Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues: Game Recap

For the enemy perspective, please visit St. Louis Game Time

It's Hockey Day Minnesota, get your ... something ... something! Anyway, it would have been a much better day had FSN and Moorhead not tried to single-handedly ruin the day with warm weather, unsafe ice conditions and useless camera angles.

I'm trying something new with the recap tonight. I'm going to use my notes as talking points. Bear with me, it's a work in progress.

Complete domination through 20 minutes, and it continued until the Blues scored on the power play. After that, the ice tilted heavily in the other direction. The Wild had to stem the tide over and over, and chased the puck around, but still were able to control themselves and didn't get too timid or make major mistakes.

Barker was absolutely right in this fight. He needed to take D'Agostini out after what should have been an easy, textbook boarding call.

Really surprised at some of the no-calls. Frankly, the refs let this one get a bit out of hand. Of course compared to the Penguins and Islanders, it was nothing, but still.

I think Todd Richards saved this game with that timeout. Would the Blues have come back to tie it? Uncertain and unlikely, but they clearly had the pressure on and momentum was on their side, but this timeout allowed the guys who had been out a long time to breathe and stem the tide. It was a mature decision and showed Richards' growth this season.

Bryan's Take:

Hockey Day Minnesota ends well, with a Wild victory and Spring Lake Park native David Backes leaving the ice bleeding profusely. Not sure it is appropriate to say it is awesome to see a giant pool of blood on the ice after the game, but it's pretty awesome.

The Wild outplayed the Blues for exactly 54 minutes and 22 seconds (Numbers subject to random making up of things). The truth is, it was a good game, except for a few minutes at the end of the second period when the Wild just could not escape the zone. Everything seemed to be working against them, and they eventually gave up the lone goal. Still, the Wild won the battles, they won the fights, and they won the game. Which, in the end, is all that matters. Great game by the hard working (sorry Tom) guys tonight. Brad Staubitz had 7 hits in 8 shifts, and a big fight. Clayton Stoner was solid defensively, save for one event that cost them nothing, and he made someone bleed.

Interesting the result of a home & home on back to back nights. The NHL should find a way to make this happen more often. Also, can the Wild get into a division with a team they don't have to change time zones to play? That'd be greeeeeat.

Game notes:

Hockey Wilderness 3 stars:

5 questions:
Koivu was involved last night, but no goals. Can he light the lamp tonight? No, but holy crap not for trying.
The defense was not really there last night. Do they turn that around? Only gave up 1 goal, really tightened the reins. Nicely done tonight by the blueline.
Backes owned the Wild with two goals, do they have a solution? Clayton Effing Stoner.
Will the Wilderness show up for this one? Not a bad evening at all. Tonight was the fourth largest crowd in Wild history and the largest of the season.
Can the Wild cap off Hockey Day Minnesota with a win? Damn right.