Game Sixty-seven: Wild 1, Avalance 2 (SO)

Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire has been asking for consistency all season long. He got some consistency Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Unfortunately for the Wild, that consistency was tied to missing passes, having difficulty clearing their zone, and not being able to get shots towards the net. Thankfully, Niklas Backstrom was fantastic in net, and the Avalanche showed their season-long futility.

The real key to the game came during almost 6 minutes of power play time in the second period. The score was tied 1-1, and the Wild have the opportunity to put their game into high gear, blow past Colorado, and skate to a much-needed victory. Instead, they cycled the puck until they lost it, only getting one shot before they were penalized for having too many men on the ice, cancelling out the remaining time on the penalty. The Wild are a desperate team when it comes to playoff positioning, but they haven't figured out how to regularly play like one.

Game pluses:
- Niklas Backstrom. Backstrom turned aside 40 shots in the game, compared to Peter Budaj only having to face 17. Backstrom was the only thing really keeping the Wild in the game after they fell apart in the second.
- Marc-Andre Bergeron. The defenseman put his booming shot to good use, putting the Wild on the board early. Who knew it would be the only goal they had?
- Cal Clutterbuck. He got saddled with a diving call that should never have been made, but Clutterbuck gets credit for playing his game, even after taking two different crosschecks to the head.

Game minuses:
- Shooting. The Wild just seemed unable to pull the trigger. Too many open shots were abandoned in favor of another pass, and too many shots were taken only once there was no space in front. Getting 17 shots on one of the worst defensive teams in the league?
- Passing. It wasn't just the lack of shots. The Wild had problems keeping the puck on their sticks all game, and too many passes missed their mark, often by a few feet. Luckily for the Wild, Colorado wasn't much better at controlling the puck.
- Second period. Sure, giving up an early power play goal took a bit of wind out of the Wild's sails, but that's no excuse for the punchless extended power play that the Wild had and did nothing with. After the second, with the Wild spending too much time scrambling around in their own zone, how could anyone expect anything different in the third, where it took the Wild 15 minutes to get their first shot on net.

Next up: The Wild have a chance to make up some of the ground that they squandered Thursday night on Saturday, when they head into Dallas. The Dallas Stars are currently sitting one point ahead of Minnesota, holding down the eighth (and final) playoff spot in the west.