Wild vs. Edmonton (Game #47) 1-16-07 @ 7:00PM CST at the "X"

LemaireisGOD · January 16th, 2007, 06:19 AM

MINNESOTA WILD (24-19-3) 51pts 3rd Northwest

131 Goals For (ranked 22nd in the NHL)
124 Goals Against (ranked 9th in the NHL)

17th ranked PP (17.2%)
5th ranked PK (86.3%)

Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Brian Rolston ~ 23G 18A = 41pts
2. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard ~ 11G 26A = 37pts
3. #38 Pavol Demitra ~ 11G 19A = 30pts
4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 10G 19A = 29pts
5. #28 Todd White ~ 8G 21A = 29pts

Top PIM's:
1. #24 Derek Boogaard ~ 70 PIM's
2. #26 Kurtis Foster ~ 40 PIM's
3. #3 Keith Carney ~ 38 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):
1. #35 Manny Fernandez (20-14-1) 2.67GAA .909%SP
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (4-5-2) 2.20GAA .925%SP

VS.

EDMONTON OILERS (21-20-4) 46pts 5th Northwest

125 Goals For (ranked 20th in the NHL)
132 Goals Against (ranked 12th in the NHL)

26th ranked PP (15.3%)
3rd ranked PK (87%)

Top 5 Scorers:
1. #71 Petr Sykora ~ 17G 21A = 38pts
2. #16 Jarret Stoll ~ 13G 24A = 37pts
3. #94 Ryan Smyth ~ 21G 12A = 33pts
4. #83 Ales Hemsky ~ 7G 25A = 32pts
5. #10 Shawn Horcoff ~ 8G 17A = 25pts

Top PIM's:
1. #24 Steve Staios ~ 73 PIM's
2. #2 Matt Greene ~ 63 PIM's
3. #26 Brad Winchester ~ 52 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):
1. #35 Dwayne Roloson (18-17-4) 2.72GAA .907%SP
2. #30 Jussi Markkanen (3-3-0) 2.95GAA .878%SP

Another big 4-pt intradivisional swing game for the Wild. This is an opportunity not only to gain ground on those ahead of us, but also to put a bit more distance between us and the teams behind us. The Wild need these 2 points. GO WILD!!!

PredDave · January 16th, 2007, 10:37 AM

Big 4 point divisional game! Win this one and the Wild overtake Calgary for the division lead *. I'm amazed how close the Northwest Division teams are points-wise. Good luck!

* assuming Vancouver will lose tonight to Montreal tonight as well.

LemaireisGOD · January 17th, 2007, 09:00 PM

The State of Hockey News | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » Injuries make 2-1 home loss to Edmonton hurt that much more

Injuries make 2-1 home loss to Edmonton hurt that much more

By Derek Felska | January 17th, 2007

A commonly used figure of speech is “to add insult to injury” which was painfully appropriate Tuesday night versus the Edmonton Oilers. As tough it was to stomach losing a hard-fought 2-1 game to a divisional opponent as the team sits in the tightest division in the National Hockey League, the team also has to cope with something that it has been largely unfamilliar with this season. A 3-game losing streak at home? Didn’t they just end an 11-game road losing streak in exchange for a 3-game road winning streak? As if that wasn’t tough enough for this team to deal with, it also watched 4 of its players go down with injury in the 1st period alone. Luckily (and I say that mildly) one of those players came back.

In the first period the normally energized Wild team that has been terrific at home looked a bit winded and hesitant in the way it racked up 11-straight road losses. The injuries started off quickly when Mark Parrish took a stick to the face from Edmonton’s Raffi Torres. Soon after Parrish’s injury, Wild defenseman Keith Carney was chasing a puck to the corner and just pulled up clearly in pain and fell without even being hit. A few minutes later Todd White took a hit, and appeared to seriously hurt his leg as he only got off the ice with the trainer’s assistance. Wild head coach thought he had to jungle enough lines as it was when Kurtis Foster went down after taking a big hit. White and Foster would not return to the game. The Wild struggled to generate much offensive pressure on the Oilers and their netminder; former Wild goalie Dwayne Roloson. The State of Hockey’s best chance came from the stick of Mikko Koivu who initially tried to thread a cross-ice pass only to see it blocked and with little room left he roofed a wrister that clanked off the crossbar. With the Wild’s early injury woes, veteran Keith Carney tried to tough it out; but his back would give out again sending to fall onto the ice giving Petr Nedved a little room to give a small pass to Joffrey Lupul. Lupul then tried to give a centre-ice feed to see it glance off the skate of the Wild’s Martin Skoula and just inside the post to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead going into the 2nd. Carney would not return. One thing that was rather strange was that Edmonton seemed to be taking liberties by hitting Wild players, yet Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard remained on the Wild bench until the start of the 2nd period.

