SB Nation - Martin Havlat

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

Canucks Hold On To Beat Wild 4-3

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:34:21 -0000

Quietly, Henrik Sedin has scored 501 points in his NHL career. With 3 assists tonight he has moved into a tie with Marian Gaborik at 2nd place in League scoring. Individual stats are fine and dandy, but right now the team's stats are more important. The Canucks needed those 2 points:

1. To pull 3 points ahead of the surging Wild in the standings

2. To keep pace with the 6th, 7th and 8th seeds in the West (Coyotes, Predators and Stars). All 3 of those teams earned at least a point tonight. Damn!

The Canucks have now won 2 straight, 4 of their last 6, and 6 of their last 10. Only 3 teams in the NHL have 12 home wins: Phoenix, Chicago and Vancouver (12-4-0). Nobody has more.

-The Wild outshot Vancouver in all 3 periods, finishing with a 41-29 margin. Roberto Luongo was pretty solid.

-I have to give the Wild props. What a hell of a road game for them, even in a back-to-back scenario. Canucks take note! Sure, they lost, but they hardly let up. That is one tenacious speedy team.

-Marty Havlat...hate the guy.... but he scored a goal and 3 points tonight. I believe he is finding his groove.

-The game was entertaining, but too wide open for my liking. How many odd-man rushes did the Canucks give up? Is that how we are going to play? That won't cut it if we are looking for consistency.

-Kesler and Mitchell playing it up for the media pregame was priceless. You can see video footage of the scrum and the brotherly love here.

-No Rypien-Boogaard tilt. I have almost lost hope that it is going to happen. Then again, here are a few intriguing ice times: Hordichuk: 2:57, Rypien: 6:46, Boogaard: 4:13.

I still can't believe Boogaard tried to pull that interference stunt...and then got busted for diving. The guy bounced off Kevin Bieksa like a bus hit him! Are you kidding me? Is this guy a soccer player in disguise? Pathetic. 2 minutes for being stupid. And, Mason Raymond scored on the ensuing power play. On second thought: Dive Boogey dive!

BOXSCORE AND HIGHLIGHTS

NUCKS MISCONDUCT 3 STARS:

1. Henrik Sedin

2. Martin Havlat

3. Roberto Luongo

Next up: The Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Kings. That a misprint? Wow. Remember what I said about "too wide open". It would be best if the Canucks tighten it up a little against the high-octane Kings.

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks: Game Recap

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

More photos » by DARRYL DYCK - AP

3 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)

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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."

Minnesota Wild @ Calgary Flames: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:20:59 -0000

More photos » by Larry MacDougal - AP

4 days ago: Calgary Flames' Brian McGrattan, left, fights Minnesota Wild's Derek Boogaard during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Calgary on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Larry MacDougal)

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Minnesota Wild 2-1 (ot) Calgary Flames

Holy crap, the Wild won in Calgary. Holy crap, James Sheppard scored. Holy crap, Martin Havlat scored. Holy crap, the Wild had more than 40 shots on goal.

Ok, I'm not really sure which is more shocking, to be honest, but I'd say that beating Calgary in the Saddledome is the biggest surprise.

The Wild have now won seven of eight and seem to be turning it on right about the time many expected them to. It's great to see them winning with offense and winning with defense. Frankly, if it weren't for Kiprusoff, tonight would have been out of hand and the Wild would have won going away.

It's great to see Havlat getting into the flow of the game, and nice to see someone other than the top line carry the load for the offense.

Let's hope this solid defensive play continues. Things are finally turning around.

Please read the game recap over at Matchsticks and Gasoline

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Martin Havlat (1 G, 1 A)
Miikka Kiprusoff (44 saves)
James Sheppard (1 G)

Questions to Answer

I'm gonna let SpaethCo answer.

The Calgary Flames have been the best in the Northwest (no matter what folks in Colorado will have you believe) will the Wild get a good measuring stick against a solid team? We’re trying to fight our way back into the hunt, so for the sake of team confidence let’s say this is a great measuring stick. (only because we got the win)
Will the curse of the Saddledome continue to hover over the Wild? It tried really damn hard - maybe the curse was thrown off by the cold?
Which Finnish goalie will shine? Despite Backstrom getting the win, Kiprusoff held off 44 of 46 shots. From the Flames perspective, Kiprusoff gets the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd star.
Bruno has eight points in the last five games, and Mittens has seven goals in his last eight. Can they keep it up? Strangely enough, the underdogs of the team pull it off. Shep and Havlat - I wonder what the line would have been on that in Vegas?
The Flames have the best career record against the Wild. Why? They're really not that good, are they? Kiprusoff and Iginla? Nah, those guys have no talent at all. In fact, Calgary should send them to us for Boogard and a bag of pucks. Right?

