| |
Its been a long anticipated moment; in fact it was arguably the first game that was circled by Wild fans when the team released the 2007-08 schedule. This event that was circled on the calendar was the first time Sidney Crosby, a kid who’s fantastic hockey journey brought him to Minnesota to play high school hockey at NHL’er factory Shattuck-St.Mary’s in Faribault, Minnesota in his first appearance in front of what promises to be a packed Xcel Energy Centre. The fact there has been as much “buzz” surrounding this game, demonstrates just how big this young player’s star has become in such a short time. Yet, somewhere in all this media buzz, a hockey game is going to be played. A game that both teams you could say, ‘need’ to win. The Pittsburgh Penguins have gotten off to a sputtering start so far, and the Wild started out hot but have cooled off as the team has bit hit rather hard by injuries to key performers Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra and Niklas Backstrom. The game, is one of contrasts; Minnesota the leagues stingiest defense against the offensively gifted Penguins. You could almost say it was shaping up to be a battle of the immovable object versus the unstoppable force? Who was going to come out on top? It should be a very interesting game, and one Wild fans are sure to remember no matter the outcome.
The first period had the Wild again setting the tone with tremendous intensity that seemed to catch the Penguins by surprise. In fact, it looked like a showcase for Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu who was causing Pittsburgh fits at both ends, playing aggressively and physically, using his 6′2″ 205lbs frame to create prime scoring chances on Dany Sabourin who got the start over Marc-Andre Fleury. Even though Sabourin has just 19 NHL games of experience he was steady and fairly poised and was able to come up with the big saves early. In a somewhat controversial call, Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, who is known to throw a cheap shot every now and then (just watch some of Malkin’s antics at the WJC’s a few years ago if you don’t believe me) gave an elbow to Minnesota’s Nick Schultz, not happy with the elbow Schultz gave the speedy Russian a shove and in fitting fashion they both earned roughing minors. The State of Hockey was also getting some great, and very physical shifts from youngster Cal Clutterbuck who had some great hits that resulted in Penguins players being knocked onto their backsides. The Penguins could only generate just 6 shots on Josh Harding, and he had no problems with any of them and the Wild seemed to be in good shape going into the 2nd knotted at 0-0.
In the 2nd period, things were much different and the adjustments Penguins Head Coach Michel Therrien made were rather effective and Pittsburgh went from looking lost in the first to a team that seemed to be in control in the 2nd. One of those ‘adjustments’ was taking the puck down low below the goal-line, and Minnesota’s defense had great difficulty defending it. This down-low attack would yield quick results when Crosby would slide a pass to Evgeni Malkin who drove to the net and was able to jam a puck in near the right post to put Pittsburgh up 1-0. The goal was a bit ’soft’ by Josh Harding’s standards thus far, but it still doesn’t forgive the defense for not preventing Malkin from being able to drive to the net in the first place. Minnesota would answer fairly soon after Malkin’s goal when Mikko Koivu forwarded a pass up to Branko Radivojevic tee’d up a blast that struck the pipe and went out and right onto the stick of Stephane Veilleux who fired it home before Sabourin could reset himself to make the stop to equalize the game at 1-1. The feeling of relief would not even last 30 seconds as the Penguins again took the lead on a sort of bang-bang play when Sidney Crosby fired a shot that Harding stopped with his leg pad but the rebound went right onto the stick of Malkin who roofed a quick snap shot over a sprawling Wild netminder, Malkin’s 2nd goal of the night 2-1 Pittsburgh. The goal seemed to devastate the Wild, and Josh Harding was looking like a goaltender playing in his first full NHL season. Minnesota would literally have insult added to injury when stalwart defenseman Kim Johnsson suffered a leg injury, later determined to be a leg bruise and he would not return for the rest of the game which thinned the blueline considerably. One player who almost connected for a goal in the 2nd, was the “Boogeyman” Derek Boogaard just missed on a great pass by James Sheppard who had a solid game tonight (more on that a bit later) but unfortunately for Minnesota they’d skate into the 3rd trailing 2-1.
