WILD HOCKEY!

[Bear55]

I though it might be time to assess the season, 30 games to go and we are sitting in 8th place. We have had one epic winning streak and one epic losing streak. On top of that we have had a plague of injuries that border on rediculous. The last month and a half hasn't been easy but overall its hard not to feel somewhat good about where we are after all we have been through.

We play a pretty terrible columbus team tonight, time to right the ship and take two points and lay claim to a playoff spot, I don't really care where just get us in!

[OnAFly]

Here's my take:

On October 3rd, if someone told you we were sitting in a playoff spot with 30 to go, we would be pretty happy about it. I think the win streak got a lot of hopes up and set a standard we couldn't possibly have held up. Be it injuries, bad luck, or bad play that led to the losing streak, we were just due.

What's good to see is that the players were winning games when they played Yeo's system. They were losing games when they strayed from Yeo's system. Now they've played they way Yeo wants and have done real well the last 5 games (minus 10 minutes). Hopefully the message is clear, play the way you're supposed to and good things will come.

I don't expect us to win the Cup this year, but I do expect us to play some good hockey. Hopefully it's in late April.

[Bear55]

We play a pretty terrible columbus team tonight, time to right the ship and take two points and lay claim to a playoff spot, I don't really care where just get us in!

I had to open my big mouth.

[OnAFly]

We always play poorly in Columbus for some reason. I think they were looking past this game and forward to going home. Too bad cause this was two points we desperately need.

[schmitty3]

Just when you think they're starting to come together back into form they give you that.

[OnAFly]

I think it's a real problem when it comes to their casual fan base. People don't mind losing as much when they put out a good effort. When they take the night off, people will stop watching.

If I were Craig Leopold, I would not be happy with this at all.

[10,000 Casts]

They don't have any leaders and they are still a team pleagued by injuries and call ups. Just like last season, if they would stay even remotely healthy, they will make the playoffs. Heatley is hot and cold, Setoguchi has been very quite and I think he needs all stars on his line to make him better. And to top it off our goalies are letting in some soft goals. Hopefully Koivu and lots of home games will get them going, they had a brutal road schedule the past month. If they can go 500 or better for the next couple weeks and then peak and make a playoff run, what more can we ask for?

[Musky Buck]

Heatley and the gooch, not sure if they played with the best big man passer in the league in Thornton, speaking of thornton I bet he's glad Eric Lindros retired, Lindros still has some face meat on his fist from just throttleing yee olde Boston Bruin Captain. Joe Thornton that is. Speaking of thornton's that Shawn Thornton pounded a non-fighter the other night, nice big fella nice. Anyway, let's go Wild, get in there boys, let Todd Richards snicker on the bench last night pitiful.

[scsavre]

So did anyone listen to the mike yeo press conference after the game. That was one ticked off coach. Said his team has stunk for 2 months. They have no effort and feels his practices can't fix the problem. He mockedthem for trying to outskill teams when we don't have the skill to do it. Sounds like yeo knows what the problem is, but doesn't know how to get his team to do it. I wonder if we have a divided lockeroom. He did say he is very happy ith kiovu, heater, and seto. He did not mention anyone else looking good.

I wouldn't be surprised if he is asking for trades. He needs a shake up and wants gritty guys.

[OnAFly]

No kidding. Honestly, it wouldn't shock me too much to see a core guy get traded if we can get something good in return, just to send a message through the locker room.

At least Yeo's a coach who will call out his players for a carppy performance unlike TR, who just made excuses. Hopefully he can get things moving in the right direction again.

[Bear55]

The more I hear Yeo talk the more I like him, he pretty much nailed it, no way we are going to out-skill Vancouver.

[Musky Buck]

Yeo is having a few Minnesota Coaching nightmares. We're a bit of a mess right now, watch we were #1 for awhile, won't make the playoffs and out of the blue with an unknown Ricky Rubio the wolves will get in. Haven't seen the wild lately, but I've seen them failing some in the physical department.

