St. Paul – The Wild teased their fans this season.

Some days, they were very good.

Problem is, those days grew fewer and fewer over the second half of the season.

A team with plenty of hype and hope in October ended its play for 2015-16 with a crazy 5-4 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoffs first round Sunday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center.

After an improbable rally to win Game 5 in overtime in Dallas, the Wild came into Game 6 trailing 3-2 in the series but vowing that anything was possible.

It was.

The visitors took control with three first-period goals and the wound-up crowd of 19,310 — pumped even higher by pregame tributes to Prince – resorted to booing the home team off the ice.

It went to 4-0 through two periods, and what was anticipated to be a boisterous crowd became as silent as the Wild offense.

Then the Wild exploded for four third-period goals, only to lose when the Stars’ fifth goal of the game hopped into the crease under goalie Devan Dubnyk, who dropped and carried the puck into the net.

Another fluky goal for Dallas.

“Seems like there was one every game,” Dubnyk said. “It makes you feel sick to have to lose a game and a series on a bouncer like that.”

Like the final month of a hot and cold regular season, there were outstanding moments for the Wild.

Just not enough.

“It was fun. It was a blast,” interim coach John Torchetti said. “But we didn’t get the job done.”

Now the Wild head into a summer of question marks as restless fans wonder what will re-kindle that excitement that so often rose and vanished. A new coach will almost surely be hired, but according to reports from the Twin Cities beat reporters, the job of GM Chuck Fletcher is safe.

Who will be playing for that new coach?

Collectively, this team was less consistent than undercooked oatmeal.

“That was an issue for us this year,” Dubnyk said. “It’s something we’re going to have to work to avoid.”

That inconsistency was visible up and down the lineup from Matt Dumba, Charlie Coyle, Jason Pominville, Jason Zucker, Dubnyk and even Zach Parise – who was reportedly severely hampered off and on by an ugly back injury.

With Parise and Thomas Vanek sidelined for the playoffs, there was little argument that Dallas came into the series with the better talent. But inspirational play from the likes of Erik Haula, Nino Niederreiter and Mikko Koivu sometimes made up for that.

Unfortunately, not enough other players rose to the occasion.

Zucker was among those, although he had a golden chance to erase some of that.
Instead, he lost the puck at the corner of the goal after Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen cleared it right to his stick shortly after the Wild had pulled within 4-3.

“Got to bury that,” an unhappy Zucker said. “There’s no excuse.”

Zucker, who had no goals in six playoff games, also went without a goal over his final eight regular season games. Counted on to score this season, he finished with 13 goals in 71 games.

“He’s got to have a way better year next year,” Torchetti said.

Admittedly, the Wild are mostly a team of grinders. Koivu, Parise and Ryan Suter each topped 50 points, but Parise’s 25 goals in 70 games led the team in that department. Pominville, counted along with Zucker to score, had 11 goals before scoring four in the playoffs. Justin Fontaine, Ryan Carter, Chris Porter, Jarret Stoll, Nate Prosser, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin and David Jones are not exactly offensive threats.

Dubnyk produced a 2.33 goals-against average during the season, a number that mushroomed to 3.34 during the playoffs.

Mikael Granlund and Jared Spurgeon, who scored two of his team’s goals Sunday, continue to play well, but neither is likely to ever lead selections for an all-star game. Mike Reilly, Christian Folin and Darcy Kuemper have potential, we have been told, and you can see it at times.

But this team needs a consistent threat to put the puck in the net.

Vanek has that capability – so did Fletcher acquisitions Dany Heatley, Martin Havlat and Petr Sykora, among others – but the question is whether Vanek is past his prime.

On Sunday, after 40 minutes, it didn’t seem to matter that neither Vanek nor Parise was around as the Wild stormed back to resuscitate what was the largest crowd of the season.

The fans got pretty loud.

“They revved it up in the third period,” Torchetti commented. “I couldn’t hear on the bench.”

However, a review of what could have been the Wild’s fifth goal late in the third period showed the puck still barely touching the goal line, a decision that went against Minnesota and allowed the Stars to hold on for the victory.

The result was an empty feeling in the Wild dressing room, according to Koivu.

“It is too early to look at the whole season right now,” he said. “There are a lot of things we’ve got to learn, and a lot of good things we can take with us and move forward.”

Minnesota’s four-goal rally was the lone consolation. Instead of ending on a totally sour note, the Wild concluded their play amid thoughts of, “If only …” An up and down season ended on something of an “up” note.

