Minnesota Wild 0 - 3 Calgary Flames
For Calgary perspective, please visit Matchsticks and Gasoline
There will be reports that the Wild outplayed the Calgary Flames. There will be reports that with a few lucky bounces, the Wild may have had a chance in this one. There will even be reports that the Wild played well for part of the second period.
Don't believe any of them.
The Wild were what every Wild fans dreads them to be in the first period. They were boring. After enduring a decade of "The Wild are boring" comments from the opposition, the Wild came into Calgary and did their best to lull us all to sleep. There were some shots on goal for both sides, some better than average saves, but the whole feel of the first period was one of two teams not wanting to lose, no one wanting to win.
On Twitter, some of the Flames writers asked if the second period could really get worse. Just after I explained that yes, it could, and just how, the Flames scored their first goal on a complete defensive breakdown in tight to the net. Jay Bouwmeester scored the goal on a nice feed from Wild killer Jarome Iginla. Yes, that Jay Bouwmeester.
The Wild would come out angry after that, right? They would be mad that after playing fairly good for an entire period, the Flames were up by one, right? Wrong. Just 18 seconds later, Jarome Iginla added to his lead as the all time leading scorer against the Wild, and that was it. After that, there was nothing left to do but watch the seconds tick off the clock.
The one really good thing about the second? Todd Richards called a time out to stop the Flames momentum. Scary that he had to learn that from Russo, but it is what it is. Richards called it, and the bleeding was stopped, at least for the moment.
The Flames would add a third late in the third, adding salt to the wound, and sending two of my fantasy hockey teams home with a shutout. A completely forgettable game for the Wild, and one that absolutely does not help to quiet the chorus of questions surrounding this team.
Things are ugly right now. Completely and totally ugly. The record is no longer that much better than it was at the same point last season. The progress has halted, and the team is off the rail.
Change for the sake of change. Let's see it.
Hockey Wilderness Three Stars
1. Jarome Iginla (1G, 1A, 7SOG)
2. Miikka Kiprusoff (Shut out)
3. Niklas Hagman (1G, 3 SOG)
Five Questions
- Can Jared Spurgeon find a place in the weeds? He played well. He has some work to do, and he still scares the bejesus out of me, but yeah, he did OK.
- After allowing their starter to be embarrassed, how does the team defense look in front of Jose Theodore? Not good. If the Flames had a killer instinct, this would have been out of hand.
- Divisional match ups are important, and feisty. Can these teams play a civilized hockey game? Indeed. Not one fight. More of a rollover by the Wild, in my humble opinion.
- Can the Wild hold Iginla in check? Not at all.
- Last game of November. Does the Saddledome have enough sinks for all the guys to shave after the game? Maybe that's what they need. Maybe they need to shave. Get on it, boys.