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Its the final battle (of the regular season) between the Minnesota Wild and the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit is riding a 7-game winning streak, its 3rd winning streak of at least six games in length this season. The Wild are on a bit of a streak of their own, as they’ve won their last three games. Minnesota is hoping to make another statement that it can indeed win against the Western Conference’s elite teams. The Wild won during their last meeting against the 1st place Red Wings, can the State of Hockey have a repeat of that success tonight?
From the very start of this game, the Minnesota Wild demonstrated tremendous intensity as it flew all over the ice and quickly started racking up shots on Dominik Hasek. Minnesota seemed to have channeled the tremendous effort it had against Columbus on Saturday as they played an up-tempo game with the quick passes that did not allow the Detroits’ defense to take away the Wild’s space. Hasek stood tall early, allowing Detroit to weather the early Wild storm. The Red Wings would try to get back into the game; and on a quick shot from the circle by Tomas Kopecky that Niklas Backstrom would stop but he was unable to corral in the rebound and Johan Franzen would stuff it into the net to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. It really was Detroit’s first scoring chance of the game, but they were able to capitalize on it. Minnesota would respond just about 2 minutes later, as it would again use its speed to draw a hooking call on the Red Wings’ Derek Meech. On the power play, the Wild would use some tremendous puck movement before Mikko Koivu would find Brian Rolston open for a one-timer that he blistered by Hasek to tie the game at 1-1. The Wild would continue its assault as the Red Wings seemed to be on their heels trying to keep Minnesota from taking a lead before the end of the first; but Detroit would skate into the 2nd feeling as if it had escaped with the game still knotted at one apiece.
In the 2nd period, the Wild would continue its attack on Detroit’s offensive end. Minnesota was not only skating well, but they were taking the body and denying space from the shifty forwards of the Red Wings. The Wild would have a great chance early when Marian Gaborik would use his blazing speed to fly in on a breakaway and he’d try to beat Hasek with a wrister but the Czech-born goaltender was up to the task. Yet, the save would yield a rebound that Minnesota would control and some tremendous puck movement would see Pavol Demitra thread a sweet cross-ice pass to a crashing Marian Gaborik who found room on the backdoor play but somehow Hasek was able to move across his crease to make the acrobatic save. Minnesota was not going to be denied, and the Wild would race into the Detroit zone as Pavol Demitra would wind up and blast a slapper by Hasek to give the State of Hockey a 2-1 lead. The Wild would keep pressuring the Red Wings as they felt they could add to their lead. A great individual effort by Stephane Veilleux to drive the Detroit net before giving a nice pass to Eric Belanger who had most of the net to work with but his shot would clank off the right post. This missed opportunity would come back to haunt the Wild. Minnesota seemed to be outworking the Red Wings, winning battles along the boards and taking the body to take their one-goal lead going into the 3rd.
Carrying a 22-0 record when leading after two periods, the Wild had to feel very confident at the start of the 3rd period. Minnesota would go into its shut-down mode for what it hoped to be the final period of the game. The Wild would work hard to funnel the Red Wings toward the boards; but Detroit was able to generate a forecheck that made it difficult for Minnesota to keep the puck out of its zone. This would result in some prime scoring chances; a bad pass ended up on the stick of Mikael Samuelsson all alone in the slot but his wrister would be stopped by Backstrom. As the minutes wound down, luck seemed to be in the Wild’s favor as the Red Wings were denied on a scoring chance when a cross-ice pass failed to click when Jiri Hudler fanned on a shot near the net. It seemed as if the Wild were going to split their regular season series with the Red Wings, but it wasn’t meant to be. A desperate Red Wings effort, had Daniel Cleary working hard along the boards and he would just turn and fire a shot from the half wall that somehow snuck through the pads of Niklas Backstrom who was positioned along the right post, yet he would give up the equalizer. The goal seemed to deflate a fairly confident Minnesota squad and the game would go to overtime.
In the overtime, both sides would trade rushes, but it was difficult for the Wild to gain enough room to create scoring chances on Hasek. Both teams would do well to keep the puck near the boards and deny the other the open ice. Yet, a failed clearing attempt by Nick Schultz allowed Cleary again to win a small race to the puck along the boards pushing it to Henrik Zetterberg who would find a crashing Bret Lebda who buried the chance to steal a 3-2 victory over the Wild.
Niklas Backstrom would be awarded the 2nd star of the game for making 30+ saves but much will likely be made of the one he missed in the 3rd period. It was a very soft goal given up at a critical time. While Minnesota did manage to come away with a point, it does little to soften the wound of feeling as if it missed out on an opportunity for 2 points. However, what may be overlooked is Minnesota’s prime chance to get that critical 3rd goal when Eric Belanger’s chance found the pipe instead of the twine. Against a great team like the Detroit Red Wings, you cannot afford to miss on chances like that. Hopefully Minnesota is a bit angry when the Dallas Stars come to town on Thursday. The Stars are coming off a shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks, and Minnesota will have to be at its best if it expects to get the win.
Wild Notes:
~ Wild roster tonight is as follows: Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, Brian Rolston, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Eric Belanger, Mikko Koivu, James Sheppard, Stephane Veilleux, Aaron Voros, Todd Fedoruk, Branko Radivojevic, Matt Foy, Kim Johnsson, Brent Burns, Martin Skoula, Nick Schultz, Kurtis Foster, Keith Carney, and Nolan Schaefer backed up Niklas Backstrom. Mark Parrish, Derek Boogaard and Petteri Nummelin were the healthy scratches. Sean Hill is out with a leg injury, and Josh Harding is battling sickness.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by Let’s Play Hockey were: 1st Star Bret Lebda, 2nd Star Niklas Backstrom, 3rd Star Brent Burns
~ In Minnesota High School action, the Burnsville Blaze would use two early 3rd period goals, including one shorthanded goal, to power their way to a 4-2 road win over Eastview. The Blaze are now in great position to win the Lake Conference title if they win the rest of their games.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 11:21 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: Weak 3rd period goal allows Red Wings to steal a 3-2 overtime win from Minnesota