God damn moral victories.
Sure, they played better. No, they didn't visibly tire too much. Yes, they kept the big guns off the scoresheet. But....in the context of a stronger record of late this game might not have been so underwhelming. And, while saying they are a victim of circumstances in that case is true, we should remember that THEY created those circumstances. At some point rhetoric like "we played better, we're not getting any bounces" in the face of all these losses should be translated to "we're not very good." I think we're pretty much at that point now.
Look, in a vacuum, this was an okay game. It was even fairly exciting. But the Wild has absolutely no margin for error anymore, and a late mistake at the blueline by Brent Burns lead to the GWG when Eric Nystrom made a strong move to Harding's glove side coming in on a breakaway, shorthanded. Once Kimmy had to go home and John Scott missed his connection to Calgary they had to play with five defensemen - never a good thing - and then Reitz got shut down for the third period (as per usual) and they were down to four. That's not an easy situation to overcome, granted. But, at the end of the day, it's still a loss.
The question for Wild fans is: are you okay with games like this, where it's exciting and close, but they ultimately lose? Because this is what this team looks like. This is Wild hockey, circa 2002.
More frustrating is that our General Manager doesn't seem willing or able to do anything to change the situation. (More on that later.)
Regardless, the Wild continues a very tough stretch Wednesday at home against the Sharks. God help us.
Chicken Little says: that cloud just hit me in the head.
Pollyanna says: All these goals for Veilleux are nice....right? No? Aw, nevermind.
Bottom Line: Regulation loss. Again. The Wild continues to meander down the western conference standings.
Stud: Harding was strong in the rare start. You really feel for our goalies in these times.
Dud: Are you kidding me?
NiNY
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