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Wild Look for Revenge in Calgary |
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For the Wild tonight is the back end of a home and home with the Flames as the teams met in St. Paul on Sunday with Calgary taking the win in a shootout. The Flames went to Chicago in between getting a hard fought 2-1 victory over the Blackhawks in the process.
Calgary has won three straight and jumped into the final Western Conference wildcard spot, five points ahead of the Wild.
Needless to say the Wild have got to find their way into the win column in these four point point contests with tonight being their next chance.
The extra days off in between for the Wild should have been good for them to get back some of the structure that had been seeing some holes of late. Practice time also being used for special teams play which has been less than spectacular and the direct cause of lost points in the standings.
It is not time to panic by any means and the team is in position to make a move with a very favorable January and February schedule. That said in order to really assert themselves into playoff contention they will need to improve in each of those areas and put a streak together.
This is a different Wild team, one that shows much greater resilience than we have seen in quite some time and the kids are maturing with a next man up attitude that has everyone holding themselves accountable.
Not sure which way Bruce goes tonight in net with either Stalock or if he gives Kaapo Kahkonen the nod tonight. After tonight the Wild don't play until Sunday at home against the Canucks. Does Boudreau give Stalock the best three to get him back on track or does he throw the kid in and see what he can do in a more pressure packed stage of the season against an opponent that is in direct competition for playoff position?
Kahkonen showed a lot of moxy in his first stint so I would not be surprised to see Boudreau create some more competition within his club in the Wild crease.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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