Game #11: Minnesota Wild at Detroit Red Wings, Tuesday November 1, 2011 at 6:30pm (CDT), Joe Louis Arena [GAME PREVIEW]

So it seems that the Wild to a degree followed Mike Yeo’s game plan Saturday night against Detroit.  Now I said “to a degree” because one half of the game plan was to get shots on goal.  Since they only achieved 20 shots on goal, they can do much more.  However, I shouldn’t be too hard on them, because as we all know, we’ve seen games where Minnesota has managed to accumulate even fewer shots on goal.  Clearly, they can do much better, but at this point I’ll take what we can get.

It seems that part of the reason for the improved play against Detroit is coming from a somewhat unlikely source.  On most teams, this unlikely source tends to be valuable asset.  However, when it comes to the Minnesota Wild, this source is either not as good as other teams or just not utilized correctly.  Now, I’m not talking about the fantastic play of goaltender Josh Harding (who will be starting again tonight) even though he was fantastic.  What I am talking about is the current “youth movement” on the Wild’s blueline of Marco Scandella, Jared Spurgeon, Justin Falk, and Nate Prosser.  Yes, recently I have decried the poor blueline play this year, but something just seemed to work Saturday night.  Some believe that it “worked” because the four all played considerable time together last year with the Houston Aeros, especially in their post-season run to the Calder Cup Finals under Coach Yeo.  One can only hope, that trend continues.

If you hadn’t heard by now, Wild prospect Brett Bulmer was sent back to his junior team, the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.  Clearly the Wild wanted to give him a little NHL experience, however without risking a year of a contract on that experience.  He had played in nine game this season, and had he played in one more, it would have counted as the first year of his three-year entry contract.  There was a good chance that he would have seen more time in the press box than on the ice, and that would have hampered his development.  It was decided that it would be best for that development to happen in juniors, where he will see lots of ice time in game situations, as opposed to occasional ice time in the National Hockey League.  It is to be hoped that his taste of life in the NHL will keep the fire inside of him burning for a return next season.

So now that I’ve given you serious, informative information, I hope you can forgive me this bit of pettiness (I am human after all).  I would love to just say how much it warmed my heart that I didn’t have to change the scoring stats for the Detroit Red Wings.  Now I would have loved to have made more changes to the Wild’s scoring stats than I could today, but being able to see NO chance to the Red Wings feels like some sort of perverse justice.  We’ve had games in the past against Detroit where it feels like they’ve eaten us alive.  I know that all of us would love a repeat of that, although it will be even harder at Joe Louis Arena.  Okay, end of pettiness.

At best, I’m wary of tonight’s game.  We’re coming off the high of not only a win against Detroit, but a shut-out win.  While I’m not holding out for another win, it is my hope that they keep it close, and play Saturday’s game plan.  If they manage to do that, I’ll be “okay” should they not win.  Of course, I’d much rather get the win. 

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