Wild vs Blues: Preseason Game 1 Re-cap

Please visit Saint Louis Game Time for enemy perspective.

Then the wheels fell off.

Adding a third tally at the 16:12 mark from Alex Steen, the Blues were on route to a rout.

Asked about his team's performance, Coach Todd Richards only could offer that  "coming tomorrow we'll get better." He did say that he would not use the word "concerned" in regards to Stoner, and he reaffirmed that they "are confident in their six." Notingthat Stoner missed a fair amount of hockey last season, he said "There's going to be a bit of growing pains and when Pierre-Marc [bouchard] gets back, it will be the same thing. Clayton's in good shape, but when yopu miss that much hockey, it takes some time to get that back."

All-in-all, it was a depressing night, as the team on the ice disappointed the team of 18,000, and the team of 18,000 provided the biggest disappointment of the night. Yes, tonight the Wild's sellout streak of 409 consecutive games game to an end. With an announced crowd of 16,219 (which was confirmed with plenty of heckling when I misheard it), nine years of never missing a ticket sale came to an abrupt halt.

Minnesota Sports and Entertainment COO Matt Majjka issued a statement saying:

The short version of the night: when it rains, it pours. A five to one loss, a sellout streak comes to an end, and at last report, it was indeed, still raining outside.

1. Ben Bishop - How he was overlooked in the official three stars is beyond me. He was stellar this evening.

3. Cal Clutterbuck - This may seem out of place, but he played a solid game. He was hitting hard, and created several chances. He was one of few Wild players with a truly professional performance tonight.

No Five Questions tonight. We'll get to those soon, though.