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Wild Defend Home Ice. Time to Make This a Series on Tuesday Night.

May 6, 2013, 2:47 PM ET [44 Comments]
Brad Ratgen
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Yesterday’s playoff win at home against the Blackhawks got me thinking: at what point do Minnesota Wild fans consider this a “sucessful” season?

First and foremose, I believe coming into the season, the goal was to simply make the playoffs. Mission accomplished, albeit by the slimmest of margins, but mission accomplished nonetheless.

Then, as the Wild had a simply astounding March, I believe the expectation level rose. Certainly, the Wild’s trade deadline deal to acquire Jason Pominville was at least, in part, a move for the present (as well as the future). I believe the Wild felt that Pominville’s addition to the line up would propel the Wild in their chase of the Northwest Division crown and/or a higher playoff seed than 8th in the West.

Then, as with playoff appearances in the past, the injury bug started to hit the Wild. Pominville out; Backstrom out; Rupp dinged up; Konopka in and out. Yet, with a severely depleted line up, the Wild managed to beat Chicago yesterday in Game 3, the first home playoff game for the Wild since April 17, 2008 and it’s first win in the playoffs since April 11, 2008.

Yeah, yeah. Anyone can win the Stanley Cup once their in the playoffs like L.A. did last season. But, the reality of that situation is that the Kings went on an 11-4-3 run after February and had some serious momentum going into the post-season before dismantling the Canucks 4 games to 1, the Blues 4 games to 0, the Coyotes 4 games to 1 and the Devils 4 games to 2.

That said, it’s not exactly a fair comparison just because both teams qualified for the playoffs on the last day of their respective seasons. The Wild limped into the post-season, literally and figuratively, while the Kings flew into their post-season last year.

The Wild did what they had to do yesterday, defend home ice. And, for the 2nd time this season, the Wild hand the Blackhawks their first loss, albeit in overtime again; just like the regular season when the Wild were the first NHL team to beat the Hawks in any respect. Now the hard part begins for the Wild, replicating that effort and result.

Yesterday, the Wild out-shot the Blackhawks, out-hit them and, eventually, outscored them. I was not at the game, but my wife video taped the opening and it was quite simply magical to see all of the fans cheering on the Wild in the playoffs just before the anthem.

In the first period, Matt Cullen was flying. He was all over the place like some kid in the playoffs for the very first time. I thought Kane’s pass on the Hawks first goal was better than the goal itself. Also, it was nice to see Bouchard get on the board after all of the injury problems he has had over the years.

In the second period, it was very clear that Yeo’s tinkering to get these lines just right was working.

In the third period, Zach Parise finally got on the boards in this year’s playoff picture. A few people had been bagging him on Twitter for not producing. As for me, I’m not so worried because he’s always working hard and is matched against the other team’s top defensive line, especially in the playoffs. Parise’s backhand goal was a thing of beauty. And while the Wild could not hang on to the lead, I was very impressed to see the Hawks put on that extra gear that all Stanley Cup Champions seem to possess. Again, on the tying goal, Kane’s pass was probably prettier than the actual goal which speaks volumes about his vision, hands, etc. What a great player for the Hawks. It’s high time the Wild start playing him physically or he will kill you even without shooting the puck on net.

Then, in overtime, the left wing trifecta was completed when Zucker caught what I thought looked to be a surprised Hawks squad; surprised that the refs didn’t call that trip of Cullen behind the net.

With that, the Wild posted their first win of this post-season; Josh Harding not only got his first playoff win, but has now played more time in the post-season than he saw during the regular season. This was the 10th OT game for the Wild in franchise history and they improved to 5 OT wins and 5 OT losses in the playoffs. The Wild outshot Chicago, 37-27 and outhit them 34-13.

Besides the guys that scored, I thought Brodziak, Clutterbuck and Coyle played very well as did Koivu who tied Darby Hendrickson’s playoff record by going 15 for 20 in faceoffs. Also, it was good to not only see Veilleux playing, but playing well, recording 3 hits and 1 shot in 7:57 of ice time.

The Wild are now in the exact position they were back in the 2007 playoffs where they lost the first 2 games on the road and then won the first game back home against the Ducks. However, after that, the Ducks went on to win the next 2, one in Minnesota and one in Anaheim, to defeat the Wild, 4 games to 1.

The Wild must, must, must, must, must win at home tomorrow. They have to at least defend home ice. If they do that, they will push this series to at least 6 games. While doing that, they must figure out some way to win 1 game in Chicago. 1 game. That’s it. However, given the make up of this season’s Blackhawks squad, that is no small order.

Notwithstanding all of the above, given everything the Wild have been through to just get in the playoffs and now winning a game against Chicago, given the state of their lineup, I hereby declare this season to be a success. Hopefully yesterday’s win gets the Hawks off their game on the ice and starting to mess with their heads. Put Kane on his rear end and neutralize Toews and Hossa and the Wild just might have a shot. But, from here on out, it’s gravy for me as this season’s version of the Wild go. Well done Wild, well done. Now go out there and give the Hawks hell!
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