Wild night, Wild win in Dallas

The Wild come into an arena they have not won in 16 tries. The team has ended road losing streaks in Nashville, Detroit and Vancouver, so will Dallas be next?

The sight of the 20 at center ice makes it hard to believe it has been 20 years since we said good bye to the Minnesota North Stars. As they say life goes on, but still was it not weird to hear the announcers say the Stars and not help but think about the past?

The game itself has a story I could write 10 pages of everything I enjoyed watching about the game. It did start out a little nerve wrecking to me with the domination by the Wild to start even jumping out to a 13-3 shot on goal advantage yet a Wild turnover and Dallas makes it 1-0.

The Wild were determined to break this 10 year streak as the team would not back down going down by a goal a couple of times.

I must ask, is there a better first line in hockey with Parise, Koivu and Coyle? The work ethic especially by Parise playing with his tenaciousness in front of the net and getting hammered but yet does not give up. The result of his work was 2 more goals on the season.

The chances the Wild had tonight were unbelievable. I felt so bad for Pierre Marc-Bouchard as he walks in on the goaltender and lets the shots fly only to miss by inches. His play has been so much better and I was just hoping to see a reward with him.

The second period goes 3 goals for the Wild and 1 for Dallas. Matt Cullen gets his 200^th career goal in this period. A Minnesota born player does it again, way to go Matt!!!

Niklas Backstrom late in the second period made maybe the save of the game as Dallas is coming down on an odd man rush and what do we see,? Backstrom comes out to poke check the puck off the stick.

The penalty Mike Rupp took was unfortunate and to make matters worse it is 4:00. The score is tied 4-4 with less than 10 minutes left in the game. I really thought Dallas looked efficient on previous power plays so I was concerned a score and the thoughts in the back of the Wild’s minds on what do we have to do to get a win here.

Cal Clutterbuck had 2 shorthanded rushes in Saturday’s game and then the one Monday in Dallas maybe the shot of the year by Cal.  No, he did not score but Kyle Brodziak was Johnny on the spot. Are you kidding me, are we finally going to break the streak? A shorthanded goal and the Wild go up 5-4.

The penalty kill was the biggest of the year to date. The team’s determination did not allow Dallas to tie. The saves Backstrom made were as big as any. It many have been the most important 4 minute stretch of the season as well.

It is fingernail chewing time as I just wanted the clock to fly. The Wild helped calm my nerves scoring not only one more but again as the man who I have wanted to be rewarded after his hard work finally puts it in the net. Yes, I am talking about Pierre Marc-Bouchard. Yes, it was an open net but what a shot and the accuracy was incredible.

A thought I never thought of was which was pointed out during the Parise interview during an intermission was Zach scored against the team his das played for, the Minnesota North Stars.

The end result as season high seven goals in a place they have not won in 10 years. What a way to start a week!!!!

Thanks for reading

Purplestick