After a week or two of losses where the Wild played decently but not good enough to win, they’ve suddenly strung together three big wins and are back to 4 points out. After losses to ANA, LA, NJ, and CHI, they’ve now beaten CAL, CHI, and PIT. After falling to 8 points out of a playoff spot, they’re back to within striking distance at 4 points back.

This current stretch looked to be the toughest of the season for the Wild. Although they probably should have beaten Anaheim and LA and looked pretty bad in Chicago, they played well v. New Jersey and in all 3 home wins in the current streak. The squad even pulled of the biggest comeback in franchise history (down 5-1 v. Chicago in the 3rd) and tonight beat the defending Cup champion Penguins.

This team trends a bit differently from last year’s team. When they needed wins, last year’s team would win 1, then lose the next, through the balance of the schedule. This year’s team goes on runs...runs of losses, then runs of wins. If it can have one more winning run than losing, we may still get to talk playoff hockey this season.

A lot of other interesting stuff has gone on in the last couple weeks.

• Jacques Lemaire returned to the X behind the NJ Devil’s bench. He appeared to be moved by a nice reception from the Wild and Wild fans. Then he beat the Wild 4-3.
• Petr Sykora is upset that he is a consistent healthy scratch, and his agent is tweeting mad about it.
• Guillaume Latendresse is winning fans like mad with 15 points since the Benoit Pouliot trade.
• Backup G Josh Harding was in danger of taking a loss in a game where he entered trailing 5-1.
• Harding also unveiled a sweet new mask, paying homage to the team’s burned equipment van in Ottawa.
• In that same game, Marty Havlat was not chosen to shoot during an 8-round shootout.
• Two Minnesotans will be part of the core leadership for the US Olympic hockey team. Jamie Langenbrunner will serve as team captain and Zach Parise is one of 4 alternate captains.

All good stuff. The Wild will attempt to continue this run Wednesday at the X v. Vancouver Canucks.

Here’s a bonus for you: Latendresse’s game-winning goal from tonight’s game v. Pittsburgh. The goal was sweet, and so was how Kyle Brodziak created a sneaky 2 on 1. Great goal. Enjoy!

Kings @ Wild Tues Feb 24
The Wild left a point on the ice tonight v. LA Kings, losing 2-1 in a shootout. They certainly played well enough to win, but failed on a few opportunities to bury the puck.

Regulation was relatively uneventful. Antti Miettenen did score a shorthanded goal in the 1st after receiving a nifty pass from Mikko Koivu on a 2 on 1. That was definitely nice to see. But they gave up a powerplay goal in the 2nd…actually Kim Johnsson scored it for the Kings on one of those “here goalie, cover it” type plays. Buzz kill. There were periods in the 3rd where the Wild would carry the play but they could not get it by Kings G Jonathan Quick. Most notably, Andrew Brunette made a beauty move only to be stoned by Quick with about a minute left in the 3rd.

Overtime
The Wild had a couple golden opportunities to win it in the OT. Dan Fritsche was oh-so-close to winning it in the OT. He broke in on a 2 on 1 and the LA D took away the pass so he fired a shot that hit the near-side post. Shortly after, the Wild hit another post and Pierre Marc Bouchard also had a point blank chance. No one was clutch, and clutch is everything in the playoff stretch.

Shootout
Mikko Koivu hit a post in the shootout, and Niklas Backstrom gave up his first and second shootout goals and that was the story.

Grinders
So most of the Wild forwards are grinders this year, but I thought Cal Clutterbuck, Dan Fritsche, James Sheppard, Craig Weller, and Stephane Veilleux were the most productive  of everyone in the 3rd. They took a lot of body, kept the puck in the offensive zone, and had a handful of opportunities. If someone could only finish…

Fight to…Make the Playoffs
The Wild move into a tie for the 8th spot in the Western Conference. The missed point was a missed opportunity to move into the 7th spot, but let’s concentrate on the positive. Wizzy would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

Who’s Next
The Wild embark on the big 14 of 17 on the road bit of the schedule on Friday, starting the trip in Calgary. I hate watching games at Saddledome on TV. The picture is always grainy and washed out. Plus the whole arena turns red when the Flames score, adding that extra insult to injury. Hopefully this one won’t turn into a DVR FFWD game.

The Wild once again put a damper on any kind of fan enthusiasm they may have generated with Monday’s win over Chicago by losing to the 2nd-to-last-place LA Kings, 5-2 Tuesday nite. The Wild never held a lead in this one, and save for a 1-1 tie didn’t much show up at all. The lone bright spot was Marek Zidlicky’s 9th goal of the season – again on the powerplay – that was almost a carbon copy of the goal he scored v. Chicago off a beauty pass from Andrew Brunette behind the goal. This was one of those games that had a loser vibe early and it stuck.

