The Long and Winding Road

I attended a Paul McCartney concert a few years ago in St. Paul; it was a great show with many great performances, but there is one moment that stands out for me. Late in the show (after consuming a few beers) I had to use the men's room. While I was relieving myself, Paul started to sing "The Long and Winding Road". What a great moment...I can say with almost complete certainty that I am one of just a handful of people on earth that have urinated to a live version of the song. Not a great story, but a good lead-in to today's post.

It has been a long and winding road for the Wild this season and some day I'll write about it here. For now I plan on taking a few weeks off from the blog and resuming in May with thoughts on what should happen in the off-season. Should Wild news break I'll also post about it here. Until then, enjoy the rest of the playoffs.

Countdown to Mayhem

Aside from "can they win tonight?" the most pressing question going into tonight is "will there be any retribution for Kim Johnsson?" Will there be any payback for Brad May's hit? My guess (and it's only a guess) is that there will be no retribution from the Wild. This is Lemaire's team and in the past he hasn't let them engage in activities like this. He has constantly tried to discourage Derek Boogaard from taking unnecessary penalties and tonight won't be any different. His (and the team's focus) is on the game at hand and not on taking the craziness to the next level. Having said that, I also think things could spiral out of control with any sort of marginal hit.

Which brings me back to my original question: can they win tonight? I think they can, but they need to score on the PP. It's a must; they can't win a 2-1 game. If the Wild win it's going to have to be a 4-3 or 5-4 contest and the Slovak boys need to connect.

Brad May Sucks

Here he is, Wild fans, Mr. Suckerpunch. Don't expect to see this coward on the ice for the Ducks anytime soon.

And yes, we now have a series.

Funny But True

Check out this post from the Battle of California:

http://battleofcalifornia.blogspot.com/2007/04/now-im-going-to-hell-for-sure.html

It wouldn't be half as funny if it weren't true.

Game 3 Loss

I'm speechless. And frustrated. And tired. Well, not quite completely speechless I guess. After tonight's 2-1 loss to Anaheim I have no answers. I have no excuses. The Wild have been outplayed by the Ducks for 10 of the 12 periods so far and are understandably down 3-0 in the series. There isn't one or two things that need to be corrected; I wish it was just that. They played a bit better tonight, but it is now painfully obvious that the Ducks are the better team. For now I'm just hoping the Wild win on Tuesday so I get to watch these guys play another game on Thursday.

After Two Periods

I'm now reminded of a line from "The Matrix" when Agent Smith is pressing Neo's head down on the train tracks. "You hear that, Mr. Anderson? That's the sound of inevitability." That's how I felt in the 2nd period even after the Wild tied the score at 1. Anaheim was going to score and take the lead, in was inevitable. More on the game tomorrow.

Another Game 1 Take

In my continuing efforts to provide you with complete Wild playoff coverage, today I offer a guest column, from a hockey guru I'll call "Hat Trick":

I have no problem with the Wild losing, Anaheim was the significantly better team. In feeling bad about the irony that they scored the winner so shortly after we had a couple of good chances don't forget that they had rather a lot more "could've beens" then we did.

Our defensive corps proved to be exactly what we were worried about - pretty good, but no better. There is still not a single great defenseman there. Burns may be a year or two from being a great one, Foster's progress has slowed drastically, but he still may prove to be "very good" - in a year or two. Carney is solid, Schultz at best is pretty good and his weaknesses are exposed by Anaheim's speed. Johnsson is good, but flaky, bad penalties and little offensive spark. And Skoula - plays pretty good positionally, but handles the puck like he doesn't want it AND doesn't know what to do with it anyway. He's not terrible - but he just doesn't have any confidence it seems like. I don't hate any of them like I hated Kuba, Sekaras and Zyuzin (sometimes) but that crew isn't good enough to win a Stanley Cup.

The forwards looked nervous - Rolston was like a hyperactive kid and was just as productive as one. And how many times would he have been able to clobber someone with a clean check...and he doesn't.

