Game 11 – Minnesota Wild @ Chicago Blackhawks

MINNESOTA @ CHICAGO 

Busy weekend, so this is going to be brief.  The Wild go once again in search of their first road win.  Chicago had been a good venue for the Wild in recent years (6-2 since the lockout), and since that has no bearing on this season, I’m sure everyone is optimistic.

Bold Prediction – Zidlicky will score a goal tonight. (thought he looked pretty good against Carolina Saturday)

Game 10 – Minnesota Wild v. Carolina Hurricanes

MINNESOTA v. CAROLINA

As of Friday morning, Carolina only has 2 wins this season.  Isn’t that a pathetic number?  Let’s all point and laugh at the Hurricanes!

Bold Prediction – The Northwest Division is 6-0-0 against the Eastern Conference (before Friday) and Carolina is winless against the West.  Wild win in regulation.

Game 9 – Minnesota Wild @ St. Louis Blues

MINNESOTA @ ST. LOUIS 

Sunderland (English Premier League Soccer, bear with me) defeated Liverpool last weekend thanks to a pretty bizarre goal. (Video)

Deflecting the ball off the balloon on the field is a pretty inventive way to score, and since I’ll be at the game tonight, I may just have to bring along some supplies in case we’re in need of a rally.

Bold Prediction – The last time I saw the Wild lose on the road in person … Well, I never have – they are 3-0 away from the Excel with me in attendance.  So my prediction is a shootout victory.

10 For the Road

Traveling to St. Louis today.  Spent the evening searching for driving music (I think Mrs. Mak will lose it if we listen to Farm one more time).

• Come to Daddy – Aphex Twin – Come to Daddy EP
• Milk It – Nirvana – From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
• Stupid Girl – Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Zuma
• Quotes – Dredg – The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion
• Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground – The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
• 02 Ghosts I – Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts
• Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin – How the West Was Won
• Let it Loose – The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
• Doesn’t Remind Me – Audioslave – Out of Exile
• Rocking Horse – Dead Weather – Horehound

[11:30 PM UPDATE - We have a decsision!]

Eighth Blackbird – Fred - I know next to nothing about this one.  Saw the group on the Minnesota Orchestra webpage, thought they sounded interesting.  We’ll see.  This is a collection of works composed by Frederick Rzewski.  ‘Coming Together’ based on a letter written by a prisoner during prison riots at Attica is the piece that really caught my eye.

Game 8 – Minnesota Wild v. Colorado Avalanche

MINNESOTA v. COLORADO 

Since the Wild last saw action, there have been some changes:

• They’re at home (only for one game, but hopefully home cooking makes a difference)
• Mikko Koivu has been named the permanent captain (finally)
• The Wild traded for Chuck Kobasew (Another forward couldn’t hurt)
• I have started going with the horizontal header for the game previews instead of vertical

Hopefully one or two of those things are enough to end the five game losing streak we’ve all been enjoying for the past week or two.

Bold Prediction – Wild win 5-0.  They’re due to string together a couple good periods, and I think they probably want a win more than I do.

The First Six (or so) Pack

I’ve been doing mostly game previews up to this point of the season, so let’s take a moment and (as much as we’d hate to do it) look back at the first seven games of the season.

COLUMBUS 2 – MINNESOTA 1

MINNESOTA 4 – ANAHEIM 3 (OT)

LOS ANGELES 6 – MINNESOTA 3

SAN JOSE 4 – MINNESOTA 2

ANAHEIM 3 – MINNESOTA 2

EDMONTON 5 – MINNESOTA 2

VANCOUVER 2 – MINNESOTA 1

Okay, first off, 1-6 is terrible.  Terrible.  A winless five-game road trip makes it really hard to pick anything positive out of the mess.  But I’ll put on my optimist hat and see what I can do.

Nicklas Backstrom -

2.82 GAA / .913 SV% (on 161 Shots)

Only four goalies in the NHL have a better SV% facing more shots (Anderson, Lundqvist, Ward, Fleury) and only two goalies have a higher SV% with higher Shots Faced per 60 minutes (Hiller – 33.8, Ward – 32.6, Backstrom – 32.5).

So he’s been very good.  Which makes it seem like the mild concerns about Backstrom being a ’system goalie’ were unfounded.  Unfortunately, he’s getting shelled.  But we’re being positive here, so let’s move on.

Eric Belanger -

Somehow Belanger is +1.  This is really impressive considering the Wild have scored only 7 even strength goals this season and only allowed 3 power play goals.  So, only seven goals could account for a ‘plus’ and 22 opponent’s goals could account for a ‘minus’.  Belanger has the only positive +/- on the roster (not surprising), and he’s been on the ice for four of those seven goals (and 4 power play goals).  He’s tied for the team lead with 8 points (2 G, 6 A) and he’s winning faceoffs (51.4%).  All in all a pretty solid stretch.

——–

That’s really all I got for positivity.  I’m sure there are plenty of other places where you can find what’s wrong with the Wild or who needs to step up their game, so I’ll leave that portion in others’ capable hands.

Game 7 – Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks

MINNESOTA @ VANCOUVER

Getting really tired of this road trip.  And losing. Really tired of that as well.

Bold prediction – It will be nice to get back home.

Game 6 – Minnesota Wild @ Edmonton Oilers

MINNESOTA @ EDMONTON

I try to inject a little bit of positive attitude with last game’s post, and what do I get? That was really ugly. I’m still going to refrain from declaring the season over, but yeesh, that game in Anaheim is certainly a low of the season.

The road trip rolls on into western Canada, where the Northwest Division portion of this season’s schedule will begin. The Oilers haven’t been too impressive thus far this season, so let’s jump on them early and get a few quick tallies. Please?