Fake Midway Point
The Wild is now off until Tuesday in observance of the All-Star break. With 36 games remaining, they are in the 9th spot in the Western Conference, 1 point out of a playoff spot. This is a team that needs to string together some wins, and it will be tough coming out of the break if they can’t even beat LA. They do play 9 out of their next 13 games at home, so by the end of February we will probably know if they’re contenders or pretenders – at least to make the playoffs if nothing more.

Return of Old Man Antagonist
Claude Lemieux, the 43-year old ultimate antagonizer (or dirty hockey player depending on your point of view) returned to NHL action tonite for the San Jose Sharks. Think about it…he was drafted in 1983. At the time of this post the Sharks game with Vancouver was in the 3rd period with about 14 minutes to go, and Lemieux had 6:15 of ice time. 2 things I don’t get…

• What can Claude Lemieux possibly have left in the tank?
• What do the Sharks think he is going to add to their team?

Thanks for that, Paul
A friend of mine who lives in MN but is a Red Wings fan was kind enough to send me another Pavel Datsyuk highlight from a recent shootout. I’m not sure what' he’s trying to prove…the Wild once made a nice move in a shootout before too. Also, Datsyuk always uses the same move…try something different!

But thanks for thinking of me Paul…and for everyone else, here’s the goal…

Next
I’ll have some thoughts on the Skills Competition and the All-Star Game over the weekend.

Kings @ Wild - 3-15-08 - View from the Recliner
Tonite the Wild and more specifically a Wild goaltender did something I've been calling for for a long time...went out and shut a team out. Wild win 2-0 over the Kings tonite. Niklas Backstrom didn't have to be great...I actually can't remember any standout saves, but the important thing is he didn't let in any soft goals and kept the rebounds to an acceptable level. The Wild got an important win over a bad team. They had to work for it, but they put in the work and got the W, and 2 points to tie Colorado for the NW division lead.

Goals came from Brian Rolston and Marian Gaborik. Mikko Koivu was strong, and I thought new call up and much maligned Benoit Pouliot had an excellent game. He was quick, on the puck, and had a few very nice physical plays to knock players off the puck. Maybe getting his face pounded into the ice a couple weeks ago gave him new perspective.

The Wild continued to ride this scoring draught into at least mediocre success. They've got at least 1 point in their last 4 at a time they're not scoring and everyone in Minnesota thinks the world is coming to an end. If it turns around they will be in good position. We're about to hit that stretch of games against the NW that will tell the story. 10 games left, 9 of them against the NW division.

Fight to Hang the 1st Banner
Colorado lost to New Jersey 4-2 so the Wild are back into a tie with the Avs for 1st. Calgary was off, so they're now 2 points back. Oh and Vancouver won too, so they're 2 points back. Seriously...who knows who's going to win this thing?

Fight to Stay in the Playoffs
Nashville won today so the Wild are up 4 points on the final playoff spot.

Next on the Docket - Avalanche @ Wild - 3-17-08
This game is not important at all...just because the teams are tied for 1st with 10 games remaining doesn't mean much... Wild 3 Avs 1

Kings @ Wild - 3-2-08 - A View from the Couch
Wasn't impressive, but the Wild come away with 2 pts tonite with a 2-1 OT win. Captain Gabby with a goal and an assist in his 1st game ever as Wild captain, and the much maligned Martin Skoula with the game winner in OT. The team played a pretty strong game defensively. LA's only goal came on a nice individual effort from a bad angle. Niklas Backstrom continued to be strong in net. James Shepard had another strong game on the puck. All in all, 2 pts is 2 pts. And gross Marc Crawford goes home a loser.

Fight to Hang the 1st Banner
Calgary won last nite, so coming in to the game we were tied for 1st in the NW. With the win, the Wild are still atop all alone, albeit only by 2 points. Vancouver lost to Chicago, so they're now 5 pts back. And now Ryan Smyth is hurt for Colorado, so we'll see what that does to their playoff hopes.

Bulldogs v. Fighting Sioux
UMD swept this weekend by UND. This was expected, but at least the Dogs finally scored after not scoring in 11 periods of WCHA play. They finally got one today with about 6 minutes left in the 3rd, but the Sioux tied it and won it in OT. Coach Sandelin should hit the bricks.

Next on the Docket - Blackhawks @ Wild - Tues 3-4-08
Payback time for the bad game we played a couple weeks ago in Chicago. Another important game to pick up 2 pts however they may come. I still say we're due for a shutout. Wild 3 Hawks 0

BTW
I've added another widget to the blog's right sidebar - GoogleTalk. If I'm online, it'll say I'm available and you can click on it to chat. You don't need a GoogleTalk account, it'll just open in a new window for you. So if I'm available, pop in and say "whaddup!"