Saturday's New Year's Eve game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild had to rank right up there though. At least it did for me.
These two teams faced off in the game of the century (maybe that's too dramatic, but I don't care), a battle of two teams that hadn't lost in weeks. The Blue Jackets came in riding a 14-game winning streak. The Wild had a 12-game winning streak, plus a 13-game points streak. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time two major teams (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) had met when each had a win streak of at least 12 games. The other cool storyline is that these two teams are forever linked together because they both joined the league in 2000 as expansion teams.
Quick sidebar here. It still would have been pretty cool to have the Wild on their franchise-record winning streak all by themselves in the spotlight. Although, history has sometimes shown that once the Wild are under the naitonal microscrope, they falter and stumble.
Much-anticipated game... recently
Anyway, this was going to be a great game. Looking at the schedule, the Wild usually play on New Year's Eve. Seeing Columbus as the opponent probably didn't grab a lot of excitement, even a few weeks ago. What a difference a couple of streaks make. The game was packed with 19,307 fans, and I heard tickets were going for as much as $600 on some markets.
Luckily, my mom went and got tickets for us on Thursday - before Columbus and Minnesota won their games to extend their streaks and setup the historic matchup. It was the first time we didn't get seats together as a family, but it really didn't matter. We were in the building.
Maybe it's corny, but I always love watching the, as I call them, "pump-up videos" before the game. This was counted to 12 and showed each opposing logo for the teams the Wild beat along the way. Then of course, there were plenty of highlights to show. I was tapping my fingers on my knee with anticipation. Call it pent-up energy since this was my season debut at the Xcel Energy Center.
Since it's a few days later, I'll spoil the ending for you: The Wild lost 4-2.
I'll tell you the turning point for me in that game. It was early in the first period when Zach Parise partially fanned on a shot with a wide-open net staring him directly in the face. It should have been 1-0 Wild right there. Not a typical miss from Parise, but there it was. I knew it would come back to haunt the Wild, and it did.
Not long after that, Cam Atkinson scored his first of two goals in the game after a bad neutral zone turnover. It stunned and quieted the crowd. Heading into the intermission down 1-0 wasn't great, but not terrible either. It was the dreadful second period that was the killer.
A couple minutes in, Chris Stewart and Josh Anderson dropped the gloves before a faceoff for the typical five-for-fighting penalties. They went to the box, then Matt Dumba and Matt Calvert went at it. They were sent to the dressing rooms, however, since there's a rule that you can't start a fight right after another fight. This isn't old-school hockey anymore.
So, that left the Wild without a core defenseman for the rest of the game. That wasn't the worst part. A minute after the fights, the Blue Jackets took a 2-0 lead on Jack Johnson's goal. OK, so 2-0. But 15 seconds later, the game became out of reach with Atkinson's second goal to make it 3-0.
Too little, too late for the Wild
Mikael Granlund scored to make it 3-1, but the Wild couldn't get out of the period fast enough. It was 4-1 at the second break with a late-period goal from the Blue Jackets. Jason Zucker scored his ninth of the season just 24 seconds into the third with a fun-to-watch breakaway, which was exactly what his team needed. But they couldn't find a way to get another goal and took the 4-2 loss.
It was a frustrating game because there were so many little things, like passing, that the Wild needed to do better. They were back to not capitalizing on chances they had; I think Jared Spurgeon hit the outside of the post with a shot. Plus that sharp, crisp passing game just wasn't there.
 |
| Mom, Dad (in his Fighting Saints hoodie) and me. |
Perhaps even worse than the loss was seeing the dreaded Wave go around the lower bowl a couple times in the third period. Not surprisingly to those that know me or follow me on Twitter, I did not participate in this outdated act. Instead, I more appropriately put my head in my hands until it went by my section.
Obviously, somebody's streak had to end that night. It was too bad it was the Wild, while the Blue Jackets went to 15 games in a row with a win. But it's really been such a fun thing to watch. There's all this fear about the mid-season swoon, the after-Christmas hangover. Instead, the Wild just kept on winning. January still looms, and the history of swoons there isn't good, but for now, it's been a great ride for the Wild.
What a run.
No comments:
Post a Comment