Minnesota Wild @ Colorado Avalanche: Game Recap

nathaneide — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:54:25 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

6 days ago: Minnesota Wild right winger Antti Miettinen, of Finland, is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Minnesota Wild 1-0 Colorado Avalanche

The Minnesota Wild get a 1-0 shutout win over the Colorado Avalanche in front of a very anemic crowd at the Pepsi Center. Frankly, if I wouldn't have seen Todd Richards behind the bench actually being interviewed by a Versus reporter, I would've assumed it was a replay of a game under the Lemaire regime.

Nice to see Antti Miettinen get back on the scoring track tonight. He now has seven goals in his last eight games. Someone's looking awfully tempting for Jari Kurri. Niklas Backstrom didn't have to be brilliant tonight, he just did his job and notched his 18th career shutout.

John Scott is already a lock to be a healthy scratch next game unless every other defenseman is injured on the way off the ice tonight. With three minor penalties, all of the either lazy or stupid variety, he could've single-handedly cost the Wild the two points were it not for the great play of the defense and Backstrom. The penalty kill was fantastic (granted the Avs power play looked like the Wild's tonight).

I'm going to leave the rest of the recap to our Denver correspondent. She's a grad student at Denver University by way of the Range and works in the DU athletic department's media relations office and was in attendance at the Pepsi Center tonight and will post her thoughts later.

Not all games include 60 full minutes of hard-fought, fast-paced hockey; however this game didn't include much of it at all. But, in the end, a win is a win; especially when the win is a shutout on the opponent's home ice.

Wednesday night's 1-0 win came as Niklas Backstrom earned his first shutout of the season and Antti Miettinen scored his eighth goal of the season over the Colorado Avalanche.

The two teams battled throughout the game fairly evenly, as the Wild had a total of 23 shots and the Avs ended with 22. However, the Wild did demonstrate their penalty kill ability, as the team finished the night with a total of six penalties.

The crowd support left something to be desired - for both teams, actually. Though it was a Wednesday night, the Pepsi Center was quite bare. Although, not surprising, many of the people in attendance donned Wild apparel, as Colorado is a mecca for has-been Minnesotans.

Truly, the best play of the night came between the second the third periods as two Mini-Mite teams took to the ice in a shoot out. One player scored his goal off a nice-looking deke. As the opposing goalie dove to the right, the young star turned the puck around to the left side past the outstretched goalie.

Let's hope the Wild steps it up a bit as they take on Calgary this Friday. After all, I thought the days of Minnesota's "slow-down offense" were over.

Please read the game recap over at Mile High Hockey

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Niklas Backstrom (20 saves)
Antti Miettinen (1 G)
Kim Johnsson (1 A, +1, 31:11 TOI)

Questions to Answer

Can they come out hot and bounce back from a horrible performance in Phoenix? Well, it wasn't great, but they got the 2 points.
With no Andrew Ebbett, who is going to provide his spark? Antti Miettinen got the goal and Koivu provided the spark of offense, but Johnsson was the backbone tonight.
What kind of effect will punishing Martin Havlat have on his play? 9:48 TOI. I think that says it all.
Can the Wild get to Budaj and rattle him? Not at all
Mikko Koivu has been the engine driving this machine, will he continue his excellent play? Koivu was great tonight, both defensively and by making plays in the offense.

Winter Classic Interview with Ed Olcyzk. His take on playing outside, kids and Martin Havlat

nathaneide — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:40:34 -0000

The NHL held a conference call with Ed Olczyk as part of the publicity for the 2009-2010 Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers held at Fenway Park. There were a few of us from SBNation who were lucky enough to be on that call, and I had the first question.

Hockey Wilderness: With the decline in the number of kids playing pond hockey and the number of empty outdoor rinks increasing, do you see the Winter Classic and especially the marketing around it as a way for the NHL to get back to its roots and get kids playing outdoors again?

Ed Olczyk: Nathan, great question: There are a lot of rinks in Chicago, Detroit, Sioux City, etc. You have families and neighborhoods flooding rinks and putting up boards. But that cost, especially in this economy is one thing that hurts our sport. To give the kids more opportunity, that's the key. In some places it is cheaper to flood something outside, but the indoor ice is so much more readily available. Kids when I played, grew up on the rink, playing well after dark and those times are what drive our sport.

