Writing this in the morning before I head to work, so lets just move to the games.
GAME 4: MINNESOTA 2, EDMONTON 1 (SHOOTOUT) -- (2-1-1)
Second straight shootout, and this time Backstrom was equal to the task. Much was made of Yeo giving Backstrom a pep talk before the shootout, and Wild fans were glad to see Backstrom bounce back from the rough shootout in Ottawa.
Ryan Smyth got the goal for Edmonton. He might be the player that I hate having my team play against the most. He's obviously a very good player, but man, when he scores it's so frustrating. Why can't they just get him out from in front of the net?
GAME 5: DETROIT 3, MINNESOTA 2 (OVERTIME) -- (2-1-2)
The Wild escaped with a point here. They were outshot and played the majority of the game in the defensive zone. They had a 2-0 lead with a minute to go in the second, but anyone watching knew it was only a matter of time until Detroit started coming back. It would have been wonderful to steal a win, but it's tough to be disappointed in this result.
As an example of why I'm cautiously optimistic about Mike Yeo as a head coach, read Russo's rundown of practice the day after this game. Maybe it's Russo putting a spin on things, but it seems like Yeo has a plan and he's doing a pretty good job executing it early in this season.
Colton Gillies does a nice job setting up Clutterbuck in this one (assuming the video embed works - it didn't, here's the video). Another nice forecheck leading to a Wild goal (I'm hoping that's a theme this season.
GAME 6: PITTSBURGH 4, MINNESOTA 2 -- (2-2-2)
The week concludes with a loss, and so for the second week the Wild go 1-1-1. They were outplayed in this one, the Penguins were all over them. The Wild generated some chances once they fell behind, but not enough to ever put the outcome in doubt.
I noticed Colton Gillies getting some power-play time, and the lines were starting to see some players switching in and out as the game went on. Interesting to see, and something to keep an eye on.
Standings:
| Northwest | Record | Points | Pts/Gm. |
| Colorado | 5-1-0 | 10 | 1.67 |
| Minnesota | 2-2-2 | 6 | 1.00 |
| Edmonton | 2-2-1 | 5 | 1.00 |
| Vancouver | 2-3-1 | 5 | 0.83 |
| Calgary | 2-3-0 | 4 | 0.80 |
Scoring:
| GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS | |||
| This Week | Season | This Week | Season | This Week | Season |
| Clutterbuck (2) Cullen (1) Latendresse (1) Zanon (1) |
Cullen (3) Clutterbuck (2) Setoguchi (2) Brodziak (1) Heatley (1) Johnson (1) Latendresse (1) Scandella (1) Zanon (1) |
Latendresse (2) Brodziak (1) Bulmer (1) Cullen (1) Gillies (1) Koivu (1) |
Latendresse (4) Koivu (3) Bouchard (2) Bulmer (2) Heatley (2) |
Latendresse (3) Clutterbuck (2) Cullen (2) Brodziak (1) Bulmer (1) Gillies (1) Koivu (1) Zanon (1) |
Latendresse (5) Cullen (4) Heatley (3) Koivu (3) Bouchard (2) Brodziak (2) Bulmer (2) Clutterbuck (2) Setoguchi (2) |
Not a lot of points for the top line this week (and that led to not many goals overall, predictably). Latendresse seems to be finding his groove early though, so that's a positive.
Next week's schedule:
THURSDAY (8:30) - Edmonton (away)
SATURDAY (3:00) - Vancouver (away)
Yikes, Yeo not a fan of Todd Richards' work I guess.
Link