“The way we worked in the third period,” Dubnyk said, “I was proud to be back there and a part of that and watching these guys. They have no quit.”

That part, at least, has been consistent.

The post Stars Survive Wild Rally appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota not willing to concede after one-goal loss to Stars

St. Paul – If it was the final home game for the Wild Wednesday night, they went out on a pretty good note.

John Torchetti does not think it will be the last one.

The Dallas Stars scored two power-play goals and got a deflection off the skate of Jason Spezza late in the second period, then held on to defeat the Wild 3-2, sending 19,080 loud and expectant Minnesota fans home disappointed.

The win gave Dallas a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series; the Stars can close it out Friday night in Dallas. Minnesota needs a victory in Dallas to extend the series to a Game 6 Sunday in St. Paul.

“I’m not worried about us going there,” interim Wild coach Torchetti said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to see who’s going to step up. When you’re a coach, you want to see that character.”

Torchetti, who took over from Mike Yeo in mid-February and likely needs his team to win a series or two to increase his chances to become the full-time coach next season, came up from the Iowa Wild with plenty of intensity and plenty of observations about his favorite game.

“Everyone always has character when you win,” he said. “Your real character is when you’re losing. That’s the bottom line.”

Torchetti has witnessed character: This team experienced winning and losing streaks at season’s end including losing the final five games of the regular season. It was blown out of Game 1 in the playoffs before rebounding with a better effort in a Game 2 loss. It responded by taking play to the Stars in a 5-3 home win Monday.

Game 4 started on a similar note with the Wild seizing a 1-0 lead on a Jason Pominville second-period deflection and a 2-1 lead on Charley Coyle’s dazzling second-period breakaway.

“I liked our game,” Torchetti said. “We’ve just got to go and win a game in their building.”

The Wild outshot the Stars 30-22, but Dallas erased two one-goal deficits with goals on its power play.

“The story of the game was special teams,” Pominville said. “They won that battle. We played pretty well five on five. It would have been nice to have a better turnout for sure.”

Pominville says the team needs to accept its circumstances and respond.

“We put ourselves in a pretty tough spot,” he said. “We have dug ourselves out of tough situations all year, so we’ve got to do it again.”

Under Torchetti, players such as Pominville, Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter have stepped up their games. Pominville’s goal gave him eight goals and 11 assists in his first 24 games playing for Torchetti  (he missed seven games due to injury in March) after he tallied just two goals and one assist in his final 25 games under Yeo.

Niederreiter and Haula assisted on Pominville’s goal, but the Minnesota PK proved to be a killer of the wrong kind.

“We took a couple penalties,” defenseman Ryan Suter said, “and it ended up costing us there.”

It was 2-1 and the big crowd was roaring, but Patrick Eaves scored with a man advantage from in front at 13:24 to tie it up at 2-2, and Spezza’s goal 5½ minutes later decided it.

It placed the Wild back on the edge of being finished.

“We’re best when our backs are against the wall,” Suter said. “They’re definitely against the wall now.”

If Dallas closes out the series Friday, questions will loom about the future of the Minnesota franchise: Will Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek recover decently from injuries that have them currently sidelined; who will be the head coach; what other moves are in store?

Wild players, who struggled through 82 games with just 87 points heading into the playoffs, prepared for a Thursday trip to Texas with none of those thoughts but concentrating instead on just one thing: forcing Game 6.

“We’ve got to focus on one game,” Pominville said. “Go win a game there; who knows what happens after that?”

The post Backs Against the Wall appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – Chris Porter says he could attempt that shot 10 times and maybe be fortunate to thread it into the net once.

On Monday night, however, with the Wild trailing the Dallas Stars 2-0 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Playoff series and trailing the Stars 2-0 in the final minute of the first period of Game 3, Porter deflected in a shot by Erik Haula to make it 2-1.

“I think it was one of those lucky plays tonight, it went in,” Porter said. “Tomorrow it probably wouldn’t.”

“Porter’s a kid, he’s wailin’ out there,” Wild interim coach John Torchetti said.

Porter’s goal plus a few choice first-intermission words from Torchetti seemed to ignite a fire under a Wild team that had wandered a bit aimlessly through losing territory since March 29. By evening’s end, Minnesota left the ice with a 5-3 victory over the Stars and the sudden prospect of making this first-round series interesting.

