“Well you’re a real tough cookie with a long history, Of breaking little hearts, like the one in me, That’s O.K., lets see how you do it, Put up your dukes, let’s get down to it! Hit Me With Your Best Shot! Why Don’t You Hit Me With Your Best Shot! Hit Me With Your Best Shot! Fire Away!” are the recognizable lyrics to the Pat Benatar song Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Games between the Minnesota Wild and the Anaheim Ducks have always been a little feisty. To the sort of infamous feud between Derek Boogaard and whoever was willing on the Ducks to drop the gloves against him whether it was now-retired players in Kip Brennan and Brad May or current NHL’ers like Shane O’Brien, Trevor Gillies, the mustached George Parros and the legendary orbital bone shattering crunch he dished out to Todd Fedoruk. This feistiness seemed to spill over into players lesser known for their fighting prowess, like Brent Burns beating down Chris Kunitz after the Duck pulled the former Wild defenseman’s hair as the two wrestled near the boards, and who could forget May’s sucker punch to Kim Johnsson? The Ducks have twice eliminated the Wild from the playoffs; first in 2003 during the Western Conference Finals and again in 200 and maybe that’s what brings out the State of Hockey’s pugilistic side. Either way, both clubs have a history and it continues as Brad Staubitz fought Parros last season and I have little doubt it will continue.
One player who is probably tired of being hit with their best shot is Wild captain Mikko Koivu. Koivu was injured by the skate of Dany Heatley last week Thursday who inadvertently caught the Turku-native right underneath the chin requiring him to get quite a few stitches. By the YouTube clip above you can see that in all honesty Koivu was pretty lucky that it was only his chin that was sliced by the blade as opposed to his neck where he could be in a dubious list of skate on neck incidents joining Richard Zednik and the most awful one perhaps in sports history in Clint Malarchuk. Koivu’s new ‘zipper’ certainly could be annoying, but earlier this week at practice, Koivu took a hit from Staubitz that re-opened the stitches sending the Wild captain into a bit of a tantrum as he left the ice to go have them redone. Ouch! Koivu would get patched back up and should be playing tonight, but it will be interesting to see if the Ducks; a team that seems to love to play very physical against the Wild will do their best to try to re-open that wound once again. Will the Wild hit the Ducks with their best shot or will Minnesota be crying foul when its all said and done?
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1st Period Thoughts: Minnesota started off slowly, as if trying to find its pace and rhythm through its first few shifts. The Ducks too were looking a bit cautious, before settling down and asserting their superior skill on their top line. Defensively the Wild tried to be physical, as Justin Falk was throwing hip checks to Corey Perry every time Ryan Getzlaf tried to dump the puck to the corner. It did a fair job at neutralizing Perry, but you could just sense that it was a matter of time before they broke out and got the best of the Wild. More on that later. Minnesota’s top line of Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley and newest addition Cal Clutterbuck had a bit more jump in their skates but the line still didn’t seem to have enough speed to win the races to the loose pucks and when they did try to carry it in the Ducks were physical and more than able to mitigate Minnesota’s attack by taking the body. Mikko Koivu got completely dominated physically by his older (and much smaller) brother Saku Koivu who not only bodied Mikko out of the play but he managed to take the puck from him and start the counter attack as well. Minnesota continues to struggle at establishing free space and when they do they are still guilty of holding onto the puck too long, allowing the defense to recover and contest the shot. Colton Gillies was moving pretty well and he bailed out his defense on the back check by stealing a pass intended for Brandon McMillan who looked to be wide open in the slot. Darroll Powe would take a foolish and lazy holding penalty when he grabbed George Parros while in the offensive zone giving Anaheim its first power play. The Ducks struggled initially to get much going on the power play and the ice quality seemed to be suspect as the puck was bouncing quite a bit and those bounces would come back to haunt the Wild on the man advantage. On a faceoff in the zone, Teemu Selanne sort of swatted at the puck which bounced and spun towards the goal where it was redirected by Ryan Getzlaf who threaded a pass through the legs of Nick Schultz to a wide open Corey Perry waiting on the backdoor for an easy goal that Niklas Backstrom had no chance on. With the Wild now trailing 1-0, they tried to be a bit more assertive offensively but Minnesota wasn’t able to get much going with either of its top two lines. The Wild would get a gift as Francois Beauchemin was tagged on a pretty weak interference call as Cal Clutterbuck played up being held up to draw the attention of the officials. On the man advantage the Wild moved the puck fairly well and were looking hungry and aggressive. Cal Clutterbuck had he first quality chance on the power play as he took a wrist shot off the rush that rang off the crossbar. A few moments later the Wild had another quality chance as Mikko Koivu was motoring around the offensive zone before he wound up and unleashed a slapper that was steered aside by Jonas Hiller. Minnesota would come up short but it was at least a little offense. The Wild would be pretty quiet for much of the rest of the period until the final minute where the 3rd line of Kyle Brodziak, Brett Bulmer and Nick Johnson had a great shift where their hustle created some space and some scoring chances as Bulmer set up Nick Schultz. Schultz couldn’t get much of a shot off as he was on his backhand side and instead he passed it to Brodziak who pulled the trigger on a shot from the slot that was stonewalled by Hiller. It was a milquetoast period as Minnesota seemed to lack hustle and initiative. The goal was a great example where a static defense stopped moving its feet and it gave Anaheim an easy opportunity to pounce on. Hopefully they play with a bit more purpose in the 2nd.
