Say this for the Wild, it never sways from that Calgary script.

Most times in this arena, the Wild barely muster scoring chances, dodge checks like a bullfighter, cough up the puck like they’ve realized they’re touching poison ivy.

The Wild was just terrible tonight. Initial signs came on a 92-second 5-on-3 when it didn’t come close to a scoring chance. Then, after two breakdowns led to two Calgary goals in the first 37 seconds of the second — game, set, match.

Coach Jacques Lemaire says the Wild must bounce back Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada in Edmonton, and he said the good thing is his defensemen couldn’t play worse.

Marek Zidlicky had another tough night. So did Marc-Andre Bergeron, even though he scored. Martin Skoula and Brent Burns both had turnovers a few feet from Niklas Backstrom, Burns’ which turned into a goal. After that one, an infuriated Backstrom spiked his stick on the ice.

The Wild just didn’t have it tonight. Even Mikko Koivu was uncharacteristically careless, like when he backhanded a puck through his own crease. It was picked off by Dustin Boyd, but Backstrom bailed him out.

As Nick Schultz said, “Backs made some big saves. It could have been a lot worse than it was. We definitely have to be better. Our decisions with the puck, we needed to be better, and we didn’t do it.”

James Sheppard had a really bad night also. For centers that take enough draws to qualify, Sheppard was the worst faceoff drawman in the NHL last season. There’s been zero improvement this year. He is a league-worst .398 from the faceoff dot, and he lost 11 of 14 tonight. Two lost draws led to the two goals early in the second. He also was a minus-2 and is now minus-20, third-worst in the NHL.

The Wild literally had one scoring chance before Bergeron’s late, meaningless goal. Miikka Kiprusoff could have taken a snooze like much of the crowd did in a boring first. Both teams wouldn’t give an inch, so much so, that on a harmless 2-on-2, the Flames’ crowd got audibly excited because at least there was a first instance of speed.

Mike Keenan was furious with a Derek Boogaard elbow on Brandon Prust with 1:12 left. He was called for boarding, but it was an elbow.

Cue Keenan: “He’s a menacing player. The strategy of the coach was to put him out with a large deficit to try and take advantage of his physical attributes. I don’t mind people hitting but he did leave his feet. He probably could have been assessed a major for doing so. The league will look at it. We don’t have to suggest that anymore. They watch all the games from the war room and make those decisions as games unfold.”

Boogaard, by the way, has never been suspended. 

OK, that’s it. Onward to Edmonton. Wild better bounce back, or this will be a miserable two days waiting around for Tuesday’s game in Vancouver.

By the way, funny moment tonight. During the Kiss Cam, a guy held up a hand-written sign that read, “She’s my sister.” The crowd roared.

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As reported this morning, Colton Gillies and Kurtis Foster out. Jarome Iginla itching.

We’ll see if the 50 season-ticket holders in attendance, and Cal Clutterbuck’s dad, Tim, can bring the Wild luck in a building that’s offered little anything but nightmares.

Check out this Alex Ovechkin video. The guy almost lost his head — literally.

Here’s a picture of Doug Risebrough on the Flames’ wall of captains in the press room. Risebrough was Calgary’s captain from 1983-87.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 8:00 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.