SB Nation - Josh Harding

Game 34 Preview: Jackets get Wild

Mike MacLean — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:04:19 -0000

More photos » by Terry Gilliam - AP

This is going to be brief- the Jackets need to win. Minny is on a tear, and Columbus very much isn't. The Wild, like Nashville, aren't a great team on paper- they make up for that by playing hard, physical hockey and they get timely scoring. Not to mention they have a great goaltender, one who finished behind ours in Vezina voting last year i may add.

I'm not a fan of making a trade just to shake things up, but what is there left to do? GM Scott Howson has put together a team that, again, on paper has all of the elements necessary to win, with the exception of one area. The forwards are a nice mix of snipers (Juice, Nasher); gritty forwards who can score (Vermette, Umby), playmakers (Voracek, Brass) and muckers (Torres, Pahlsson) just to name a few. We have a great goaltending tandem, but the defense needs help. Stralman has been great on the powerplay, as advertised. For that alone, he was a great add. Russ is coming into his own, and has been the best blueliner of late. The other four blueliners however, have not played well. Last season, Commie and Hejda were uber-reliable, steady minute-munchers who could hold the fort down. This year however, they are slow, plodding, and are missing assignments. Methot hasn't done much of anything, and Tyuts- well if he's not commiting a turnover he's horribly out of position. It's like he can't decide whether to play offense or focus on his defensive game. Regardless, a steady defenseman needs to be brought in. One who won't wow you, just somebody to settle things down. An older player would be great.

Or, and this would be the easiest move- the team can just work harder. I don't just mean turn it on when you are already down a goal or two, i mean start the game hard, set the tone, and continue for a full 60 minutes. The goals will come from hard work, and next thing you know- you've won the game.

Fearless Prediction: A solid 60 minute effort, for crying out loud this is the same team that was so great defensively last season, what happened? Did the fact that they are scoring now lead them to forget about their other duties? I predict they play hard, because of they don't, they will continue to get embarrassed.

Game Time: 8:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Hockey Wilderness

Game Page: Blue Jackets vs Wild Coverage

TSN Preview:Blue Jackets vs Wild Preview

TV: None

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The Blue Jackets, who lost to Nashville last night at home, are 1-2-2 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. After a 7-12-2 start, the Wild has been one of the NHL's hottest clubs the last month, going 8-2-1. The Wild has won three of the last four games in Xcel Energy Center.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Jason Chimera	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
Kristian Huselius	R.J. Umberger	Jakub Voracek
Andrew Murray	Samuel Pahlsson	Jared Boll
Fredrik Modin	Derick Brassard	Raffi Torres

Fedor Tyutin	Anton Stralman
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Marc Methot

Mathieu Garon

Steve Mason

EXTRA: Michael Blunden, Mathieu Roy

INJURED: Rostislav Klesla, Derek Dorsett

Minnesota Wild

Andrew Brunette	Mikko Koivu	Antti Miettinen
Chuck Kobasew	Eric Belanger	Cal Clutterbuck
Guillaume Latendresse	Kyle Brodziak	Martin Havlat
Derek Boogaard	Nathan Smith	James Sheppard

Greg Zanon	Nick Schultz
Marek Zidlicky	Kim Johnsson
Jaime Sifers	Shane Hnidy

Niklas Backstrom

Josh Harding

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:45:33 -0000

More photos » by DARRYL DYCK - AP

10 days ago: Vancouver Canucks' Daniel Sedin (22) of Sweden, is stopped by Minnesota Wild's Josh Harding as Greg Zanon (6) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

Browse more photos »

Minnesota Wild 3-4 Vancouver Canucks

Too little, too late? Ran into a hot goaltender? Played in front of a goalie who was fighting the puck all night? A couple tough penalty calls? No matter how you describe the outcome, the story of the game was how dramatically the Wild outplayed the Canucks tonight, even though they fell 4-3.

Martin Havlat seems to have turned his game around on this road trip. In his last five games, Havlat has seven points and now has four goals and 12 assists on the season for 16 points in 26 games. Still far below expectations, but he's on his way.

The Wild in general have really picked up their play, and, while still in last place in the division, have a respectable point total and are 8-2-1 in their last 11. In fact, with 41 shots tonight and 46 shots last night, the Wild had their franchise first consecutive 40 shot games, and even did so on the road. Things are certainly different now than a month ago.

