What a game Friday between the Minnesota Wild and the Anaheim Ducks (or the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, or the Los Angeles Quacks of Anaheim, or whatever the heck they're calling themselves this month..) These two teams are developing a lasting dislike for each other, so a physical game was expected, and the boys did not disappoint. The bodies were flying, shoulders and hips were crunching, and the boards and glass were rattling from a night-long barrage of hard (but clean) checks that conjured up fond memories of hockey played the good, old rugged Canadian way, instead of the fru-fru European ice dancing stuff the NHL is trying to pass off as pro hockey these days. Both teams gave as good as they got, and in the end, the better team won, though not by as much as the 4-2 score -- or the Pioneer Press article on Saturday -- would indicate.
Lots of Warpy Props awards to go around in this game. Derek Boogaard made his return to the lineup in this game, and played exceedingly well while getting lots of ice time -- a lot more than expected. Boogey did a fine job of creating havoc in front of the Ducks net and scored on a fine deflection midway through the first period, only to get jobbed out of his well-deserved marker by a bogus offside call from one of the linesmen. Boogs threw his fair share of checks, including a real dandy late in the game, and did his part to keep the game civilized. Props also go to Kurtis Foster and Keith Carney, who continue to demonstrate that they have no business being healthy scratches. Carney's one-on-one defensive play late in the first period was a thing of beauty, and should be required viewing for anyone interested in learning the art of hockey defense. I knew the guy was a good plus/minus player for the Wild, but didn't realize he was +162 for his career going into Friday's game. Jacques Lemaire would have to be a total cementhead to even think of benching Carney again this season, with the possible exception of giving him some rest in the back half of consecutive games to keep his 37 year old body reasonably fresh. The biggest Warpy props go to the two referees in this game. The linesmen were awful, but the refs did an excellent job of letting the guys dictate their own play instead of whistling every little ticky-tack infraction. The players responded by playing a physically tough but exceedingly clean game, which goes to show what an entertaining product the NHL can be when non-playing officials on and off the ice don't insist on screwing up the game.
The un-Warpy award goes to the linesmen in this game. The offside call that negated the first Wild goal was pathetic. Not only did the replays clearly show that the play had to have been onside, the linesman who made the call was on the opposite side of the ice and had no look at where the puck was at the time: he had nearly the exact same angle as the replay camera, where the puck wasn't visible at all, but the position of Kim Johnsson's stick blade made it obvious that no part of the puck -- let alone the whole pucking thing -- could've been over the blue line. The same linesman also "advised" the ref to call a penalty on Marian Gaborik in the second period when the Wild were already a man short. Gabby was clearly offside on that play, but was more likely yapping about what he thought of the first period offside call. Presumably, the refs and linesmen have the same access to replays as everone else, and one would hope that the linesman in question took a look at the replay during the first intermission to see what all the booing was about: had he done so, he would've cut the Wild a little slack, but this was not to be the case. Even the referee looked and sounded apologetic when calling the penalty on Gabby to put the Wild two men down; it was almost like he was saying "I'm only calling this one because I've been backed into a position where I've gotta go to bat for my linesman."
The bottom line: the linesmen did cost the Wild two goals, which was the final margin of the game, but it's hard to pin the Wild loss on them. The Wild dug themselves a bit of a hole even without the linesmen's help, and could not quite dig their way out. The red-hot Ducks were the better team, deserved the two points, and demonstrated the fact that they are Stanley Cup champions for a good reason.
Robtangle's blog has a crisp, clean and complete recap of last night's game against the Vancouver Canucks, so I'll skip the details and go straight to the props, rants and raves.
Huge Warpy props to Pierre-Marc Bouchard for a brilliant performance last night. It was cool to see the guy who does the best work grinding along the boards, and leads the team in assists -- no coincidence there -- get a chance to light the lamp a couple of times. Honorable Warpys to Mikko Koivu for his fine goal plus stylish followup war whoop while passing the Canucks bench, and also to Niklas Backstrom for a rock-solid night in nets.
Not much in the way of un-Warpys in this game; the only one I can really think of is the reduced ice time for Boogey in this game, including a total disappearing act in the third period. I'm not sure if Boogey's back prevented him from going much in this game, or if Lemaire just decided to deep-six his main physical threat against a team that needs an intimidator around to keep things civilized, but either way, it was kind of a letdown.
Bottom line: the Wild played another fine game last night. Ironically, they probably played much better hockey Friday night against Anaheim than they did last night, but wound up on the good side of the 4-2 final score this time around. It helps that their opponent last night wasn't a Stanley Cup champ team in the middle of a blazing roll -- the Wild made the Canucks look decidedly average, which is not easy to do on the road. It won't get any easier tonight when the Wild go to Calgary to play the nemesis Flames with Iggy and company; they'll need to break out their A-game for this tilt. Go Wild!!
