Minnesota Wild @ Philadelphia Flyers: The Morning After

Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 Minnesota Wild

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The Wild once again scored the first goal of the game, but it was pretty much all downhill from there.

Backstrom extended his shutout streak to 149:09, giving him the team record. However, shortly after achieving that record, he.fell.apart. Backstrom was not solid tonight. On the first, he dove out of the crease & was out of position. On the second it was a weak trickle through his pads and on the third it was a misplay on a 2 on 1 as he slid over from being out of position.

The offense was anemic as best, as they went 0/8 on the power play (second only the 0/9 earlier in the season in patheticness). Brent Burns played nicely in 30:03, Marek Zidlicky was second in TOI with 24:42, followed by Schultz and Johnsson. The defensemen weren't the issue tonight, in my opinion. The blame comes to the power play unit's inefficiency, the general malaise with which the offense is struck and Niklas Backstrom crashing back to earth. Guess we'll see if they bounce back on Saturday in Columbus.

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

1. Scottie Upshall  (1 G, 1 A)
   
2. Mike Knuble  (1 G)
3. Martin Biron (28 shots, 27 saves)
   

Questions to Answer

1. With Skoula out, and Lemaire not having a lot of confidence in Reitz and only a little more in Scott, will Burns, Johnsson and Schultz come close to the minutes they played against Detroit? Brent Burns ends up with 30:03 in TOI, over 5:00 more than anyone else on the ice.
   
2. Does the solid defensive streak continue? It certainly did until the floodgates were opened, then they didn't look so good.
   
3. Can Backstrom best his career high shutout streak tonight? Niklas Backstrom now has a new team record for shutout streak at 147:55 and counting. However, Backstrom was not solid tonight.
   
4. With Gillies back upstairs, can Pouliot keep him there? Benoit as usual had flashes of good play, but still took shifts off. He did, however, have 11:47 TOI which gave him more than Clutterbuck, Veilleux, Weller, Reitz and Scott.
   
5. Will Mikko have a chip on his shoulder for being kept out of the All-Star Game? Well, he certainly looked angry out there, but he did NOT play like an all-star tonight.
   

Notes

• The Wild are 10-2-1 against the Eastern conference this season.
• The Wild shutout streak record is now set at 149:09.
• This is the only game of the season between the Wild and Flyers.
• Each of Veilleux's six goals have either tied the game or given the Wild the lead.
• The Wild hadn't played at Philadelphia since Dec. 10, 2005.