“We did a good job,” Porter said. “We’re going to celebrate in here tonight and move on and get ready for Game 4.”

The Wild, who endured a few boos after Dallas’ winger Patrick Sharp scored twice in the first 4½ minutes, quickly brought the Xcel Energy Center crowd of 19,038 around by holding Dallas without a shot for the first third of the second period.

When Haula deflected in a shot by Pominville at the 6:04 mark, the Wild looked like a team that had finally remembered the ingredients required to win in the NHL: intensity, battle level, second effort and defending their own goal.

“I think for us, the biggest thing is defending and playing well in our end,” Pominville said. “When we do that, we have the puck more. You’ve got to defend. Offense isn’t going to win you games; it’s the way you defend and I thought tonight we defended well after the tough start.”

Led by two goals and an assist from Pominville, a goal and an assist by Haula plus goals by Porter and Mikko Koivu, the Wild dictated the tempo and outshot the Stars 25-17 to rule out a four-game Stars’ sweep.

Minnesota led 3-2 about six minutes into the final period when Koivu, who had not scored a goal since March 22 and came in with just seven goals in 41 playoff games, banged a rebound past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen to make it 4-2.

That turned out to be the winning goal and the first playoff winning goal for Koivu. Uncharacteristically, he leaped against the glass above the end boards in celebration.

“Mikko’s celebration was great; I haven’t seen him celebrate like that, so I was happy for him,” Porter said.

Torchetti admitted he had been asking Koivu for more coming in. And, Torchetti added, “He showed up big tonight.”

The interim coach, who took over in mid-February, challenged his players to deliver more after the first period, Pominville said, “and we got the response we wanted. We battled hard in the last couple periods.”

Players said this surge in play began during the 2-1 loss in Game 2 on Saturday in Dallas.

Haula’s label for it: Everybody “pulling on the same rope.”

“We got a lot better with the puck,” he said. “We got more speed going in. We put their D on their heels I think for the first time in the series.”

Goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who stopped 14 of 17 shots for the win, watched his team create the kind of offensive firepower that had been lacking as Minnesota scored just one goal in its first two playoff games.

“We came into the series with confidence, knowing that’s how we need to play and that’s how we’re capable of playing – fast and hard, taking the body and turning pucks over,” Dubnyk said. “That’s the game we need to play and tonight we had no choice but to get to that. That should give us a lot of confidence going forward.”

The triumph ended a streak of seven consecutive losses counting the final five of the regular season.

The post Wild Battle Back appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota showing few signs of life entering playoffs

St. Paul – The Minnesota Wild are a difficult team to feel optimistic about.

Back on Oct. 8, the Wild defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 to launch what many Minnesota fans thought would be a splendid season.

Nope.

After another 82 games, the Wild have finished eighth in the NHL Western Conference – not exactly heady territory — to earn a playoff position opposite none other than the No. 1 team in the West, the Dallas Stars.

Yes, they made the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, but their 38-33-11 record left them with 87 points – 13 fewer than a year ago, when they finished fourth in the West and knocked out the St. Louis Blues in the first round. They finished 17th overall among 30 NHL teams.

Last spring’s success and the ensuing optimism for the 2015-16 season evaporated quickly when the calendar flipped over to 2016. Minnesota went 20-10-6 through Dec. 31, then slogged through a record of 18-23-5 over the remainder.

Although five losses in succession including a 2-1 loss to Niklas Backstrom and the lowly Calgary Flames Saturday night removed any shine from the Wild’s run to the playoffs, they and everyone else are 0-0 going into Stanley Cup play.

Can the Wild fix things in time for the playoffs?

“We have to,” interim coach John Torchetti said.

It won’t be the first time.

Minnesota experienced a tailspin of 1-11-2 between Jan. 10 and Feb. 13, costing Mike Yeo his job as coach and threatening the team’s postseason hopes.

Even though Torchetti produced a record of 15-11-1, the boys lost three in a row and five in a row with under him.

Two four-game win streaks and one of six games under Torchetti did the trick.

Minnesota dominated the Flames through two periods Saturday – Backstrom stopped 30 of 31 shots on goal through 40 minutes in what might be his final NHL game – but Calgary got goals from Brandon Bollig and Patrick Sieloff just 31 seconds apart in the third period to give Backstrom the win.

“If this is the end,” an emotional Backstrom said, “it’s a great way to end.”

It’s not the end for the Wild, a few of whom donned brave faces following this game.

