Wild

“You ever get punched in the stomach really hard?” So said Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo after the Wild jumped off a cliff to blow a 3 goal lead against the Nashville Predators to lose 5-4 in regulation. How did the Wild lose? Simple: they played 55 minutes of excellent hockey. 3 goals in the final 3:21 changed the Wild’s loot from 2 points to a big fat painful goose egg. I’ll be blunt…the defense and goaltending fell apart. Josh Harding and the blueliners took a nap and cost the team the game.

Some late-day big news. Scratched Wild defenseman Marek Zidlicky is not happy with his place in the press box, and whined (my word for it) to Mike Russo of the Star Tribune. Catch Russo’s blog here. My take? Waaaaaaahhhh! Actually, that’s my impression of Zids. His play as of late has stunk worse than a Metrodome bathroom on free chili-cheese-dog day. How many times have we seen pucks get by him at the point, or shots go wide and be turned right around for goals against? Did he really think that a coach as performance-oriented as Mike Yeo would put [...]

Waeros. Players who bounce between the Wild and Aeros constantly…that should cover what, about 30 guys now? I see the Wild front office listened to me 100%. Kassian, Ortmeyer, and Rau are on their way back to Minnesota in time for tomorrow’s game against Nashville. Staubitz, Zidlicky, and Lundin are 3-game-in-a-row scratches. Trades, anyone? Nate Prosser didn’t get recalled because he never got sent back for roster requirement reasons. It worked out, actually…Prosser got some more time to recover from a nasty blocked shot. He’s back and skating, so I’d expect to see him against the Predators as well.

I may be the only NHL fan that doesn’t really care about the All-Star Game. To be fair, I don’t care about any other league’s all-star matchup either. I care about games that mean something in the W/L department, and this break couldn’t have come at a worse point for the Wild…we were just getting our feet back under us. We start real hockey again on Tuesday when the Nashville Predators visit St. Paul. Coming off solid wins against Dallas and Colorado, it is CRUCIAL that the Wild keep the momentum going with a quick home victory. Looking at past [...]

The Wild sent some of the Aeros back after the win against the Avs this week. Matt Kassian, Jed Ortmeyer, and Chad Rau went back to Houston. Don’t despair, Wild fans, I think they’ll be back. With the NHL on break for the All-Star Game, the AHL still has some games to play before their break. Instead of keeping these guys in the Cities to do nothing, it makes far more sense to put them back on the ice with the Aeros for two games and call them back up before next week’s outings. No major news from the Wild, [...]

Getting this up ASAP after the game for once, no pics yet but I’ll add when they become available. UPDATED: pic. We’re baaaaacccckkkkk! The Wild shook more rust off the machine tonight at the Pepsi Center, continuing their total control of that building and defeating the Avs 3-2. This means that we head into the All Star break in a playoff spot…granted, by a mouse’s whisker. After a slower start that saw Backstrom give up two ugly goals (ugly as in he-should-have-stopped-those), the Wild totally controlled the second half of what was a very physical game. Wild goals by Falk [...]

Scratches haven’t changed, thank goodness. Screwup Zidlicky is out, along with Staubitz and Lundin. Backstrom gets the start tonight, and for good reason according to the numbers. He’s an Avalanche killer both at home and on the road. Should be a good one, let’s see if the Wild can bring the same energy to the road that they had at the Xcel this past weekend!

Just a quick little note to get you guys caught on whats going down in Houston. Two nights ago the Houston Aeros lost to the San Antonio Rampage 4-3 in the shutout. The Aeros got goals from Marco Scandella and Casey Wellman. Currently the Aeros are barely holding on to 2nd place in the west division and are 2nd overall in the western conference with 54 points.