Wild vs. Hurricanes (Game #57) 2-10-07 @ 7:00PM CST at the "X"

[LemaireisGOD]

MINNESOTA WILD (30-22-4) 64pts 3rd Northwest

157 Goals For (ranked 22nd in the NHL)
143 Goals Against (ranked 7th in the NHL)

18th ranked PP (16.8%)
5th ranked PK (85.1%)

Top 5 Scorers:
1. #12 Brian Rolston ~ 25G 21A = 46pts
2. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard ~ 14G 28A = 42pts
3. #38 Pavol Demitra ~ 14G 24A = 38pts
4. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 13G 22A = 35pts
5. #28 Todd White ~ 9G 22A = 31pts

Top PIM's:
1. #35 Manny Fernandez (22-16-1) 2.57GAA .911%SP
2. #32 Niklas Backstrom (8-6-3) 2.06GAA .931%SP




VS.




CAROLINA HURRICANES (28-22-7) 63pts 2nd Southeast

173 Goals For (ranked 11th in the NHL)
179 Goals Against (ranked 23rd in the NHL)

23rd ranked PP (15.8%)
12th ranked PK (83.6%)

Top 5 Scorers:
1. #13 Ray Whitney ~ 24G 41A = 66pts
2. #17 Rod Brind'Amour ~ 16G 45A = 61pts
3. #11 Justin Williams ~ 28G 25A = 53pts
4. #12 Eric Staal ~ 23G 27A = 50pts
5. #26 Erik Cole ~ 24G 25A = 49pts

Top PIM's:
1. #22 Mike Commodore ~ 85 PIM's
2. #26 Erik Cole ~ 74 PIM's
3. #11 Justin Williams ~ 55 PIM's

Top Goaltender(s):
1. #30 Cam Ward (23-14-6) 2.87GAA .900%SP
2. #47 John Grahame (5-8-1) 3.14GAA .890%SP

The Wild have another important opportunity to gain some ground by playing a team outside the Western Conference; although this team is far tougher than Florida, its the defending Stanley Cup Champions. The Wild should have Brian Rolston back in the lineup, so that should help. GO WILD!!!

[LemaireisGOD]

GOAL!!!!

Parrish from Carney 1-1

[LemaireisGOD]

GOAL!!!!

Bouchard from Koivu 2-1 Wild

(three goals within the first 5 minutes)

[LemaireisGOD]

GOAL!!!!

Gaborik from Demitra and Parrish on the PP

3-1 Wild




And now we have a goaltender switch. Grahme in for Ward

[LemaireisGOD]

GOAL!!!

Gaborik from Nummelin and Demitra on the PP

4-1 Wild

[Greensboro Hurricanes]

Sure are calling a lot of penalities tonight. Hopefully we can get back in the game.

[LemaireisGOD]

GOAL!!!!

Demitra from Gaborik and Johnsson

5-3 Wild...no, make that 5-4, Canes react and get one back right away.

[LemaireisGOD]

The State of Hockey News | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » Gaborik’s two goals allow Wild to hold off Hurricanes in 5-4 home victory

Gaborik’s two goals allow Wild to hold off Hurricanes in 5-4 home victory

By Derek Felska | February 10th, 2007

For the most part, when the Wild’s Niklas Backstrom gets the start between the pipes for the Minnesota Wild it usually has been a pretty low scoring affair. Which is something you’d expect from a goaltender who has the best goals against average (1.97) and save percentage (.931). Tonight was anything but low scoring as 6 goals were scored in the first period alone, and the Wild would hold off a furious late-game attempt by the Hurricanes to tie the game and earn another big 2 points with a 5-4 victory.

