Flames @ Wild - 4-3-08 - Envious View from Recliner

Thanks to Wild.com for the beauty logo!

In a game I would have absolutely loved to attend, tonite the Wild finally beat Calgary, 3-1, and in doing so wrapped up the Northwest Division championship. The Wild will finally hang their first championship banner in the Xcel Energy Center rafters at the home opener next season, and with a little smile from the hockey gods, maybe it will be joined by a couple more.

This game was so hyped, by everyone from Kevin Faulness and the Wild Pondcast, to Mark Parrish on PA and Dubay on KFAN, to the every one of the Wild Blogs. Regardless of the possibility of letdown, we let down our guard and bought in to the hype. Regardless of the possibility of jinxing the team, we all predicted a win and a NW division title. And, this time, the Wild absolutely lived up to the hype.

The Wizzy played a very solid game tonite. After giving up an early powerplay goal and withstanding some shaky defense early, they tied it shortly after with a Pavol Demitra to Todd Fedoruk powerplay goal of their own to tie it up. After that, the Wild pretty much dominated. They put on some good pressure, specifically after Stephane Veilleux was leveled by Dion Phaneuf. Brent Burns was all over Phaneuf, and the Wild had an edge the rest of the game.

They didn't score in the 2nd, but most of the time the puck was in the Flames zone.

In the 3rd, it was on. Marian Gaborik chipped a puck by the Flames defenseman to go in from the left circle and fired a nasty wrister by Flames G Mikka Kipprusof for the 2-1 lead. Gabby scored again, but the refs horribly waved off the goal, saying that Kiprusoff had the puck covered and that he was "about to blow the whistle." Seriously, the puck was never covered by Kiprusoff and slid over the goal line. But, even after review, it was waved off. That could have been bad news, but Gabby rescored the goal with somewhere around 5 minutes left in the game, on the powerplay, and the Wild kept the Flames from anything remotely resembling a scoring chance the rest of the way.

Oh, and Jacques Lemaire won his 500th game tonite. What a sweet way to get that milestone victory.

Shoutout to the Crowd at the X
I mentioned earlier that the crowd was a key to this game, and I've been on the Xcel crowd most of the season for waiting for something to happen before they got into the game. Tonite, the crowd was excellent and it came across loud on the 45. Probably the loudest "Let's Play Hockey" for the opening faceoff I've ever heard, an early "Let's Go Wild" chant, lustily booing the waved off goal, and all the way through to the standing ovation with 2:30 left in the game, the crowd really stepped up tonite. Props to anyone that was there in person.

Fight to Hang the 1st Banner
Banner will be hung in October.

Fight to Bring the Cup to St Paul
Aaah, new theme. With only 1 game left in the regular season that doesn't have much meaning, the Wild can now focus on the playoffs. Winning the NW division locks them into the 3rd seed in the Western Conference. Depending on what happens in their last game of the year, our 1st round matchup could be Colorado, Calgary, or even Nashville, and I think an outside possibility of Dallas. I'm not really concerned with who it winds up being, because I believe that when this team is confident it can beat any team. So bring on game 1 at the X.

Next on the Docket - Wild @ Avalanche - Sun 4-5-08
As mentioned, this game doesn't mean too much. I do think it is important for a couple reasons tho. 1st, to avoid injuries. 2nd, to avoid a letdown and keep up the intensity to head into the playoffs. 3rd, because it could be a playoff preview. I think they'll probably rest a few guys, and I think there's no way they totally avoid a letdown. Avs 4 Wild 1

Canucks @ Wild - 3-28-08 - View from Section 216
I'm dead tired right now. Spent alot of energy at the Wild game tonite and the sore throat I woke up with this morning will most likely be a full-blown deal tomorrow. But it was well worth it.

Wild win 4-0 tonite over a Vancouver team that looks like they have nothing left. The Wild played an excellent game, dominating for all 3 periods. They scored 2 on the powerplay, another just as the powerplay expired, and there were fisticuffs in the 3rd. The Canucks continued to be the thugs that Minnesota fans love to hate.

Goals
1st period goals from Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Mikko Koivu, and 2nd period goals from Brent Burns and Todd Fedoruk. All very nice goals, Koivu's was very pretty. He snuck out from behind the goal line and slipped it through G Roberto Luongo's 5 hole. Fedoruk's goal was on a 2 on 1 with Marian Gaborik, where Gabby set Fridge up with a late pass.

Fights
It was relatively calm in the 1st and 2nd, but all heck broke loose in the 3rd. Derek Boogaard went with someone, can't remember who, but he took care of bidness. Then, after Canuck Alexe Burrows apparently speared PMB, so PMB gave him a two-handed slash to the back of his leg. That got the two teams together, and PMB and Burrows fought, along with Brent Burns absolutely pummeling Nathan McIver. I mean just laying into him. Everyone else paired off, and it took a good 10 minutes to settle everyone down and sort out the penalties. During the stoppage, the Xcel crowd turned in a quality"Let's go Wi-ld" chant. It was a nicely riled up crowd that enjoyed Friday nite at the X.