Again, the Wild found scoring from unexpected places. Shane Hnidy notched his first ever goal in a Wild sweater, and with eight points, is well on his way to a career high (12). Greg Zanon not only scored, but did so by making a nice play to chip the puck over a defender's stick, carry it into the zone with speed, make a nifty drop pass to Havlat, then crash the net and knock the puck past Luongo into the net on the rebound. It was a class goal.

Unfortunately, Josh Harding was not very good tonight, and even said so himself. His poor play likely cost the team the two points. Poor penalty killing, and even worse power play opportunities didn't help matters, but is Harding was even mediocre tonight, the Wild get the win.

But, these kinds of games will happen. I'm concentrating more on the excellent play and the solid 3-2 road trip. I like the way this team looks right now, and they should pick up velocity going into the holiday and carry that into the new year.

Please read the game recap over at Nucks Misconduct

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Martin Havlat (1 G, 2 A, +3)
Henrik Sedin (3 A)
Kyle Brodziak (2 A)

Questions to Answer

Minnesota is playing well, or at least well enough to win, can they keep it up and get ahead of the Canucks tonight in the standings? Unfortunately not, especially considering how they outplayed Vancouver all night.
Can the Wild keep the Sedin's off the board? Of course not, don't be silly.
How will Josh Harding look in place of Niklas Backstrom? In a word? Overmatched.
Will Havlat continue to be on the 4th line all game, or will he move up if they are playing well, perhaps moving Sheppard down to the 4th? Havlat was all over the place tonight, playing with a few different lines, and this road trip has been really positive for Marty.
Vancouver has been injured all season, but now that they're finally healthy, can they find some consistency? Well, their power play was excellent (thanks in part to sloppy goaltending, and they looked much better than the first time the Wild played them, but they were outplayed tonight and still got the win.

The Hottest Team In The West Comes To Town: Canucks-Wild Preview

Sean Zandberg — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 08:00:23 -0000

Wild (15-13-3) vs Canucks (17-14-0)

Game Time: 7:00 PST

TV: CBC

The Opposition: Hockey Wilderness

Update (2:12 PST): Dan Murphy is reporting on Twitter that Josh Harding will start for the Wild tonight and Canucks 1st round draft pick from 2000 Nathan Smith will take the place of the injured Owen Nolan.

**************************

The Minnesota Wild may have won 5 of 14 in October and 5 of 11 in November, but they have won 6 of 7 in December, including an 8-1-1 record in their last 10. The only other NHL teams that are cookin' like the Wild are the Capitals and Bruins. I managed to watch the 3rd period and OT of the Wild-Flames game last night. The Wild are still playing well defensively, but are utilizing a super speed and aggressive game as well. You'll see it when they play the Canucks tonight. This is a team that is rising from the Western Conference basement and making a push for a playoff spot.

It's madness. Only 6 points separate 8th place Dallas from 14th place St. Louis, and the Canucks are right in the middle of the dung heap. It further emphasizes the point that the Canucks need to get on a roll...and quick. Once again, Vancouver plays a team that is playing the 2nd game in 2 nights. That is not something to take for granted, as I had mentioned Minny's speed game is intense.

More after the jump...

The Wild are now 6-10-2 on the road this season. That almost mirrors the Canucks' road futility (6-10-0).

Martin Havlat has not found his game in Minnesota yet. However, right when the play-by-play guys were mentioning his 2 goals, 9 assists and -17 rating this season, Havlat bagged the OT winner tonight. He finished with a goal and an assist and a +2 rating against the Flames. How unlike him. He now has 1 goal and 4 assists in his last 8 games. He's slowly heating up.

More Wild player stats over their last 8 games:

-Andrew Brunette has 1 goal and 8 assists

-Mikko Koivu has 3 goals and 4 assists

-Antii Miettinen has 5 goals and 1 assist

Complete list of Wild player stats here.

The last time the Wild played in a back-to-back scenario, Josh Harding, who's stats are nowhere near as good as Niklas Backstrom's, got the start in a 5-3 win over the Predators on December 5th. I wonder if Harding plays tonight.

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 4th, Wild 24th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME: Canucks 8th, Wild 17th

5 on 5 F/A: Canucks 3rd, Wild 27th

POWERPLAY: Canucks 4th, Wild 19th

PK: Wild 8th, Canucks 27th

SHOTS PER GAME: Canucks 10th, Wild 17th

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Wild 8th, Canucks 10th

The Canucks are 2-0 against the Wild this year, winning 2-1 on October 17th and 5-2 on November 5th.

