Wild goal: Eight out of five?

Are fans asking for too much from the Minnesota Wild? Or are expectations changing as team changes?

Eight points in five games. Is that too much to ask?

The end is near. Or so the guy with the hand-made sign on the street says. So, I ask you, dear blog reader: is eight points for the Wild in the next five games (basically, a 4-1 record) too much to ask from the boys in Iron Range Red (or Forest Green, vs. Chicago)?

With 11 games (including Sunday's 5 PM tilt in Columbus) remaining in the shortened, compressed NHL season, the fact that the Wild are in position to even make the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a testament to the determination of this team to make it work, despite the NHL's worst travel schedule and nine back-to-backs. The Wild head into Columbus and the first home game for ex-Wild cherry picker Marian Gaborik in his new home with the suddenly successful Blue Jackets, who have not lost in Nationwide Arena in nearly two months (Feb. 10, in fact, vs. Edmonton). The Jackets start their last meaningful home stand today; when they meet again this coming Saturday in St. Paul, the Jackets will have embarked on a six-game, 13-day forced march thru Minnesota, Colorado and the Pacific Division, meeting every team except Phoenix away from Ohio. So every point they get at home will be as critical for them as the points are for the visiting Wild.

As of today, the Wild have 7 games with 4 of the bottom 6 teams in the NHL's Western Conference, including home and away games with lowly Calgary, somewhat-fading Edmonton and the Blue Jackets, and one game (the final regular-season game) at Colorado. Fortunately, the Anaheim Ducks, the Wild's chief pain in the collective side, are not on the schedule the rest of the regular season. Single games remain at home vs. Chicago, St. Louis, and LA; the Wild are still scheduled for one more visit, to the house of horrors known as the HP Pavilion-San Jose, to face the Sharks.

Are fans expectations changing as the team changes and gets better?

I, for one, do expect more as the team gets better. Yes, I know, I should learn to 'manage expectations' better, but as this team adds talent to the roster, the expectations should, conceivably, rise to the occasion of the talent level. I grow tired of the 'maybe we'll make the playoffs, and maybe we won't' expectation, season after season. The fact is that this team is in a good state right now; the team's upper management, and ownership, has proven to the players (and fans) that they will do what they can in order to win.

Now it's up to the players -- the guys who are actually 'in the room' -- to get the job done. Show the fans that you are as committed to winning as those you answer to are. Yes, the fans have every right to still be a little bit skeptical as to whether or not you will even MAKE the playoffs, much less go far in them. But that's what fans are. After four seasons of not making the playoffs at all, a little skepticism goes a long, long way. And after the spectacular crash-and-burn which occured about this point last season, just holding on for dear life isn't going to help you at all, Minnesota Wild.

So, to go back to my original point; is eight points in the next five games too much to ask? Let's take a look ahead:

Game 1 -- today, 5 PM CDT, at Columbus -- Wild either win close or lose in OT/SO. Too close to call. But, since the point is to manage expectations; we'll manage them to a Wild win, as Nate Prosser is relieving Tom Gilbert on the blue line today. When Nate plays, the Wild win. Simple as that. Two points for the visiting Wild.

Game 2 -- Tuesday, 7 PM CDT, vs. Chicago -- nationally-televised game in which the Wild should do well in. (Hopefully better than last month's disaster in the United Center, where the Wild basically laid an egg, losing 5-3.) Chicago already assured home-ice in 1st round with that 24-game unbeaten-in-regulation streak. Wild win. (2 Points.)

Game 3 -- Thursday, 7 PM CDT, vs. St. Louis -- Blues will be on 3rd game of 4-game roadie (at Detroit, Nashville, Minnesota, Columbus). This is the game that scares me. Which Blues team will show up Thursday night? The one that lost 4 of 5 prior to the last game last week at the X? Or the one from earlier on this season, which won 6 of their first 7? With Jay Bouwmeester and Jordan Leopold both now on the Blues' blue line, this could be a trap game. This is the one I think Wild lose. (Hope I'm wrong, but...)

Game 4 -- Saturday, 7 PM CDT vs. Columbus -- Marian Gaborik's revenge night. Unlike when AJ Pierzinski and Kevin Garnett left Minnesota, folks, Gaborik brought nothing back when he signed as an UFA with the Rangers in 2009. It's OK to boo lustily whenever he touches the puck (which, we hope, won't be often.) Wild win this one. (2 Points).

Game 5 -- Monday, April 15, 8:00 PM CDT, at Calgary -- the Flames have basically thrown in the towel. GM Jay Feaster sold off Jarome Iginla, Bouwmeester, and almost sold off Curtis Glencross, have been told Mikka Kiprusoff is not returning after this season, and the rebuilding has, indeed, started in Calgary. Wild should win this game, too. (2 points).

