Solid effort by the Wild tonight. Sure, it wasn’t the most action-packed game. The first half was sort of coma-inducing with fans right below me chanting BORING at times.

But you could see the Wild was playing well and would probably break out at some point. Phoenix took 48 shots on the Wild on Dec. 27 because it fired from everywhere. So Minnesota’s gameplan was to collapse around the net, keep it compact and protect Josh Harding, who made 26 saves for his third win in a row.

The Wild’s breakout was tremendous tonight. Not just the D-to-D passes, but the transition up to the forwards as well. The Kim Johnsson-Nick Schultz pair especially was solid.

Martin Skoula had another solid game by the way. I feel compelled to point that out considering the treatment he received from me a little bit ago.

Remember, the Wild has been uncharacteristically average this season defensively, so it got back to what makes it successful. And that’s a good thing with solid teams Calgary and Anaheim invading the X next.

Pavol Demitra was very good in all areas — defensively and physically to go with his goal and an assist. Marian Gaborik had another goal and an assist. He’s got four goals and eight points in his last four games, and he’s a plus-9.

Coach Jacques Lemaire felt it wasn’t one of his best though, saying he was standing still a lot of the night along with his fellow right wingers — except for Matt Foy.

Foy, James Sheppard and Todd Fedoruk continued their strong play during the winning streak. They teamed for Sheppard’s first goal since Nov. 28 — and the eventual winner — to give the Wild a 2-0 lead. Fedoruk was a plus-3, and the trio has combined for 10 points in the last 3 games.

It was Minnesota’s seventh straight win over Phoenix and a series sweep.

As Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said, “Certain teams you match up well against and you look forward to play. I can imagine they look forward to playing us.”

Harding was particularly strong on a 2-on-1 glove save on Craig Weller on the shift after Demitra gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead. That was a huge save. Harding has a 1.54 goals against average and .959 save percentage in his last three appearances. He also had an assist tonight.

Shane Doan extended his point streak to seven games with a late goal to ruin Harding’s shutout bid, the third time Harding’s had a shutout ruined late in the third this season.

Brent Burns got an assist to give him 26 points, establishing a new career high for the defenseman.

That’s it. Wild isn’t practicing Monday, so I’m saving a bunch of leftovers for a Monday for Tuesday story, probably on the fourth line.

Jacques said after that their play will make it awfully tough for Branko Radivojevic and Derek Boogaard to crack the lineup. 

You’ll hear from me again Tuesday unless something comes up Monday.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 9:17 pm and is filed under Game coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.