2010 Wild Home Opener

            Let me start out by saying, what a great game! This was exactly what the Wild needed from coming off 2 loses in Helsinki versus the Hurricanes.  What better way to start at home where they are 8-0-1 in home openers but to go against the Edmonton Oilers who the Wild have beaten now 14 times in a row now at home. 

            First period started out with a lot of energy both the crowd and the Wild were ready to go. It was very physical starting out but where everyone was looking for a home opener fight I don’t think anyone wanted to start anything in case they had to fight Steve MacIntyer. MacIntyer knocked out Raitias Ivanans of the Flames on Oct. 9^th.  But as goes for a team that is really pumped to play the Wild got themselves into penalty trouble with 4 in the first period.  Cullen and Brunette both served 2 min each for questionable hooking calls, Zanon 2 min for crosschecking, and Brodziak 2 min for roughing. Despite the penalties the Wild penalty kill has been great starting out this year, so sitting in the box for 8 min was no problem.  The Oilers were unable to capitalize on the man advantage and the only penalty Edmonton committed in the first was Dustin Penner 2 min for hooking and Antti Miettinen put the puck home past Nikolai Khabibulin, assists by Andrew Brunette and Cam Barker.

            Biggest problem that I saw in the Carolina series in Helsinki was that the Wild would come out with a ton of energy in the first period and flat to start the second, and yet again came out flat.  Staring the second period they had to finish a penalty kill that carried over from the first period only to have Latendresse get called for a tripping minor 3 minutes in and the Oilers were able to finally get the puck past Backstrom for their first goal of the game tying it 1-1. Just under halfway into the second period the Wild were still unable to get anything going on either side of the puck and Tom Gilbert (native to Bloomington, MN) got the puck off the faceoff and slapped one over the left shoulder of Nicklas Backstrom to put them up 2-1. During this 14 game losing streak against the Wild at home the Oilers have only scored two goals once and have been outscored 50-18. 14 minutes into the second period the Wild got the break that they needed.  Magnus Paajarvi was called for a 2 min minor holding and Mikko Koivu put up the first of his two goals tonight assisted by Matt Cullen and Antti Miettinen. Shortly after that the Oilers went back into the box when Jim Vandermeer was called for Interferance and Koivu put in number two with the help of Andrew Brunette and Marek Zidliky ending the period up 3-2.

            Edmonton trying to get back into the game in the third was set back twice by former Wild defenseman and fan favorite Kutis Foster, for hooking 1 min into the third and holding the stick six minutes later. Matt Cullen was able to capitalize on the second Wild power play of the period when he sent a slap shot off Tom Gilbert and past Khabibulin assisted my Captain Koivu to put the Wild up 4-2 and leaving Edmonton in a cloud of dust. Although Edmonton pulled their goalie with 2 minutes left in the third period they were unable to put anything past Backstrom.

            Despite the 8 penalties that the Wild committed tonight they played a good game.  Most of their top player that need to put up numbers this season did with Cullen, Brunette, and Miettinen with 2 points each. Marek Zidlicky and Cam Barker both got one point and Captain Koivu with the big game put up 2 goals and had one assist. The one disappointment of the game I felt was in Martin Havlat. Havlat seem frustrated late in the game after being stoned by Khabibulin multiple times. The Wild need him to step up and be the game breaker that everyone knows that he can be. If the Wild expect to make a playoff push he needs to get on the board and create space for the rest of the team.

            The one very big bright spot for the Wild was on the power play and penalty kill. Going 4-6 on the power play and killing 6 out of 7 penalties will not happen every game but this will give the team something to build on and give them a big boost in confidence in upcoming games. The addition of Matt Cullen to the team and on the power play has been exactly what this team needs. Cullen has been able to create space for his teammates and make all the right decisions at point on the man advantage. So far this season the team is 7-15 on the power play, yet the team needs to be more aware of what is going on and not commit so many penalties.

            Overall this was yet another great home opener for the Wild showing the fans what this team is able to do. With the next 7 out of 9 games at home they need to put Helsinki behind them and continue the play how they did tonight. This is going to be a tight division this year and they will not be able to let off the gas one bit.  Realistically only 2 teams from the Northwest division will make the playoffs so they need to continue to play chippy and keep the momentum going in the later periods if they plan on playing in April. I understand that it is a long season but for the Wild the playoff push needs to happen all season long, losing games now will cost them at the end of the year.  Beating the Oilers tonight was big not only because it gave them the two points for the win but it gave them a win against a divisional opponent.