I don’t even know where to begin. I really don’t. As I told virtually everybody on press row during the first intermission, “Don’t start writing yet. This aint over. The Wild NEVER makes it easy.”

Not to be grim, but is there a chance the Wild doesn’t see the top-eight again? I know it’s easy to exaggerate the catastrophe of one loss of 82 games, but this colossal meltdown may linger, folks.

The Wild slipped to 10th. The Wild doesn’t play again until Thursday, meaning the top-eight will likely separate from the Wild a bit. And next up on the agenda: Calgary (Wild’s dismal against the Flames, but at least it’s not in Calgary); Detroit (the Red Wings are 20-4-6 against the Wild); and then the next night, at Chicago, who’s lost three times in regulation at the United Center (although once to the Wild).

Last August, I went to a Marlins game in Florida. I sat in the press box and was chatting with Derrick Goold, the Cardinals’ writer for the St. Louis Dispatch who used to cover the Blues. The NHL schedule had just been released, and I told him the Wild had 14 of 17 on the road starting in late February and ending in late March.

We both decided the Wild needed to be 6-8 points inside the playoffs at the start of that stretch if it was to be in good shape to survive. The Wild is approaching this treacherous stretch, and it’s on the outside looking in.

And tonight’s collapse — the first time the Wild’s ever coughed up a three-goal lead at home and lost — could be hard to forget. Jacques Lemaire was screaming mad, and I mean screaming, in his postgame. If you didn’t hear it, find it online. It’s worth it.

He’s referring to the fact that the Wild surrendered two shorties in the same game for the second time in history. Daniel Alfredsson set up both, the first being the tying goal to defenseman Chris Phillips in the last minute of the second, the second being early in the third when his shorthanded 2-on-1 shot popped in the air and was knocked in by Josh Harding’s arm.

The first came after an ill-advised Brent Burns pinch to save possession. There’s a minute left in the second and the Wild was up 3-2. Not a good time to take a gamble like that. The second came after a slow point to point pass from Marek Zidlicky targeted for Marc-Andre Bergeron. Alfredsson picked that off.

And the Wild gave up a breakaway and what I wrote down, three other odd-man rushes while on the power play.  

The Wild came out on fire. Or did they? How about this damning quote from Niklas Backstrom, who was pulled after two (Lemaire said it was to change momentum, although I said early to Jim Souhan that Backstrom looked like he was reacting late and the second goal by Antoine Vermette was not a good one): “We were up 3-0. I don’t know if we were really that much better in the first. We just scored goals.”

By the way, know where this game turned? When new coach Cory Clouston benched Jason Spezza. He played one shift in the second period after the 10-minute mark, and the Sens scored three times in the final 7:21.

And this was a game in which Ottawa did everything to give the Wild a rout, or at least a win. In the first, the Sens were mindboggling when it came to atrocious defense. Then, they kept taking stupid penalties, like … the Sens have all the momentum and Nick Foligno jumps Bergeron after his clean hip check on Mike Fisher, or when Jarko Ruutu facewashes Cal Clutterbuck from inside the bench.

But the Wild still melted down. Amazingly, Josh Harding faced only two shots in the third — the Alfredsson winner and a Fisher save off a shorthanded 2-on-1. The other goal was a Dany Heatley empty-netter.

When the dressing room opened up after the game, every player was still at his stall in full equipment untaping their socks. Why does this matter? Normally when the room opens to the media, half the guys have already bailed for the back.

This time, nobody had undressed because, I was told, some very upset players had some things to air in a short meeting.

The Wild — and me — had a scheduled day off Sunday. Not anymore. The Wild must show up at the arena at noon for a mandatory meeting, and there will be no days off this week, Lemaire said.

OK, I’ll be on Jim Souhan’s show at 10:20 a.m. on KSTP.

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Colton Gillies is the lone scratch for the Wild.

Forgot to mention this, but the other day in Detroit, I watched the Wild vs. Colorado game on NHL GameCenter Live on NHL.com. Great stuff. Was able to watch four games at once at one point, and you can listen to the TV or radio play-by-play while watching the action.

Anyway, on Monday, NHL.com will introduce special “Race for the Cup” pricing ($79) for the balance of the 2008-09 season and playoffs for NHL GameCenter Live.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 6:32 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.