Mental mistakes doom Wild in heartbreaking 4-2 loss to Columbus...

Wild vs. Blue Jackets

Mental mistakes torch Wild in heartbreaking 4-2 loss to Columbus

Written by Derek Felska
Thursday, 18 March 2010 15:40

Minnesota Wild's radio host and Wild.com message board hero Kevin Falness said it best after last night's 5-0 throttling at the hands of the Nashville Predators describing the game as a "3-hour root canal." Hard to argue with that, it was painful to watch an apathetic Wild squad go through the motions as Nashville clearly wanted it more than Minnesota did. As a fan and a coach the effort was as disgusting as it was unforgiveable. With the standings so tight the Wild needed to earn every point possible if it was to have even a glimmer of a chance and instead of battling hard and coming up short the team simply rolled over onto its back and fell asleep. The Wild put up a pittence of shots on goal, just 17 of them and even Wild Head Coach Todd Richards stated that only a few Wild players really brought any effort at all last night. In Richards' words "we had a few guys going and when these games mean so much it wasn't what I expected." Well Todd, it sure as heck wasn't what we (as fans) were expecting either. Why does it keep happening then? Have some players just given up; and are looking forward to their summer off? Either way, those are some uncomfortable questions that I doubt Richards or any of his assistant coaches or the team's upper management wishes to answer. It is always an anxious and disconcerting to know that part of your team has perhaps decided to call it a season already.

The loss also gave the St. Louis Blues to leapfrog the Wild in the standings and here is the present playoff picture in the Western Conference. Sorry if its getting repetitive but it certainly is relevant.

7. Nashville Predators - 85pts

8. Detroit Red Wings - 80pts

9. Calgary Flames - 79pts

10. St. Louis Blues -75pts

11. Minnesota Wild - 74pts

12. Dallas Stars - 73pts

13. Anaheim Ducks - 72pts

The Wild trail the 8th place Red Wings by just 6 points but it seems about as large as the Grand Canyon right now. The Wild are now facing a bitter Columbus Blue Jackets squad that feels as though it let its fanbase down by failing to qualify for the post-season after their first, albeit short trip after being swept by division rival Detroit in 4 games. Columbus has always played with a bit more vitriol against the Wild at home as their franchise is always inevitably compared to one another since they both entered the league in 2000. Blue Jackets Head Coach Claude Noel once had Todd Richards as his assistant (with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL) and Richards' himself gives Noel much of the credit for the coach who he is today. Without question Richards will want his team to perform well against his former mentor in a game that is crucially important to the Wild. Will it be a case of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Noel) defeating Darth Vader (Richards) or will the sly mentor out duel his former apprentice? (click on the link for the rest of the article)

Woo they suck!

too awful to make the playoffs too good to get a good draft pick thats minnesots sports for you