Slow Start Costs Wild

The Calgary Flames defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-2 Thursday Night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Wild dug themselves a hole they couldn't climb out of, falling behind 2-0 just 90 seconds into the game prompting the exit of Niklas Backstrom.
“Backstrom’s been playing great and he’s played a lot of games and he had a couple bad bounces, so I said let’s take him out,” said Lemaire. “I wanted to see if the team would respond and I didn’t want him back there if they couldn’t."
Brent Burns answered for the Wild taking a pass from Marian Gaborik and blasting it past Calgary net minder Mikka Kiprusoff for his 8th goal of season, this coming on the power play. After the horrendous start, just a one goal deficit going into the 1st intermission would have meant a whole new ballgame, but Calgary captain Jarome Iginla made sure that didn't happen, taking a great pass from Daymond Lankow and burying it with only 12 seconds remaining in the 1st period. After a scoreless 2nd, Calgary jumped to a three goal lead in the third period when Iginla completed the hat trick taking yet another great pass, this time from Craig Conroy. The Wild cut the deficit in half yet again with just under 7 minutes to play when Mark Parrish tipped home a Kim Johnsson shot for his 18th goal of the season. Mikko Koivu also picked up an assist. Jacque Lemaire said "The Kick in the Pants" may just be the eye opener the Wild needed as they prepare for the playoffs.

One Man's View
Unfortunately I had to work so i missed the entire game. Basing my opinion on highlights and the write up on Wild.com, the Wild played sluggish for most of the night and when you play a team like Calgary you cannot play bad and win. Maybe this IS what the Wild needed. Prior to the game Minnesota had picked up points in 16 of 18 contests. This sluggish performance hopefully can open Wild player's eyes, have a good Friday practice before taking on Colorado in Denver on Saturday. Lets hope Lemaire can get them back on track, which i don't worry about for a second.

Looking Ahead
The Wild travel to Colorado on Saturday for their final road contest of the season before returning home for a 3 game home stand against the Oilers (2) and Blues, two teams who are guaranteed to miss the playoffs. When you trail a division the only thing you can do is win. Do not worry about that first place team take care of your business. Problem is the Canucks seem to pick up a point in every game as of late, which makes it difficult to catch them, however not impossible. If the Wild take care of the games they should win, we could see a division race come down to the final Saturday of the season.