Last night's thriller against the St. Louis Blues was busy for both the offensive and defensive lines for the Wild.
Even though the Blues outshot the Wild in every period except for the 2nd (they each got 10 SOG that period), the Wild managed to come out with a 3-1 win over the Blues.
Over on the defensive side, things were equally as impressive, as Niklas Backstrom racked up a whopping 33 saves.
For just getting to the end of the preseason and getting ready for the regular season, Backstrom has been an absolute workhorse.
Last night has been his best performance since the incident before the start of game 1 of the playoffs last year.
If Backstrom could manage to avoid getting injured, things could be good for him.
Then again, at least during this preseason, Harding has proven to fare well in his place. There's always our prospects, Kuemper, and Gustafsson at our disposal too.
In short, if last night's preseason game tells us anything, it's pretty safe to say that Backstrom and the Wild are going into this regular season on the right foot.
This rivalry, as well as our other new ones should be very interesting to watch unfold throughout the season.