efforts of Darcy Keumper it could have been 6 or 7-0. With Niklas Backstrom now hurting himself in practice and Josh Harding essentially MIA, I don't think it's an overstatement to say that Keumper's effort in net is keeping the Wild afloat. The fact that he was able to continue to play well behind a team that had clearly checked out for most of a this game speaks to the level of maturity the young man now carries.
Impression Of The Game: The Wild entered this home-and-home series with an eight point lead over Dallas. Obviously, had they lost both of these games that lead would have been cut to four points, giving the Stars a legitimate shot at catching the Wild (especially since the Stars have two games in-hand on the Wild). After winning in St. Paul the Wild extended that lead to 9 points, but by losing in Dallas two nights later the lead was down to 7. At the risk of sounding overconfident, if the Stars were to have a legitimate shot at catching the Wild they needed to take both of these games in regulation. By giving up only one point in the standings the Wild all but assured the Stars of an impossible uphill battle to the playoffs.
Thursday 1/23 - Wild: 2 Chicago: 1
Thursday night's showdown with the Blackhawks brought two noteworthy events to the Xcel Energy Center. The first is that the Blackhawks were in town, which meant the the barn would be filled with somewhere between three and four thousand filthy, drunken, boisterous Blackhawks fans. What these fans may lack in fashion sense (do they appreciate the irony of a special edition St. Patrick's Day Patrick Kane sweater?) and common decency, they more than make up for in sheer volume (both attendance-wise and decibel-wise). For better or worse, a visit from the Blackhawks means a chance to check the local barometer of the enthusiasm for the Wild. When the buzz is running high, the stereotypically passive-aggressive locals are able to drown out the Hawks fans. When the buzz is running low, it may as well be United Center North.
Fortunately for the Wild, they had a trump card to play in the battle for volume: Zach Parise's long-awaited return from a foot injury. With the Wild somehow managing to stay in the playoff picture during Parise's absence, the buzz around the team was healthy. Adding Parise to the lineup with the rival Blackhawks in town assured the Xcel Energy Center would be loud.
As for the game itself, the Wild were facing the Hawks under the best of circumstance. The Hawks had played the night before (a shootout loss to the arch-rival Red Wings), meaning they didn't arrive in St. Paul until the wee hours of the night. Second, they were playing without Norris Trophy winning defenseman/narcissistic headwear aficionado Duncan Keith.
There's an old adage in hockey that states that the road team should typically prepare to focus primarily on defense for the first ten minutes of a game. The theory is that the home team, fired up by a loud building, will come out flying for the first half of the first period so the road team should focus on holding down the fort until the game settles down. Of course, the Wild have been pissing away first periods for the better part of a month now, so something would have to give.
Fortunately, that something was the Chicago Blackhawks. Whether it was the return of Parise, a loud Xcel Energy Center, or both, the Wild came out flying during the opening frame. The Wild managed to outshoot the Hawks 10-6 in the first, but more importantly, they were able to get two shots behind Hawks backup goaltender Antti Raanta.
The first goal of the night turned out to be the highlight of the game. Clayton Stoner cleared a puck up the right wall to Jason Pominville. Pominville then dumped the puck across the ice to Dany Heatley as they crossed the blue line. Heater found a streaking Mikael Granlund down the middle. Finnish Jesus took the puck deep toward the net, drawing defenders & eyes with him before sending a pass across the top of the crease to a wide open Pominville for the goal. It was a gorgeous goal, firing up the crowd and showing to the Blackhawks the Wild were feeling frisky tonight.
The Wild doubled up their lead just five minutes later when Matt Cooke found the back of the net. As is typical of the third line, the play began when Justin Fontaine slid a pass to Kyle Brodziak as they attacked the Chicago blue line. Brodziak, of course, handled the pass like it was a live grenade, chopping the puck in half and sending it bouncing through the slot. Fortunately, the hockey gods (perhaps repaying him for taking an unpenalized elbow to the face last week), put the puck right Matt Cooke's stick. He fired a wrister that seemed harmless until you remembered the Hawks were starting their backup goalie. Boom, 2-0 Wild after 1.
From that point on, it was the Darcy Kuemper show. I know I've been harping on Kuemper's stellar play for two weeks now, but these last two periods Thursday night were the exclamation point on that stretch.
Over the final two periods of this game, the Wild faced a Blackhawks team that seemingly sat down during the first intermission and said, "Fuck that. 2-0 doesn't mean shit. We're the fucking champs."
The Blackhawks came out with guns blazing over the final two periods. They outshot the Wild 28-9 over that stretch, yet were denied nearly every time by young Kuemper.
(Kuemper Sidenote: He played the last half of the game wearing Niklas Backstrom's mask after his own was dented. This kid is in the zone right now.)
The Hawks finally broke through with a mere 32 seconds left in the game on a Patrick Kane slapshot (giving the drunk & confused Hawks fans something to cheer about). Fortunately, that was all the Wild would surrender on the night. They took the game 2-1 and have now taken 3 of 4 from the Hawks on the season.
