Both teams came into the game on the second night of a back-to-back, with the Wild grabbing an overtime win Friday in Dallas. The division-rival Blues also won that night in OT. Things looked pretty equal in the first period. It was scoreless, but there were some close chances. Let's give credit right now to Niklas Backstrom for some good saves in goal.
It could have been the even play from the two clubs, but I kept thinking "playoff hockey" as I watched the game. The fact that I watched the game live in the lower bowl with my brother may have something to do with that, since you get a faster, you-can-see-the-stickwork version of the game. I can't quite pinpoint it; the game just had a competitive nature that I liked.
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| The Minnesota during warm ups Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center. |
Get the scoring started
So, the Blues struck first in the second period, taking a 1-0 lead after a poor clearing attempt from Wild defenseman Keith Ballard. It was disappointing, because at the time I thought this could be one of those 1-0 final scores.
Mikko Koivu netted a nice top-shelf goal to tie it up, however. As I Tweeted to Judd Zulgad from 1500 ESPN Radio, I guess Koivu heard him on the radio that morning. Zulgad pointed out that both Koivu and Charlie Coyle were on their way to going the month of November without a goal. The tally was only Captain Koivu's third goal this season.
I do what I can. RT @hlrule: @1500ESPNJudd Well, there's Mikko's goal for the month. Guess he heard you this morning. #mnwild
— Judd Zulgad (@1500ESPNJudd) November 30, 2014
As expected, the Blues weren't afraid to throw the bodies around. Late in the second, Kevin Shattenkirk got a major penalty and a game misconduct for checking Ryan Carter from behind, sending him head first into the boards.
Power play... big deal
On the resulting 5-minute major power play for the Wild, Zach Parise scored to put his team ahead 2-1 at the second intermission. Yes, that would be a power-play goal. I will continue to use sarcasm here and in my Tweets regarding power-play goals until the Wild figures out how to solve the usually-disastrous man advantage play.
The power play is still not clicking, at 7-for-73 and ranked 29th in the NHL about two months into the season. That's a problem. And while it was great the Wild took the lead with a goal on the major penalty Saturday, let's emphasize that the penalty was a 5-minute major. That means that unlike a minor, where the penalized player comes out of the box if the opposing team scores a goal, the team holding the advantage on a major penalty can score an unlimited amount of goals while the player stays in the box for five minutes.
I'll just let that rule hang there for you to ponder.
Stop mouthing off after calls
Anyway, I also wanted to mention that the Blues seemed to take exception to every call against them. I'll admit, there were a few of them. But each time, one of their players (sometimes two) was over jawing with the officials during the TV timeouts and play stoppages after calls were made.
I have no idea what went on or what was said, but it got a little annoying after the first couple times. It'd almost be worth it to see a new penalty in the NHL, some kind of bench minor like two many men on the ice, that the officials could call if teams are getting too lippy. I'm thinking along the lines of baseball when players or managers get thrown out for arguing.
Just a thought, which actually in this instance probably shows my bias as a Wild fan.
Back to the game...
The Wild continued to generate chances (stop me if you've heard that before) in the third period. However, the Blues took control in their offensive zone and put on the pressure. It was one of those situations where you could feel that it was just a matter of time before the tying goal made its way to the back of the net.
However, I didn't get the feeling that the Wild decided to just sit on their 2-1 lead, which was good because I thought they played like that in Dallas.
The tying goal came with about five minutes to go in regulation, off a turnover in the Wild end. Ryan Suter, who had a couple questionable playmaking decisions that night, decided to force a pass along his blue line instead of getting the puck out of the zone with Blues players driving.
Despite some dicey moments, that game didn't end in overtime either. I guess the Wild can't expect Marco Scandella to win it for them all the time. He scored the game winner the night before in Dallas and also had the OT goal against Winnipeg recently, saving the Wild from giving up 3-0 leads in both cases.
Quick sidebar: Scandella inked a five-year, $20 contract extension earlier Saturday. It would've been great to have him earn his money again against the Blues, but again, you can't expect him to do it all.
Same old guys in the shootout
The Wild went scoreless in the shootout, and Vladimir Tarasenko won it for St. Louis. It was the first overtime/shootout loss on the season for the Wild, in front of the season's largest crowd so far at the Xcel Energy Center: 19,124.
Here's what was frustrating about the shootout, other than the loss, obviously: The same old shooters for the Wild. Mike Yeo elected to go with three guys he deems his leaders, Koivu, Parise and Jason Pominville. Koivu shoots so much in the shootout that the goalie read his signature move perfectly. Pommer missed the five-hole. Parise didn't get much of a shot off.
The Wild haven't had many shootout opportunities yet this season, but it still would've been nice to go with guys on recent hot streaks. Who? Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter. They're the ones scoring the goals lately. Yeo wants leaders, and those guys are leaders on the stats sheet.
Niederreiter leads the team with 11 goals, four of those on the power play, and Zucker is tied for second (with Parise) with nine goals.
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