First of all, they’ve been dealing with nightmares all night back in the office, so I’m going to throw my unedited, extended gamer (before I trimmed it) on here since I’m not positive what’s getting in the newspaper and into what editions.

The season’s close to being over. Sorry folks, but that’s reality. The Wild basically has to run the table now. The most points it can get is 92 by going 7-0. The details are in the gamer, which is below.

The players know it, too, judging by an extremely glum locker room. Niklas Backstrom, who did everything possible tonight to steal a victory in a game the Wild was outshot 40-15, was as dejected as I’ve ever seen him.

Mikko Koivu is expected to play tomorrow. Here is the gamer:

by russo

CALGARY, ALBERTA – Just what the doctor ordered.
The Calgary Flames had lost seven of 10. There was panic on the airwaves as the Vancouver Canucks crept from the rear. The Calgary Sun questioned whether it was time to throw Mike Keenan to the curb.
All that doom and gloom was way, way, waaaaay premature.
That’s because as is often the case when the Flames are coughing up phlegm, the prescription arrived just in time — 500 mg of the Minnesota Wild.
Saturday night, during a 3-2 win, the Flames outshot the Wild 40-15 to knock off the Wild for the 16th time in the past 17 meetings at the Saddledome.
“We need to find a way to win in this building,” dejected goalie Niklas Backstrom said. “I don’t know how, but we need to do it. I don’t know how.”
What’s worse, the Flames just might have delivered their favorite nemesis a death blow.
While the math says the Wild still has a shot at the postseason, reality says vacations can be planned.
The 11th-place Wild (78 points) is now three points behind eighth-place Edmonton (tonight’s opponent) and ninth-place St. Louis, and four behind seventh-place Nashville with seven games left.
The Oilers and Blues are on pace for 88.5 points and the Predators 89.6. Even if the Wild, which hasn’t won two in a row since Feb. 21-22 and three in a row since Nov. 13-18, won the rest of its games, the maximum points it can gain is 92.
“Not only [do we need to] run the table, we’ll need help from the other clubs,” coach Jacques Lemaire said.
Said defenseman Nick Schultz, “This was a must-win and we didn’t get it. Now [tonight] becomes all that more important. We’re definitely not out of it. We’ve got to rebound.”

The Wild, playing most of the month without defenseman Brent Burns, was minus first-line center Mikko Koivu and second-line right wing Pierre-Marc Bouchard against Calgary. It was on its heels often, taking a season-low 15 shots – one fewer than it took in Calgary last month.
Backstrom kept the Wild in it Eric Nystrom, less than two minutes after the Flames had consecutive power-play goals wiped out by the same referee, scored the eventual winning goal late in the second period to snap a 2-2 tie.
Andrew Brunette gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with his 19th goal midway through the first, but that lead lasted all of 1 minute, 27 seconds as the Flames rallied with two quick goals.
Defenseman Martin Skoula played starring roles on both. First, he backhanded a rebound right onto Jamie Lundmark’s stick for the tying goal. Two minutes later, Skoula lost the puck, then looked like a wobbling dreidel as Todd Bertuzzi evaded him. Bertuzzi threw the puck in front, and Daymond Langkow beat Backstrom with a perfect shot.
The Wild tied the score midway through the second on James Sheppard’s first goal since Jan. 30, snapping a 26-game drought. Stephane Veilleux poked the puck off Craig Conroy’s stick, then Craig Weller and Sheppard drove the net from the corner before Weller fed Sheppard for his fifth goal.
But then, madness. After Cal Clutterbuck was called for clipping Lundmark, the Flames had two goals waved off 43 seconds apart by referee Eric Furlatt.
“It was weird. I went to leave twice and they sent me back in,” Clutterbuck said.
First, on an Olli Jokinen blast, Furlatt ruled Curtis Glencross was in the crease impeding Backstrom’s ability to make the save. Replays showed Glencross wasn’t even in the blue. Soon after, Furlatt ruled that Glencross redirected a Jarome Iginla shot with a high-stick.
Boos rained, but two minutes later, Owen Nolan got his pocket picked by Jokinen at center ice.
Jokinen threw the puck up ice as Skoula and Nick Schultz got tangled on a line change, creating a 2-on-1. Iginla hit Nystrom for a 3-2 Calgary lead.
The Wild just couldn’t penetrate Calgary’s blue line, other than the Sheppard goal. The Flames did a tremendous job nullifying Marian Gaborik, who had no shots one game after four points against the Islanders.
The Wild expects to get at least Koivu back tonight, but is it too late? The standings say almost definitely.
“The biggest thing in hockey is you never give up,” Backstrom said. “You don’t want to give up in a game, you don’t want to give up in the standings. You go out there and until someone says the season’s over, you fight.”

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Mikko Koivu was not on the bus to the Saddledome, and I just got official word that he will miss his third straight game tonight with a knee injury.

Coach Jacques Lemaire talked this morning that if he played any game this weekend, it would be Sunday’s game at Edmonton because the Wild was concerned about him playing back-to-back. Obviously that’s still not guaranteed.

Heading into tonight’s game, the Wild is three points out of a playoff spot now that Nashville’s jumped over Edmonton with its overtime win against Los Angeles. This is a must-win, folks, plain and simple.

Nashville’s on pace for 89.6; Edmonton for 88.5. If the Wild lose tonight, the most points it could get is 92, and that’s by going 7-0.

Lemaire’s going with 7 defensemen tonight. Craig Weller, a Calgary native, is in for the first time since March 8. Colton Gillies is out. Kurtis Foster and John Scott are both in.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 7:26 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.