WILD HOCKEY!

[knoppers]

seems that our first line has not been all that good of late, yes they did get the goal last night, but that line seems very slugish to me. the wild have been doing good because of our 2-4 lines, they seem to have much more intensity, and lots of speed.

[scsavre]

Kiouvu needs to get his act together. Tonight will be a grind. Lots of physical play.

[Bran32]

I need more hockey!!! So I can quit argueing with people about football!! Tonight ought to work GO WILD, BEAVERS, and GOPHERS!!!!!

[OnAFly]

Koivu just scored a sick shorty.

[Bran32]

Koivu scored with a minute left to tie it up!!

[knoppers]

and koivu scores in the shootout. great game for him, it has been needed. welcome back mikko!

[OnAFly]

This is the Koivu we all wanted to see. He was a beast on the puck just skating around other players at will. Heatley did not have the best game. I counted at least 5 soft passes that went straight to the other team from him.

Halak came sooooo close to stealing that game. I didn't realize how strong the puck Oshie was. He fought biggers guys off in the corners a few times last night.

[solbes]

Wow, so happy to see them tie it up again at the end last night. I got a little nervous when Harding got toppled by the Blues again, but he was just fine this time.

Scandella coming back soon? I see Lats and Zids are not practicing yet.

[MUSKY18]

That top shelf backhand by Koivou in the shoot out was sick. Goalie didn't stand a chance, and even knew that was coming. Great game last night

[Bear55]

Nice to see Mikko playing like his hold self.

[solbes]

What's everyone think about the shootout? On one hand, we seem to be sneaking 2 points out of these games where we tie it up very late in the 3rd. And I like being able to definitively watch the finish of the game. Which can help with all of these west coast games.

On the other hand it's kind of like watching a skills competition at the All Star game. It's not exactly...hockey. It seems like we end too many games this way. And I'm starting to dislike it.

And I'm itching to watch hockey tonight, but will have to wait one more night.

[Musky Buck]

Solbes I agree some, not a big shootout fan whether it helps or hurts us, I would not say we are better than Pittsburgh and others, I am glad we're playing well, fun to watch again, what is surprising me is our defense, I thought that will be our issue all season but so far so good, playing together, with pride, with energy, awesome to see, and Mikko doesn't have to be the man every night, we have true 1st line players now with seto and the heater. Now he can dominate all those intangible areas of hockey and be a pain to go against.

[OnAFly]

The only thing that I don't like is that some games are worth 3 points. If they want to give out a point just for making it to OT, give 3 out for taking a win in regulation.

I do like watching the shootouts just because it is a skills comp. No it's not hockey, but at least we don't have ties anymore. Plus, watching Koivu score when the goalie knows exactly what he's going to do never gets old

[Bear55]

The only thing that I don't like is that some games are worth 3 points. If they want to give out a point just for making it to OT, give 3 out for taking a win in regulation.

100% agree, how dumb is it that some games are worth 2 points and some are worth 3. I think the NHL wants to keep it that way so the playoff races are tight at the end of the year but it kind of gets a little old when there are 8 teams fighting for two spots and maybe half of them actually deserve to be there. I have seen a points system when everyone was given 3 points for a win and it totally changed the standings, some teams clearly didn't deserve to be in the hunt and others easily made the playoffs, and that is how it should be because they actually won the games. I will try and dig one up at the end of the year, it's fun to look at the swings that happen when the points handed out actually makes sense.

[hoppe56307]

Plus, watching Koivu score when the goalie knows exactly what he's going to do never gets old

+1

[OnAFly]

Bear - I know exaclty what you mean. Every march I start looking at the standings and looking for those OT losses. Some teams have 6 or 7 OT losses. When the race for the 8th spot is separated by only a point or two, that's huge!

[OnAFly]

That was a stinker last night. Backs' head wasn't in the game to start off. Everything went down hill from there.

What was with our Dmen just falling over? It happened more than once last night. I'm guessing we'll see Lundin in next game, maybe Zannon too.

[solbes]

I do want to see Lundin suit up. Esp tonight against Tampa Bay. Time for another Yeo pep talk.

[OnAFly]

Lundin is in and doesn't look like he's missed a game. Koivu gets the empty netter to put it away. Good effort tonight from what I saw (2nd and 3rd only).

PMB just schooled one guy then couldn't put it away with about 2 minutes to go.

I like the announcers for VS though I wish they knew a little more about the Wild. At least I don't have to listen to anyone screaming for total homer calls all night.

[LundProAngler]

Great game by the Wild tonight!

Loved the Clutterbuck shortie and Butch's one timer!

Go WILD!

[hoppe56307]

Anybody miss Eric Nystrom? 8G and 2A, when he only scored 4 all of last year. Kinda playing with some fire since the Wild let him go.

[spearchucker]

Anybody miss Eric Nystrom? 8G and 2A, when he only scored 4 all of last year. Kinda playing with some fire since the Wild let him go.

Sometimes a wakeup call will do wonders. We'll see if he keeps it up.

[OnAFly]

I can't see him keeping this up. He isn't a goal scorer, he's a checker who scores a few goals. He will wind up with less than 15 in the year.

Apparently he wasn't to happy about the Wild letting him go. I remember something about it early in the year.

[Bear55]

He doesn't even score 8 for us if we kept him. Sometimes guys need a change of pace or a wake up call.

[Bear55]

Wild get down early 2-0 to the Oil but battle back and win in a shootout. Not much else to say other than these guys are just finding way to win, they might not be pretty wins but it sure beats a stick in the eye.