Minnesota Wild lose to San Jose Sharks (12/11)

The Minnesota Wild lost to the San Jose Sharks 4-1in the third game of the five game Wild road trip. The Sharks came out strong and the Wild just couldn’t get enough shots past San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov. The Wild shot a season high 37 shots, but the Sharks lived up to their strong defense reputation. San Jose has only given up 66 goals this season, fewest in the Western Conference, and the Wild knew they would need to either shut them out or step up their own Wild defense game, neither of which occurred Tuesday night.

The second period was by far the worst for the Minnesota Wild. I think they spent about a minute outside of their own zone. Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom looked rattled after the first goal and looked lost in the second period all together. Personally, I think the Sharks let up a bit in the third, but the Wild came out swinging. Both Aaron Voros and Todd Fedoruk got into fights in the third period, Voros fought (and lost) with Kyle McLaren who had checked him viciously in the first period. Todd Fedoruk then threw his weight around with defenseman Alexi Semenov. So at least I got to see a good fight since I didn’t watch a good Wild hockey game. Next up for the Wild are back to back California road games on Friday and Saturday. Let’s hope the Wild can earn some points!