That's my thoughts. Let's play the games and see how it all shakes out. Remember to manage your expectations, also. Doug Risebrough would expect nothing less.

Talk about Chuck: Kobasew's two goals douse Flames 4-3

Wild win, put smooth effort in otherwise disjointed contest

By Wild Road Tripper

This is the Chuck Kobasew that Minnesota Wild fans had hoped would be coming to Minnesota this fall, when he came to the team from the Boston Bruins.

Kobasew's two goals led the Wild to a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames, another team vying for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NHL Western Conference, in front of 18,411 Sunday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild win, coupled with St. Louis' loss to Nashville, means the Wild will end the day no worse than seven points behind eighth-place Detroit as the new week begins.

The game was very disjointed, especially in the second half of the game, after Mikka Kiprusoff relieved starting Flames goalie Vesa Toskala, who won two weeks ago when Jarome Iginla went wild on the Wild, scoring three goals in that game. But, that was then, and this is now.

Oh, what a difference a fortnight can make.

Shortly after Kiprusoff relieved Toskala, Daymond Langkow took an Ian White shot off his neck, and the game had to be stopped while Langkow was stabilized, and then taken off on a stretcher (later reports indicated that Langkow was responding and had no problems with movement). Later in the early stages of the third, another long delay developed after Guillaume Latendresse tried to check Calgary's Jamal Mayers thru the penalty box door, a play which while perfectly legal, caused nearly a 15-minute delay while part of the penalty box door glass frame was removed. Additional damage was caused to the door itself, as the door was dislodged from the rest of the sidewall at the hinges; this will need to be repaired between now and the next game.

Andrew Brunette and Latendresse also scored for the Wild, who are now 4-2 at home since the Olympic break ended. The month doesn't get any easier for the Wild, however, as there are playoff teams as opponents in three of their next four games, beginning with the Next Game: vs. San Jose, Tuesday, March 23, 7:00 PM Central (5:00 PM Pacific Time), Xcel Energy Center. (TV: Versus, TSN2 (both in HD); XM Radio, Ch. 237)

Iggy Pop: Iginla's hat trick singes Wild, Flames win 5-2

Second straight Sunday afternoon heartbreaker for Minnesota hockey fans dooms Wild


By Wild Road Tripper

You just knew it was going to be Jarome Iginla's day Sunday afternoon in St. Paul, after the Wild's 'Propaganda Minister', Kevin Falness, started talking about how Iginla hadn't scored a point vs. the Minnesota Wild this season, and had not found twine vs. the Wild in nearly two years.

All that came to a crashing halt, as the Calgary Flames officially put the Wild's playoff chances on life-support, after a 5-2 drubbing before 18,217 at Xcel Energy Center, on the day when the Wild celebrated the 400th consecutive full house (albeit with NO presents) in team history.

Iginla not only ended his drought, he started a flood. His three goal, one assist afternoon put the Flames only one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the 8th and final playoff spot in the NHL Western Conference. The Wild loss, combined with Detroit's win in Chicago, now means the Wild are 7 points back of Detroit with 18 games remaining in the season. The Wild now actually have a two game losing streak going into a stretch of 4 games, a pattern which will repeat itself virtually the rest of the month of March.

If there was any doubt as to how the game was going to go, all that was decided just 19 seconds into the game when Rene Borque's tip-in of a Steve Staios shot went past a screened Niklas Backstrom for a 1-0 Calgary lead, the fastest goal after the game's start ever scored against the Wild. The Flames were never even brought close after that. Iginla's afternoon was his third all-time hat trick against the Wild, his eighth career game-winner against the Wild, and his 28th, 29th and 30th all-time goals against the Wild. He now leads all NHL players in game-winners against Minnesota (surpassing Colorado's Joe Sakic) and now has 53 all-time points against the Wild. Iginla also assisted on Sidney Crosby's Olympic gold medal-winning goal last Sunday afternoon in Vancouver, when Canada defeated the USA in overtime, as well.

Lost (or, almost so) in all the Iggy-love, is the fact the Guillaume Latendresse scored twice in the second period, to bring the game to within 3-2, as close as the Wild would get all afternoon. Latendresse now has 20 goals with the Wild since coming from Montreal Nov. 23rd, 13 of which are in the friendly confines of the 'X'. He surpasses Andrew Brunette as the leading goal scorer on the Wild (Brunette has 18, all with the Wild this season). In addition, Cal Clutterbuck was injured early in the first period (initial reports are a charleyhorse) and he did not return.

Next Game: vs. Florida, Tuesday, Mar. 9, 7:00 PM, Xcel Energy Center. (Wild TV: KSTC-45; Panthers' TV: FSNFlorida (in HD); XM Radio, Ch. 207)