Jots

• Niklas Backstrom gets his 4th shutout of the season. The D was very good in front of him, blocking shots and clearing rebounds in a timely manner.
• Sean Hill was very solid again tonite. He made a couple great plays on D to stop scoring chances and also had an assist.
• The new tough-guy philosophy seems to be paying off so far. I said to my wife on the walk down the stairs that the Wild certainly haven't had a team like this before, that would welcome the physical play and had multiple players that don't back down from fights.
• Gabby looked very good tonite. the 2 on 1 with Fridge, a breakaway in the 2nd, drew a penalty in the 1st, another 2 on 1 in the 3rd, and a couple nice shots. He didn't score, but the chances were there.
• Was good to chase Luongo out of the nets, but can you blame the guy for not being focused? His wife just had their first child yesterday.
• At the end of the day, Vancouver is in 9th and out of the playoffs thanks to a tiebreaker held by Nashville. The production crew at the X didn't waste time putting that up on the scoreboard either.

 
Fight to Hang the 1st Banner
Wild now with 93 points, Calgary with 90, but Calgary now has 2 games in hand. They play Edmonton tomorrow nite in Calgary. Colorado came back to beat Edmonton in OT tonite, so they are now at 88 points, 5 back of the Wild.

The Wild are 1 point away from clinching a playoff birth.

Next on the Docket - Avalanche @ Wild - Sun 3-30-08
Can the Wild continue their solid play? They look to be on a nice roll, and I think this one is going to last into the playoffs. This game is scheduled for FSN in HD, so plan on a good lookin W. Wild 3 Avs 2

Wild @ Canucks - 3-21-08 - View from the Couch
What a great game! I absolutely loved the game the Wild played tonite. It was even better than the game they played against Colorado on Sunday. 2-1 win over the Canucks, in regulation even, so Vancouver gets nothing! You lose!

From the start this game was intense, physical, and there was a ton of chances. Brian Rolston got a PP goal in the 2nd on a shot that deflected off our old friend Willie Mitchell and Branko Radivojevic connected in the 3rd of a great pass from Pavol Demitra about a millisecond after I yelled "Demo, why don't you ever shoot!"

What was great about this game was the Wild didn't stop pushing all game. They kept up the forecheck even after getting the lead. They also had a great offensive game. It wasn't the old "let's cycle the puck behind the net for 2 minutes and not get a shot on goal" game we saw over the past few weeks. It seems this team has finally figured out that they need to play tough and that the playoffs are not just a given.

Jots

• Niklas Backstrom played I think his best game all season. That save he had in the 3rd where he stuck out the right pad was the best save I've ever seen him make. It made me stand up and say "Really? He actually made a game-saving save!" Even tho it was still 2-0 at that point.
• Benoit Pouliot. He played an awesome game tonite. Hope he gets rewarded with a goal soon, because he has been working very hard since he was called up. Bout time we get to see why the Wild drafted him with a 1st round pick.
• How fun was it to see Brent Burns and Willie Mitchell jawing at each other in the 1st?
• How come the guys who do the graphics for KSTC don't know how to spell Rolston? Every time the scrollie on the top of the screen says "Ralston."
• The strategy to play Sean Hill, Derek Boogaard, and Todd Fedoruk at the same time seemed to pay off. The physicality seemed to help the intensity for this game. Good on ya Jacques.
• I think I better throw at least a little negativity in this post...Keith Carney's penalty in the 3rd was a terrible penalty to take. Wild had all the momentum, but you could see that they were running around a bit in the defensive zone. Carney was slow so he pushed a guy down, and the Canucks scored, what, 10 seconds into the PP? But contrary to most of the season prior, the team stepped up the intensity from there on out.
• Can't wait for the rematch at the X next Friday. Last game I have tickets for this season!

Fight to Hang the 1st Banner
Wild pick up 2 pts, Canucks get none. None of the other NW teams played tonite, so the Wild are 3 pts up on Calgary and Vancouver and Colorado is 5 pts back. Calgary still has a game in hand, so tomorrow nite's game in Calgary is the next most important game of the season.

The Wild are also now 9 points up on 9th-place Nashville. With 7 games left, the most points Nashville can earn is 14. I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin.

Next on the Docket - Wild @ Flames - Sat 3-22-08
Oh boy, where to go on this one. I think I need to reign in all this positivity. Wild don't ever win in Calgary, they spent alot of energy and emotion on this one, and it's going too well right now for them to actually win this one. Flames 4 Wild 1