Wild Player Of The Game: Mikael Granlund - Look, we all know that Darcy Kuemper was the star of this game. Frankly, I've run out of ways to compliment him on the job he's doing. I'm awarding this one to the Finnish Jesus on the strength of his ultra-filthy assist on Pominville's goal. Outside of the pass itself (which was gorgeous), the decision to even make the pass is where Granny deserves extra credit. The Wild are not now (nor have they ever been) a team that scores a lot of goals. When Granlund took the puck to the side of the net, it would have been the sound decision to take a shot. Granlund's big brother Mikko Koivu has been crucified by both fans and beat writers alike for his tendency to pass when he has the opportunity to shoot (a fact I'm sure Granlund is aware of). By opting to attempt a difficult pass over taking a decent shot, Granlund showed that hearing those sort of criticisms mean nothing to him. He's a great passer and that's what great passers do: they see lanes nobody (not fans, not beat writer, not, eveidently, Niklas Hjalmarsson) see. It was a confident play by a confident player.
Impression Of The Game: Given the circumstances that surrounded this game, it would be ludicrous to say the Wild are a team on par with the Blackhawks. The Hawks absolutely dominated this game for two periods, but were thwarted when a hot goaltender outplayed their backup. Regardless, the way the schedule shakes out after this game (a brutal four game road trip out west), the Wild needed to make sure they got points at home. Mission accomplished.
Saturday 1/25 - Sharks: 3 Wild: 2 (OT)
Riding high on taking two points from the champs, the Wild opened an absolutely brutal four game road trip on Saturday night in the Shark Tank. Now, this building has not been kind to the Wild in the past, so my inclination was to expect the Wild to get thrashed. Of course, I said the same thing about the Staples Center & Jobing.com Arena a couple of weeks ago and they went into both of those buildings & took wins. Is it possible the days of west coast road trips meaning abject fear are behind us?
Based on Saturday's game, the answer is "sort of."
To the surprise of everybody, the Wild took that "road team" adage I mentioned above and completely inverted it. By a large margin, the Wild's best period of the night was the first. Yes, they were still outshot (11-7), but they carried play for large stretches and walked away from the first frame with a 1-0 lead courtesy of Matt Cooke.
The Wild were able to build on that 1-0 lead in the second. Keith Ballard buried a wrist shot behind Sharkies netminder Antti Niemi to put the boys up 2-0 just 4:16 into the second. The two teams battled evenly for the remainder of the second period, but the Sharks proved to be too much for the Wild. The Wild were done in by goals from Joe Thornton & Patrick Marleau, both of whom were playing their first games since inking three-year contract extensions with the Wild. Both showed exactly why they were awarded those deals
With the Sharkies bleeding momentum, the Wild spent the third period pretty much holding on for dear life. Though the Sharks outshot the Wild 7-4 in the frame, they weren't able to get the puck past the staunch Darcy Kuemper. The Wild made it to the end of regulation and stole their point for the night. Appropriately, they quickly buckled in overtime, giving up a second goal to Jumbo Joe 3:30 into the extra frame.
Wild Player Of The Game: Matt Cooke - I'm giving this one to Matt Cooke on the basis of his body of work in both this game and the Chicago game. Cooke's run awfully hot & cold this year, but it's no coincidence that when he managed to find the back of the net a couple of times the Wild took three out of four points from two of the best teams in the West.
Impression Of The Game: I wrote last week that, "If the Wild could somehow get out of this game with a point I would be thrilled." Well, color me thrilled. There are eight available points on this road trip and, if we're being honest, none of them are a give (yes, even Calgary). Starting the trip by getting one of two may not seem like much, but every point on this trip is a bonus.
The Week Ahead
Tuesday 1/28 - Wild at Anaheim
The Wild finish off the California half of this road trip at the Honda Center. They'll be trying to avoid season sweep at the hands of the league-leading Ducks. Those Ducks have laid waste to nearly every team that has set foot inside their barn this year, with their only regulation home loss coming to the... wait for it... Jets. So, I guess it's possible.
Thursday 1/30 - Wild at Colorado
The Wild resume their contentious season series with the Avalanche on Thursday night. So far this year the two teams have battled viciously, but Colorado retains the edge in games won and has somehow managed to keep the Wild at arm's length all season.
Saturday 2/1 - Wild at Calgary
The Wild conclude their road trip in the Saddledome against the former-division-rival Flames. The Saddledome used to be a house of horrors for the Wild, but the tide has turned in the last few years and now is likely a worse experience for Flames fans & players than opposing teams. That said, there's a very real possibility that the Wild will roll in on Saturday having only gained one of six available points on this trip. A win in Calgary, regardless of how the rest of the trip plays out, is a must.
The Big Picture
The Wild opened the week in 8th place in the Western Conference. After gaining three of six points, they still sit in 8th in the West. Frankly, this counts as progress. The longer the Wild are able to hold serve and check games off the calendar the better. That may not seem like the most exciting approach to the remaining months of hockey, but with Mikko Koivu & Jared Spurgeon likely out through the Olympic break, treading water is just what the Wild should be doing.
I'll be back to break down that road trip next week.
Until then...
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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