Mike Gillis is not so happy with the Canucks' efforts so far this season, and he let them hear about it on Thursday. He challenged the players to "look in the mirror".

"There was a sense of complacency," he said. "I think our guys thought, OK, let's just get back in the playoffs and redeem ourselves for what happened with Chicago and forgot you've got to play 82 games to get into the playoffs. I think now it's been imparted to them that no one's happy with where we sit today. I believe this team is a better one than we had last year and we've yet to show it on a consistent basis."

With Emery Out Six Weeks, Are There Other Goaltending Options?

Geoff Detweiler — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:00:22 -0000

Since Ray Emery was placed on Injured Reserve with an abdominal tear and will be out an estimated six weeks, the Philadelphia Flyers might want to look at acquiring a goalie for the rest of the season.

Currently, the Flyers are going with Brian Boucher as the starter and Johan Backlund the backup. Not exactly two goalies you expect to be on a Stanley Cup contending team. Asking those two to be the only two goalies for around 20 games (from December 8th to January 20th) is a little scary: that's almost a quarter of the season.

Do you feel comfortable with Boucher and Backlund manning the pipes for that long? Do you trust Ray Emery to return in exactly six weeks, ready to play at a level similar to his start? It's understandable if you don't.

So, what about goalies possibly available via a trade? After the jump, a look at Brian Boucher, Johan Backlund, and a few potential goalies available.

Boucher has been around for awhile. The former 1st round pick in 1995 broke into the league in 1999-2000, but never really had a firm grasp on the starting job anywhere he really went. He has never started more than 40 games in a season, which he did in 2002-03 in Phoenix. There, he split time with Sean Burke, Zac Bierk, Patrick Desrochers, and Jean-Marc Pelletier.

Last year, Boucher twice started 7 games in a row, going 5-1-1 and 2-4-1 in each set. His goals against average for each stretch was roughly 2.43 and 3.00 in those games.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Brian Boucher	8	415	2	5			18	2.60	183	165	.902	0

Johan Backlund:

He is making his North American debut this year with the Adirondack Phantoms. So far, he has a 6-8-0 record, with a 2.81 gaa and .903 save percentage. Everything out of Adirondack suggests Backlund is a big reason why the Phantoms are even in most of the games. He's even received this praise from Phantom forward Matt Clackson: "I'm happy we still have him. He's good enough to be up there (the NHL)." Well, now he is. How long it lasts and how well he does is anybody's guess. But let's hope he's better than we first saw in the preseason.

Now, if those two didn't inspire confidence, there are plenty of options outside the organization. As would be required, I went to CapGeek.com to look at what the Flyers could afford. Their daily cap calculator says the Flyers have over $3 million in cap space available. They also estimate $4.7 million available in "acquisition space (full-season cap hit.)" Not sure if I believe that, especially with the Jones fiasco, but CapGeek is generally pretty good.

With that in mind, the first goalie who would surely pop up in conversation would certainly be former Flyer Martin Biron.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Martin Biron	13	751	2	8			38	3.04	410	372	.907	1

Those numbers don't exactly look great, but if you look at Biron's even-strength save percentage, he's tied with Boucher for 29th in the league at .922. Among those with at least 10 games started, Biron ranks 20th. Also, his goals against at 5-on-5 is 2.39, ahead of Jonas Hiller, Jose Theodore, and Cam Ward. (Boucher's is 2.18, Emery 2.26)

What's important when looking at Biron though - other than the fact that he played for the Flyers the past two plus seasons - is his one year, $1.4 million deal he just signed. With Rick DiPietro starting to practice again, Biron appears to be the odd man out on Long Island. His short and affordable contract makes him easy to trade, something the Flyers certainly like.

Next, the Flyers might look at Carey Price. The beleaguered Canadiens goalie carries a cap hit of $2.2 million and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year. Over the summer, there were rumors that saw Price coming to Philadelphia, but that never happened.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Carey Price	22	1294	9	10			58	2.69	668	610	.913	0

Currently, Price is 25th in the league in GAA and 21st in save percentage. Looking at his even-strength numbers, Price has a .925 save percentage, good for 15th in the league among those with 10 starts or more. His 5-on-5 gaa is 2.33.

