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Minnesota is about to begin to wade into the meat of its Northwest Division schedule. It has to feel confident after finishing a 4-game road trip by going 3-0-1. The Wild know that every game it can win against a Northwest Division opponent has that ’swing’ effect of gaining ground in the division as well as separating themselves from the rest of the Division as it sits in first place right now. So far Minnesota has played just one divisional opponent, Edmonton so far, which ended in a Wild victory would they be able to get another ‘W’ tonight?
In the first period the Wild started out with less pace than they had last night in St. Louis, partly because the Avalanche seemed committed to clogging play up in the neutral zone. The Avalanche also seemed to have plenty of jump as they did not play the night before and that pressure earned them a quick power play. On the man advantage the Avalanche did a good job at moving the puck around getting a variety of quality scoring chances, the first a blast from the point by John-Michael Liles that Niklas Backstrom blocked away. The next great chance came off the stick of talented sophomore Paul Stastny who’s first shot was blocked by Backstrom but the rebound went right back to him and his chance went off the side of the net and Minnesota would get the early penalty kill. Yet as soon as they got out of the box, Minnesota would find itself shorthanded after a slash by Brent Burns. The Avalanche again would get some great chances, the best one coming off the stick of former Wild forward Andrew Brunette that found the side of the net, but Minnesota seemed to start to finally get skating themselves and that would draw a penalty. On the shortened Wild power play they would match the Avalanche’s ability to create quality scoring chances on the power play. Minnesota would have the same puck movement it had last night in St. Louis that worked so well and they would create some dandy chances, including a nice redirection attempt by Petteri Nummelin hoping to hook up with a waiting Mark Parrish and Marian Gaborik but the puck would whistle through the crease area untouched. Another great chance was up close where Mikko Koivu got off a shot that Peter Budaj saved but the puck sat in the crease only to be deflected towards Marian Gaborik but he couldn’t get a stick on it to push it home and the game would remain scoreless. Yet the story of the 1st period was Wild penalties, as they would lean heavily on Niklas Backstrom and the Minnesota penalty kill to bail them out. It was no shock that Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire was not enamored with the officiating, but some of the calls were deserved and Minnesota is only playing Russian Roulette with the high powered Colorado power play with all of these penalties.
In the 2nd period Minnesota’s well-practiced penalty kill shut down the Avalanche power play. As karma works, where Colorado had a bountiful amount of time on the man-advantage it was inevitably going to swing the Wild’s way. On their second power play of the game the Wild moved the puck well, and Marian Gaborik would find Mark Parrish alone near the front of the net and he rather patiently made a nice hesitation move before backhanding a shot by Budaj to put the State of Hockey up 1-0. Fairly soon after Parrish’s goal the Wild would receive another power play and just about 20 seconds into it the Avalanche would take another lazy penalty when Jaroslav Hlinka would get called for hooking giving Minnesota a long 5-on-3 advantage. On the 5-on-3 Minnesota moved the puck around the perimeter where Brian Rolston would tee up a blistering slap shot that blew past a screened Peter Budaj to give Minnesota 2-0 lead. After Rolston’s tally, the Avalanche seemed to jump on the Wild that seemed to be in a sort of goal hangover. Some poor decisons by the Wild’s Branko Radivojevic allowed Colorado to bottle up the Wild in their own zone and that pressure would yield penalty on Minnesota. On the man-advantage Minnesota’s penalty killers did a fair job of killing off most of the penalty but the puck would get to former St. Cloud State Huskie Tyler Arnason in the slot area and he’d spin around and slap a shot over the shoulder of Backstrom to cut the lead in half, 2-1. The goal seemed to flip a change in momentum and they started skating better and they had Minnesota on their heels and some poor defensive coverage would allow Sartell, Minnesota-native Kurt Sauer managed to chip a puck through the crease where Andrew Brunette was too happy to jam home the loose puck to tie the game 2-2. Minnesota tried to take some of that momentum back when the 2nd line of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Brian Rolston and Eric Belanger had a great shift forechecking well and generating some good chances on Budaj. The Wild would continue to apply pressure and that would create a power play when former Golden Gopher star Jordan Leopold hauled down Branko Radivojevic who would’ve moved in a breakaway if he hadn’t done so. On the power play Minnesota had more trouble getting it set up. Shortly after it started they would have an injury situation when a puck flew up into the forehead area of Mark Parrish which had the tough winger clearly a bit worse for the wear and he was taken off the ice by Minnesota’s Athletic Trainer Gary Fuller and he would retreat to the locker room. On the continuation of the man advantage the Wild were able to set up some big blasts by Pierre-Marc Bouchard but he struggled to get good wood on his shot and the period would end with both teams knotted at 2-2.
In the 3rd period both teams seemed to want to start the period by hanging back and playing responsible defense. Neither Colorado or Minnesota could create much in the way of scoring chances as the teams were backchecking well, but a Wild penalty would open up the game quite a bit. Even though Minnesota was shorthanded the a steal of a lazy Avalanche would turn into a quick 2-on-1 for Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra. Demitra would race in before delivering a cross-ice pass at the last moment and Gaborik couldn’t quite get the puck up and over a sprawling Peter Budaj. The Wild seemed to have more jump in their skates than did Colorado, and they would continue to press the attack after the big penalty kill. With just over 3 minutes left, it was Mikko Koivu who would take the initiative and make a nice power move near the right corner and move along the goal-line stuff the puck by Budaj to give Minnesota a late 3-2 lead. The Wild knew Colorado was going to throw everything it had to get the tie, but the State of Hockey’s defense was up to the task by never really allowing the Avalanche to get any decent chances and they would earn the 3-2 victory.
It was another very solid effort for the Minnesota Wild capped off by great play between the pipes with Niklas Backstrom looking very solid with a 29 save performance. The Wild still need to work on staying out of the box, but the great work on the power play is starting to pay off as they registered two goals with the man advantage. While Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire will likely be rather reserved in his post-game comments about a victory tonight, especially considering the penalty issues he will be pleased we got the win in regulation against a divisional opponent. One area the Wild have been strong all season is the 3rd period, and it has often been when the Wild have pulled away from the opposition to earn victories and it is the reason Minnesota is sitting in first in the Northwest Division. The Wild will not have to wait long to see the Avalanche again as the two teams meet next Sunday at Pepsi Centre in Denver. Yet before they travel to the mile-high city the Wild will travel to Alberta to face Calgary and Edmonton in successive nights (Wednesday and Thursday respectively). Needless to say its a huge week for the Wild.
Wild Notes:
~ Minnesota’s roster tonight was Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, Brian Rolston, Mark Parrish, Mikko Koivu, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Matt Foy, James Sheppard, Branko Radivojevic, Eric Belanger, Wes Walz, Kim Johnsson, Kurtis Foster, Petteri Nummelin, Martin Skoula, Brent Burns, Nick Schultz, and Josh Harding backed up Niklas Backstrom. Derek Boogaard, Dominic Moore and Keith Carney were the healthy scratches.
~ The 3 Stars as selected by Let’s Play Hockey: 1st Star Niklas Backstrom, 2nd Star Mark Parrish, 3rd Star Mikko Koivu
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 7:58 pm and is filed under 2007-08 Game Reports & Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Source: mvn.com
