Wild @ Blues GDT 1/14

Blues set to host red-hot Wild
Mike G. Morreale - NHL.com Staff Writer

Stats

47 GP 45
24 W 19
20 L 19
3 OT 7
51 P 45
0.543 P% 0.500
2.70 G/G 2.56
2.89 GA/G 2.84
16.8 PP% 15.9
82.2 PK% 85.9
28.6 S/G 28.8
28.1 SA/G 30.3
53.3 FO% 49.4
Date Vis/Home Final
Dec 26, 2009 STL@MIN MIN, 4 - 3
Oct 23, 2009 MIN@STL STL, 3 - 1
WILD (24-20-3) at BLUES (19-19-7)

Last 10: Minnesota 6-4-0; St. Louis 3-5-2.

Season Series: This will be the third of four meetings between the clubs. They have split the season series so far. The Wild scored a victory in the most recent contest on Dec. 26 -- a 4-3 victory on a pair of goals by Guillaume Latendresse. The Blues scored a 3-1 victory at Scottrade Center on Oct. 23.

Big Story: Blues forward Paul Kariya returned to the lineup on Tuesday in a 4-1 victory over Columbus after missing the previous six games with a mild concussion -- his first head injury in 12 years. Kariya, who has 8 goals and 19 points in 39 games this season, had been skating with the team since last week. Kariya was given 15:38 of ice time and finished with a plus-1 rating in his return on a line with center Jay McClement and B.J. Crombeen. He left late in the first period of a Dec. 27 game against the Sabres after being hit with an elbow in a 5-3 loss.

"You never know (how long recovery will take), so it was day-to-day throughout," Kariya said. "Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes it doesn't. (You have to get better) neurologically and physically, and the physical took a little bit longer. But I feel good now and I'm looking forward to playing."

Team Scope:

Wild: Goalie Niklas Backstrom set a franchise record on Tuesday in a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at the Xcel Energy Center. The win victory allowed Backstrom to pass Manny Fernandez for the most wins in franchise history. Backstrom earned his 114th win in his 209th game. It took Fernandez 260 games to reach 113.

"It's more about the two points," Backstrom said when asked about the milestone win.

Blues: Davis Payne has a record of 2-2-1 since taking over the reigns as coach on Jan. 2. His first victory came on Saturday in a 4-3 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings, which enabled the Blues to snap a seven-game losing streak.

"There are special wins along the way, and (Saturday's win against the Kings), no question, is one of them," Payne said. "It's the thrill of a lifetime, and one I'll remember for quite some time. These guys battled hard, stuck to the game plan and did everything we asked of them. We were able to build enough of a cushion to get it done."

Who's Hot: Wild left wing Guillaume Latendresse scored two goals against the Penguins on Monday to give him 11 this season and nine since being traded to Minnesota from Montreal in November.

Injury Report: For the Wild, defenseman Clayton Stoner (groin) is day-to-day and forward Chuck Kobasew (sprained ACL) is out indefinitely. The Blues will be without forwards D.J. King (hand) and Andy McDonald (lower body).

Stat Pack: The Wild have allowed the first goal in 20 of their last 28 games. Still, the team is 12-16-2 when allowing the game's first goal -- no other NHL team has more than 11 wins in that situation. The Wild have trailed in 14 of their 24 wins this season.

Puck Drop: The Blues have lost five of their last six at Scottrade Center and are an NHL-worst 7-14-3 on home ice. The team sits a disappointing 13th in the Western Conference -- 8 points behind eighth-seeded Los Angeles. The Wild sit two points behind the Kings in 10th place.

----I think I might go to the game. Not sure right now. I wanna predict a Blues win, but they are the hardest team to guess things for. Sigh...Blues win 4-3 in SO

What do you mean you'll think about going to the game! WTF, you will only get to see the Wild twice a year now! If you go I will be on the glass behind the Wild bench in either a white Koivu or a Brunette 3rd. I'll have a red or gray beanie cap on.

Well, I'm planning on making my trip up to MN in March against STL.

And myself and the other admin we all know and love will be going to the game next Saturday against the Ducks. Trying to save money until then.

But, I have nothing else going on tonight. We'll see how it goes. I'll make a decision by this afternoon.

7 days till STL!!!!!!

beer....
hockey.....
shenanigans!


Wild will be buzzing after last nights win and might be a bit sore from all the ASS KICKING. Could be a close one with MN pulling it out 3-2

Dude, you need to head across the river!!

I think I'm gonna go tonight solo. GUY'S NIGHT OUT! haha.

I'll probably just buy a cheap seat up top.

atta boy!!!

Woooooooooooooooooo go Wild! Hope we keep it goin and keep our legs with all these games we've been having...hope you guys have a good time at the game.

Woohooo...Just got my jerseys signed by Koivu and Bruno and a hat signed by a few others.

Johnsson and Bruno were way cool. We were the only Wild fans there, the rest of the people were a bunch of D & D nerds with tons of shit to sign and try and sell on Ebay. They kept on asking me who the players were when they came out of the hotel.
Clutterbuck was pissed and walked by and straight into the bus and then he came back out and signed a few things. Shultz was cool but kept on staring at my wife's boobs. lol

What a bunch of losers (the autograph guys)...

