Eric Staal couldn’t catch a break for the Minnesota Wild
You had to feel a little for Eric Staal; this was the Canadian-born Staal’s first ever Saturday night appearing on their flagship broadcast, ‘Hockey Night in Canada’.
However, given it was the Toronto Maple Leafs in town, Staal knew he’d have to have at least a two-goal night to get a chance at an intermission interview and the elusive towel that is given out.
He managed to open the scoring late in the first period, taking a two-goal game to one and changing the momentum when his team returned to the ice after the intermission.
With five shots on net, you couldn’t say he wasn’t trying. Eric Staal tried again and again to best Andersen in the Maple Leafs net and again and again from himself denied.
Some of it was down to bad luck, but realistically it was a case of running into a hot goaltender and not getting the perfect tape-to-tape passes needed to best him.
Staal showed up in other areas on the ice too; with a team-leading two takeaways and a comfortable 50% face-off winning percentage – no mean feat given the center depth of the Toronto team.
It’s fair to say that he might have had one of his best games of the year, despite just netting the single goal. Maybe the Minnesota Wild need the Canadian television cameras to show up more regularly!
If it was that which spurred Staal on, it’s going to be hard to recreate it; hopefully it’s more a case of veteran experience knowing that the team is trending downwards and doing everything he can to pull them out of the slump. Who knows though!
With Vancouver next on the schedule, the Minnesota Wild would be wise to rest up, reset and come out all guns blazing once more. Surely they won’t run into another in-form goalie!
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.