The obvious upside with Price is that he's young (still only 22) and certainly has a lot of talent. Playing in Montreal can never be good for young goalies, so a trade could possibly see Price up his game. The downside is that he might just have a fragile psyche, no matter where he plays. He also could suffer from the hype, as a lot of people watch him play and leave unimpressed. Lastly, since he'll be a restricted free agent after the season, the Canadiens will probably want something significant in return.

Another goalie worth looking at is Dan Ellis. Due to be an unrestricted free agent after the season, Ellis carries a cap hit of only $1.75 million. Since breaking into the league in 2007-08 and stealing Chris Mason's starting job, Ellis has since lost his job to Pekka Rinne. That could make his value drop, which would further help the Flyers.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Dan Ellis	13	656	5	5			30	2.74	328	298	.909	0

Again, the numbers so far this year aren't very impressive at first. He's 27th in GAA and 23rd in save percentage, while he's 35th in even-strength save percentage at .918. At 5-on-5 he has a very pedestrian 2.60 gaa. The best attributes of Ellis are that he has post-season experience (2.52 gaa, .938 s%), has previously gotten hot for a stretch, has a modest cap hit, and the Predators are a favorite trading partner of the Flyers. The downside is that he's just not an elite goaltender, nor is he young enough to warrant a risk at age 29.

Continuing down the list of inexpensive, soon to be free agent goaltenders, next on the list is Josh Harding. Stuck behind Niklas Backstrom in Minnesota, Harding has failed to have a breakout year. His best season was last year, when he posted a 2.21 gaa and .929 s%, but that came in only 19 games (with a 3-9-1 record). He's off to a horrible start so far, but it's only been 6 games.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Josh Harding	6	324	2	3			18	3.33	137	119	.869	0

Obviously, those numbers are pretty bad. But, the good news is that it's a small sample size. Also, his even-strength save percentage is only .874, good for 63rd out of 67 goalies. His 3.29 5-on-5 goals against average isn't any better. Why is a goalie who's playing so poorly even being mentioned? He's only 25, he's coming off his best season as a pro, he's inexpensive, and he has good career numbers - 2.57 and .916. Bad? He's only played 64 games and has a career losing record, playing in a defense-first system. Either way, the asking price would be lower than most other available goalies, and the upside is clearly there.

While rather unlikely, another name that could surface is Jean-Sebastien Giguere. He has a cap hit of $6 million on a contract that expires after next season, but he's lost his job to Jonas Hiller (who, coincidentally is an unrestricted free agent after this season) and doesn't appear to be happy about it.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Jean-Sebastien Giguere	12	708	3	4			31	2.63	370	339	.916	1

This year, Giguere has been good, but not great. There was a great story by Jonathan Willis the other day breaking down Giguere's play the past few years that showed his poor showing last year was mostly a result of his father dying in the middle of the season. Needless to say, Giguere - a former Cup winner and Conn Smythe winner - would be the type of elite goaltender so many people want the Flyers to have. However, he's 32 years old with a very large cap hit. The Flyers don't have enough room to take on that salary, so a high priced player would have to go back to Anaheim, which might be a bit difficult to swing since we already traded high-priced players this off-season.

Other goalies of note who will be free agents after the season include Johan Hedberg, Cory Schneider, Jaroslav Halak, and Antero Niittymaki.

What do you guys think?

Minnesota Wild @ Colorado Avalanche: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:08:16 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Browse more photos »

Minnesota Wild 3-2 (so) Colorado Avalanche

Two games against the Avalanche, two excellent efforts, seven goals and four points. This was exactly the kind of week the Wild needed to try to break out of their funk. Hopefully they can build on this, and Andrew Ebbett and Guillaume Latendresse continue to fit in as well as they have in the first week.

While it didn't always look this way on the scoreboard, the Wild controlled this game. Colorado got sloppy once they had the lead and Minnesota took advantage of the miscues and poorly times penalties, worked their way back into it, and never relinquished control, carrying it through to the shootout, where Mikko Koivu and Andrew Ebbett sealed the deal.

The Wild came out hot, with 12 shots in the first and 14 in the second. Were it not for the outstanding goaltending of Craig Anderson, the Avs could've easily found themselves on the wrong end of a bloodbath. Lucky for them, Matt Hendricks and Matt Duchene took advantage of two nice scoring chances (basically the only two chances in the first for the Avs) and got the Avs up 2-0 against the run of play. After that second goal, the Wild kept up the pressure and you could feel that it was only a matter of time until they took over on the scoreboard as well.

