With its best game of the young season, the Minnesota Wild beat division-rival (that has a nice ring to it) Dallas Stars 5-1 Saturday night in front of a good crowd at the Xcel Energy Center. It was a game of excitement and firsts for a few Wild players. It also gave the Wild win No. 2 for a 2-1-2 record after starting off with a couple tough overtime and shootout losses.
I didn't make it to a game last season, which was shortened by the lockout. But I returned to the X Saturday with my parents and brother, wearing my red Wild jersey and hockey-puck beads. We had a view in one of the corners on the Wild end.
Being seasoned sports fans, we were in our seats ready for the opening faceoff. Actually, I was pretty jazzed (Do people still say that?) just to see the opening videos they play on the scoreboard before the game, when they turn out all the lights and pump up the crowd before the teams come to the ice. I was very excited to be back.
Fastest goal ever, ever
Anyway, what I was getting at is for those folks who for whatever reason weren't in their seats for the start of the game, they missed out on the Wild's first goal. It came just 12 seconds into the contest, on a pretty feed from Matt Cooke to Justin Fontaine for his first career goal in the NHL. That marked the fastest goal to start a game on home ice for the Wild in franchise history.
About halfway through the period, Cooke grabbed his second point of the night with an unassisted goal. He snuck it past the Dallas goalie so quickly I wasn't even sure what happened. My favorite thing about it? The fact that "C is for Cookie" played in the arena afterward. Yes, Cookie Monster's song from Sesame Street.
I'm still quite cautious about Cooke, the veteran who's new to the Wild this season. He's got a long list of dirty penalties and suspensions to his name. So far though, his name is showing up on the score sheet for goals and assists, not trips to the box. As I've already noted though, the season is young. I'm not on the bandwagon yet.
The excitement wasn't over yet in the first period. The Wild were shorthanded, but that didn't stop both Kyle Brodziak and Cooke from getting breakaway opportunities. Neither scored, but they were still electric plays that brought fans to their feet.
Dumba is no dummy
As the Wild continued to dominate play in the second, another first was on the horizon. Matt Dumba scored on the power play on a nice cross-ice pass from the struggling Dany Heatley to make it a 3-0 game. With that, Dumba became part of the club to score a goal in the NHL.
Still in the second, the Wild went up 4-0 after what looked like Zach Parise jammed away at the puck in the crease and put it past the goalie. There was no goal light or signal from a referee on the ice that I could see, but Wild players celebrated the goal anyway. I'm not sure what the review process was, but the ref quickly signaled a good goal after some conversation. Scorers later gave the goal to Nino Niederreiter, for his first goal in a Wild sweater.
The Wild gave up a shorthanded goal to Dallas in the second, but it was all it would allow.
If you're broken up Parise didn't get that goal, don't be. He notched a power-play tally with 5:30 left in the game to put the Wild up 5-1. And that's how it ended up.
Good consistency finally pays off
Yet again, the Wild outchanced and outshot its opponent, with 36 shots versus 19 for the Stars. It's something the team's been doing consistently already this year; it just hasn't always paid off yet. The Wild were playing well, getting chances, peppering goalies with shots. The results were a shootout loss, an overtime loss which was just a couple seconds away from a shootout and a one-goal loss in Nashville.
Head coach Mike Yeo kept saying that if you do the right things, keep outplaying opponents, the wins will come. Agreed. Although while the Wild was still winless and already occupying the division basement (Yes, I know how early it is to look at that.), it was frustrating to keep hearing that. The Wild still needs to work hard to make sure it's finishing plays, hitting the net with shots and basically just getting the goals.
I liked what I saw Saturday (though I wouldn't mind some more physical play from the Wild at times either), and I just hope the Wild can keep the momentum going.
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