Wilderness Walk: 11-20-2013: Game Day Edition

Wow.

That was quite the beatdown last night. 6-1 is ugly, the largest deficit the Wild have lost by this season, and the worst since that worst game ever against edmonton last year.

OK, scratch that. Dany Heatley scored that all-important garbage goal with 1.3 seconds left. So, that gives Heatley two of his three goals against nobody, and a Carey Price who, if he wasn't actually sleeping, should claim he was to save himself from embarrassment.

Good job, kid. At least the Minnesota Wild PR's Twitter feed had something to Tweet: "Since Dany Heatley entered the #NHL in 2001-02, no one has more power-play goals - 142nd PPG tonight. #mnwild".

Russo used to throw out stats like that all the time, too. My take: Duh. Of course this is the case. Heatley was an elite goal scorer, and has been in the league longer than a lot of his would-be competitors. And it has no bearing on his play as of now. It doesn't matter that Dany Heatley had 23 power-play goals in 05-06 when he's only scored two more than that since the beginning of the 10-11.

I just really hate when people throw stats like that out, and try to make it as if we're still talking about a guy who is an elite goal-scorer today.

There's a lot of bad things about today, no doubt. But here's the thing: It's one game. The Wild still have 30 points in 22 games, which is good for 6th in the West (pending the Los Angeles Kings game, which won't be concluded until after I finish this post), and would be good for 1st in the Eastern Conference.

Mike Yeo said in the post-game press availability that he'd like to quickly throw this game in the garbage. As luck would have it, there's a great opportunity for a short memory, as the Wild travel to Ottawa for a game against the Senators, who were blown out by Philly last night, are a not-particularly-good team, and will also be on a back-to-back, so we're not talking about a fatigue disadvantage here.

On to the Walk.

Wild News

Game Recaps

Canadiens thrash Wild 6-2 in Montreal | Star Tribune

Postgame: Wild may have to accelerate search for backup goalie | Russo's Rants | StarTribune.com- More on this later, but I think it's a bit of an overreaction to toss out the possibility of having Darcy Kuemper as a backup goaltender based on two (very) unfortunate games. There is validity in not wanting Josh Harding to do everything alone, but there's also going to be Rick DiPietros and Mathieu Garons on the waiver wire next week. Throw out Kuemper soon, give him an opportunity to forget, and make sure he can't handle the job before allocating precious cap space to a guy who may not represent a large improvement to the current third-string goalie option.

Minnesota Wild: No answers in sight after 6-2 blowout loss - TwinCities.com

Wild Game Notes: 11-19-13 vs Montreal plus individual Corsi | Hashtag Hockey

Pacioretty's natural hat trick pacifies red hot Wild in 6-2 road loss

Hitting The Post: 30WR: Wild Stomped in Montreal

Other News

Wild notes: Improving Scandella returns to Montreal | Star Tribune- That worked out pretty well.

Minnesota Wild: Matt Dumba probably won't sit long - TwinCities.com- I've been saying he won't play more than the 41 games it would take to lose a year of free agency. He's on pace for 41 games right now. I'm right. Like always.

Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper won't let one bad outing affect him - TwinCities.com- Well, better make that two.

Mikko or Saku Koivu to captain at Olympics, says Finland coach | ProHockeyTalk- #TeamMikko

The Team of 18,001: Houses of Horrors- A look at a tough road trip.

Off the Trail

Rick Nash set for NY Rangers return after missing 17 games | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- He had 5 shots, but couldn't make any count as the Rangers lost by a goal.

Tim Thomas, Roberto Luongo and their dramatic juxtaposition | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- Who knew after the Tire Pumping Series that Luongo would be the likable one so shortly after.

Will the Leafs learn anything from their eventual collapse? | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com- They have to collapse first, which didn't happen last year, and isn't happening thus far this season.

Oilers investigated Ilya Bryzgalov to make sure he wasn’t ‘a terrible guy’ | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- Well, that's good, anyway.

Youth gone down: Grigorenko, Ristolainen, Larsson, Zadorov no longer with Sabres | ProHockeyTalk- Bad news for Johan Larsson, who has been pretty non-existent in the NHL, even though he admittedly doesn't exactly have teammates that would elevate his game any.

Everything You Know Is Wrong: Setting the Record Straight on Five Hockey Facts - The Triangle Blog - Grantland- Black is white, up is down, and short is long.

Who is favored to win Olympic hockey gold in Sochi? | Puck Daddy - Yahoo Sports- When in doubt, put a ten dollars on 900-1 teams. You're never gonna find a better deal.

Steven Stamkos Steve Yzerman among Winners losers of first quarter of 2013-14 NHL season | Home Ice - SI.com- A series of first-quarter reviews.

Jonathan Toews, Josh Harding among early NHL awards contenders for 2013-14 | Home Ice - SI.com

NHL: Awards picks after first quarter of NHL season - ESPN

Behind Enemy Lines

For news and analysis on the Ottawa Senators, please visit our friends at Silver Seven.

Senators lose 5-2 to Flyers after late-game collapse - Silver Seven- To steal a former Giles catchphrase, #woof.

Where have the Pesky Sens gone? - Silver Seven- They even have Erik Karlsson for the entire season, so what gives, Ottawa?