[OnAFly]

They waived Stuabits. It was about time. He didn;t contribute much offensively or physically and wasn't great defensively

[Musky Buck]

We need those Cam Neely, I mention this because I'm wearing his jersey right now, adam graves, owen nolan, Jarome Iginla types, or the defenseman types like Ken Daneyko or Scott Stevens etc. I know they are few and far between but guys that can play and handle themselves physically so you don't have 4th liners that if you make the playoffs will be scratched anyway. Can't really waste a spot on the bench for too many heavyweights or light heavy's like Staubitz that tend to get a bad minus rating. Not a pretty sight when Vancouver beats us in our building and Byron Bitz is making a highlight reel pass setting up a goal and Clutter finally forgetting about the 2 beatings Steve Ott laid on him a few years back and having a dude named maxim work ya over, clutter got plenty of body shots in, but couldn't reach the coconut with his short arms, he should watch Tie Domi film.

[Bear55]

They waived Stuabits. It was about time. He didn;t contribute much offensively or physically and wasn't great defensively

I remember reading about Stuabits when we picked him up, dumb penalties was his thing and I'd say he lived up to them. We really didn't need him, no offense in his game and big K does a better job when the gloves come off.

[Musky Buck]

There you are Bear55, 10-4 on that.

[OnAFly]

100% agree Bear55, Kassian is a beast. The only problem is getting people to stop running away from him He's much better on the penalty side, too.

[Bran32]

kassian is a pretty decent skater and not bad with his stick either!! much better all around player than Staubitz in my opinion!! Brad just semmed to have a screw loose or something!!

[10,000 Casts]

They should have moved Staubitz a long time ago, Kassian was ready for the big club last year, Staubitz was supposed to be the guy who runs around laying huge hits and when someone takes a shot at one of our players, he was supposed to run over and force them to drop the gloves, this year he didn't do that and the only time he would fight is when we were down by a goal or 2 to try and get the team going.

Now we have a real enforcer! Boll tonight, Parros Tues, Thorburn Thurs and the Reeves on Sat, ALL GUYS THAT RUN OUR PLAYERS AND THEN WOULD HAVE PICKED APART STAUBITZ..

[knoppers]

wild loose 2 games this week against the worst team in hockey, are you kidding me! season may be over.

[OnAFly]

I didn't get to see it, but caught Yeo's interview. Sounds like they played ok, but Mason was hot. Oh well. I was on the fence about if they would make it to the playoffs this year anyway. It's getting to that time of year where the teams that are out of it start getting dangerous for some reason. Good to see Seto got two in two.

Looking forward to next year when Granlund is up...man, it seems like I've said that before Hopefully the guys that come up next year make a difference. Really, it might take a year or two before they can get up to NHL speed. Larsson, Brodin, Granlund, Zucker and Coyle maybe the next year. Should be fun.

I was listening to a show this morning saying they get 17M in cap space after next year. That's sounding like a top end FA is a real possibility.

[schmitty3]

They actually played pretty good tonight. The effort and chances were there. Mason has had a terrible yr, and for some reason played out of his mind tonight. All 3 of Columbus' goals were scored with under 2 min left in the period. Those are killer.

[knoppers]

They actually played pretty good tonight. The effort and chances were there. Mason has had a terrible yr, and for some reason played out of his mind tonight. All 3 of Columbus' goals were scored with under 2 min left in the period. Those are killer.

all three were under 1 minute.

last was a open net goal, with a lucky bounce. goal number 2 was a power play goal.

wild had only 1 power play, to 4 for columbus.

[schmitty3]

They were all under a minute, I wasn't sure of the second period one. That sucks. As of the penalties you can thank Powe for those.

[Jarrod32]

I thought the effort was a bit better last night as well. Just couldn't get any past Mason...the Wild had good chances, though. We'll see if we get the same effort against the Ducks and Jets...need to start getting some points in the standings here.