Goalie Devan Dubnyk, who played the first half of the game for the Wild and left when the score was still 0-0, talked about the team’s excitement for the playoffs and erasing thoughts about his team’s five-game losing string.

“It’s difficult to make the playoffs,” Dubnyk said. “It’s an accomplishment, and that’s what we worked all year to do. We all truly feel like we can beat anybody in the league.”

Dubnyk labeled the series against the Stars “difficult,” and captain Mikko Koivu echoed those sentiments.

“It’s a big challenge for us,” Koivu said. “With our game and the way we play, we can challenge any team in this league. We showed that. I believe we can do it.

“From now on, it’s all for Game 1, and go on from there.”

Koivu said the Wild played well through two periods Saturday, outshooting the Flames 31-11, before sagging a bit. The two-month push to make the playoffs might have cost the Wild a bit emotionally, he added.

The 82nd game of the season attracted the season’s largest home turnout of 19,247 (not counting the outdoor game), giving the Wild 600 home sellouts and 106 consecutive sellouts at the Xcel Energy Center.

They closed with 25 straight crowds of 19,000-plus at the 17,954-seat arena and averaged a team record 19,062 per game.

With a playoff berth locked up and a slim loss in the finale, there were practically no boos from the customers Saturday. They, like the players, were trying to look ahead to the playoffs.

Better results are possible, Torchetti insisted, if the Wild pay attention to the details.

“Teams that win championships have to do the details and do the adjustments,” he said.

Asked if the Wild have the capability of turning things on in postseason play, Torchetti demurred.

“We’ll see in the playoffs,” he said.

The post Wild skid into postseason appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – There is no figuring the Minnesota Wild this season.

They’re good; they’re bad; they’re indifferent.

And that’s just during one period.

Ask them, however, and they will tell you it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter because they are in the playoffs. The Wild lost 3-0 to the San Jose Sharks Tuesday night at the Xcel Energy Center and were booed off the ice, but the Nashville Predators defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-3, eliminating the Avs the from Stanley Cup Playoff race.

“We’re in the playoffs,” Wild captain Mikko Koivu said. “That’s great news for the organization; that’s great news for the team; that’s great news for the fans. All that is positive right now.”

Minnesota locked up eighth place in the NHL Western Conference with 87 points and one game remaining, earning a spot in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

Sure, the Wild have lost four in a row, and sure, they needed consecutive losses by the Avs to lurch into the playoffs.

But, said Wild interim coach John Torchetti, “I think everyone’s missing the point. You know, there’ve been different peaks and valleys this year, but the bottom line to it all is we peaked at the right time and we got into the playoffs. That’s a big thing for this team.”

The Wild have gone 15-10-1 since Torchetti took over on Feb. 14, which he insists is not “backing in” to the playoffs.

Koivu stressed the same thing.

“You earn every single point,” he said. “And every single team wants to be in the playoffs, and we’re there. So we can talk about it like we won six in a row. That’s probably what brought us there. So why don’t we talk about that rather than losing tonight.”

If the Wild were inconsistent under previous coach Mike Yeo – and they were, earning him a dismissal with a 23-22-10 mark including losses in his final eight games – that inconsistency has not exactly dissolved under Torchetti.

Two times since Feb. 14 the Wild won four in a row and then they won six straight in March. But they also lost two straight two times before this current four-game streak. And they bounced back.

“The guys have done a great job,” Torchetti said. “They could have folded when I got here, too, so I’m really proud of them.”

Winger Zach Parise, who tied with teammate Nino Niederreiter for a game-high four shots on goal as Minnesota outshot the Sharks 29-20, said the loss by Colorado should eliminate one problem.

“Enough with the negativity and we can move forward,” Parise said.

Negativity?

“It’s you guys,” Parise said, gesturing toward the media. “I was talking about you guys.”

The Wild managed just five shots on goal in the first period and fell behind when Logan Couture scored 4:43 after the opening faceoff. Goals in the second and third period by Patrick Marleau ruined any possible celebration expectations for the 24th consecutive crowd of 19,000-plus.

Negativity? There were a few boos as the Wild left the ice trailing 2-0 after two periods, and many more when they trudged off at game’s end.

“We have to get our game in order,” defenseman Ryan Suter said.

But four losses or four wins mean nothing if the team nonetheless makes the playoffs, goalie Devan Dubnyk said.

“These four games really don’t matter,” Dubnyk said.

