2009-10 Game Thirty-Three: Wild 2, Blue Jackets 1

The Minnesota Wild made a brief stop at home Tuesday night, and faced their sister team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams are sitting around the same place in the standings right now, thanks to Columbus treading water while losing, and the Wild finding ways to put together points from most of their recent games. That trend continued, as both teams seemed ready to head into overtime until the Wild found their offense again, with under a minute remaining in the period.

In fact, the Wild offense started the game strong, but then started to fade as the periods wore on. The first period was played in a mere twenty-seven minutes from start to finish, but neither team could keep up that pace. This was troubling, as Minnesota also had jumped out to an early lead in shots on goal, but couldn't get things moving until Columbus had given themselves the one-goal advantage. Still, the Wild were able to do what they've done so many times this season, and they came from behind to get two points in the standings, putting them a mere four out of the top eight.

Game pluses:
- Guillaume Latendresse. Latendresse came to Minnesota in a trade with Montreal, and the Wild couldn't be happier, definitely getting the immediate advantage in effectiveness. Latendresse played a strong game, and took a Martin Havlat feed for the tying goal.
- Martin Havlat. Speaking of Martin Havlat, the guy may not be proclaiming himself as being "back" yet, but it's hard to argue with six points on the last seven Wild goals.
- Mikko Koivu. The Wild's captain did what he does best, and he had an assist both on Latendresse's goal, but also on Marek Zidlicky's game winner with under a minute remaining.

Game minuses:
- Playing from behind. Conventional wisdom says that giving up the first goal is a horrible thing, and yet this season's Wild team just seems to defy that, winning 11 of their 16 after trailing. Still, it would be nice to see the team play with a lead a little more frequently.
- Energy. Sure, the Wild has been on the road a lot so far this season, and that takes a toll. However, the way that Minnesota started the game should have lead to a huge lead that they could carry. Instead, they couldn't get clean shots on net, and couldn't keep the energy up once the second period started.
- Jason Chimera. Obviously still upset over a preseason hit from Eric Belanger, Chimera spent the third period taking runs at the Wild center, and jabbing him with his stick. Something needs to be done in the league when this kind of activity is allowed to occur unchecked (and no, the Wild aren't the only team it happens to).

Next up: Latendresse and the rest of the Wild head to Montreal to play the Canadiens Thursday night.