Wild @ Avalanche - Western Conference Quarterfinals Game 6 - View from the Couch
Did the great Minnesota band (I use the term great loosely) Soul Asylum write that song for us Wild fans?

Wild season dead in Colorado tonite, after a 2-1 loss to the Avs in game 6. Avs take the series 4-2. There's not much to write about in the way of analysis on this one. Colorado scored 1st again, Wild tied it up in the 2nd, Colorado takes the lead again in the 2nd, and the Wild didn't have much of a sniff the rest of the game. They managed 35 shots, but it wasn't the same kind of near miss onslaught as in game 5. Most of the shots were from the perimeter, and Avs G Jose Theodore made the easy saves to finish up the series.

Marian Gaborik did finally get an assist with a nice pass to Aaron Voros for the lone Wild goal, but he was bottled up again tonite. No one else was able to step up and take charge, and the Avalanche move on to round 2.

I do have to shout out to Nick Schultz, who played tonite for the 1st time in the playoffs after his appendectomy. He gave what he had for the team, and that is why he is a stalwart on this team.

I will also give credit to the Avalanche, who led over 100 minutes in this series. The Wild only led just over 4 minutes. In the end their big stars were better than the Wild's big stars.

Fight to Bring the Cup to St. Paul
The Wild Marketing Team better not bring back "Fight to the End" as the slogan next time the Wild make the playoffs. Both years they used it, the Wild fizzled to the end and were out 1st round, and both times I didn't see much sense of fight. Matter of fact, Game 4, the game in which the Wild had 111 ridiculous penalty minutes, turned the momentum to the Avalanche and they never looked back. Thugnation cost us this series.

Honeymoon is Over
After their 2nd 1st round exit in a row, the tide has now officially turned in the Wild's fan base. It's been building, but you can expect the organization to start to feel the heat of not producing a winner. My heat is laserline-focused on GM Doug Risebrough. More to come in future posts on that topic.

Next on the Docket - Free Agency
Who did we see play their last game in a Wild sweater tonite? Brian Rolston? Pavol Demitra? Pierre-Marc Bouchard? Rolston was asked after the game about next year and his pending free agency, his answer...my time here in Minnesota was great, we'll see what happens next year...didn't sound much like someone that expected to be back. It could get nasty this summer.

More to Come
I'll still follow the Cup playoffs and this offseason is critical to the Wild, so keep an eye out for more posts. While the Wild flags will come down and the jerseys will go back in the closet for 6 months, remember we have a banner to hang next October, and another chance at bringing home the Cup.