That pretty much sums up my thoughts from Saturday's rival game in St. Paul between the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets, a game the Jets won 4-3 in overtime. Ultimately, the Jets won the game on a lucky bounce off the end glass above the goal. For those keeping track, it's the second time the Wild has lost an overtime game thanks to a crazy bounce. More on that goal later.
I don't wanna talk about it. #mnwild #bummed
— Heather Rule (@hlrule) December 28, 2014
Anyway, let's start from the top. I attended the game with my family, and it was really an entertaining contest. I checked my Twitter feed during warmups to see about the goalie situation. Instead, the first thing I saw was the forward Jason Zucker, a favorite of mine, was scratched from the lineup with the stomach bug. That bummed me out.
I mean, seriously. Let's just make sure the entire locker room has some kind of ailment this season, whether it's the mumps, flu or general hockey injuries. Maybe next year the Wild can add rubella to the list.
What else can they catch?
While we're on this topic, it's hit the goaltenders hard, too. Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper each caught the stomach bug and had to fill in for each other at late notice. Saturday, Backstrom was placed on IR since he was so sick, forcing the team to call up John Curry from the Iowa squad to back up Kuemper.
Well, then Kuemper gets sick close to game time, so Curry ended up getting the start. Turns out it was food poisoning. Just crazy. I'll give a nod to Curry for playing a solid game in goal on such a late notice.
With the personnel changes out of the way, let's get to the game. The out-of-the-playoff-picture Wild are chasing the Jets in the standings, so the home-and-home series they had Saturday and Monday was huge.
It was a packed house, the largest crowd of the season at 19,177 in the Xcel Energy Center, with tons of Jets fans among the Wild faithful. It wasn't as loud and rambunctious as I thought it might get, but there were definitely some chants trying to drown out the other.
Things started off a little slow, which you might chalk up to the Christmas break. Stu Bickel pulled a guy out of a goal-crease scrum to fight him. Ryan Carter went to the box for tripping. Then a weird thing happened when he exited the penalty box: He touched the puck and the referee instantly signaled another penalty.
Head-scratching call
You see something new everyday. Yes, Carter left the box when his two minutes were up. At the same time, a Jets player was skating by the box with the puck. Carter came out, appeared to steal the puck away with his foot, gain control and started to head toward the offensive zone. Whistle for interference.
I didn't get it. Neither, it seemed, did the Wild players, coach Mike Yeo and thousands of angry Wild fans who rang boos throughout the arena. Maybe there's some obscure rule out there for this interference call or something. It just seemed like a turnover, not a penalty.
Once the Wild got back to full strength, Mikael Granlund got back in the scoring column with a goal with about four minutes left in the first period. The turning point came in the second period, when Winnipeg tied it up.
Can't touch the goaltender
The Wild could have had a 2-1 lead at the second intermission, but a goal from Zach Parise was quickly disallowed on the ice because of goalie interference. Never mind that the Wild player "interfering" was pushed into the goalie. This rule has come up before, both in favor and against the Wild. It needs to be looked at by the NHL. I also don't understand how the play is not reviewable.
So, instead of leading, the Wild played catch-up the rest of the night, getting down 2-1 and 3-2 before coming back to tie it at 3 apiece on a power-play goal from Thomas Vanek (though the credit goes to Jared Spurgeon for the point shot that Vanek tipped).
It was Andrew Ladd that got credit for the game-winning goal in overtime. It was all thanks to a shot that rang off the stanchion and hit Curry, who couldn't find the puck. It went in as he ducked down and into the goal. Not faulting him at all.
Stanchion 2, Wild 0. If you'll remember, it was a bad bounce that ended the Wild's season last year, against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs.
A tough ending to a well-played game (I won't get into the short-handed goal the Wild gave up.) for the Wild, a team that desperately needs to right the ship if it has any hopes of making the postseason. But as so often happens in sports, struggling teams just don't get those breaks. Winning teams do.
It was Andrew Ladd that got credit for the game-winning goal in overtime. It was all thanks to a shot that rang off the stanchion and hit Curry, who couldn't find the puck. It went in as he ducked down and into the goal. Not faulting him at all.
Stanchion 2, Wild 0. If you'll remember, it was a bad bounce that ended the Wild's season last year, against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the playoffs.
A tough ending to a well-played game (I won't get into the short-handed goal the Wild gave up.) for the Wild, a team that desperately needs to right the ship if it has any hopes of making the postseason. But as so often happens in sports, struggling teams just don't get those breaks. Winning teams do.
No comments:
Post a Comment