Wild at Heart
The curse has lifted, maybe. captain_squid and I went to see the Wild host Calgary on Friday and actually saw some very entertaining hockey. Usually, we seem doomed to watch our team come out flat-footed and bumble-sticked. Sure there was a little rust as both teams were coming back from the all-star hiatus, but they still looked pretty fresh out there.
The pattern seemed to go that the Wild would get a penalty early on in the period and then get a power play of their own towards the end. We drew first blood but quickly gave up the advantage. Boogaard took a late hit somewhere in the middle period and threw down with the guy on the next face off. They went at it too, so much so that they got the full five for fighting.
At the end of regulation they were tied at two and Squid made a comment that we shouldn't worry and that we'd score 24 seconds into the overtime period. Wouldn't you know that around the 24 second mark, Gaborik finds the puck and rushes the net and just barely misses his shot on goal. The rest of the overtime was exciting but just as productive.
And so it had to go to the shoot out. Normally I would feel pretty good about it. The Wild are usually pretty strong in the shootout. However, the only time that I've seen them lose a shootout was the last game and Squid and I went to. Backstrom was a wall though and we finished out on top, 3-2.
Of course, they went on to lose the next night in Columbus, but at least we got to watch them win a game at home for a change.
The pattern seemed to go that the Wild would get a penalty early on in the period and then get a power play of their own towards the end. We drew first blood but quickly gave up the advantage. Boogaard took a late hit somewhere in the middle period and threw down with the guy on the next face off. They went at it too, so much so that they got the full five for fighting.
At the end of regulation they were tied at two and Squid made a comment that we shouldn't worry and that we'd score 24 seconds into the overtime period. Wouldn't you know that around the 24 second mark, Gaborik finds the puck and rushes the net and just barely misses his shot on goal. The rest of the overtime was exciting but just as productive.
And so it had to go to the shoot out. Normally I would feel pretty good about it. The Wild are usually pretty strong in the shootout. However, the only time that I've seen them lose a shootout was the last game and Squid and I went to. Backstrom was a wall though and we finished out on top, 3-2.
Of course, they went on to lose the next night in Columbus, but at least we got to watch them win a game at home for a change.