The scoring was started early in the second as Eric Belanger came flying in on a two on one, and rocketed one past Anderson. Nice to see Belly score, because he hadn't done so all month. After that goal, the Wild kept flying and kept the pressure on, but Anderson kept turning away everything the Wild could throw at him.

Each team had a goal disallowed for being played with a high stick. Duchene in the first and Guillaume Latendresse in the third. Lucky for the Wild, Latendresse is learning from his past in Montreal and parking himself in front of the net to get the rebounds, the way a power forward should. After a shot from Owen Nolan goes off Anderson, Latendresse is right there to bury it and get his first goal as a member of the Minnesota Wild.

Neither team would get another opportunity in regulation, and in overtime, disaster was averted as a puck trickled just wide of the cage as Josh Harding mussed it with his glove and it slid through the crease. This would send both teams to the shootout where Mikko Koivu would use his patented backhand roofer, then Andrew Ebbett scored the winner as Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski were stopped by Harding.

Please read the game recap over at Mile High Hockey

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Guillaume Latendresse (1 G)
Andrew Ebbett (shootout winner)
Craig Anderson (34 saves)

Questions to Answer

Will Kobasew find the first line to his liking again? He didn't score, but did get three shots and at least two nice scoring chances tonight. I think he fits well on that line.
Will Josh Harding perform well, spelling Backstrom? Harding was very solid today. Definitely earned his first win of the season.
Does Latendresse show signs of fatigue with all his travel the last few days? If he was feeling it, he certainly wasn't showing it. Nice goal to tie it up.
Is Adrian Dater the biggest ass in NHL media? Always. Luckily he talks trash about the Avs as well as anyone they play.
Will we see some bitterness due to the home and home? Will this game get ugly? Well, it got ugly really early on as David Koci tried to spark the Avs by tangling with John Scott. Not a great decision by Koci, as he couldn't match the reach of Scott, and it was a series of grabs and punches that didn't really land.

Minnesota Wild @ Carolina Hurricanes: Game Recap

nathaneide — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:45:46 -0000

Minnesota Wild 4-5 (so) Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes had come in on a 14 game winless streak, tying the franchise record long streak dating back to when Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards was a member of the 1991-1992 Hartford Whalers (long live the Whale). Canes head coach Paul Maurice was sitting on the hottest of hot seats. They were missing their #1 goaltender in Cam Ward and one of their top offensive options in Eric Staal. The Minnesota Wild were wrapping up an Eastern Conference road trip in which they had trounced the bottom-feeding Toronto Maple Leafs, choked away a win against a team outside the top eight in the Tampa Bay Lightning, then lost a tough game to the elite-level Washington Capitals in which Josh Harding faced 41 shots. The Wild should've been looking to roll over the Canes and head back home.

Unfortunately, they looked like they were relying upon a beaten team to show up, and do nothing more than give them two easy points.

Carolina came out swinging. Jussi Jokinen was showing off for Finland Olympic GM Jari Kurri and put the Canes up 1-0 just 2:45 into the game. Then Joe Corvo scored on the power play with 2:11 left in the period to send the teams into the locker room for the first intermission with the home town Hurricanes up 2-0.

Minnesota used the break to regroup and came out with more intensity. However, the march to the penalty box for the Wild continued, as four Ray Whitney took advantage of the power play, and added to the Carolina lead at 3-0. Antti Miettinen then tipped in a goal on a Brent Burns shot to bring it to 3-1. However, the penalties continued to stack up, as Brandon Sutter notched another power play goal, creating a three-goal lead for the Canes again.

At that point, the momentum changed. Robbie Earl circled away from the net, turned and fired a puck over backup goaltender Michael Leighton. The goal was Earl's first career NHL marker. 19 seconds later, John Scott also scored his NHL first. The teams headed into the intermission with a Hurricanes leading 4-3, but the Wild had all the momentum.

Going into the third, it looked like the wheels were coming off for the Hurricanes. Minnesota controlled play, and Robbie Earl added his second of the afternoon, tying the game at 4. Minnesota then relaxed, with the game tied. This turned out to be a fatal mistake. The Wild would never again get a great scoring chance, and the Hurricanes were comfortable to play it out and go to overtime and the eventual shootout.

