Wild mount furious comeback against Oilers

Nearing the end of the second period with the team down 4-1 Saturday night, the fans at the Xcel Energy Center were so quiet that they could have heard a stick drop on the ice. Luckily for the fans, the Wild had other ideas about the remainder of the game. Wild Center Eric Belanger looked down the bench at his teammates and one thought popped into his mind: We can still win this game.

"We just knew, you know?" said Belanger after the game. "We just knew we were going to win this game."

It took the Wild nearly 10 minutes to get themselves back into the game after being down 4-1, but on this night, the Wild knew it was their game to take. With just over 2 minutes left in the second frame, Brian Rolston fired home a wrist shot to cut the Edmonton lead in half. Going into the locker room, the team felt as though it had a great chance to get themselves back into this game. Wild coach Jacques Lemaire was relieved the Wild were able to get a goal to close out the second period.

"Four to one would have been tougher than 4-2," Lemaire said. "The way we were playing, that's what we were hoping for, a goal at the end of the second."

It took the Wild less than 5 minutes into the third period to get them within a goal. Mark Parrish placed a perfect pass right to the stick of Marian Gaborik who shot it home past Edmonton goalie Dwayne Roloson just 4:44 into the third period. From there, the Wild just settled back and waited for their chances. After giving up double-digit shots in each of the first two periods, the Wild gave up only 6 in the third, limiting the Oilers scoring chances with much-improved defense from guys like Sean Hill and Petteri Nummelin. After spending most of the third period in the Edmonton zone, the Wild finally cashed in again to tie the game at 4 exactly 10 minutes after their third goal. Brent Burns took control of a Pierre-Marc Bouchard rebound and poked it home for his career-high 8th goal of the season. From there, the Wild tried to end the game before it got to overtime, but were unsuccessful. The Wild knew that they had the Oilers on the ropes, and they weren't about to let it slip away.

The Wild got started right away in overtime when Gaborik took the puck and split the defense on his way to the goal. Edmonton defensemen Steve Staios, realizing that there is no way they could catch up to Gaborik, did the smart thing and hooked Gaborik to give his team a chance to kill off a penalty. Unfortunately for the Oilers, the Wild were not going to let this game get away. The Wild quickly took control of the puck and moved it around the Edmonton zone. After about a minute of passing, Rolston found the puck and slid it over to Bouchard, who in turn flung the puck out to Nummelin who then took a wicked snap shot to send the Wild out with a bang. It was the first time in franchise history the Wild had come back from a 3 goal deficit in the Xcel Energy Center, and only the second time they had done it in any venue.



OK, so I wrote that trying to be fairly nice to the Wild when re-capping that game. The truth is though, it was a horrible game, aside from the fact that they won. I'll admit it was a hard-fought game and a great comeback, but the way the Wild played in the first two periods, there was no way they deserved to win that game. The Wild should be counting their lucky stars after this game in which they gave up two short-handed goals (which had never been done against the Wild), played absolutely awful defense, and only managed 7 shots on net in the second period. I refer to the Wild's defense as "absolutely awful" simply because I could not find any other words to express how dismal they really are. There is not one defensemen right now that is playing anywhere near where they need to be. Brent Burns is letting guys get behind him, Sean Hill is making terrible mistakes with the puck, and Martin Skoula...is Martin Skoula. I truly and honestly do not know why on earth Lemaire feels the need to put Skoula into the game. He can't hit, he can't block a shot, he can't stick-handle, and he can't skate. It's honestly like watching a guy that's been skating for maybe a couple months, and this guy is playing in the NHL, logging more than 20 minutes a game. Everybody on the defense needs to be more aggressive in order to cut down the opponents scoring chances. Now I'm not going to pretend like I know what is best for the team, I trust Lemaire and I trust the rest of the coaching staff, but after watching the Wild every year since their inception, I can tell what is and what isn't working with this team. When the puck is in the neutral zone and our defensemen is 10 feet away from the puck, and the opponents forward is 15 feet away from the puck, why would we let the other team take the puck and skate it into our zone? The idea just seems ludicrous to me, yet I see it every game. If we don't have our defense go after that puck, the other team is going to get it, do a little dance around our defensemen, and shoot and score. If we go after that puck, at the very least we can disrupt the play they are trying to set up and maybe get possession of the puck again. It seems so easy yet so hard when watching this club struggle. And yes, even with this recent comeback win, I am still calling the Wild a struggling team.

Mark Parrish is finally doing what he was brought in here to do last year: stay in front of the net, and don't move for any reason. We have four other guys that are there to back him up. If we can keep possession of the puck, Parrish has to be the one to stay in front of the net to screen the goalie, as well as be there to pick up any rebounds. And when Parrish isn't out on the ice, somebody else has to step-up and do the same thing. Aaron Voros, the one good constant on this team since he was called up, has been doing that, and it has paid off dearly for him. Voros, playing in only his 23rd game of the season last night, has recorded 7 goals and 6 assists this year. That's more goals than Pierre-Marc Bouchard who has 6 goals in 38 games this year. The Wild have so many things to work on if they want to become a top contender in this league. It is easy to see what makes a team dominant in today's NHL. Look at the Detroit Red Wings: The ultimate passing team that isn't afraid to get pushed around in front of the net. Their finesse style of play may not be able to be matched by the Wild, but there are plenty of aspects of the Red Wings game that the Wild can try to mimic and become a better team with. It's the same thing with the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks play a brand of hockey that virtually no one else can copy: They have the perfect mix of hard-nosed players to go along with skill players and they have one of the best goaltenders in the league. I'm not in favor of the Wild taking a page out of the Canucks dirty plays book, but there are definitely many parts of Vancouver's play that the Wild need to look at if they want to become a top contender in the West.

Again I bring up the point of the Wild not having their top center, Mikko Koivu. But the way they are struggling right now, offense is not my main worry. Eventually Koivu will make his way back into the lineup, lines will get shifted back to the way they were, and the scoring will come easier. It is the defense that worries me right now, and it is the defense that should be worrying the coaching staff of the Wild. The Wild have plenty of top-tier defenders in Brent Burns, Nick Schultz, and Petteri Nummelin, but none of them are playing up to their potential, or even anywhere near their potential. There are no trade possibilities for the Wild, nor do they have any solid defensive prospects down in Houston. That leaves the only option for the Wild on the guys that are carrying the load now. They need to be more aggressive when dealing with the puck, and they need to start taking more shots and getting the puck at the net. If they don't start doing that soon, they could very well fall out of the top 8 in the conference.