In the 3rd period, some of Minnesota’s youngsters decided to demonstrate what they could do to get their team fired up. Early in the period, Cal Clutterbuck would deliver another big hit that sent Colby Armstrong to the ice. Another Wild youngster James Sheppard decided to take things a step further when he decided to drop the gloves with former Wild forward Adam Hall. It was not a free swinging contest between two heavyweights, and after exchanging a few jabs neither was really able to gain an advantage and the two would just hold on until the officials moved into skate each player to their respective penalty box. The fight seemed to give the Wild the motivation boost it needed as they would re-establish the forecheck, and with Mikko Koivu working the puck down low he would push the puck near the top of the crease where Brian Rolston was able to shovel the puck by Sabourin to tie the game 2-2. With the sold out crowd back into the game the Wild seemed poised to pull off another big 3rd period comeback. Maxime Talbot had a good shift where he skated towards Harding, and Brent Burns sprawled over towards him ruining Talbot’s angle but in doing so he tripped up the Pittsburgh forward earning him a minor penalty. Minnesota’s penalty kill, now depleted because of Johnsson’s injury had the daunting task of keeping the Penguins from scoring. Sidney Crosby managed to draw the defense down low and he threaded a beautiful pass to a wide open crashing Sergei Gonchar who unloaded a blast on the Wild net but Harding was up to the task to stonewall him. Yet, Crosby and the Penguins still had plenty of power play time left, and Crosby would this time find Petr Sykora open in the slot and he would set up and unleash a wrister that found the twine behind Josh Harding to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. The goal seemed to have a finality to it, as if that was all that the Penguins were going to need. Minnesota tried in vain to rally again for a last chance at tying the game but Pittsburgh put 5 guys on the blueline and frustrated Minnesota’s attempts to establish a forecheck. The nail in the coffin was delivered when Brent Burns’ attempt at a wrister from the point was blocked and then passed up to Sidney Crosby who managed to sneak by Martin Skoula who tried to chase after the speedster from Nova Scotia who moved in all alone on Harding and beat him 5-hole on the backhand to seal a 4-2 win for the Penguins.
Sidney Crosby was everything he has been billed to be, having a huge 4-point night that just was too much for the depleted Wild to counter. It was a fairly good effort by the Wild, but without the top line of Demitra and Gaborik forcing Penguins Head Coach Michel Therrien to make a tough decision. Without that line, his choice is easy; dedicate his best checkers to go against Minnesota’s default top line of Brian Rolston, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Eric Belanger and fore the Wild to come up with offense from its other lines. Tonight, its 3rd line managed to chip in a goal, but the team could not get the goal to get them over the top so it could then establish its strangling defensive system.
Yet, there were some choices that Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire made that are rather baffling. Why did he opt to put Petteri Nummelin on the key penalty kill when the game was tied at 2-2? Nummelin has been a rather suspect defender ever since he joined the Wild, yet he put him on the ice against one of the more potent power plays in the league? Why was Keith Carney scratched yet again? Wouldn’t his experience been a valuable commodity to have. I know Jacques Lemaire didn’t have the benefit of hindsight to know that Kim Johnsson was going to go down with an injury, but whenever you go against a skilled offensive team wouldn’t that prompt you to go with your best defensive-defenseman?
Apart from the excellent play of Mikko Koivu, who has arguably been one of the Wild’s most consistent forwards all season long, despite not getting rewarded as much in the scoring department; was its two youngsters James Sheppard and Cal Clutterbuck. Sheppard has made huge strides, and tonight’s fight as well as some good hits are proof of that. The same can be said for Clutterbuck who has had two solid games where he’s managed to get involved physically, and positionally he seems to be a natural. The Wild need a victory soon, losing 4-straight has allowed the Calgary Flames (the Flames won 4-1 tonight by the way) to close the gap. Hopefully they can get a few of those injured players back for Thursday’s game against a very solid St. Louis Blues team.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight was as follows: Brian Rolston, Mark Parrish, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Eric Belanger, Mikko Koivu, Branko Radivojevic, Wes Walz, Matt Foy, Derek Booogaard, James Sheppard, Cal Clutterbuck, Martin Skoula, Kim Johnsson, Nick Schultz, Brent Burns, Petteri Nummelin, Kurtis Foster, and Nolan Schaefer backed up Josh Harding. Dominic Moore, Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, and Niklas Backstrom are out of the lineup nursing injuries.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game according to Let’s Play Hockey were: 1st Star Sidney Crosby, 2nd Star Mikko Koivu, 3rd Star Evgeni Malkin
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 10:36 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: Sidney Crosby provides memorable 4-point night, as Penguins overpower Wild 4-2
