It was a bit of a slow news week in Austin, Minn. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing for me because it gave me a chance to ease my way back into the daily routine because I was on vacation the week before.
Anyway, I had a chance to watch the last couple of Minnesota Wild games, Thursday and Saturday. Since they've been officially eliminated from playoff contention, the boys have now turned into spoilers for their opponents who are still clinging to life in the postseason race.
Comeback kids
The Florida Panthers came to the Xcel Energy Center Thursday. If you happened to miss pretty much all of the game until just before the end of regulation, you were in good shape because most of the game wasn't all that exciting. The Wild were down by a goal but tied it up with just 30 ticks left in the third. The empty-net strategy worked for once.
You were probably one sorry customer if you're one of those people that leaves before the end of a game to beat traffic. And I hope you didn't blink as they started overtime either, because you would have missed captain Mikko Koivu's great move to beat the goalie for the game-winning goal just 15 seconds into the extra session.
Two (meaningless) points were then given to the Wild. It was a nice comeback, last-minute thriller.
Excitement with the Kings
Former Wild player Willie Mitchell and his Los Angeles Kings were in Minnesota this weekend. This game was exciting from the start. The Wild got on the board just 40 seconds into the game during the four-goal first period when the teams headed to the locker room with two goals apiece.
The energy was high, hits were flying and the crowd seemed to be into it as well. The Kings were up 3-2 when the Wild got a four-minute power-play thanks to a high-sticking double minor. It was a perfect opportunity for the Wild to tie it up, but they were too busy skating around in their own zone, passing behind the net and not generating chances to get the equalizer.
That would've been a key period in the game had the Wild not come back to tie it. Newbie Jason Zucker is quite impressive so far.
With just over a minute left in overtime, Devin Setoguchi turned on the jets and was dragged down in the middle of a breakaway. I had a hunch it would result in a penalty shot. He made a nice move, shot the puck and then everyone could hear that dreaded clanging sound of the puck bouncing off the iron post.
Shootout machine Erik Christensen for the Wild scored first, Koivu put in one as well and goalie Niklas Backstrom actually stopped both shots he faced in the shootout for the Wild's 4-3 win. The Wild have now won four of their last five home games. Even though they don't have anything to play for (like a postseason trip), it's still fun to watch some decent hockey.
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