2nd Period Thoughts: The 2nd period saw the Wild take a few more chances and attempt to get some offense going by working the point shot and waiting for rebounds. Minnesota’s pressure would yield an early mistake by the Ducks who were tagged with a too many men penalty. On the power play the Wild moved the puck well in the corners but when it went out to the point, and especially out to Marek Zidlicky he would freeze and turn the puck over. In fact, the first power play yielded only a long range point shot by Justin Falk that was stopped by Hiller but his rebound was just out of reach of Heatley. Minnesota would get a bit sloppy and at times they resembled a pee wee team as they were bunched together near the puck and no one seemed to really want to shoot the puck and that would backfire big time. A failed 3-on-1 rush where Marek Zidlicky had all day in the slot only to attempt an ill-advised pass that Heatley couldn’t get a stick on, and instead he gathered it up off the boards and attempted a cross-ice pass that was stolen putting Minnesota on its heels. Marco Scandella was caught flat footed and Teemu Selanne demonstrated he still has plenty of wheels and he raced in and fired a shot that was stopped by Backstrom but the rebound sat near the crease where Bobby Ryan pounced on it for an easy goal, 2-0 Ducks. You could sense the Wild were pretty frustrated as were the fans who were starting to become a little indifferent to the play on the ice. Minnesota tried to rally back, as they continued to work the point shot and then crash the net and their persistence would pay off. Cal Clutterbuck also tried to spark his team by throwing his body around, dishing out hits as the top line gave Wild fans a glimpse of how stifling and effective when a properly executed Mike Yeo-style forecheck can be. Clutterbuck’s hits got underneath the skin of Bobby Ryan who tried to get into a shoving match with the Minnesota agitator near the Wild bench and the result was a 2 minute sit in the sin-bin for Ryan. Minnesota would take advantage on the power play and it was Pierre-Marc Bouchard with a point shot that was tipped by Devin Setoguchi which created a rebound that was fired home by a pinching Jared Spurgeon to cut the Ducks lead in half, 2-1. Minnesota renewed its attack, and the shots continued to pile up as the Wild had a great chance in the closing seconds as Mikko Koivu was denied by an excellent save by Hiller. While the 2nd goal was again a product of a lack of hustle, I like how the Wild rallied back and found ways to put more shots on goal and thus get back into the game.
3rd Period Thoughts: Minnesota tried to carry with them the momentum that served them so well late in the 2nd period. The Wild were buzzing early, flying around the ice trying to put Anaheim on their heels. Perhaps the Wild were a bit too excited, as Kyle Brodziak would be called for tripping up Luca Sbisa. The Ducks power play was again deadly efficient, working the puck to the half wall where they passed it just beneath the right faceoff circle to Teemu Selanne who made a perfect saucer pass over a sprawling Justin Falk for another easy backdoor goal on a gaping net that Backstrom again had no chance on. The Ducks goal would seem to deflate the sparse crowd and the team to a degree. You could sense the anxiety building steadily as they recognized the importance of each rush as Minnesota’s chances were fading fast. Finally a sort of weak tripping penalty on Bobby Ryan would give Minnesota that opportunity it sought. Minnesota’s power play moved the puck well, and it was Mikko Koivu firing a shot from the right faceoff dot that was redirected perfectly by Cullen to evade Hiller to cut the Ducks’ lead back to one, 3-2. With the arena buzzing again and the team flying around the ice a bit a comeback didn’t look that improbable with around 6 minutes left to play. Then the team put the nails in its own coffin as a costly delay of game penalty by Guillaume Latendresse in his own zone gave the Ducks a chance to kill two valuable minutes that could’ve been used in a Wild rally. The Ducks moved the puck well and again tried to set up the back door play but Minnesota got the big kill and it looked like the team would have an ok amount of time to mount a few attacks of their own. Again another penalty more or less stuck a fork in that chance as Matt Cullen was tagged with a tripping penalty as he got his stick into the skates of Bobby Ryan. Minnesota’s penalty kill was a bit more desperate this time, even attempting to mount a shorthanded rush that failed to click. The Wild had about 40 seconds left to mount a late desperate attack but was unable to create a real threatening scoring chance and they’d fall 3-2 to Anaheim.
