Game Six: Wild 2, Blue Jackets 1

So far this season for the Minnesota Wild, home is where the heart attack just might be. In three games at the Xcel, the Wild have decided to make it interesting. Against the Boston Bruins, the Wild took a three goal leading before hanging on for the one goal victory. When the Buffalo Sabres came to town, the Wild took a two goal lead into the final five minutes before losing the game in overtime. And Saturday night, against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Wild almost found a way to do it again.

The scoring didn't start until the last minute of the first period, with Pierre-Marc Bouchard banging home the puck for his first goal of the season. Then, after some very nice offensive play by both teams during the second, including long stretches where the defenses were pinned into their own zone, Owen Nolan scored his first goal as a member of the Wild eight minutes into the third, putting the Wild up 2-0. If anyone thought that the Wild didn't have butterflies from their loss to Buffalo still lingering, they were proven wrong when Rostislav Klesla floated a shot from the point past Niklas Backstrom. Suddenly, the Wild were staring at another one goal game, albeit from a team not as offensively gifted as the Sabres.

That's not to say that Columbus doesn't have players who can score, and, with 11.5 seconds remaining in the game, it looked like they had done just that. Christian Backman slapped a shot from the blue line, it floated, got tipped by Rick Nash, and found it's way into the net. The problem for Columbus? It certainly looked like the 6'4" Nash had his stick above the crossbeam of the goal, and the replay confirmed it. So, after making it look like they'd collapsed again, the Wild were able to escape the Xcel with a 2-1 victory. At 5-0-1, they're also the only Western team that hasn't been defeated in regulation.

Game plusses:
- Owen Nolan. Not only was it nice to see the veteran back in the line-up, but he was out creating chances. If it hadn't been for some great play by Leclaire and Norrena, he would have had more than one goal.
- Niklas Backstrom. Again, Backs was strong in net, making defensive mistakes null and void. Plus, he kept his strong play even after getting dumped behind his net.
- Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck is a force on the ice, throwing his body everywhere he can. The kid leads the team in hits, and is certainly looking like he's got a really good shot of staying in the bigs for awhile.

Game minuses:
- Brent Burns. We know that Jacques thinks that Burns has been playing great lately. Our problem? Burns hasn't been playing the strong defense that we need. A miscue in the Columbus game was only saved by Backstrom making an incredible stop.
- The "prevent" defense. The Wild have a tendency, especially at home, to pull back and play defense when they get a late lead. Against Buffalo, it blew up in their faces. Against Columbus, it almost happened again. Maybe it's time to adjust and keep attacking the opposing teams.
- Antti Miettinen and Andrew Brunette. These two were skating with the best player on the ice from either team, Mikko Koivu. And yet, too often, Koivu was the only one making plays. Both Antti and Andrew need to step up to where they were the first three games of the season.

Next up: Tonight at the Xcel, against the 3-2-3 Chicago Blackhawks.