Game 3 – Minnesota Wild @ LA Kings
October 8, 2009
Minnesota @ Los Angeles
Right off the bat the Wild are doing the whole West Coast road trip so now we’ve got a whole series of 9:30 starts. Which of course means post-midnight finishes. Hooray! The Wild have zero goals in the first or second periods this season in games that started earlier, so I’m envisioning a warmup where no one can score on Backstrom or Harding and then an offensive explosion right out of the gate.
These five games on the road trip will be a significant challenge, and in the beginning of the season the results of these five games will dominate the team’s record for a while, so a win or two would be nice if only for aesthetic reasons.
Havlat has got 4 assists on the Wild’s 5 goals, I would make some crack about how it’s time he got a goal of his own, but if he keeps that pace up, he can do whatever he pleases.
Bold prediction – Fans will make use of this refrain: It’s early in the season, the Wild are still learning the system. It’s early in the season, the Wild are still learning the system. It’s early in the season, the Wild are still learning the system.
Yikes 6-3. Over the summer Lemaire was quoted as saying (o.k. I’m paraphrasing here) that all teams want to have a wide open system but revert back to a more defensive system once they start allowing boat loads of goals. Was he correct? Oh wait…
It’s early in the season, the Wild are still learning the system.
I think he has a point, but the problem last night was 3 goals against in the first 5 minutes (or something close to that). Hey coach, you’ve got to get your guys ready to play.