“Your goal during the season is to get into the playoffs, and we’re in the playoffs,” Suter said. “Now our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. We have to prepare to be ready to accomplish that.”

Dubnyk called it “a strange week,” referring to potential ups that spun into gloom. He added, “It’s been talked about the last week, so it’s nice to get it out of the way and we can shift our focus. I don’t know it that was affecting what we were doing, but it doesn’t have to any more.”

Torchetti admitted that his players need to get back to skating fast and playing with “more energy.” But it’s likely, he noted, that clinching a playoff berth should help the mental aspect, at least.

“Maybe this,” he said, “will loosen some guys up.”

The post ALL Eyes On The Prize appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota blows chance to gain ground on Nashville

St. Paul – After a season-high six consecutive victories capped by a humongous win over the Chicago Blackhawks, perhaps the Wild were due for a letdown.

“I hope not,” winger Jason Pominville said. “We’re not in any position to have any letdowns right now. We can’t afford that.”

Still, the Wild needed nearly half of Thursday’s game against the Ottawa Senators to muster 10 shots on goal. They came from behind to tie the score twice on goals by Zach Parise and Erik Haula, but the Senators escaped the Xcel Energy Center with a 3-2 victory after getting a fluke goal with 3:57 to play.

“That’s unfortunate,” Parise said of the winning goal, which caromed past goaltender Devan Dubnyk after deflecting off Haula’s skate. “But I think you have to look at the game as a whole. Did we play well enough to win the game? I don’t know.”

They did not, according to coach John Torchetti, who said the line of Mikko Koivu, Charlie Coyle and Parise was his team’s lone consistent line of the evening.

“We didn’t come out with the strongest game,” Torchetti said. “You can’t play with really, one line. We had three lines that didn’t do a good job tonight.”

In addition, winger Thomas Vanek left the ice early during warm-ups and was not able to play because of an upper-body injury, and then Jared Spurgeon blocked a shot by Bobby Ryan on his second shift of the game and was unable to come back.

“That sucks,” defenseman Dumba said. “Spurgeon is a big part of our back end, and whenever you’re playing with five D, it’s hard.”

This game seemed to veer all over for the Wild, who defeated the Blackhawks 4-1 two nights earlier to extend their victory streak to six. Minnesota had seven shots on goal in the first period, came on strong after Parise’s goal midway through the second and then played hit and miss later.

“We just didn’t play a solid 60 minutes,” Torchetti said. “We have a lot of guys that have got to up their ante there. There’s no nights off in this league. We’ve got to be ready to battle, and I didn’t like our battle level.”

Said Parise: “I just don’t think we played as well as we needed to.”

The comeback was heartening to a vocal crowd of 19,032, but a quick whistle eliminated a possible goal by Dumba when it was 2-2 in the third period, and several shifts later Cody Ceci sailed past the Minnesota net, slid the puck in front and it ricocheted in off Haula.

“A tough bounce,” Haula said.

“It’s unfortunate,” Pominville said. “We were able to bounce back and tie the game up, and then they get a fluke goal at the end, which is not fun when you battle that hard to get back into the game.”

Minnesota is down to its final four games and leads Colorado by five points, but missed a chance to open that gap to seven and also pull within two points of Nashville for seventh place in the NHL West.

The Wild get a quick opportunity to turn things around with a game against the Red Wings in Detroit Friday night.

“We have to be better tomorrow,” defenseman Jonas Brodin said.

After Thursday’s game, a letdown would be impossible.

The post Sens Snap Wild Streak appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul — Minnesota entered the 2015-16 season on the heels of being swept out of the second round of last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Chicago Blackhawks.

While the Wild have a long way to go to avenge that drubbing, they did manage to make a bit of history against their Windy City rivals on Tuesday night.

With a 4-1 win over the Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center, Minnesota completed a five-game season sweep of Chicago. The Wild became the first team to win every game against the Blackhawks in a season series of at least five games since 1938-39 when the Boston Bruins beat them eight times.

“Getting that against a team like they are, it’s good for confidence and moving forward,” Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu said. “But there’s a lot of things that we need to prove as a team.”

Minnesota now has a seven-game regular-season win streak versus Chicago dating back to Feb. 3, 2015 making it the second longest such streak all-time against the Blackhawks. In addition, the Wild is 8-3-1 in its last 12 games against the Hawks at Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota coach John Torchetti, who won a Stanley Cup in 2010 at the end of his tenure (2007-2010) as an assistant coach with the Blackhawks said the sweep is great but when it counts for his players is the playoffs.