The shots of the bench were very telling I thought. Grim, serious faced, they looked nervous to me. Maybe it takes a game to get them over the jitters.

Seemed like every pass Anaheim made was sharp and on target, how many times did Wild passes look like they had been tipped even if they hadn't? Wobbly little flips across ice.

I don't know why Demitra gets no respect from the officials, I'm tired of seeing him run down from behind and elbowed in mid-ice.

All in all a pretty good game, but they are definitely tougher, at least a hair faster and their defensive corp is head and shoulders above ours.

Game 1 Thoughts

Despite getting outplayed for all but the first 12 minutes of the 2nd period, the Wild had a real good chance to win the game last night. Niklas Backstrom was outstanding and kept the team in a game that they could have lost 4-1. Oh sure, Gaborik and Veilleux hit posts in the 3rd, but if we went there we'd also have to mention the couple of times Anaheim struck metal. All in all the Wild got pushed around last night, hung around thanks to the play of the goalie, had a chance to win it, but didn't.

Here's hoping they play better in Game 2.

Game 1 Keys

For the Wild to win tomorrow night in Anaheim I believe the following are a must:

• Stay out of the box. Anaheim's power play will kill you given the chance.
• Get some serious traffic in front of JSG. Mark Parrish needs to get some screens and tips in order to beat the goalie.
• Limit Martin Skoula's stupid giveaways. You know it's going to happen, we've just got to hope it doesn't happen more than 3 or 4 times.
• Marian Gaborik must strecth the rink. A couple of breakaways would be nice.
  
• Win at least 40% of the faceoffs. The Wild's faceoff woes are well known and this could haunt them late in close games. If they limit this disadvantage they'll be ok.

Well, there you go. My food plan for the game consists of the following:

• 20 ounce Mountain Dew around 6pm. This should give me enough kick to stay up through the end of the contest.
• Coney Dogs. I recently found a good recipe for Coney Island sauce and I'm looking forward to testing it out tomorrow night.
• Cool Ranch Doritos. A playoff must.
• 1 Guinness Draught at the beginning of the 3rd period. This will counteract the Dew and provide me with ample sleepyness by the end of the game.

This is usually the point where I make some outlandish prediction, but for the playoffs I'm going to try and get a bit realistic. Prediction: Wild 4 (Parrish 2, Gaborik, Foster), Ducks 1 (Flash).

Side note: has anyone seen this post? Dang!

6 Reasons Why

I've been thinking about this matchup with Anaheim since lunch and I now firmly believe that the Wild will win the series. In support of this I offer my 6 Reasons Why the Ducks Will Lose to the Wild:

1. Goaltending. Nik Backstrom has been the best goalie in the NHL since the All Star Break. He doesn't let in softies, period.

2. The Revenge Factor. Last time these teams met in the playoffs the Wild was lucky to score a single goal. They were embarrassed in the Finals and are ready to erase painful memories that are burned into my brain.

3. Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra. Enough said.

4. Derek Boogaard has discovered he can do more than kill people with his left hand. This last stretch of games has found him becoming a major nuisance in front of the net and Lemaire isn't afraid anymore to play him semi-regularly.

5. The Earl Sleek Factor. Sleek will look past our pesky club and install a sense of overconfidence in Ducks players who read BOC regularly. I look forward to his drinky posts once the series begins.

6. My coach can beat up your coach. While this would be an intriguing fight, I am positive Lemaire would pound the crap out of Randy Carlyle.

Bring on the Ducks

The only question now is who will Derek Boogaard fight first. The Ducks are stocked with about 18 different enforcer/thugs, so things could get interesting. Barring the extraordinary, it looks like the Wild will face the Ducks in the first round of the playoffs. The stinkin' Ducks again. Well, if you recall a previous post, you'll remember that I was hoping for the Ducks, and it appears like I'm going to get my wish. Here's hoping JSG doesn't shut down the squad like he did in 2003.

Prediction: Wild in 4. (3-1, 9-0, 5-2, 2-1)