2009-10 Game Fifty-Five: Wild 2, Sharks 5

On Saturday night, the Minnesota Wild skated into San Jose. As long as the play stayed even strength, the Wild had enough to play with the Sharks, and possibly even beat them. Unfortunately, Minnesota gave up too many power plays, and San Jose took advantage, proving why they are one of the best teams in the league yet again.

For awhile, at least, it looked like Minnesota was going to get the better of San Jose. The Wild were working hard, limiting Sharks chances, and getting some opportunities of their own. Even with a banged-up goaltender, the Wild were doing a fairly good job of keeping San Jose out of the net. That is, they were doing a good job even strength. The first six goals scored in the game were scored with the man advantage, and, while Minnesota may have been called for some questionable penalties, they didn't do enough while on the penalty kill to shut down the Sharks, or the league's goal-scoring leader.

Game pluses:
- Power play. In a weird game, the Wild scored twice on the power play, and got good opportunities on other chances. However, when you give up four power play goals, even clicking twice just isn't enough.
- Kyle Brodziak. Brodziak had a great feed to set up Cal Clutterbuck's tenth goal of the season, and his work on both sides of the ice helped hold the Wild in as long as they lasted.
- Owen Nolan. The veteran consistently brings everything he can to the ice. A game after taking a shot off of the wrist, Nolan got set up and fired a pretty wrist shot for the first goal of the game.

Game minuses:
- Penalty kill. This goes without saying, but giving up a franchise-record 4 power play goals? The Wild were just disjointed while a man down, and spent too much time chasing the puck.
- Shots. The Wild took plenty of shots during the game. They just didn't get enough really high-quality shots on the net.
- Luck. Sometimes, you have to make your own luck, and the good teams in the league tend to do that. This is an area where Minnesota has often struggled, as either a fluky bounce ends up in their own net, a puck just can't get shoveled into the opponent's open net, questionable penalties, or posts hit. Still, the Wild had chances until the fourth Sharks goal took the wind out of their sails, and, if they had been able to create a little of their own luck, the outcome might have been very different.

Next up: The Wild head to Dallas for a Groundhog's Day game against the Stars.