The 2nd period was similar to the first, just minus the injuries (thankfully). The Oilers dominated against the Wild as it basically was forced to play the rest of the game with just 4 defenseman, including rookie Shawn Belle who has been played very sparingly prior to this game. Belle at times was solid demonstrating his ability to be strong along the boards, but there were also times where he seemed rather lost and even a bit overwhelmed which is something you’d expect from a rookie. Head Coach Jacques Lemaire was juggling all kinds of line combinations. The 2nd period did give the Wild a prime opportunity when the State of Hockey got a 5-on-3 power play for just over a minute but Minnesota failed to capitalize. Just past the midway point of the 2nd, the Oilers would get a power play of their own and Marc-Andre Bergeron would tee up a blast from the point that Manny Fernandez did not see increasing Edmonton’s lead to 2-0. After Bergeron’s tally the Wild seemed fantatically determined to get back into the game and they rallied to have a 11 to 8 edge in shots by the end of the period.

In the 3rd period the Wild continued their furious attack with Marian Gaborik leading the charge. Yet, luck was not with the Wild in this game as anytime they seemed to finally get a puck passed Dwayne Roloson it would find a pipe or slide harmlessly through the crease. With just 8 minutes in the game the Wild finally got on the scoreboard when Gaborik demonstrated some good strength on the puck. Gaborik took it down low behind the Oiler net and found Wes Walz with a pass who one-timed a shot by Roloson to cut the Edmonton lead to 2-1. The goal got the 18,568 back into the game; but the Wild just couldn’t get the equalizer even though they frantically worked about as hard as can be expected only to come up short by one goal.

Manny Fernandez had a decent game; but overall did not face that many shots as he had just 16 saves. Even though one could dwell on the loss and the missed opportunity to gain some ground in the ultratight Northwest Division, the real story was the injuries the Wild sustained. According to wild.com Kurtis Foster sustained a “lower body injury” and is expected to be out a long time as also possibly the case with Todd White. Keith Carney’s back spasms might be remedied by Friday night’s game against the Blackhawks. One good piece of news on the injury front is that Petteri Nummelin is expected to return Friday night from his upper body injury.

Wild Notes:

~ The Wild’s lone healthy scratch was Wyatt Smith, along with injured defenseman Petteri Nummelin and Kim Johnsson.

~ In response to the injuries the team has called up defenseman Erik Reitz from the team’s AHL affiliate in Houston.

January 16th, 2007, 06:19 AM	#1 (permalink)
LemaireisGOD Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 504	Wild vs. Edmonton (Game #47) 1-16-07 @ 7:00PM CST at the "X" MINNESOTA WILD (24-19-3) 51pts 3rd Northwest 131 Goals For (ranked 22nd in the NHL) 124 Goals Against (ranked 9th in the NHL) 17th ranked PP (17.2%) 5th ranked PK (86.3%) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #12 Brian Rolston ~ 23G 18A = 41pts 2. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard ~ 11G 26A = 37pts 3. #38 Pavol Demitra ~ 11G 19A = 30pts 4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 10G 19A = 29pts 5. #28 Todd White ~ 8G 21A = 29pts Top PIM's: 1. #24 Derek Boogaard ~ 70 PIM's 2. #26 Kurtis Foster ~ 40 PIM's 3. #3 Keith Carney ~ 38 PIM's Top Goaltender(s): 1. #35 Manny Fernandez (20-14-1) 2.67GAA .909%SP 2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (4-5-2) 2.20GAA .925%SP VS. EDMONTON OILERS (21-20-4) 46pts 5th Northwest 125 Goals For (ranked 20th in the NHL) 132 Goals Against (ranked 12th in the NHL) 26th ranked PP (15.3%) 3rd ranked PK (87%) Top 5 Scorers: 1. #71 Petr Sykora ~ 17G 21A = 38pts 2. #16 Jarret Stoll ~ 13G 24A = 37pts 3. #94 Ryan Smyth ~ 21G 12A = 33pts 4. #83 Ales Hemsky ~ 7G 25A = 32pts 5. #10 Shawn Horcoff ~ 8G 17A = 25pts Top PIM's: 1. #24 Steve Staios ~ 73 PIM's 2. #2 Matt Greene ~ 63 PIM's 3. #26 Brad Winchester ~ 52 PIM's Top Goaltender(s): 1. #35 Dwayne Roloson (18-17-4) 2.72GAA .907%SP 2. #30 Jussi Markkanen (3-3-0) 2.95GAA .878%SP Another big 4-pt intradivisional swing game for the Wild. This is an opportunity not only to gain ground on those ahead of us, but also to put a bit more distance between us and the teams behind us. The Wild need these 2 points. GO WILD!!! __________________ "Why mess around with PT Boats when you can have a Destroyer?" ~ Al Strachan (Hockey Night in Canada)