“They’ve played them umpteeninth times, plus the three years in the playoffs, Torchetti said. “We should know how to play them. Now if we get a chance and are fortunate enough to make the playoffs, that’s got to be our marker.”

With the score knotted at 1-1 entering the final period, goals by Jared Spurgeon, Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter spurred Minnesota to its season-best sixth straight win.

The line of Haula, Niederreiter and Jason Pominville not only kept Wild nemesis Patrick Kane off the score sheet, the trio added a two goals and a pair of assists on the night.

Coupled with Colorado’s 3-1 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday, the Wild hold a five-point lead over the Avalanche for the West’s final wild card spot with just five games remaining. The playoffs become more of a reality with each passing day.

Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, who fought Chicago’s Andrew Shaw in the second period, said the team’s recent upswing is simply a matter of the the players saying enough is enough.

“We were sick of losing games to probably teams we shouldn’t and ended up beating the ones that were higher up in the standings that we knew we could,” he said.

On Tuesday Minnesota took advantage of a depleted Chicago defensive corps which it wore down as the game went on.

Already without defenseman Brent Seabrook who was a late scratch due to illness, Chicago lost fellow blueliner Duncan Keith just 9:27 into the contest. The All-Star was assessed a match penalty for intent to injure when he swung his stick at the face of Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle, leaving the Wild winger with a cut across the bridge of his nose.

Torchetti was asked if Coyle’s nose was broken but the coach said he didn’t know.

“I didn’t really ask him,” Torchetti said. “He was back in there, so I just went, ‘How’d it go, Chuckie?’ and then I tried to double-shift him because that’s how it is. Sometimes that guy gets hot. I know he was still a little ticked off, and that’s what it’s all about.”

The remaining 50:33 marked the first time since the 2005-06 seasons the Hawks played without either defenseman in the lineup. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews admitted playing without the blueline stalwarts wasn’t easy but liked his team’s response overall.

“We did a good job of recognizing the fact that we were short-staffed defensively,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “I think for the most part we played pretty well defensively. We just got caught and gave up those rush chances.”

The Wild’s rushes began with defenseman Mike Reilly hitting Stoll in stride at the Chicago line and the big center did the rest in scoring his fourth goal of the season and third in a Wild sweater.

“I don’t think their forward was really in a position for Stolly,” Reilly said. “I looked up and just saw him flying up on the far blue line and he made a great shot.”

But it was Chicago which later made the most of the five-minute power play the Wild received from Keith’s penalty as Marian Hossa finished a pretty 2-on-1 break with Toews with this 13th goal of the season.

Hossa’s goal is No. 499 of his career, 14 of which have come in his 36 games against the Wild while Toews notched assist No. 20 in his 32nd all-time game opposing Minnesota.

Torchetti says he’s happy for his players and is enjoying watching his team being rewarded for its effort.

“You see guys like Zach (Parise) blocking shots, Mikko just playing underneath sticks hard, Charlie’s bleeding, Dumba’s fighting; that’s what it’s all about,” Torchetti said. “That’s playoff hockey for me. That’s the fun part of watching.”

NOTES:

Haula’s two points (1-1–2) extended his career high point streak to nine games (4-6–10) – the longest active point streak in the NHL and the longest on the Wild this season. With every goal (13), assist (20) and point (33) Haula sets a new career high. He has 22 points (9-13–22) in the last 25 games dating back to Feb. 9 and leads the Wild with a plus-23 rating. … Niederreiter’s empty-net goal marks his 20th of the season – becoming the first-ever Swiss native to score at least 20 NHL goals in back-to-back seasons. … G Devan Dubnyk recorded his sixth consecutive win to earn his 32nd win of the season- third most wins in a single season by a Wild goaltender. He is 6-0-0 with a 1.30 GAA, a .957 SV% and one shutout in the last six games. He has posted an 11-1-1 record in the last 14 games with a 1.91 GAA, a .931 SV% and one shutout

The post A Fighting Chance appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – The scoreboard camera at the Xcel Energy Center gave 19,032 fans a vivid example of Zach Parise’s feelings after the Wild winger roofed a goal 5:21 into the first period Thursday night.

After a long stretch of fighting things, Parise was spotted at the bench wearing the grin of someone who had just scored and, perhaps, had terminated a stretch of futility. It was just his second goal since Feb. 15 and third since Jan. 20, but he utilized some of that old, familiar stick magic he’s known for.

