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Wild Steal Game From Ducks |
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Anaheim came into St. Paul on Wednesday night doing what they needed to do: survive the first period. The Ducks game against the Wild was their 3rd road game in 4 nights. They played in Chicago and played the Blackhawks on Sunday, then traveled to Dallas and played late before heading to Minnesota for a game the very next evening. Being outshot 11-4 by the Wild after the first period, Curtis McElhinney backstopped his team to a 0-0 tie at the end of one period.
The Wild certainly had their fair share of chances in the first period. Leading goal scorer for the Wild, Cal Clutterbuck, rang one of the post even. However, on their highly touted power play, the Wild failed to even register a shot against the Ducks back-up goalie. Even though the Wild dominated the Ducks in the shot count in the first period, it didn’t feel like they dominated the Ducks within the flow of the game. I give the edge to the Ducks after one.
The second period found the Ducks on the power play against the again highly touted Wild penalty kill. The Wild had an opportunity to score short handed on a 2-on-1 opportunity, but John Madden’s pass to Mikko Koivu was rolling on edge and Mikko could not convert. A few moments later, the Ducks did convert, scoring a rare power play goal against the Wild’s PK unit n a sweet ass by Corey Perry to Teemu Selanne who had a wide open net. While disappointing to the home fans, the Ducks lead did not stand for long. Moments later, Martin Havlat was behind the Ducks net and did a blind, no-look pass out front and caught McElhinney cheating on his post, ricocheting the puck off of the Ducks’ goalie’s skate and into the Ducks goal. After the game was tied, the Ducks brought some heavy pressure to the Wild’s zone. Backstrom was steady as she goes for the Wild making sure that the tie game continue. Later in the second period, Brad Staubitz took on George Parros. While clearly out of league as NHL fighters are concerned, Staubitz faired pretty well, despite losing the fight. At the end of the second period, the Ducks were still in the same position as they were at the end of the first period, still alive. The second period ended with the teams tied 1-1 and the Wild leading the shot count 21-11. However, again, it did not feel like the Wild were dominating the Ducks. Again, I give the edge to the Ducks in the second period.
The third period found the Ducks, for the most part, dominating the Wild, outshooting them 16-2. Niklas Backstrom has been absolutely huge for the Wild this season and continued his strong play in the third period, stopping all 16 Anaheim shots. The Wild were absolutely outplayed all game by the Ducks. They were low energy and not moving their feet, opting to glide more than skate. Notwithstanding, the Wild survived the third period to gain at least one point by forcing overtime.
In overtime, the Wild seemed to dominate a majority of the play. Clutterbuck had a chance that hit the post. Havlat also had a chance that hit the post. The game was won on the Wild’s second flukey goal of the game when Miettinen shot, McElhinney made the initial save with the rebound going back out front in the air, off of Miettinen’s body and into the Anaheim goal for a Wild win.
Unfortunate for the Ducks who deserved better this night. But the puck luck was with the Wild. Backstrom kept them in the game long enough to give his team a chance and the Wild skate off with the extra point.
Next up, the Red Wings in Detroit on Friday before returning to St. Paul on Saturday night to take on the New York Rangers in a game the Wild are promoting as Marian Gaborik bobble head night. Apparently, the Wild have some left over bobble heads that they need to get rid of. Hopefully, Gaborik’s groin will be healthy enough for Gabby to show up for this game. Two years ago, Gabby missed his first trip to the Xcel Energy Center as a member of a visiting team, denying Wild fans their chance to show their lack of appreciation for the talented winger given his tainted history here in Minnesota.
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Here's my pre-game piece that I ran prior to the game:
Greetings hockeybuzzer’s. First, I apologize for my lengthy absence. Between running my business, keeping up with my wife and 6 kids, and coaching 2 of the kids in hockey, it’s been a rat race to say the least.
When I last left you, I had written about my opinion of the season being “So Far, So Good”, comparing the Wild’s start in their first 13 games (10 in October and 3 in November) to last year’s start.
The Wild then continued their road trip by going from Columbus and four days off to the Southeast Division to play Atlanta, Florida and Tampa Bay.
To be honest with you, I expected the Wild to beat both Atlanta and Florida and lose to Tampa Bay. However, the exact opposite happened. Good thing I didn’t express that opinion in advance of those three games and one of you relied upon my opinion for whatever reason.
The Wild are now back home after two days off to take on the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks were much maligned by the press in the annual rite of pre-season predictions. Good thing they weren’t listening to how bad everyone expected them to be. Instead, they have posted a very respectable 10-8-2 record so far this season with a 7-1-1 home record and a 3-7-1 road record. Also, the Ducks come to Minnesota after losing to the Dallas Stars last night.
Comparing the Wild’s record (8-6-2) to Anaheim’s record can be a little misleading. Sure, the Ducks are ahead of the Wild in the standings. However, they have 22 points in 20 games compared to the Wild’s 18 points in 16 games. The Wild actually have a better winning percentage (.5625) than the Ducks (.55) so far this season. Also, the Wild are 5-3-1 at home this season and 3-3-1 on the road.
So, while the Wild hold a slim statistical advantage over the Ducks at home tonight versus the Wild, the Ducks are not a team to be overlooked. The Ducks are led by Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Saku Koivu, Bobby Ryan, Lubomir Visnovsky and Jonas Hiller. Compared to the Wild’s leaders (Mikko Koivu, Matt Cullen, Martin Havlat, Cal Clutterbuck, Brent Burns, Antti Miettinen and Niklas Backstrom), frankly I like the makeup of the Ducks leaders over the Wild’s so far this season. I mean, really? Cal Clutterbuck leads the Wild in scoring, followed by two defensemen? Come on!
Anaheim is 11-4-2 over their past 17 games and their 13 points (6-1-1) in November co-leads the NHL, tied for second with Philadelphia and Vancouver and just behind Washington (6-0-1).
All-time against the Wild, the Ducks are 16-13-7.
Comparing the goalies, Jonas Hiller has a 4-2-1 record versus the Wild with a corresponding 2.31 Goals Against Average (GAA) and a .914 Save Percentage (SV%) and one shutout, overall. Niklas Backstrom is 5-3-0 against the Ducks with a 2.35 GAA and a .921 SV% with one shutout, overall.
That said, the Wild is 4-1-0 in its last five home games against Anaheim, outscoring the Ducks 17-11 in that stretch. Backstrom is 4-1-0 in his career against the Ducks at Xcel Energy Center with a 2.14 GAA and a .915 SV% and one shutout at home against the Ducks.
Additionally, the Wild’s specialty teams (power play and penalty kill) are far superior to the Ducks. The Ducks also take more penalties than the Wild do on average.
The Ducks have 51 goals for and 58 goals against, while the Wild have 38 goals for and 36 goals against so far this season. Evidence of the fact that the Ducks have a lot of guys that can score and evidence of the fact that the Wild do not have that same arsenal of fire power.
All said, it looks like it should be a close game against two teams that are doing better so far this season than the pundits in the media predicted. However, there is a lot of hockey yet to be played this season.
Hopefully the Wild can continue to roll against the Ducks at home tonight. Should be a fun game to watch.
Check back for post-game comments.
As always, Go Wild!!!!!!!
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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