The Minnesota Wild returned home Wednesday for a short stay, given that they leave right away again for a game on Friday in St. Louis. Their opponents? The Colorado Avalanche, who were riding an incredible streak on the road, setting themselves up as one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. Meanwhile, the Wild were looking to patch themselves up after being handed loss after loss away from the Xcel Energy Center.
Apparently, all it took for the Wild to complete another comeback victory was new jerseys, a "C" on the chest of Mikko Koivu, and the home crowd. Not that the game was easy, by any means. The Wild took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, but they had to know that they should have been leading by a larger margin. Consequently, the second period was one of the worst periods of hockey the Wild have played in awhile, and the third featured the team struggling, up until the point that Captain Koivu stepped up, and hammered home the tying goal. After some shattered glass and a scoreless overtime, it was once again Koivu that notched the lone shootout goal, giving the Wild a perfect 2-0 record at the Xcel this season.
Game pluses:
- Mikko Koivu. No surprises here. Koivu got the "C" on his sweater, and played even better than he has through earlier games. His hockey smarts were on display, and his shootout goal past Craig Anderson was a thing of beauty.
- Niklas Backstrom. During the second period, Backstrom needed to be stellar, and he was. The two goals that beat him were either fluky or impossible to stop, but he held his team in the game until Koivu could complete the comeback.
- Chuck Kobasew. The Wild's newest player showed some speed, some skill, and a determination to scrap for every inch of ice. Kobasew drew penalty after penalty because of his effort.
Game minuses:
- Even strength. The Wild are having tons of problems getting their offense going when they're skating even-strength with other teams. They need to find a way to fix this problem if they have a hope of turning the season around.
- Defensive zone. The Wild once again had problems clearing their own zone, and it was particularly awful during the second period. Both goals against Backstrom came from horrible clearing attempts.
- Martin Havlat. In his first game back from injury, Havlat showed some of the skills that made him such a desirable off-season acquisition. However, he's missing shots that he should be making, possibly due to putting too much pressure on himself. Havlat needs to score soon, and the pressure should ease up.
Next up: The Wild get on a plane again, and head off to St. Louis, to take on the Blues Friday night, before returning home for a Saturday game.
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