Niklas Backstrom cannot really be blamed for this loss, even though he did give up 3 goals on just 16 shots. The goals he gave up were all back door plays where the Wild’s defense was guilty of over committing and dropping to the ice as the attempted to deny the cross-ice pass that Anaheim took full advantage of. Anaheim struck twice on the power play and that was more than enough to keep Minnesota at bey. A developing story will be what is wrong with Clayton Stoner who headed to the Wild’s locker room with a finger injury, which left Minnesota with just 5 defenseman for the rest of the game. If Stoner has to be out for a while that means we’ll see a call up from the Aeros, and if I had to guess the first guy called up would be Elk River’s Nate Prosser especially with Matt Lundin still on the shelf with a shoulder injury. A player who seemed to step up to the challenge was Justin Falk. I thought he looked fairly solid throughout most of the game; even showing some good physicality as he lowered the boom on Teemu Selanne after he had coughed it up while trying to skate the puck out of the offensive zone. I thought Scandella was reasonable but Marek Zidlicky was again a complete travesty on the ice. His hesitation with the puck on the man advantage is not only counter productive but downright dangerous. Opposing teams are applying pressure while he has the puck at the point and he just gives it up or worse yet just passes it to the middle of the ice.
Offensively the Wild were a bit improved as they found a formula that was able to create some scoring chances; that being, shoot from the point and pounce on the rebounds. Mikko Koivu seemed to be playing with a purpose and while he didn’t get a goal his effort certainly made him deserving of one. Yet that was the most fire we’ve seen out of the Wild captain all year. Yet, once again he is goal less in 8 games. Like it or not, at $6.75 million per season he needs to be scoring at a better rate than that. Even Eric Nystrom, playing for the Dallas Stars has a goal this season and we saw how often he found the back of the net last year. Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Michael Russo even tried to ask a question about Koivu’s goal struggles but was chased off that subject. It was good to see the Wild light the lamp twice on the power play which broke an 0-for-20 streak, but again it was too little, too late.
Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo tried to sell a moral victory while talking about “deserving a victory” where he felt Minnesota was better than the Ducks. He did note he felt the club, “We need a bit more belief, we don’t have that feeling on the bench that its going to come, because when you have that its amazing how a guy finds a way to make a play.” I am not going to dispute that, I’ve been around both winning and losing teams and winners seem to create ‘luck’ while losing clubs seem to create ‘bad luck.’ Yeo gave Mikko Koivu lots of credit for his work ethic and ability to generate offense.
While I thought the Wild played ok in this game, it still needs to learn how to start the game with more energy as well as learning how finish. Sure its 8 games in, but the Wild only has one win in regulation to its credit. The team has some serious work to do and while Yeo has admitted as much I think most Wild fans expected the club to be performing better than it has. Another intangible that seems to be causing the Wild some significant issues is the team’s lack of speed; especially in its top line. How many times did we watch the 1st line being totally unable to escape the opposing defense because they’re simply too slow to outskate them. Andrew Cogliano was a thorn in the Wild’s side all night, and it all comes down to speed. That has been an issue for Minnesota for years and I think the team would be well-served to address it. I hope the club recognizes that fact because its killing them.
Wild Notes:
~ The Wild roster was: Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, Matt Cullen, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Cal Clutterbuck, Guillaume Latendresse, Brett Bulmer, Colton Gillies, Kyle Brodziak, Darroll Powe, Nick Johnson, Marek Zidlicky, Clayton Stoner, Justin Falk, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella and Nick Schultz. Josh Harding backed up Niklas Backstrom. Greg Zanon (lower body), Brad Staubitz and Matt Kassian are the scratches.
~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by the fans were: 1st Star Teemu Selanne, 2nd Star Marco Scandella, 3rd Star Pierre-Marc Bouchard
~ The State of Hockey News would like to send our deepest condolences to the family of NHL official Gordy Lee who had worked at the Xcel Energy Center the last 11 years. He had been an on-ice official for many years, even reffing in the infamous 1972 Summit Series in Canada. Gordy Lee seemed to be in reasonable health until after their Oct. 15th game against the Detroit Red Wings where he had a heart attack. He was 79 years old.
~ Attendance at Xcel Energy Center this evening was 15,723.
Wild Prospect Report:
~ D – Colton Jobke (Regina, WHL) – Jobke was traded from a team known for its defensive prowess in Kelowna to a team with some serious defensive holes in Regina. So far the Delta, British Columbia-native is off to a strong start in his overage season posting 3 goals and 5 points in 13 games. That may not sound like big numbers, but for a defensive-minded defenseman he has already scored more goals than he has in either of his previous two seasons and he’s only 5 points away from his career high of 10 points he had last year with the Rockets.
~ D – Josh Caron (Kamloops, WHL) – Caron earned praise from the Wild for his willingness to stick up for his teammates while as a tryout at the team’s prospect camp a year ago. The 6’4″, 212lbs left shooting defenseman is again showing toughness and physicality is his calling card as he has no goals, 3 assists and 40 penalty minutes in 13 games but before you say he’s just a goon he’s also been a +6 as well.
~ C – Zack Phillips (Saint John, QMJHL) – Phillips continues his scorching start to the 2011-12 season by registering nearly 2 points per game. With 8 goals and 19 points in 12 games, Phillips is on pace to eclipse his 95-point effort from last season. The lesser told story is of Phillips prowess in faceoffs where he currently wins 52.9% (133/251) of his draws.
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