I’m going to be real short tonight. Sorry, but I have some people to meet some place, and on a night like this, I need to go to this place.

Try filing the second the game is over when that Wild victory suddenly turns into a Wild OT loss in seconds.

The Wild chose to take the positive after the game, and it’s hard to blame them. There’s no doubt the Wild outskated and outplayed the Red Wings in the first two periods. It would have had much greater than a 2-1 lead if Dominik Hasek was human.

But after 100 years in the NHL, we all know Hasek’s from outer space. The 43-year-old is just ageless and was brilliant.

Like Columbus, the Wild was dramatically on its heels in the third period. The team looked like it exuded so much energy in the first 40 that it had little left in the tank in the final 20.

Niklas Backstrom kept the Wild in the game until giving up a weak goal from the half wall to Dan Cleary with 1:20 left. Then Brett Lebda won it 1:37 into OT.

Still, Jacques Lemaire said this game would be a measuring stick beforehand, and he didn’t leave disappointed other than the obvious final score.

The effort was there. The Wild was able to skate with and outplay the best team in the NHL for 40 minutes. But like they often do, the Red Wings pounced when given an opportunity.

The Red Wings have now won eight in a row and have 41 wins in 55 games. They’re 14-0-2 against the Northwest. The Wild is 7-2-2 in its last 11. Brian Rolston extended his goal streak to six games, establishing a Wild record, a personal record and tying the longest goal streak in the NHL this season.

Marian Gaborik’s 14-game home point streak died.

How about Calgary? Overcame a 3-0 third period deficit with Jarome Iginla tying it with 8 seconds left. Then the Flames won in a shootout. So that hurt the Wild bigtime in the standings. Calgary’s two points behind the Wild, eight seconds away from no points and winding up with two.

Last note, goalie Nolan Schaefer is going to Quad City to play the Flames Wednesday. He’ll come back here Thursday if ill-stricken Josh Harding isn’t better.�

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 6:46 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.