Game Twenty-Three: Wild 5, Avalanche 6

The Minnesota Wild finished November with a resounding 6-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. While the Wild brought their offensive game back with them, they apparently left the defensive side in the Music City, as they lost a high-scoring game to the Colorado Avalanche 6-5.

If it wasn't for the power play, the Wild would have been out of this game sooner. While they held leads of 1-0 and later 3-2, it was the power play that kept the team in it. Well, the power play, and the horrendous play of Peter Budaj, who allowed five goals in just 17 shots.

That's not to say that Niklas Backstrom did much better, giving up 6 goals in 26 shots. The difference? The Wild goaltender had little to no support from a defense that is often one of the best in the league, and had been playing fairly strongly as of late. Budaj had the benefit of a Colorado defense that stepped in and blocked shots, turned the puck away, and simply held the Wild out of their zone for long enough to secure the victory.

Of course, the way that the game was going, both up and down the ice, it wasn't a surprise that the Wild wished for two extra seconds on the clock at the end. If those seconds had existed, Benoit Pouliot would have tied the game at 6, and forced overtime. In all honesty, the Wild didn't play a game that deserved to have that chance.

Game pluses:
- Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Bouchard notched two goals and an assist, to help hold the Wild in it.
- Mikko Koivu. Koivu also had three points, one goal and two assists, in his first game without the captain "C" on his sweater.
- Brent Burns. Burns played with grit and intensity, something that much of the Wild seemed to be missing. He scored the goal that pulled the Wild within one with six minutes remaining.

Game minuses:
- The defense. The entire defensive corps was horrible. The best of the blue liners for the night was Martin Skoula, who only had one glaring error (as opposed to three or four for most of the rest). Again, it seems like it might be time to move Burns back to where he belongs.
- Kim Johnsson. Johnsson gets special attention, as the normally solid player looked like he had no idea what to do on the ice. In his first game as the captain, he found himself with a +/- rating of -3. Quite a difference in captains.
- Outlet pass. There were other problems throughout the game, but one thing we noticed was that the Wild kept trying the long outlet pass. Colorado allowed one to sneak through, which was too far for Antti Miettinen. Other than that, the Avalanche stopped each attempt the Wild made, and yet they kept going to the well.

Next up: The Wild tries to get its defense back on track while maintaining its offense on Wednesday, as they face off against the 10-10-2 St. Louis Blues. Any bets on Clutterbuck being back in the line-up?