Wild Times

[charlio lemieux]

Well they beat their division rivals the Oilers tonight.
EDMONTON (CP) - The opportunistic Minnesota Wild are hopeful of a place at the NHL's Western Conference playoff table.

Ty Conklin let in the first two Minnesota shots, Marian Gaborik scored a pair of goals, and the Wild applied a defensive clamp in the third period to beat Edmonton 4-2 Wednesday night. "Two shots, we scored," said Wild coach Jacques Lemaire. "It's surprsing." Randy Robitaille and Gaborik scored within 51 seconds in the first period for Minnesota, 17-16-4, which won 4-1 in Edmonton on Monday.
The Wild have won five of their last six to move to within eight points of the Oilers in the Northwest Division.

"This is the lineup that is going to get us into the playoffs," said Minnesota goaltender Manny Fernandez, who stopped 28 shots to win his third straight decision and fourth in five games. "I think we are frustrating other teams."

A capacity Rexall Place crowd of 16,839 booed after Brian Rolston scored during a two-man Wild advantage in the second period to make it 3-0.

"We're making our breaks now," said Rolston, who will play for the United States in the Olympics in February. "When we are all on the same page, we can play with anybody."

Gaborik scored an empty-net goal with 23 seconds left.

Steve Staios and Ales Hemsky scored for Edmonton, 21-13-4.

"It doesn't seem like we have the drive we had before the Christmas holiday," said centre Michael Peca, alluding to his team's five-game, pre-Christmas winning streak.

Conklin gave up several big rebounds to fall to 4-3-1 on the season. He let in the opening pair of shots after Robitaille finished off a three-way passing play, and Gaborik weaved through four defenders to get his own rebound and score during a delayed goaltender interference call against Staios.

"When that happens, it's a tactical mistake on our part," said Oilers coach Craig MacTavish. "We can't blame the goalie on that one."

Edmonton ends a four-game homestand Friday against Nashville.

Hemsky got his 100th career point with a goal one minute into the third period.

Notes: The Minnesota players held a team poker tournament during their evening off in Edmonton on Tuesday . . . A first-row fan just off the glass at one blue-line somehow took a puck square off the forehead in the first period . . . Oilers forward Fernando Pisani had his career-high, six-game scoring streak end.



Minnisota is going to be tough to beat, as long as Gaborik is scoring and they get consistant goaltending. Rolston and Bouchard really add another dimension to the team and are the main reason they had any success during Gaboriks injury. They should claw their way up and be a playoff contender.

[MadDevil]

Minnesota is going to be tough to beat, as long as Gaborik is scoring and they get consistant goaltending. Rolston and Bouchard really add another dimension to the team and are the main reason they had any success during Gaboriks injury. They should claw their way up and be a playoff contender.

If the Wild played in the Eastern Conference, they could very well be a #4 or #5 seed, but with the difficult division they're in, they're probably going to be a lower seed in the West. They're definitely a team to watch out for though. They're fast, skilled, and have some of the best goaltending in the league. They're not a team that I would want to play in the first round, we've seen what they can do before.

[J.R.]

Just goes to show that the Northwest Division is the toughest in the NHL. It's solid, one through five.

[charlio lemieux]

Please move your "Toughest division" comments/discussion to the proper thread.
Thanks.
If the Wild played in the Eastern Conference, they could very well be a #4 or #5 seed, but with the difficult division they're in, they're probably going to be a lower seed in the West. They're definitely a team to watch out for though. They're fast, skilled, and have some of the best goaltending in the league. They're not a team that I would want to play in the first round, we've seen what they can do before.

It would not surpise me at all for Minny to come back and win this division. They are only 9 points out. It is good to see good hockey back in Minnisota. Gaborik will be a star in this league, and they have some good young players in Shultz, Bouchard, Koivu and others to compliment him now.

[TimmyTabasco]

Just goes to show that the Northwest Division is the toughest in the NHL. It's solid, one through five.

Yeah, it is. On any given night, the NW leader can change.

[slapshot™]

Watching Minny play hockey is as exciting as watching paint dry. So much for the new NHL.

[charlio lemieux]

They pulled another one off. With the top teams in the division all taking turns losing lately, the Wild are creeping up.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Just 20 games into his NHL career, rookie defenseman Kurtis Foster has become a fixture on the Minnesota Wild's blue line.

Foster had a goal and an assist to lead Minnesota to a 4-3 victory over Vancouver on Saturday night, the Wild's sixth victory in their last eight games.

Foster, recalled from Houston of the AHL on Nov. 17, scored his sixth goal of the season in the second period and set up Randy Robitaille's power-play goal in the third.

``Every shot he sends at the net, they're hard to catch because he shoots so hard,'' Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. ``He maybe thinks a little more offensively than most guys. It's good to have a defenseman like that.''

Todd White and Wes Walz also scored for Minnesota. The Wild had 37 shots on goal, their highest home total of the season. Matt Cooke, Sami Salo and Bryan Allen scored for the slumping Canucks, 1-3-3 in their last seven games.

``We did some good things, but we also took too many penalties,'' Canucks coach Marc Crawford said. ``We didn't adhere to the things we need to do for an entire 60 minutes.''

Manny Fernandez made 26 saves for the victory, and Maxime Ouellet stopped 33 saves in his second start of the season for Vancouver.

Cooke opened the scoring at 6:19 of the second period, backhanding a low shot between Fernandez's pads. The Wild tied it 21 seconds later, with White's low shot from inside the blue line sliding under Ouellet's right pad. Minnesota made it 2-1 34 seconds later when Walz poked in a loose puck.

The teams traded power play goals later in the period. Minnesota took a 3-1 lead when Foster scored on a 5-on-3 advantage at 10:56, and Salo beat Fernandez with a shot from the point with 12.9 seconds left in the period.

``For Minnesota, it's too many shots and too many chances,'' Allen said. ``Once they got some pressure in our end, it was tough to overcome.''

Robitaille made it 4-2 with a slap shot at 8:41 of the third period after Foster held the puck in at the blue line, then fed Robitaille a pass.

``He had tons of time and was able to pick a spot and hit it,'' Foster said. ``It seemed like point shots were going in for both teams.''

Allen completed the scoring on a power play at 10:30.

Notes: Canucks defenseman Ed Jovanovski missed his first game of the season. He injured a foot blocking a shot Wednesday night in the Canucks' 4-3 victory over Nashville. ... Minnesota had gone six straight home games without allowing a power-play goal. ... Allen left the game for 7 minutes in the second period after being bloodied when Filip Kuba's shot hit him in the face.


Nice gash over the nose. Allen is lucky it didn't dent his skull.
Five points would put Minny in the playoffs. The west is shaping up to be a log-jam again this year. Right now there are 12 teams who still have a shot at only 8 spots.

[MadDevil]

Watching Minny play hockey is as exciting as watching paint dry. So much for the new NHL.

God forbid they win games with team defense and goaltending.:rolleyes:

[charlio lemieux]

I thought Minny has adapted to the two line passing better than most teams. I saw 5 or 6 breakaways the other night, as well as 4 or 5 times where the d-man barely was able to get back. They definately don't play run-and-gun but they are far from "watching paint dry." The goaltending has been great. Fernandez has a great winning record and should be getting the bulk of playing time, but they love their tandem out there in Minny.