Wild finally break through in the shootout

Brace yourselves. The Minnesota Wild did something the other night that it hasn't accomplished in this young season: Score a shootout goal. And get the SO win.

Before Saturday night's road game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Wild hadn't won in a shootout. Not only that, it was 0-for-7 in SO scoring opportunities. The game before in Washington also went to a shootout, and that was the first time the Wild netminders stopped a shootout shot this season.

Not only did the Wild score in the shootout, it scored on all three tries from Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville. It gave the team a 3-2 win against the eastern conference team.

Calm down
It was too early to panic about the Wild's lack of any success in shootouts, of course, but it was still painful to watch. If the Wild got into an overtime situation, you just hoped that it would end sometime within that five minutes. Because you knew if it got to a shootout, things didn't look good.

The Wild victory over the Canes was a huge boost.

All that being said, the Wild are in a pretty good situation right now. The shootout loss against the Capitals ended a four-game winning streak. Goaltender Josh Harding has the hot glove right now and has played well, giving his team a chance each game.

The Wild are 10-4-4 and are tied with three other teams in the Western Conference with 24 points. With the West being a stronger conference, the Wild are behind the streaking Colorado Avalanche (13-2-0, 26 points), Chicago Blackhawks (11-2-4, 26) and St. Louis Blues (11-2-2, 24) in a very strong Central Division.

Keep up the solid play
It's a tight race already, and the Wild are in the middle of it. Too early to be standings-watching, maybe, but it's still a lot better than where clubs like Edmonton, Florida, Buffalo or Philly are. All have five wins or less.

Let's hope the Wild can continue to do well. Every point counts. Even in shootout losses.

The Wild just got Charlie Coyle back, and he scored his first goal, after being sidelined with an injury for a few weeks. Mikael Granlund is doing well and has put up points. Rookie Justin Fontaine has found the back of the net all too often so far in the first month; he already has six goals, third-most on the team. Pommer leads the team in goals with 11, Parise is the points leader with 15.