And — absolutely — it marked the end of his so-called slump.

Parise scored again just 46 seconds later, then deflected in a power-play goal 10:27 after that to become the first Wild player to record a hat trick in one period. His three goals in 11 minutes, 12 seconds also set a franchise record, and his third hat trick of the season was his first at the X.

But Parise was not finished.

He picked up an assist on Jared Spurgeon’s second-period goal for a four-point night as the Wild defeated the Calgary Flames 6-2 for their fourth consecutive victory to stay in eighth place ahead of Colorado in the NHL West.

The big game for Parise has been looming. Coach John Torchetti said he could see how close Parise was even through the near-misses.

“He’s a great player,” Torchetti said, “and things started going. His battle level was up there and compete-level. He was in good situations the last few games. The whole team was happy for him tonight because he had a breakout game for us, and we certainly needed it.”

Parise leads the Wild in goals with 22, shots with 213 and winning goals with six, but had 16 goals and 11 assists on Jan. 10 before the struggles mounted and — coincidence or not — the team’s nosedive to temporarily out of a playoff spot worsened.

“That’s the way the game goes,” he said. “It doesn’t always go the way you want it, the way you plan, so hopefully from now on we keep generating some more offense and keep playing more like that.”

He’s been feeling good of late, he said, and kept pushing to resume his role as a top scorer.

“Some more looks, some more chances,” Parise said. “You never know. Fortunately tonight they went in.”

Parise could have had a career-high five points Thursday: It was his pass to Spurgeon, deflected twice by a Flames defender, that led to Spurgeon’s second goal of the game and 10th of the season in the third period. Spurgeon was credited with an unassisted goal.

Parise was not happy.

“Our scorers are sleeping sometimes,” he said with some frustration. “I’ve never seen a home rink that’s tougher to get points in than ours. Seriously.”

Spurgeon, who became Minnesota’s 12th player with 10 or more goals this season, said, “He should get an assist; I wouldn’t get the puck if it wasn’t for him.”

The result wrecked the homecoming of goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who went to the Flames in a trade for David Jones on Feb. 29.

Backstrom, the 38-year-old who owns most of Minnesota’s goaltending records but who had not played a game in the NHL in a season and a half, gained new life in Calgary and recorded a victory in his first start for the Flames against Montreal last week. Then he came home as his new team spent two days off in the Twin Cities between games, granting several media interviews to discuss how strange it would be to face his old mates and play in a different sweater in front of the Minnesota fans.

The Finn was given a standing ovation after a scoreboard tribute in the first period, a warm moment considering he had already been scalded twice by Parise.

“You go out there to play to win,” Backstrom said. “It was weird, but you can’t hide behind that. It sucks that we lost. I’m glad it’s over.”

While Backstrom is attempting to resurrect his career, Parise took giant steps towards erasing one of the frustrating stretches of his NHL career. And the Wild, who were 22-11-8 on Jan. 9 before going 13-17-3 heading into Thursday’s game, lead the Avalanche by three points going into a Saturday afternoon matchup in Denver.

The post Slump Buster appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – Nic Dowd couldn’t help but smile.

The 6-foot-2 former St. Cloud State star winger got his first NHL action for the Los Angeles Kings in their 2-1 loss to the Wild Tuesday night, calling it “a dream come true.”

Dowd, 25, collected 13 goals and 48 points in 57 games for the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, earning him a spot in the Kings’ lineup because of injuries to Marian Gaborik, Tanner Pearson and Kris Versteeg.

“My whole family was here, so it was great,” he said. “Disappointing we didn’t come out with a win, but yeah, it’s been a long road. It was great to play in the first one.”

The smile widened on Dowd’s face when someone asked him if it felt appropriate to make his debut at the Xcel Energy Center because the Huskies will play in the NCAA West Regional this weekend at the X.

“I was pretty excited knowing I was going to debut in Minnesota,” the native of Huntsville, Ala., said. “The state means a lot to me. The culture here is awesome, and going to St. Cloud, we had a lot of people in the stands that I wouldn’t be here without them.”

How many?

“Half a dozen important people in my life, and I’m sure there were a lot more than that,” he said.

Nic Dowd (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

In four seasons with the Huskies, Dowd totaled 52 goals and 69 assists in 155 games, but picked up 39 points in 42 games as a junior and 40 points in 38 games as a senior, when he was a candidate for the Hobey Baker Award.