Once they got to the shootout, the Wild looked uncomfortable again, and the ice got choppy. Miettinen, Mikko Koivu and Marek Zidlicky were all stopped, but Jussi Jokinen sent the fans home with the two points and Minnesota got ready to head back to St. Paul with four points from a probable six on the trip.

A few positives from the game:

Brent Burns was a +4 on the evening
John Scott's first NHL goal
Robbie Earl's first and second NHL goal
Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Brodziak's never-ending energy

Please read the game recap over at Canes Country

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Jussi Jokinen (1 G, 1 shootout goal)
Robbie Earl (2 G)
Ray Whitney (1 G, 2 A)

Questions to Answer

In this battle between the worst in the East and the worst in the West, who truly is the worst? Well, frankly, both teams had stretches of incompetence.
Could today be the end of the road for Paul Maurice? No, but Fanhouse puts Richards on the hot seat! Pink Slip Index - NHL Fanhouse
Can the Canes get payback for a bad OT loss to the Wild in October? That they did.
Once again, the Wild get a backup. Can they get on Leighton early and often? No, how about late and often?
Last game, Martin Havlat had 8 shots. Can he actually score this time?? Ugh.

Minnesota Wild @ Washington Capitals: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:42:49 -0000

More photos » by Evan Vucci - AP

Browse more photos »

Minnesota Wild 1-3 Washington Capitals

Sometimes you play a team against whom you look silly. Tonight could have easily been that night. The Washington Capitals were faster, passed better, had more shots, played better in transition and crashed the net all night long. Were it not for Josh Harding's fantastic play, and guys diving in front of rebounds to clear them out, it could have been an ugly, ugly night.

The Wild looked good early. They controlled play, dominated in the neutral zone and were poised to score at any moment. Nick Schultz then took a tripping minor. At that point, Washington took over and was buzzing. Minnesota was thankful to get out of the first period scoreless. It looked like that luck was going to continue into the second period. Starting on the power play, the Wild were again carrying the play and just seconds after Chris Clark came back onto the ice from a bench minor for too many men, Cal Clutterbuck came streaking up the wing and rifled home a laser beam, putting Minnesota up 1-0. Washington answered the call right away, ratcheting up the intensity, and 4:08 later, with Antti Miettinen in the box for high-sticking, Mike Green showed what it means to "activate the defense", streaking through the low slot for a nice power play goal, tying the game at 1. Washington continued to pour it on, and Josh Harding continued to stem the tide, and the period ended 1-1 with the shots 31-16.

Minnesota knew that they had to play a tight game, take advantage of their opportunities, try to apply pressure to Semyon Varlamov and get the early goal. Things, however, did not go as planned. 2:00 into the period, Brian Pothier snapped home his second goal of the season. The Wild fought and clawed their way back into the game with 14 shots in the third period, but an empty net goal by Brooks Laich sealed the deal.

Tough loss for Josh Harding, who did everything in his power to win the game. It was nice to see Martin Havlat amass eight shots on goal, now he just needs to remember how to finish.

This wasn't a game many were expecting to win, even with Alex Ovechkin out of the lineup, but the Wild played admirably. Let's see if they can jump on a horrible Carolina team on Sunday.

Please read the game recap over at Japer's Rink

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Josh Harding (40 shots, 38 saves)
Mike Green (1 G)
Semyon Varlamov (31 shots, 30 saves)

Questions to Answer

A solid game last night turned into a bad loss in the third period. Will the Wild get a turnaround, or slide from that emotional loss? Minnesota came out hot. They controlled play early and didn't give up a shot on goal until almost 7:00 into the game. However, everything changed on the first power play. Shots were 39-23 from that point.
With Alex Ovechkin out, can the Wild succeed in slowing the rest of the Washington offense? Thanks to Josh Harding and a group of collapsing d-men and diving forwards clearing rebounds all night, they did a reasonably decent job on the score, but Washington absolutely controlled play.
Josh Harding hasn't started since losing on October 16 in Edmonton. Will he show signs of rust? No. He was brilliant.
Will the Boogaard - Sheppard - Pouliot line show great energy and create scoring chances again tonight? Alas, we did not see them together. Boogaard only had 5:30 against a ridiculously fast Washington team, but Sheppard and Pouliot and Pouliot played a decent game.
Can Owen Nolan keep up his excellent play of the last few games? The squad needs him to keep at it. Nolan had 4 shots on goal and looked poised to score all night.

