Well game 1 of the season is in the books, so what to make of it.
At first glance 3-2 on the road in a tough division opponent's building isn't all that bad.
That said, I did not see anything from the Blues that got me excited either.
Devan Dubnyk made some very good saves and looked to be on his game for the most part. The Yakapov goal looked more like an e-6 (baseball reference) but in his defense the puck was redirected off Spurgeon's stick.
The powerplay came up empty on 5 opportunities. They had some success moving the puck in the Blues zone with decent sustained pressure at times, but very few scoring chances. It appeared that they were looking for the perfect play instead of generating off the shot.
The best scoring opportunity on the powerplay came from a Dumba one-timer in the third period. Dumba in my opinion needs to be used as the shooter from the point on the top powerplay unit. Yes he does miss the net on many occasions but his vision on the ice and playmaking decisions are far better than he gets credit for.
The Wild PK looked very good even generating a Zucker shorthanded breakaway in the first period.
The Wild had three breakaways in the game so the Boudreau game plan of stretching the ice was evident and should only get better as the players become more acclimated to the system. Boudreau himself said that it has taken a bit longer than he had anticipated to break some of the old Wild habits.
It's only game one, and there was some absolute positives in this one as we look ahead to tomorrow's home opener against the Jets in St. Paul.