Minnesota Wild beat Colorado Avalanche, on top of Northwest Division

It’s Sunday and Minnesota Wild fans know what that means...the Wild play the Colorado Avalanche. See my post about the freakish Wild Schedule fact.

The Wild were happy to be home at the Xcel Energy Center and pulled off a 4-1 victory over the Avs. Josh Harding earned the win and Aaron Voros, Matt Foy, Stephane Veilleux and Brent Burns all scored for the Wild. I may have to admit I may be wrong about Voros. I previously stated he wasn’t going to be a big deal on this Wild team, but he looked like he belonged in the NHL Sunday night pouncing in Matt Foy’s rebound to get the first goal of the game.

Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire was back to praising his up and coming goalie, Josh Harding saying,

"He played really well, especially in the second period. He made a lot of good saves."

It was nice to see Harding get the nod to start after his debacle of an evening in Vancouver on Friday. I am a firm believer that if a player messes up, you should give them a second chance to redeem themselves because often the fire in their own bellies is more motivation to perform well than anything else.  If they screw up a second time, though – you’re out – no three strikes with me.

James Sheppard played a good game, too. I haven’t mentioned young James in awhile and he deserves the praise in print. He picked up two assists and played well, even Coach Lemaire was pleased.