With the NHL playing outdoors, it's another way to showcase the history of the game and getting some players to play outside who may have never done so. The more kids playing outside, the better product we'll eventually see. The Winter Classic is a great way to get back to the grass-roots of our sport. I offer my help to any league or community or the National Hockey League to get educated about the benefits of outdoor skating and outdoor hockey!

Hockey Wilderness: You've spent the past three years in Chicago and got to see Martin Havlat at his best. Have you seen him this season, and can you give us some thoughts on what you've seen thus far?

Nathan, yeah I have seen Marty, and I think a lot of Marty as a player and a person. I think that sometimes when a player changes, it takes a while to get comfortable and get rolling. Marty is a terrific talent and with the success he had last year it isn't any secret that he was playing for a contract. The role was perfect. He wasn't asked to do too much. He wasn't the go-to guy, but he played like it. There are times where he looks lost, looks like he's doing too much or thinking too much, trying to figure out what's going on, but the last couple of games he's showing signs. Had a couple great rushes against Phoenix and a couple assists the game before that. With the Wild you have one of the most underrated players in Mikko Koivu and Andrew Brunette is a great talent. Marty needs help, he's a creative guy, but it's hard to find world class players to play with a guy like that. It's only a matter of time before he becomes a difference maker , it just takes a little bit of time and he'll get it going.

The rest are questions not asked by me, and I cherry picked some answers:

Some dude: How much has the Winter Classic helped the NHL gain popularity in the US?

You get people who may not have grown up watching and following hockey. We live in a hot-button society. You have people who say "I really want to see this team or this guy play" and you have the ability to showcase your best and brightest. That kid may then decide they want to try out hockey, and there are opportunities for them nationwide. There are more kids not from so-called "hockey hotbeds" and this may be the first time they've seen hockey outside.

Some other dude: What's next for the Winter Classic?

Every team has a drawing card when it comes to an individual. Some teams have more than 1 or 2 superstars, some teams have more history. But it takes two to tango, and there aren't unlimited venues. Should we go to Ann Arbor? Happy Valley? Minneapolis and the new Gopher stadium? I hope every team gets to play in one at some point, but the league has done a tremendous job in mapping it out. Obviously there are some places where you can't do it, but that's for people smarter than me to figure out.

So, that pretty much sums up the important stuff. Thanks to the NHL for setting it up.

Hard to Argue

BReynolds — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:48:23 -0000

More photos » by Andy King - AP

Seems Havlat has been so invisible this season that even the AP hasn't seen him. This was one of three returns for a search of Havlat (in a Wild jersey anyway).

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From Puck Stops Here over at Kukla's Korner:

It is far enough into the season to begin to look at the free agent signings made this summer. One stands out as being a complete failure so far. Martin Havlat left the Chicago Blackhawks to sign with the Minnesota Wild. He signed a five year contract worth $30 million. He was intended as a replacement for NHL goal scoring leader Marian Gaborik, who had jumped to the New York Rangers, but it has not worked out that way.

They make their case with stats on the main post, so go read it. It's short, check it out. Just keep these two things in mind while reading. Martin Skoula has 3 Goals and 5 Assists in 21 games. Kurtis Foster has 3 Goals and 3 Assists in 18 games. Havlat has 2 Goals and 9 Assists in 22 games. So, Havlat is on par, production wise, with Skoula. And only slightly better than Foster.

That fact that Havlat is a candidate for worst signing would be a difficult point to argue. Havlat is clearly a disappointment here in Minnesota. Gaborik is ripping apart the East, as even the largest skeptic (me) would have predicted. Lats, Ebbett, and Kobasew have made a much larger impression on this team than Havlat has, and they have far less expectation.

Can anyone think of another free agent signing, across the entire league, that has been a bigger flop than this one thus far? For the sake of our own sanity... anyone? Please?

Mike Komisarek as KiPA suggested over at Hitting the Post (look at Montreal)? Khabibulin in Edmonton as KiPA suggests in another post? Those two are pretty bad. I don't think Brian Burke brought in Komisarek thinking he was going to save the team or be the team leader in points, as was expected for Havlat for the Wild.

Khabibulin is an interesting thought, as their entire season plan hinged on him, and he has now been hurt and completely unhelpful even when healthy. Goaltenders also take more than their fair share of the blame when a team struggles, though, so maybe the Oilers just aren't all that good (says the guy writing about the team in last place in the division).