Oh well, I'm leaving the homestead now. Viva St. Louis! I'll be in a Blues jersey as I can't bring myself to wear a Wild jersey.

Lets go Who cares!

*Polite golf clap*

zip-zip after 1...

Wild were outshot 18-4 in the 1st... doesn't sound too promising.

Yeah not a whole lot of offensive zone possession that's for sure...maybe we just needed to get our legs...we will see.

Regardless...St. Louis didn't have a huge number of chances either...plenty of shots from non scoring areas.

From the looks of it, they aren't fairing much better yet... half way through the period, Blues have 24 shots to the Wild's 6.

Zippo at the end of 2... Blues outshooting the wild 28-9.

26 seconds into the 3rd... the Blues score. Oshie with the goal...

TaLoN wrote:

26 seconds into the 3rd... the Blues win. Oshie with the goal...

What a lazy game by the Wild.

Bad Zidlicky. Bad Havlat. Everyone looked absolutely GASSED except for Latz and Brodz.

Bleh.

Don't look now, but March is horrible for back to backs on the road on Weds/Thurs.

Just got in from the game.

I don't know how to feel about the game as a Blues fan. Glad they won obviously, but they looked almost as sloppy as the Wild did. Sure, the shots were much greater, but most were just lackluster shots thrown at the net. They missed so many good opportunities.

The Wild looked extremely tired. I'm not a big fan of the "back to back on the road" excuse but it sure looked like their butts were dragging.

I fell asleep during the first period and made the mistake of waking up. Saw Quisp and wife in the 40 something Blonde seats behind the Wild bench looking bored to death. I would've been too.

Wild In-Game and Post-Game report vs. Blues


The State of Hockey News
An objective and balanced view of Minnesota Hockey

Not enough shots, not enough offense in 1-0 road loss to the St. Louis Blues

Last year the St. Louis Blues were the NHL’s ‘Cinderella story’ where around this point last season they were mired near the bottom of the league’s standings and then had an incredible 2nd half surge to qualify for the playoffs. The ‘dream’ was shattered quickly after they were swept in the first round by the Vancouver Canucks. Yet the story of the Blues has been an inspirational one for any team feeling down and out in the standings and been sort of a mantra of what hard work and determination could possibly yield you. Minnesota has been doing its best as of late to become this season’s ‘Cinderella story’ but the climb up the standings has been a painfully slow process yet the light seems amazingly close as the Wild stand just 2 points behind 8th place Los Angeles. (how big do those three losses against the Kings look now?)

Minnesota is coming off an outstanding 4-game homestand where they earned 4 wins against Calgary, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Vancouver respectively. Yet there is no time for complacency as the busy schedule continues and the Wild start a 3-game road trip. First stop is against last year’s “Cinderella” who have been more rags than riches as they sit in 13th place and mired in mediocrity that cost former Shattuck-St.Mary’s bench boss Andy Murray his job. The Blues traditionally play the Wild real tough and no doubt they’ll be determined to make Minnesota’s good feelings turn a bit sour, but can Minnesota keep the good times rollin’? (click on the link for the rest of the article)

In-game and post-game report as well as a Houston Aeros report and a section on Boys High School Hockey...Enjoy! Hopefully their effort improves Saturday.

If they play like this for the rest of the year we'd end up in the lottery!

I was surprised to see Sheppard show a little flare dropping his gloves and getting in Backes' face in the 3rd, 10 minute misconducts don't really hurt(for 4th line forwards) and at least it showed something. Clutterbuck wasn't hitting like usual, they should confirm there are no ill-effects from the Gonchar hit.

The entire team wasn't playing well the entire game. They looked absolutely wasted from the night before...

One question that I have is about our strength and conditioning coaches...

If our players can't put together a decent 2nd game on a back to back, are they doing their jobs well?

I mean, come on... This is the third time this season that the Wild just looked GASSED in the second night of a back to back. Other teams don't look that bad when it's stated that they are on a back to back.

Sheesh. If we suck that hard like this in March, we're fucked.

I was skimming through the game from the TV broadcast and they were mentioning how the Wild are "an older team". I know Zanon and Koivu are getting up there, but the rest of the team? That seemed like a shitty excuse.

Kwright315 wrote:

I was skimming through the game from the TV broadcast and they were mentioning how the Wild are "an older team". I know Zanon and Koivu are getting up there, but the rest of the team? That seemed like a shitty excuse.

You realize Koivu is only 27yrso right?

I think they are talking about guys like Bruno, Nolan, Belanger, Hnidy, Johnsson and Zidlicky who all range anywhere from 32-37yrso.

Not Koivu or Zanon who are both under 30.

I thought Zanon was older than that. Shit, I was watching him in Milwaukee for the last couple years. They mentioned his name on the broadcast. Apparently Darren Pang is as retarded as me.
And I don't know what the hell I was thinking with Koivu. Maybe I had Saku on my mind while writing that.

Post fail.