At a loss over the loss

You have to love Mike Greenlay, the Minnesota Wild's television analyst. He certainly comes up with some great one-liners and phrases that can keep me entertained for months that go well beyond the hockey season. And last nights 'Clutterbuck factor' was another example of how his humor is often times dead-on. Cal Clutterbuck was once again putting up some big hits numbers when, in the second period, he ran into the elbow of Todd Bertuzzi. It would have been a nice hit, but because the elbow was extended specifically for Clutterbuck, Bertuzzi was given a penalty. Well in the end, the 6 hits that Clutterbuck threw did not jolt the Flames enough as Calgary left with a 3-2 ot victory...but the phrase does ring true. And however bad the loss is and was, at least I have another Greenlay phrase to add to my memory bank.

Ice that puck

A bad trend has crept into the Wild's game this season and that is the inability to get the puck out of the D-zone with a clean break-out play. And last night, in a game that could have been decided by the Flames in the first period, Calgary held the pressure on for a good part of the opening period. Although the shot-totals favored the Wild 11-7 in that period, from my vantage point, that was no indication of who had the upper-hand. The Flames clearly carried the play and Minnesota was fortunate to escape with only a 1-0 deficit. In fact, things got so bad in the defensive zone for the Wild that they took 4 icing whistles in the first, two coming on virtually the same shift. Now I have not kept track of the icing stats this season, but it seems to me that whipping the puck down the rink cannot be a good sign, especially from a team fighting for a playoff spot.

Shoot that puck

Ever since the Wild came to be, they have not been a team that often out-shoots their opponent. And so far, this has not seemed to hinder them all that much because they have always been a good team at capitalizing on the few chances that they do get. But going through a whole period with only a single shot on net is really puzzling to me. I cannot figure out how, by some lucky bounce or an errant pass, more than one puck does not hit the opposing goaltender. The simple fact is that if you don't shoot, you are not going to score. Minnesota is currently 2-tenths of a shot out of last place in the league in average shots per game. The team is in the middle of the pack when it comes to shots allowed, but it is clear that this team needs to simply shoot. It's amazes me how you can watch one team throw garbage at the goal and before you know it, that garbage has turned into a goal, as was the case on 2 of the 3 Calgary goals last night.

Lemaire is still the man

I have done a lot of speculation on Lemaire coming back for another season. In fact, I have flat out said that I don't think he will be back, and I still believe that. But that does not mean I want him gone. I actually happen to believe that he is one of the best, if not the best, coaches in the NHL. And I would be thrilled to have him stick around for as long as he likes. Truth be known, he is getting all he can out of his players. The problem is that he is getting all he can out of his players...he just does not have the right players. If you are honest about our lineup, you can see that we have a lot of 'nice' and 'good' players on the roster. But we certainly do not have the mix needed to make any run in the post season.