So, anyone have any other suggestions? Worst free agent signing thus far?

-Buddha

NHL players on Twitter

James Mirtle — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:14:00 -0000

More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP

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I've been meaning to write something on NHLers and Twitter for a few weeks now, an article that finally came together this weekend for The Globe. For whatever reason, hockey players are miles behind some of the stars in other sports when it comes to social networking, but there have been some gains the past few months and it looks like that's something we'll continue to see.

Leading the way on that front has been agent Allan Walsh, who has started many of his clients — including Martin Havlat, Patrik Elias and David Perron — on Twitter.

Perron, the 21-year-old winger from the Blues, is the player I focused on because he's easily been one of the most prolific players on there, answering hundreds of questions from fans since the season started. Here's a Q&A I did with him last week.

And, finally, here's the list of NHL players and personnel I came up with. If there are others I missed, let me know:

NHLers on Twitter: Colby Armstrong, Dan Boyle, Donald Brashear, Mike Commodore, Riley Cote, Patrik Elias, Dan Ellis, Eric Fehr, Bruno Gervais, Mike Green, Martin Havlat, Alex Ovechkin, David Perron, Alexander Steen, Steve Sullivan, Maxime Talbot, Brad Winchester, Brendan Witt

Retired players on Twitter: Matt Barnaby, Valeri Bure, Tom Chorske, Wendel Clark, Tie Domi, Bret Hedican, Kelly Hrudey, Trevor Linden, Troy Murray, Mark Smith, Bryan Trottier, Kevin Weekes

NHL staff on Twitter: Gary Bettman, Mike DiLorenzo

Agents on Twitter: Jay Grossman, Ben Hankinson, Chris McAlpine, Allan Walsh

Minnesota Wild @ Nashville Predators: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:29:52 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

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Minnesota Wild 5-3 Nashville Predators

Fifteen goals in three games. First time in franchise history they have scored five or more goals in three consecutive games. Points in seven straight games. Five straight wins. 10-3-3 in their last 16. One might say it looks like this team is getting the system, working hard to get back into games, opening up the offense and turning things around. Granted, it could all come crashing down around them, but many experts figured it would take until December for the team to really get comfortable in the system, and lord knows the injuries haven't helped things at all. But, all that said, things are looking awfully good for the Wild at the moment.

Tonight's win was fantastic to witness because it didn't require the efforts of one line carrying the team. They didn't need an unhuman effort by their goaltender. They weren't scraping to get back into the game. Heck, they scored five goals, and didn't even get a multi-goal game from anyone. It was 5-1 before things got sloppy for the Wild halfway through the third period, and at that point, everyone was even or better on the +/-. Minnesota amassed 39 shots on goal, had points from 10 different guys and, on the second night of a back to back, were able to give breaks to some of the guys who had heavy workloads on Friday against Anaheim.

Martin Havlat finally had his first multi-point game since October 6, and did so by working hard and making great passes down low. Antti Miettinen scored on a pretty powerplay goal, and now has six goals in his last six games. James Sheppard finally notched his first goal of the season, and Derek Boogaard even got an assist on a fantastic breakout pass to Martin Havlat, who then fed Andrew Ebbett (who has been a wonderful acquisition).

Tonight was the kind of game the Wild fanbase has been expecting and waiting for all season. Minnesota skated hard, forechecked aggressively, forced the opposition to make mistakes in their own end, found the open man and peppered the net. If this is the new system, I'll take it.

Please read the game recap over at On the Forecheck

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Andrew Brunette (1 G, 1 A)
Martin Havlat (2 A)
James Sheppard (1 G)

Questions to Answer

Can the Wild get points in their 7th straight? Indeed they did. Wild are now over .500!
Something tells me being at home will cause Jordin Tootoo's chest to puff out and he'll try to pull his crap again. Will I be seen as the prescient one? I guess I'm really confused, but Tootoo behaved again.
With five goals in his last five games, can Antti Miettinen continue to put goals on the board? Six goals in six games. Not half bad.
Does playing 30 minutes last night affect Zidlicky and Zanon? Zanon got sloppy late in the game, giving up two goals and ended up a -2, but got a nice break only having 18:58 TOI and Zidlicky went back to his typical 22:34.
Are we in store for another Nashville vs. Minnesota shootout (not the game deciding kind)? It shouldn't have been. Wild were dominant, but got sloppy after the game was in hand.