Going into last night’s game, I figured the Jets would have the upper hand over the Wild by virtue of the fact that their top line and most of their veterans had reportedly played together the night before. Chemistry. On the flip side, the Wild’s top line had not yet seen any game time together. Going into the game, I told my boys who sat in my seats while I viewed the game from the press box that I thought the Wild would probably lose 4-2.

Before the game even started, I couldn’t help but notice the strong contingent of Jets fans, all geared up, each carrying 2 beers. Then there was the deafening “Go Jets Go” chant and then the “True North” yelp during the Canadian National Anthem. Boy the Jets fans travel well, even in the pre-season.

The Wild did their best to quell the cheers of the Jets fans by going up 2-0 in the first period on goals from Carson McMillan and Charlie Coyle, both of which were flukey goals in my opinion. McMillan’s goal was a blind shot through heavy traffic that had seeing eyes. Coyle’s goal came off of a Keith Ballard pass from the blue line in the offensive zone going from left to right that then was re-directed by a Jet skate back to the left and a wide open Charile Coyle, not to mention a gaping net as Pavelec had already moved to his left to cover the Wild shot from the right. Getting up 2 goals seemed to quiet down the previously rowdy Jets fans.

Of the things I noticed during the first period: Pavelec was playing very well for the Jets despite the 2 goal deficit; the Wild’s first line of Parise-Koviu-Pominville had early signs that they were beginning to gel; the Wild were having issues at times breaking out of their own zone and turning the puck over in their defensive zone and their side of the neutral zone; when they did break out, they had what I would call a modified dump and chase as they would carry the puck into the offensive zone at which point the forwards would dive down into the corners and the puck would shift back to the defense who would then dump the pucks to the streaking wingers going hard to the corners; and Backstrom was playing a much stronger game than the game before and even stonewalled a last second attempt by the Jets to score during a breakaway (who knew that this save would foreshadow the coming shootout).

If the first period belonged to the Wild, then the second period belonged to the Jets who scored 3 unanswered goals. O’Dell scored first for the Jets on a great tape-to-tape pass from Ladd on the powerplay. The Jets’ second goal came after Konopka and three Jets were messing with oneanother behind the play. The writer I sat next to in the press box thought that the Jets had interfered with Backstrom and caused him to fall backwards prior to the second goal against the Wild. The third goal was an absolute bomb from the point, again on the powerplay. 2 powerplay goals for the Jets would suggest that the Wild penalty kill is a work in progress that still needs attention.

The one thing that I noticed during the second period was that one a Wild powerplay shift, Granlund got tossed from the faceoff and Coyle came in and won the faceoff. Having those two guys on the same line may serve the Wild and their puck possession offense very well during the regular season. At another point, the Wild and Jets were playing 4-on-4 and Yeo put Granlund and Koivu as the two Wild forwards which almost resulted in a Wild goal. Yeo would later put together very interesting 4 man lines during overtime.

In the third period, Marco Scandella seemed to turn his game around on defense for the Wild and actually created some offense on a great give and go from a defensive zone breakout that almost resulted in a Wild goal. Then the Wild’s top line showed more evidence of chemistry on perhaps the prettiest goal I have ever witnessed from this team since their inception (no offense to Andrew Brunette’s series ending goal over Colorado). Zach Parise entered the offensive zone with the puck on the left wing and passed the puck across the ice to a streaking Ryan Suter who unleashed a shot that tied the game at 3 goals apiece.

In overtime, Yeo had the following 4-man combinations in play:

Heatley-Koivu-Spurgeon-Scandella
Parise-Granlund-Brodin-Suter
Pominville-Coyle-Spurgeon-Ballard
Niedereitter-Koivu-Spurgeon-Ballard
Parise-Heatley-Brodin-Suter
Pominville-Heatley-Scandella-Ballard

In the shootout, Backstrom stopped all three Jets shooters while Pavelec stopped Parise and Koivu before Pominville came in going wide to both the right and left slowly before sniping the game winning goal.

The three stars of the game were announced as (3) Fontaine; (2) Ballard; and (1) Coyle. My only disagreement is that I thought Pavelec deserved the 3rd star at least the way he played. Even Backstrom was deserving as well.

All said, I think Russo put it best in this morning’s paper. The young guys are definitely not making the decision making process easy for the Wild brass. Yet, ultimately, Russo is right that if the Wild are unable to move some veteran contracts prior to the beginning of the season (my take, not his), then the vets will likely get the first shot with the Wild given the fact that so many of the young guys pushing for roster spots are still on entry level contracts which thus does not make them subject to waivers during call ups (his take, not mine). The lone exception is Justin Fontaine whom the Wild brass seem to be pushing to make the big club, most likely as an extra forward (credit to Russo for this tidbit as well).

All in all, it was fun seeing a somewhat spirited contest, with flashes of brilliance. Yet, the sad fact remains that both clubs are still a work in progress as they march through the pre-season, ushering out summer and welcoming fall prior to starting the NHL season in October. Next up, the Wild in Columbus tomorrow night before returning home on Wednesday for their last home pre-season tilt against the Blues with roster cuts coming in between tomorrow and Wednesday. I don’t think we will see any big surprises, but I do think the Wild cuts their roster down to just the few remaining guys vying for roster spots instead of carrying a bunch of prospects still.

On a last note, credit to the Jets fans for not getting out of hand even when their team took the lead in the 2nd period. We Minnesotan's do our best to get along with visiting fans and you and your gang are always welcome to cheer on your club in St. Paul.

Thoughts?

Join the Discussion: » 9 Comments » Post New Comment

» Post-Season and Player/Position Thoughts (Koivu Must Go?)

» We've Been Here Before Haven't We?

» Everything Going According to Script. Only Question, Which Script?

» Wild Proves They Can Play With The Best. Now It's Time to Beat the Best.

» Enough About the Refs. We Ain't Dead Yet. Remember 2003!