Game Ten: Wild 3, Coyotes 2

Not a whole lot that we can really say about this game, since it wasn't televised, and we weren't able to catch a flight to Phoenix to see it live. From the sounds of it, though, the Wild was able to grit out a tough one, made tougher with all of the injuries. For those that didn't know, Brent Burns was injured before the game even started, and Tomas Mojzis got hurt during the game, depleting an already short Wild team.

But don't tell that to Benoit Pouloit, Mikko Koivu, and Eric Belanger, as each scored to give the Wild the 3-2 victory, and improve the Wild to 7-2-1 on the season. It was a nice game for Koivu, as well, as he continued his captaincy into the month of November. If he keeps playing at the level that he has been, could the Wild finally be looking at their first season-long captain?

Again, we didn't see the game itself, so the pluses and minuses are shorter.
Game pluses:
- Playing through adversity. With Marian Gaborik and Owen Nolan sitting at home, the last thing the Wild wanted to see was Brent Burns out of uniform for the game. And yet they still found a way to grit it out over a physical Coyotes team.

Game minuses:
- Special teams. After having been so strong while short-handed, the Wild gave up a power play goal to a player that we were really hoping would end up in Minnesota, Olli Jokinen. They also gave up their first shorthanded goal of the year, again to Jokinen. We're not sure what's more frustrating, giving up the goals, or the fact that Jokinen spurned the Wild for the Coyotes.

Next up: Tuesday night against the Western Conference leading 10-2 San Jose Sharks. The banged-up Wild could easily have their work cut out for them.