Games Fifty-one and Fifty-two

How many times have the Minnesota Wild tried to place the onus for winning completely on the shoulders of Mikko Koivu? How often have they decided that the only guy who needs to play a physical game is Cal Clutterbuck? And how many times, in the span of two games, can those yield such different results.

On Friday night, the Wild started out with a fast pace, flying from end to end of the ice. The problem with that? The Wild aren't a fast-paced team, especially when they leave their transition game in the locker room. Also, when the team starts skating that much, they tend to start looking for pretty, highlight goals, instead of throwing the puck at the net and looking for something gritty (alright, truth, that's most of the team's goals anyways, but it's more glaring when the make four passes in the offensive zone to take no shots). The big turning point in the game came during a long 5-on-3 power play that the Wild couldn't convert. A short time later, Nashville scored, and never looked back, sealing the 2-0 victory.

Thankfully, Sunday brought the Edmonton Oilers to town, and the Wild were looking to get past their loss. Where Nashville had gotten in Niklas Backstrom's face all game, the Oilers were determined to just drive him to the ice. Partly due to that, and partly due to ineffective clearing of the defensive zone, the Wild found themselves tied with the Oilers, 2-2, and then had to hold on while Pierre-Marc Bouchard took his second bad penalty of the game with less than a minute remaining. After overtime produced nothing, it came down to a shootout, and the only player to score was the eighth skater, some guy named Mikko Koivu, giving the Wild a 3-2 win.

Game pluses:
- Antti Miettinen. His shorthanded goal that gave the Wild a 2-1 lead was picture perfect, and he worked hard in the offensive zone.
- Mikko Koivu. After Nashville shut him down, the Finn stepped up and provided the exclamation point in a tight game against Edmonton.
- Cal Clutterbuck. He had his first minus game in almost twenty attempts on Friday, but more than made up for it on Sunday. He is also largely responsible for drawing penalties that give the Wild a power-play opportunity.

Game minuses:
- Power play. The Wild spent too much time passing the puck, and not enough shooting. When you only get one shot during a long 5-on-3, something has to change.
- Protecting the crease. Both Nashville and Edmonton set up office in front of Niklas Backstrom. The Wild defenders seemed incapable of helping their goaltender get more space, which may have also contributed to the number of times Edmonton crashed hard into him.
- Too pretty. The Wild often look for a highlight-reel goal. And yet, other teams have figured it out, and are getting in the way of the third (or fourth) pass. The team needs to start shooting at the net, especially if they want to have a meaningful playoff experience.

Next up: The Wild don't play again until Wednesday, when they face the 25-27-1 Colorado Avalanche, who have a game Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.