The Washington Capitals, led by Alex Ovechkin brought their high powered offense to St. Paul on Thursday evening.
Niklas Backstrom & the Wild were ready for them as they played their best game of the season defeating Washington 2-1 at Xcel.
The Wild got on the board in the 1st period when Chuck Kobasew took a pass from Clayton Stoner and buried it past Capitals goalie Michael Neuvirth on a wrist shot to give Minnesota a 1-0.
Minnesota got their second goal of the game on Power Play with sixteen seconds left to play in the 2nd period when Mikko Koivu found the back of the net on a snap shot to give the Wild a 2-0 lead.
That would be all goalie Niklas Backstrom would need as he turned away 21 of the 22 shots he faced. Alex Ovechkin scored the only goal for Washington on a wrist shot with 1:36 to play in the 3rd period. Minnesota was able to keep the capitals from tying the game as time expired giving the Wild two important points in the standings.
You can check out highlights from the game by clicking on to the link.
Notes from the game:
1. Annti Miettinen was scratched from the game due to an illness & Chuck Kobasew took his place on the 1st line with Mikko Koivu & Andrew Brunette. There has been some talk about breaking up that top line just to get a different look.
Miettinen will probably be back in the lineup for Saturday's game but after tonight I think Kobasew has earned the opportunity to play on the top line for at least another game.
2. Another line I am liking right now is the line of Eric Nystrom, Cal Clutterbuck & John Madden. The energy this line plays with is enough to wreak havoc on the ice no matter who they are matched up against.
They remind me of the Crash Line New Jersey had back in the mid 90's consisting of Bobby Holik, Randy McKay, & Mike Peluso. Jacques Lemaire could put them out on the ice in just about any situation and get the momentum of the game to swing in his favor. It's too early to tell if this line can do the same thing but it bears watching.
3. Martin Havlat's agent Allan Walsh went public yesterday saying Havlat was being under utilized on the ice.
This is not the 1st time Walsh has had a beef with the Wild. He was the agent for Marian Gaborik & Pascal Dupius when they had their contract holdout at the start of the 2003 season. He also was the agent for Petr Sykora when he was with the Wild last season and complained about the way Todd Richards was using him.
Havlat played on a line tonight with Matt Cullen & Casey Wellman instead of being moved to the top line to take the place of Miettinen. Richards said the decision had nothing to do with the comments of Havlat's agent.
I believe Richards mainly because Guillaume Latendresse was out tonight with a groin injury. I'm guessing he didn't want to break up the entire line.
Watching Havlat tonight he did look slow on the ice at times especially compared to Cullen & Wellman. Havlat has been under pressure to perform since signing a contract after Gaborik left as a free agent. His agent did him no favors by calling out the coaching staff on how he has been used.
What is different for Havlat is that when he played in Ottawa & Chicago he was a secondary scorer. Playing with the likes of Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane & Jonathan Toews you aren't expected to carry the load on offense. Here in Minnesota he is being asked to replace a guy who had the potential to be a 40 goal scorer when healthy.
Whether Havlat can be that guy or not remains to be seen. One thing he could do is go back to 14 instead of 24. After all, that jersey number hasn't scored a goal in five years.
That will do for today. The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks are in town tomorrow night to play the Wild. That usually is a fun one. I'll be back on Monday with the latest Power Poll.
Until then, Thanks for reading & enjoy the hockey.
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