Quick hit or two...

All they do is win

No, winning is not 100% guaranteed, but lately it has become more likely than not. And the encouraging part to this is that our Minnesota Wild have put forth a less than complete effort in their previous two games but still managed to post W's in both (2-1 v Columbus & 3-1 @ Montreal). As the saying goes, good teams find a way to win, which is exactly what the Wild have been doing as of late. Don't look now but Minnesota has been one of the hottest team in the Western Conference in their past 10 games, going 8-2-0, second only to Phoenix, who has a surprising 8-1-1 ten-game record. As for the post-season? I am sticking with my previous assessment but am now holding my breath. The Wild still are on the outside looking in, and are currently in 11th place, 4 points out of the 8th and final Western Conference playoff spot.

What Gaborik gets you

Yes, he is leading the NHL with 23 goals and is third in the league with 42 points, all nice stats to have. But what his scoring has not done is give his team a big boost in the standings. As of today, the New York Rangers have accumulated 33 points, 4 points short of Minnesota's 37. On a side-note about the Rangers...have you ever seen more of a 'look at me' coach than John Tortorella? Good luck to Gabby when he gets his benching and tongue lashing, because when it happens he'll be wishing he had Lemaire as his bench-boss.

Join the lottery

The Wild still have maintained their sellout streak, most recently announcing a crowd of 18086 against the Columbus Bluejackets on Wednesday night. One thought that has been circulating around here is to hold a lottery, where the participants would guess and select the first non-sellout game. Let me know if you are interested in partaking in such a contest...but do it before the Wild decide to pull the plug on the packed house concept and stop the 'distribution' of tickets.