Also, it’s great when the defensemen jump into the play and pick up a goal, but so far this season, it seems like opponents are just flying through the neutral zone without resistance far too often.  Watch a few of these links to see what I mean (don’t watch all of them, in fact, skip Marleau’s goal unless you really like feeling awful about your hockey team).  The defense just can’t be aggressive in the face of that onslaught.

Selanne w/ speed

Penalty kill 2 on 0

Marleau’s goal

Watch Purcell (LA #54) because no one else on the ice is

4, count ‘em, 4 Ducks waltz through center ice

Bold Prediction – Keeping it simple. Wild get at least a point tonight.

Random 10 – New iPod edition

For my anniversary, my darling wife got me a new iPod with about 10 times the storage space as my previous model. So now I’ve got room for all my music, not just the handpicked good stuff you’re used to. Let’s see what comes up…

• Maybe Someday – The Cure – Bloodflowers
• I’m Not Sleeping – Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites
• All Apologies – Nirvana – Unplugged in NY
• Pittsburgh to Lebanon – Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician
• You Shook Me – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin I
• Sunspots – Nine Inch Nails – With Teeth
• Jambi – Tool – 10,000 Days
• I’ll Take the Rain – REM – Reveal
• Take It Like a Man – The Offspring – Ignition
• Even in His Youth – Nirvana – With the Lights Out

Hm, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, NIN, Tool, and the Offspring. Something seems familiar about this list. The more things change, I guess.

Game 5 – Minnesota Wild @ Anaheim Ducks

MINNESOTA @ ANAHEIM

I read the Strib’s Michael Russo every day, and he’s an invaluable resource for any Wild fan.  Sometimes though, I feel like he relishes the “truth-teller” mode a little bit too much.  The Wild have had a single home game, they are clearly still adjusting to a new coach and a new system.  And yet, in the middle of a road trip that has seen a not insignificant number of forwards go down to injury, Russo calls games 5-7 “gut-check time”, and has been penning articles detailing the lack of depth in the organization.

Pardon me if I don’t buy it.  The 1-3 start is pretty awful, no one argues that.  but it’s only been four (4) games.  I resolved to give the new system at least 15 games before I start considering the path of this season determined in any way.  And I’m certainly not going to base my perceptions on a West coast road trip, which is all that’s really happened this season.

Bold Prediction – Nobody Panic.  The Wild will remain undefeated at home.

Game 4: Minnesota Wild @ San Jose Sharks

Minnesota @ San Jose

The good news is that the Wild haven’t squandered any leads yet this season.

The bad news?

Time behind this season – 115:46
Time tied this season – 67:22
Time ahead this season – 0:00

One of those numbers needs to improve if the Wild want to become a winning team.

Bold prediction – At some point this season, the Wild will score first in a game.  But not tonight.

Presented in No Discernable Order, 10 Pieces of Music

New Music

Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble – Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians - I came across this album because of their upcoming album which features a composition by DG favorite Zoe Keating (see this week’s random 10).  Apparently Music for 18 Musicians is a classic of the minimalist movement, which is not something I was overly familiar with when I got this.  We listened to it as we drove to St. Louis last weekend, and it’s pretty good driving music.  It could almost be described as ‘orchestral techno’ how it washes over you with the constant pulse always driving away underneath.  Overall, I like this album quite a bit.

Random 10

• 5 Minutes Alone – Pantera – Live 101 Proof
• New Millenium Homes – Rage Against the Machine – Battle of Los Angeles
• How Many Times – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin I
• I Want You to Know – Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
• Sun Will Set – Zoe Keating – Natoma
• Shadow on the Sun – Audioslave – (self-titled)
• Kill Each Other/Live Forever – Scars on Broadway – (self-titled)
• 4° – Tool – Undertow
• Headup – Deftones – Around the Fur
• Tissue No. 7 – Wendy Sutter – Song and Poems for Solo Cello (composed by Philip Glass)

Game 3 – Minnesota Wild @ LA Kings

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.

Best Game of the Year

MINNESOTA WILD 4 – ANAHEIM DUCKS 3 (OT)

So I thought I was somewhat amusing with my preview for the Wild-Ducks game in which I turned it into a Twins-Tigers preview.  Turns out I was pretty much right on as both teams came out and played their most entertaining, thrilling game of the year.

Observe the following which could apply to either of the victorious teams last night:

Things didn’t look good early as they fell behind 3-0, but this year they have a newfound offense, and they managed to chip away until, at the end of regulation, the game was tied.  In the extra frame(s) they were finally able to put away a victory, with the whole team mobbing the scorer of the final tally in celebration.

For the Twins, it starts right back up again with the Yankees tonight.  My predictions for the postseason -

Dodgers over Red Sox in the World Series (Twins and Phillies lose in the respective LCS).

For the Wild, a long five game road trip.  I’m really not expecting a whole lot out of the first 15-20 games of the season, but if they are all going to be this exciting, I can live with that.  Martin Havlat is pretty awesome (3 assists last night), but I did occaisonally find myself imploring him to pull the trigger.  Pretty great 3rd period tonight.  Let’s see if the Wild can bottle that type of play and steal a few on the road.

Game 2 – Minnesota Wild v. Anaheim Ducks

Minnesota v. Anaheim

After starting slowly this season, I think it’s safe to say that this game is a must win for Minnesota.  If they win this one you can guarantee a playoff spot.  I think the keys in this game are going to be Backstrom, Havlat, and Koivu Scott Baker, Michael Cuddyer and Denard Span.

(I have to be honest I may be a little distracted by the baseball game this afternoon, you’ll have to excuse me).

Bold prediction – I will expend more energy on attempting to ensure a Twins victory by sheer force of will than I will following this game.