In the first period, it took just 36 seconds for a goal to be scored when Carolina’s Justin Williams would redirect shot by Mike Commodore by Backstrom to give the Hurricanes a very quick 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes lead would be very short-lived as the Wild would quickly respond. Just about a minute and a half later the Wild’s forecheck generated some solid pressure in the Carolina zone, Wild defenseman Keith Carney would pinch down to support and slide a pass to Mark Parrish who was right about the right faceoff dot. Parrish would blast a slapper high stick side finding twine behind Cam Ward to tie the game 1-1. The Wild would take the lead just over a minute later when Mikko Koivu would blast a shot that Cam Ward could not control and as the Wild’s Pierre-Marc Bouchard and newly acquired Adam Hall (wearing # 8) would crash the net, it was Bouchard who stuffed home the loose puck to make it 2-1 Minnesota. With the sellout crowd of 18,568 roaring the Wild seemed to just completely take over. The State of Hockey’s forecheck was working like a well-oiled machine and the pressure would create some power play opportunities for the Wild. On the power play Marian Gaborik would skate into the Carolina zone with great speed and pass it over to Pavol Demitra who found Mark Parrish all alone near the Hurricanes’ crease. As Carolina’s Cam Ward started stacking the pads to make a save on Parrish, the aforementioned Bloomington Jefferson star patiently gave a pass to a crashing Marian Gaborik who banged home the chance to put the Wild up 3-1. Carolina Head Coach Peter Laviolette had seen enough and pulled Ward in favor of John Grahame. Initially, Grahame would not make a noticeable difference as his team continued to be careless (this time it was a hooking call on North St. Paul-native Bret Hedican) earning yet another trip to the sin bin. On the power play, Petteri Nummelin would fire a shot that Marian Gaborik would redirect by Grahame to give Minnesota a commanding 4-1 lead. Yet, Carolina wasn’t about to throw in the towel, and after a poor decision by Marian Gaborik to try a cross-ice pass in his own zone (a major no-no) the pass would be intercepted and lead to a sequence that saw Rod Brind’Amour find Ray Whitney with a pass and he’d get a shot just over the shoulder of Backstrom to cut the Wild lead to two, 4-2. The officials (Stephane Auger and Paul Devorski) were calling a pretty tight game, and both the Wild and even moreso the Hurricanes had trouble determining just what they were going to call and not call. Niklas Backstrom did not seem to be as air tight as he normally is in the 1st period, but fortunately for the Wild he’d save his best saves for the end of the game.

In the 2nd period, the game would slow down a bit as the Wild seemed more content to clog up the neutral zone and hold onto their lead then really attack Grahame and the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes meanwhile tried to press the attack pinching their defenseman closer to the blueline, but the Wild would take advantage of this aggressiveness to create some breakaway chances using the flip pass. Marian Gaborik especially was using his tremendous speed to earn two breakaway chances but both times was shut down by excellent saves by Grahame. The Wild would also get some great chances on the power play; one particularily close chance came from a Kurtis Foster slapshot that clanked off the iron. A late-period penalty on Stephane Veilleux would come back to bite the Wild. Marian Gaborik would race off towards a rolling puck that John Grahame would skate far out of his crease to play, causing Wes Walz to lose his edge as he tried to turn to regroup on defense. Carolina would quickly counter-attack and move in on a 4-on-2, where Ray Whitney would let off a snap shot that would go off the skate of a Wild defenseman right onto the stick Eric Staal who shoveled it home to cut the Wild lead to one, 4-3 going into the 3rd.

In the 3rd period the Hurricanes looked very hungry and were again pressing the attack but you could also see a sense of urgency from the Wild as well as both teams seemed to trade chances. Minnesota would extend its lead to two, on a great 2-on-1 rush by Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra. The flip pass by Kim Johnsson sprung Gaborik who skated in and slid a nice pass to Demitra who ripped a slapper by Grahame to make it 5-3 Wild. Yet, the sense of relief would not last long as it only took Carolina just over 20 seconds to respond, when Eric Staal would win a battle along the boards thanks to a lacadaisical effort by Martin Skoula, and he’d thread a cross-ice pass to a wide open Andrew Ladd who’d blast into the Wild net cut the lead to one again, 5-4. The Wild would spend the next 6 minutes basically defending their tenuous 1-goal lead; and Niklas Backstrom would bail the team out with some terrific saves. With about a minute left; in a moment that was a nice change of pace. Instead of just sitting back and waiting for Carolina to come at them as they have done in the past; the Wild put on a great forecheck late and kept the Hurricanes bottled up in their zone until about 20 seconds left. Carolina would get one last chance but the shot never went on goal and Minnesota would get a 5-4 victory.

It was definately not Niklas Backstrom’s best effort as he gave up 4 goals on 26 shots. Yet, the fact the team delivered offensively had to come as some relief for the 28-year old Finn who normally has had to be pretty much air tight in low scoring games.

The Wild have earned 4 big points at home against two non-conference teams. The Wild might wish to schedule more games against the Southeast Division; as the State of Hockey went 4-for-5 with their lone loss coming from Tampa Bay. The points have pushed the Wild up to a tie for 1st place in the Northwest Division. Hopefully tonight’s offensive burst will be a sign of the team pressing hard towards the playoffs, and one key aspect to that offensive boost was the power play where the Wild demonstrated excellent puck movement as well as a variety of different methods to attack the opposing goaltender. Here’s to hoping the Wild’s power play stays hot.

Wild Notes:

~ Wild scratches were Derek Boogaard, Brian Rolston (who is still battling the flu) and Manny Fernandez who is still out with a knee injury.

~ High School Action: in a big Class AA battle between the Holy Angels Stars and Benilde-St. Margaret Knights was not much of a battle at all. In a very one-sided game, Holy Angels won decisively 6-1 on an impressive 4-goal (5 point) effort by Britten Smith.