How waiver exemption paved way for Backstrom's NHL career

James Mirtle — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:49:25 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

Browse more photos »

I have a few more details on how the Wild ended up landing Niklas Backstrom up at Globe on Hockey today, including the tidbit that Manny Fernandez was on the trade block long before he was ever salary dumped to Boston in 2007. It's hard to believe, too, that they thought they had their No. 1 in Josh Harding more than three years ago, and he's still muddling along as a backup.

Who is and isn't waiver eligible has become a big deal under this new CBA, and it's interesting how Minnesota seemingly found a bit of a workaround to the three goalie problem we've seen crop up over and over postlockout. I think we'd see this happen a lot more if European goalies were more willing to play in the minors in order to earn a shot at the NHL.

Talking to Backstrom earlier this week, you got the sense he had always wanted that NHL shot and just never got it. He also said he didn't feel he was a late bloomer, given he was one of the top netminders in Finland at junior age, but that 10 years ago, there just weren't as many opportunities for European goalies. (Although Kiprusoff, Toskala, etc. were drafted.)

Top goaltenders postlockout (by save percentage)

Rk	Player	GP	W	L	T/OT	SO	GAA	SV%
1	Niklas Backstrom	186	100	53	23	17	2.27	0.922
2	Jonas Hiller	83	39	28	3	5	2.37	0.921
3	Tomas Vokoun	246	123	90	26	22	2.58	0.921
4	Tim Thomas	228	111	78	29	15	2.58	0.919
5	Craig Anderson	100	41	30	14	8	2.70	0.918
6	Cristobal Huet	184	96	60	18	17	2.44	0.918
7	Martin Brodeur	274	165	86	23	27	2.31	0.917
8	Roberto Luongo	292	156	101	31	25	2.51	0.917
9	Henrik Lundqvist	281	150	89	35	21	2.33	0.916
10	Dominik Hasek	140	93	31	13	18	2.09	0.914
11	Chris Mason	183	85	64	21	17	2.54	0.914

Minnesota Wild @ Edmonton Oilers: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:21:07 -0000

More photos » by Jimmy Jeong - AP

2 months ago: Edmonton Oilers center Mike Comrie (91), right, scores a goal past Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding (37) during second-period NHL hockey action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Friday, Oc.16, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Jimmy Jeong)

Browse more photos »

Minnesota Wild 2-5 Edmonton Oilers

The Minnesota Wild limped into Edmonton to take on the Oilers in the battle of the bruised and beaten. Edmonton was missing five regulars while the Wild were missing four. Unfortunately for Wild fans, it certainly didn't appear that Edmonton was missing anyone the way they took advantage of every single scoring opportunity en route to a 5-2 win at Rexall Place.

Portly Dustin Penner broke out tonight scoring twice, as did Gilbert Brule and Hilary Duff's boytoy, Mike Comrie, added another for the reeling Oilers. Patrick O'Sullivan continued his nice play this season, adding an assist on a Penner goal and going +2 on the evening.

The Wild continue to not understand how to play defensive hockey. I said it in my season preview and I'll say it again. The up-tempo system is a nice idea if you have the right guys. We still don't see that the Wild have the guys to play that system, and it's only a matter of time until the lack of scoring, combined with a GAA over 4 has fans reminiscing fondly for the "boring" system of Jacques Lemaire.

One wouldn't know to look at the final, but the Wild outshot the Oilers 31-19 tonight. No, that's not a misprint. They only allowed 19 shots (a 73.7% save percentage for Josh Harding, if you're keeping count), but the Oilers had the guys to take advantage of the scoring opportunities they created (or were created for them by continued defensive miscues).

Sure, this was not exactly a high-quality NHL lineup out there, and Michael Russo said on Twitter that the Wild can't play any better with such a depleted lineup, but that was when it was 2-1. After that, the team seemed to have simply given up. They continued to take shots in hopes that they could create offense, but they weren't crashing to net to get rebounds, still have little chemistry in the lines and all too frequently abandoned any defensive responsibilities.

They'll likely be able to pass this off as a result of injuries and learning the new system, but they need to show progress, and aren't exactly instilling hope in the Team of 18,000.

Tonight's goats:

Brent Burns (-3 in 14:02 for the best all-around defenseman on the team)
James Sheppard (-3 in 13:58 for someone who needs to start performing or he'll find himself in Houston or worse)
Josh Harding (14/19 tonight and 73.8% SP with a 5.50 GAA this season in two starts)

So, who is playing well?

