This is not a Whangdoodle though it serves the same purpose.
As they say, you can't win the Stanley Cup in November, but you can lose it. Minnesota seems to be hell-bent on avoiding that outcome. The Wild (11-5-3) currently have the best record in the Western Conference over the last 10 games (8-2-0) and are currently atop the Northwest Division, 5 points ahead of Edmonton and only 2 points behind Conference-leading Chicago. Here's how they got there:
Game 10: 10/29 - Det 0, Wild 1 - Dany Heatley scored in the 1st and Josh Harding held tight to post a shutout and get his first win in over a year.
Game 11: 11/1 - Wild 2, Det 1 - Mikko Koivu scored with 1 minute left in regulation to tie the game and Devin Setoguchi clinched it with an overtime power play goal. Harding was back in net and stopped 36 shots in the win.
Game 12: 11/3 - Van 1, Wild 5 - The Canucks scored first, but the Wild had a huge 2nd period with goals by Guillaume Latendresse, P-M Bouchard and Marco Scandella. They kept the pedal down in the 3rd (a significant difference from years past) when Matt Cullen added 2 more goals. Harding tallied his 3rd consecutive win.
Game 13: 11/5 - Stl 1, Wild 2 - Harding stopped 30 of 31 shots for his 4th win in a row while Minnesota had another nice 2nd period with goals by Heatley and Latendresse.
Game 14: 11/8 - Wild 3, Cgy 0 - Backstrom was back in net and showed that he hadn't developed any rust during Harding’s run. Nik faced 41 shots while posting a shutout against the Northwest Divisions current cellar dweller. The Wild got goals from Darroll Powe in the 1st, Heatley in the 2nd and Latendresse in the 3rd. Jarome Iginla picked a fight with Nick Johnson and then accused him of head-butting. The refs agreed and awarded Johnson a match penalty resulting in a 5-minute power play for the Flames. It was a ticky-tack call.
Game 15: 11/10 - Wild 1, SJS 3 - The Wild's first loss in nearly 2 weeks; the Sharks ended the win streak with a dominant 2nd period scoring 3 goals against Backstrom who fell to 1-6-1 in San Jose. Latendresse suffered a concussion and was sent back to MN.
Game 16: 11/12 - Wild 2, Kings 5 - Just down I-5 from San Jose, the Wild had an even worse 2nd period in LA. Down 1-0 after the 1st period, Harding was chased from the cage at 11:44 after surrendering 4 goals on just 21 shots. Backstrom was solid for the last 30 minutes and the Wild tallied 2 late goals, but this game was not a good one. The Wild lost another player to injury when Marco Scandella suffered a concussion after a hard check by Ethan Moreau.
Game 17: 11/13 - Wild 3, Ducks 2 - Playing like a team that didn't enjoy the a**-kicking from the night before, the Wild notched 3 goals in the 1st period by Cullen, Jared Spurgeon and Kyle Brodziak. Backstrom was fairly solid giving up goals in the 2nd and 3rd but preserving the win.
Game 18: 11/15 - Wild 4, CBJ 2 - To start the last game of a 5-game road trip, the Wild gave up a short-handed goal and a power play goal in the 1st period. Trailing 0-2 to begin the 2nd, the team came out hard and scored 4 unanswered goals during the remainder of the game. They got 2 in the 2nd from Cullen and Johnson and 2 more in 3rd from Clutterbuck and Setoguchi. Backstrom stopped 43 shots for the win - a season high. Marek Zidlicky was knocked out of the game midway through the 1st period and didn't return.
Game 19: 11/17 - Col 0, Wild 1 - Home after a long road trip, the Wild played a decent game and Setoguchi got the game winner (and only goal of the game) with 2:30 left in regulation. I mostly like the finesse and speed of well-coached and well-played hockey, but this hit was pretty damn sweet: Clutterbuck\'s hit
Heatley currently leads the team with 12 points
Latendresse holds the +/- lead at +7 with D-man Clayton Stoner a close 2nd at +6.
Harding has a GAA of 1.78 and a SV% of .948 in 6 games. Backstrom's record is 7-4-2 with 2 shoot-out losses.
Thanks for posting this.
Also of note, Wild are 27/30 in goals per game, and 1/30 in goals allowed (1.97!). Naturally then, Wild games are the lowest scoring games in the league. In Wild games, an average of 4.32 goals per game are scored. Flyers games see an average of 6.61.
Funny isn't it? The consensus "Glaring Weakness" (or significant Question mark) of this team in the preseason was going to be the play of it's young defensemen. Turns out, the blue line has been great but the offense has been almost non-existent. The first line only has 33 points - centered by Koivu who has only 1 goal thus far. That's the same as Antoine Vermette, centering the top line for the Blue Jackets (currently last place in the Western Conference). By comparison, the Blackhawks top line has 51 points and Toews has 10 goals.
On the flip side, think how nice it will be when Mikko starts finding the back of the net!
On the flip side, think how nice it will be when Mikko starts finding the back of the net!
nice call...he's got a shortie and a PP goal tonight
and a shootout goal!
Agree with Beau. Thanks for posting. DG mentioned that he didn't have time to post Whangdoodles. I feel bad that I didn't have time to comment on his Whangdoodles this year.
After the concussion, I've transferred my non-sexual man crush to Yeo. It's early, but I think Fletcher picked a good one, even if it doesn't appear that the coach speaks French.
FSN posted a graphic that the Wild have three of the top six rookies as far as TOI is concerned. I think what we've learned from the Wild and Gophs this year is that going with young D-men always works.
Don't look into your rearview mirror, Chicago!
Wow. Wasn't it just a week ago that I noticed the Wild were in a seven-way tie for fourth?
Looks like a nice little stretch there...