Dowd was strong on the puck all evening for the Kings, who outshot Minnesota 39-18 but were unable to solve goaltender Devan Dubnyk as the Wild climbed back into eighth place in the NHL West.

Dubnyk had to be especially good with 3 ½ minutes left in the third period when the puck came Dowd’s way with teammate Nick Shore in front and Jake Muzzin closing in from the left point.

“I tried to bump it back to Shorsie. I missed it,” Dowd said. “Got a piece of it and it ended up working out and going to Muzz. He (Dubnyk) made a good save. A tough break.”

Dubnyk actually steered the puck wide after Dowd deflected it, then had to dive to cover the corner of the net when Muzzin tried to pot the rebound.

“Duby got us two points tonight,” Wild interim coach John Torchetti said.

The night began on a strange note for Dowd, who took a stick to the chops from former University of Minnesota opponent Erik Haula on his first shift. Dowd played 2 minutes, 48 seconds in the first period, 4:05 in the second period and 5:22 in the third, finishing with two shot attempts, one hit and one giveaway.

He spent much of the game on a line with Kings leading goal-scorer Tyler Toffoli and Dwight King.

“I felt really good,” Dowd said. “I think the adrenalin really kicked in. I was fortunate my first shift was in the O-zone, and I happened to take a high stick. The game went from there. I think I was lucky I got to play with Toff and King all night – two pretty good players.”

He was plus-1 for the evening and won 63 percent of his faceoffs (5-for-8).

“He was solid,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “You get called up, you get to play.”

Dowd says he has no idea how long he will stay in the NHL, but he enjoyed his first taste.

Asked what’s next, he smiled and said, “Just continue to take what’s given to me and work from there.”

The post A Husky Homecoming appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

St. Paul – The Wild’s playoff hopes could have grown very dim Saturday.

Coming off road losses to Ottawa and New Jersey, Minnesota entered a matinee game against the Carolina Hurricanes needing a jolt of positivity.

Then Carolina tied the score 2-2 with 6:51 remaining in the third period to force overtime, and Hurricanes forward Elias Lindholm sprung himself free with a spin-o-rama move in the final seconds of overtime.

Devan Dubnyk made the save on Lindholm, however, and after shootout goals by Charlie Coyle and Zach Parise plus two shootout saves by Dubnyk, the Wild escaped the sold-out Xcel Energy Center with a 3-2 victory in front of 19,044.

The 100th consecutive sell-out crowd for a Wild home game erupted in cheers at the conclusion, expelling an afternoon’s worth of held breaths from a dramatic 65-plus minutes of play.

Nothing was more dramatic than Lindholm’s late move.

“That’s overtime,” Wild interim coach John Torchetti said. “You can’t script it. Dubs, he kept his composure and held his post.”

Dubnyk said he was aware the clock was ticking down and simply tried to shut out everything but the play in front of him.

“You just try to keep in focus and bear down as much as you can,” he said.

The two points inched Minnesota within a point of Colorado for eighth place in the Western Conference after 72 games.

“Getting one point’s not good enough for us.” Dubnyk said. “So, a lot of emotions there.”

Minnesota got goals from David Jones and Jason Zucker to twice take one-goal leads in this one, but both times Carolina came back to tie.

It was that kind of a tight game.

“Every play’s a big play,” Torchetti said. “Everyone knows it. It’s good for our team to play those types of games.”

Torchetti benched forward Thomas Vanek for this game, then was forced to play without injured forward Ryan Carter through much of the late going. Jones stepped up, and Zucker scored his first goal since Feb. 17.

“It’s always nice to get a goal,” Zucker said, “but more than that, it was nice to help the team get a win tonight. It was two very needed points.”

After four losses in their previous five games, the Wild desperately needed success on Saturday.

“We stuck with it,” Coyle said. “In our previous games we would have been frustrated in our game when things weren’t working, but we stayed within our structure. That’s what’s going to get us scoring chances and goals.”

Torchetti called it a game of “good team structure” that went well because his team was often on the winning side of puck battles. That allows Torchetti to relax a bit and not worry about peripheral matters.

“I feel good,” he said. “I feel confident. Tonight’s a playoff-type game – tight checking, making the right play at the right time, making good changes, being smart.”

And getting two points that very likely might prove significant at season’s end.

The post Wild Weather the Storm appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.