Andrew Brunette. Bruno has five goals this season and has points in six straight games. This bodes well for trading him near the deadline to a playoff team.
Erik Belanger. Belanger had an assist tonight to give him eight points on the season and is performing up to his expectations, and should continue to center the second line. Belly looks awfully good so far.
Benoit Pouliot (tonight at least). Pouliot had a nice game. Worked on every shift and scored a pretty goal on a great shift by the entire team.

Take a read of the game recap over at The Copper & Blue

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Dustin Penner (2 G)
Gilbert Brule (2 G)
Jean-Francois Jacques (2 A)

Questions to Answer

Which inconsistent, injured team can prevail? Edmonton skated circles around the Wild in the third to pull away.
Does the closed-door meeting after the first period in Anaheim have an effect? While they played better in the first period, as soon as they got down, you knew it was over. I don't see any growth.
Can any of the forwards find the defensive zone with GPS? Clearly not. They're brutal in their own end.
If Havlat is healthy enough to play tonight, will he be benched again for half-assing it? Not healthy tonight, but I wouldn't have been surprised to see him benched. We'll see what happens with his papier-mache groin.
Does anyone miss Marian? I do. Yes, yes. A thousand times yes.

Minnesota Wild @ Los Angeles Kings: Game Recap

nathaneide — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:14:26 -0000

More photos » by Jason Redmond - AP

2 months ago: Los Angeles Kings' Ryan Smyth, from left, Jack Johnson and Anze Kopitar celebrate after Smyth scored against the Minnesota Wild during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

Browse more photos »

Minnesota Wild 3-6 Los Angeles Kings

This was exactly not the way to start a West Coast road trip. In just over three minutes, the Wild did everything wrong. They were out of position defensively, allowed the Kings to roam free, screened Josh Harding on seemingly every shot and didn't clear anyone from the low slot. The result is that, once again, the Wild found themselves down 3-0 at the end of the first period.

Tonight, there would be no comeback. While Martin Havlat finally got his first goal in a Wild uniform, the Wild had no answer for Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and the rest of the Kings. Nick Schultz got the Wild to 4-2 down at the end of the second period with a power play goal, and Kim Johnsson fired a nice shot under the crossbar 6:34 into the third period to get them within one at 4-3, but once again the Wild fell asleep in the defensive zone, allowing Teddy Purcell and Ryan Smyth to score just 36 seconds apart to blow it open at 6-3.

So, what went wrong? Well, Josh Harding can't be entirely to blame, though he was very not good tonight, stopping only 17 of 23 shots. The Wild forwards did their job in the offensive zone, playing a reasonably decent game, getting adequate pressure and scoring three times, but they were nowhere to be found in their own zone. They were almost too aggressive on the forecheck, then couldn't get back to play the proper positioning in the defensive zone. It was as if they worried entirely too much about playing the system correctly, but only one way. Time and again they left it up to the defense to handle the entire job of stopping the Kings and starting the transition.

If they want this new system to be successful, they cannot forget that there are two ends of the ice. Let's hope tonight was an anomaly, because if it wasn't, the sellout streak will end before Thanksgiving.

Oh, and Benoit Pouliot again was absolutely terrible. Seemingly uncaring with and without the puck. His 7:07 TOI was second lowest, with only John Scott (who cannot play forward at all) behind him at 4:13. And as much as they may want to be together, Petr Sykora and Martin Havlat are absolutely terrible together if they don't have the puck.

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Ryan Smyth (2 G, 1 A)
Anze Kopitar (1 G, 2 A)
Justin Williams (1 G, 2 A)

Questions to Answer

Will the Wild build on a solid 3rd period? Nope, if anything they regressed below where they were before the 3rd period Tuesday night.
Will Martin Havlat continue to be an assist machine? Havlat is fantastic with the puck and in the offensive zone, but he needs someone who backchecks like crazy because he may be worse defensively (at least tonight) than Marian Gaborik ever was. He needs to be with Koivu and maybe Clutterbuck.
Can the Wild get the Kings monkey off their back (0-4 last season against L.A.) Nope. They cannot handle this team for some reason.
Does Josh Harding begin showcasing himself tonight? Definitely. I think the Florida Everblades scout was drooling.
Can they kick off the West Coast Swing with a win? Nope. Crap fest.