With Game 1 of the FULL 2013-2014 season under their belts, the Minnesota Wild move on to face off against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 2. Before looking ahead tonight, let’s take a "Quick" look back at Game 1.

The pre-game video was quite good with the theme focusing on the Wild being in a new division, but heating up old rivalries from the days of the North Stars (mock falling snow included). It really took me back to my youth and memories of my time growing up in Minnesota as a North Stars fan. It also was nice to see clips from the first 10 years of the Wild franchise too. It got me very sentimental, as the home opener usually does, and reminded me that above all else, I am a fan first and that is ulimately my perspective as a blogger for hockeybuzz.com and is something that the current media coverage of the Minnesota Wild is sorely missing. As the players were introduced, it seemed to me that the cheers got progressively louder for first Backstrom and Harding and then for Suter, Parise and Koivu. I was surprised that there were no boo’s when the Kings finally took the ice. Then there were the microphone issues for Gordie Roberts who was suppose to lead the crowd in the “Let’s Play Hockey” cheer and then it was really time to drop the puck.

The Wild got on the board first via their 3rd line which, I thought, played well all night long. Matt Cooke’s deflected Brodziak’s pass, up and over L.A. goaltender Jonathan Quick on what I believe was the very first Wild shot on goal, if you can call it that. L.A. would tie it up on the power play, but Minnesota would respond with a power play goal of their own from Jonas Brodin’s shot, again, upstairs on Quick.

During the first period, Keith Ballard absolutely nailed Dustin Brown and, in return, L.A. started bringing their physical game as well, ultimately resulting in a fight that Konopka wanted, but that Ballard took for himself against Fraser after getting hit from behind by Fraser. The Wild was very impressive in the first period and, for their effort, skated off with the lead.

It seemed from the Wild’s two goals that the book on Quick was to shoot high as both goals were upstairs on him. However, for the remainder of the game, most of the Wild’s shots were low on Quick and not many NHL goalies cover the bottom half of the net better than the starting goalie for the 2014 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team.

The second period seemed more like a chess match for both teams with no scoring for either side. However, Konopka showed why his presence is needed on the Wild getting into a couple of scraps with Kings players.

During the third period, L.A. tied the game by getting a line change and pinning the Wild in their own zone, thereby not allowing a line change, ultimately resulting in Jeff Carter’s tying goal against a tired second line for Minnesota.

Overtime decided nothing, moving the game to a shootout where Minnesota was completely embarassed and lost the shootout 2-0.

Take aways from the game: Backstrom was on his game early; special teams still need a lot of work (SHOOT!!!! Wild’s powerplay sometimes seemed it is coached by P-M Bouchard who was great at dancing around the perimeter with the puck, but never getting the puck in the middle and on net); Konopka proved to me his value in standing up for guys; conditioning may still be an issue for this team, especially when getting caught on the ice for longer than expected; and Minnesota’s top forward line needs to start showing that they are worth the money they are being paid, whether it be on the power play or during full strength (they need to produce).

All in all, it was a good effort by the home team. Then again, don’t give too much credit to Quick or the Kings. Quick was awful in the first period in my opinion and the Kings were ripe for the taking here early in the season.

My take from the game is that this was an opportunity squandered. For the Minnesota Wild to be successful, they need to lock down when they take a lead into the 3rd period, but not by playing prevent defense. They need to bring even more energy to their offensive game, but in a more responsible fashion ala Jacques Lemaire’s style of getting the center back as the third defenseman and lay back until they have the chance to counter-attack, but they need to make it count. Another area will certainly be learning how to win when trailing. Perhaps tonight they will be in that position against the Ducks.

As the Anaheim Ducks are concerned, last year, the Ducks opted to lock in what has always been their best 1-2 punch by extending the contracts of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. That, unfortunately, meant that Bobby Ryan was the odd man out and ended up trading him to Ottawa for Jakob Silfverberg.

The Ducks are coming off a 2013 NHL campaign that saw them win the Pacific with the 8th best offense in the entire league (compared to the Wild’s 22nd best offense), 9th best defense in the NHL (compared to the Wild’s 15th best defense), 4th best power play (compared to the Wild’s 16th best power play) and the 13th best penalty kill (compared to the Wild’s 18th best penalty kill).

Last season, the Ducks had their best winning percentage in club history, finished second in the Western Conference and third, overall, in the NHL behind only Chicago and Pittsburgh which was their best ever finish in 19 seasons, had their best win percentage on the road in club history and ranked third in points earned on the road in the NHL behind Chicago and Pittsburgh.

Bobby Ryan was the only key departure for the Ducks while they managed to add some size and grit in Dustin Penner, stealing him away from cross-town rival, Los Angeles. Despite winning the Pacific Division, the Ducks were beaten in the first round of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings in 7 games.

The Ducks own an all-time records of 22-16-9 against the Wild, but are only 8-9-7 in Minnesota. Notwithstanding, the Ducks have won the last 4 against Minnesota and swept them in all 3 games last season and have won 3 straight in Minnesota also. Of the last three losses at home against the Ducks, it should be noted that they were all one-goal losses and were preceeded by five wins at home against the Ducks.

Anaheim is a team that Minnesota is striving to be more like. A team trending upward and starting to play like a perennial playoff contender. Tonight will be another good contest against a better team than themselves. Yet, once again, as Colorado showed, the good NHL teams can be beaten and beaten handily, especially early in the season, provided you bring your “A” game.

Teemu Selanne is resting tonight so that he can play tomorrow night in Winnipeg, which may well be the last game the former Jet plays against his former team prior to retiring.

Speaking of Winnipeg, they beat the Kings last night. I wonder if every team that roles through Winnipeg will first stop in Minnesota for softening up prior to flying north of Minnesota to play the Jets?

Thoughts on last game or tonight’s game? Let’s hear it!

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