Wild @ Panthers - 2-29-08 - A View from the Couch

Nice 3-2 Wild win tonite at Florida. Koivu, Burns, and Vellieux with the goals. Wild played a very strong game, dominating early and hanging on at the end. Although the final was only 3-2, they narrowly missed a handful of times in the 1st. The game was pretty noneventful, and that's exactly what you want against a bad team like Florida.

Jots

• The Wild are rotating their 3 centers since we are short a few. Seems to be working pretty well. Belanger, Shepard, and Koivu are having nice runs over the last couple games.
• How good did the powerplay look tonite? They moved it around beautifully, got a handful of chances, and Burnsie buried one from the left circle.
• Although it was against a couple bad teams in the East, the Wild at the very least have regained some confidence. They're scoring again, and it should carry over next week when they get LA and Chicago. Two more games they should win. I think they've put that bad stretch from last week behind them.
• Backstrom is playing well again in net. He was in perfect position all nite, and he's not giving up big rebounds anymore. I think Jacques keeps playing him to keep up his confidence, and it seems to be paying off. I feel much better about his game lately.

Fight to hang the 1st Banner

Wild pick up 2 points. Anaheim beat Calgary 3-1 so that gives us a 2 point lead again in the Northwest. Columbus scored 2 goals in the 3rd to get Vancouver to OT, then won in the shootout. So Vancouver gets a point and they're 3 points back.

Next on the Docket - Kings @ Wild - 3-2-08

Another should win. Should wins sometimes turn out bad, but I think we'll be ok against the Kings. Watch Patrick O'Sullivan for the Kings. He's the prospect we gave up for Pavol Demitra. He's pretty solid for LA. I'm callin for a shutout. Wild 2 Kings 0

College Hockey Shout

Big college hockey weekend at our house, as North Dakota travels to Duluth. My wife and mother in law are from Grand Forks, and I went to UMD, so it'll be a fun time. Saturday and Sunday afternoon games, so we'll be purchasing the games and watching them online at b2livetv.com. GO DOGS!