January 17th, 2007, 09:00 PM	#3 (permalink)
LemaireisGOD Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 504	The State of Hockey News \| MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » Injuries make 2-1 home loss to Edmonton hurt that much more Injuries make 2-1 home loss to Edmonton hurt that much more By Derek Felska \| January 17th, 2007 A commonly used figure of speech is “to add insult to injury” which was painfully appropriate Tuesday night versus the Edmonton Oilers. As tough it was to stomach losing a hard-fought 2-1 game to a divisional opponent as the team sits in the tightest division in the National Hockey League, the team also has to cope with something that it has been largely unfamilliar with this season. A 3-game losing streak at home? Didn’t they just end an 11-game road losing streak in exchange for a 3-game road winning streak? As if that wasn’t tough enough for this team to deal with, it also watched 4 of its players go down with injury in the 1st period alone. Luckily (and I say that mildly) one of those players came back. In the first period the normally energized Wild team that has been terrific at home looked a bit winded and hesitant in the way it racked up 11-straight road losses. The injuries started off quickly when Mark Parrish took a stick to the face from Edmonton’s Raffi Torres. Soon after Parrish’s injury, Wild defenseman Keith Carney was chasing a puck to the corner and just pulled up clearly in pain and fell without even being hit. A few minutes later Todd White took a hit, and appeared to seriously hurt his leg as he only got off the ice with the trainer’s assistance. Wild head coach thought he had to jungle enough lines as it was when Kurtis Foster went down after taking a big hit. White and Foster would not return to the game. The Wild struggled to generate much offensive pressure on the Oilers and their netminder; former Wild goalie Dwayne Roloson. The State of Hockey’s best chance came from the stick of Mikko Koivu who initially tried to thread a cross-ice pass only to see it blocked and with little room left he roofed a wrister that clanked off the crossbar. With the Wild’s early injury woes, veteran Keith Carney tried to tough it out; but his back would give out again sending to fall onto the ice giving Petr Nedved a little room to give a small pass to Joffrey Lupul. Lupul then tried to give a centre-ice feed to see it glance off the skate of the Wild’s Martin Skoula and just inside the post to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead going into the 2nd. Carney would not return. One thing that was rather strange was that Edmonton seemed to be taking liberties by hitting Wild players, yet Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard remained on the Wild bench until the start of the 2nd period. The 2nd period was similar to the first, just minus the injuries (thankfully). The Oilers dominated against the Wild as it basically was forced to play the rest of the game with just 4 defenseman, including rookie Shawn Belle who has been played very sparingly prior to this game. Belle at times was solid demonstrating his ability to be strong along the boards, but there were also times where he seemed rather lost and even a bit overwhelmed which is something you’d expect from a rookie. Head Coach Jacques Lemaire was juggling all kinds of line combinations. The 2nd period did give the Wild a prime opportunity when the State of Hockey got a 5-on-3 power play for just over a minute but Minnesota failed to capitalize. Just past the midway point of the 2nd, the Oilers would get a power play of their own and Marc-Andre Bergeron would tee up a blast from the point that Manny Fernandez did not see increasing Edmonton’s lead to 2-0. After Bergeron’s tally the Wild seemed fantatically determined to get back into the game and they rallied to have a 11 to 8 edge in shots by the end of the period. In the 3rd period the Wild continued their furious attack with Marian Gaborik leading the charge. Yet, luck was not with the Wild in this game as anytime they seemed to finally get a puck passed Dwayne Roloson it would find a pipe or slide harmlessly through the crease. With just 8 minutes in the game the Wild finally got on the scoreboard when Gaborik demonstrated some good strength on the puck. Gaborik took it down low behind the Oiler net and found Wes Walz with a pass who one-timed a shot by Roloson to cut the Edmonton lead to 2-1. The goal got the 18,568 back into the game; but the Wild just couldn’t get the equalizer even though they frantically worked about as hard as can be expected only to come up short by one goal. Manny Fernandez had a decent game; but overall did not face that many shots as he had just 16 saves. Even though one could dwell on the loss and the missed opportunity to gain some ground in the ultratight Northwest Division, the real story was the injuries the Wild sustained. According to wild.com Kurtis Foster sustained a “lower body injury” and is expected to be out a long time as also possibly the case with Todd White. Keith Carney’s back spasms might be remedied by Friday night’s game against the Blackhawks. One good piece of news on the injury front is that Petteri Nummelin is expected to return Friday night from his upper body injury. Wild Notes: ~ The Wild’s lone healthy scratch was Wyatt Smith, along with injured defenseman Petteri Nummelin and Kim Johnsson. ~ In response to the injuries the team has called up defenseman Erik Reitz from the team’s AHL affiliate in Houston. __________________ "Why mess around with PT Boats when you can have a Destroyer?" ~ Al Strachan (Hockey Night in Canada)

January 16th, 2007, 10:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
PredDave Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 832	Big 4 point divisional game! Win this one and the Wild overtake Calgary for the division lead . I'm amazed how close the Northwest Division teams are points-wise. Good luck! assuming Vancouver will lose tonight to Montreal tonight as well.