Someone once said ‘winning isn’t everything’ (they were obviously not on the back end of a loss to the Wild).

This game was winnable. We had beaten the undefeated Wild. But then we quite simply, gave it away in the third. But Man oh man was this a good performance for 50 minutes. It was that other 10 minutes that bit us in the ass.

For 50 minutes, we beat the Wild to the puck, we shelled a shaky NickB, we shut down the neutral zone like a roach motel (the Wild could come in…but they couldn’t get out… at least not with a puck) after the first goal and TBA’s net coverage was tighter than a fat lady’s girdle.

So what happened? Did we let the foot off the pedal as Panger suggests? http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=10212 or did we just fall apart as PB suggests? http://www.onefansperspective.com/  I’m leaning towards Pang’s view although both views are very valid. We took our foot off the gas as the third period dwindled down and we were still up 2 - 1.  The lack of urgency showed up in the form of penalties, increased Wild puck possession time, Wild sog totals rising and very sloppy passing and board work from us. By the time the boys realised what they had done…NickB had woken up and MK and Dimi had made us pay for the coasting. then we began to try too hard and Belanger caught TBA open. 3 - 2 Wild final

The good stuff:

Bally was back, well almost back, the aggression and fire were percolating and we saw the world famous BBB as Bally hip checked Belanger into next week.

We saw Carcillo errupt! 2 goals, both sweet as the Fox Grill’s creme brulee. We also saw a suicidal Carcillo go toe-to-toe with the Boogyman (thank the godlings that didn’t get to blows!) Much later we watched Carci get the 10 and ejection when he and Burns tussled and jawed (for about a 1/2 second I thought Carci was gonna do a drive by on that idiot of a ref). But the boy has been so disciplined and hard working for the first handful of games…we can overlook this little slip.

Doan got a boarding call? Oh yeah..he did do it and thankfully he didn’t get any more than that (the hit was reminiscent of the Duck’s convergence on Holmstrom…just not as vicious or intentional). What can I say… he really believes he was a canon ball in another life. When will the posts let the Donor alone? Another set of hot chances, foiled by the ping of the pipes.

There are days when you just have to give some serious love to Boynk. The Wild went…well wild, on Bally. Boynk took Gabby to task and managed to take the Wild sniper out of contention for the crucial last minutes of the game (loved the cocky lil buh bye wave that Boynk gives Gabby as they made their way to the sin bin). Unfortunately Bellie managed to put the last nail in our coffin instead.

Classic, textbook work in the net from TBA. A double  robbery as Auldie slid out (what looked like) nearly to center ice (that is one looong goalie) to poke check Sheppard’s break out away and again when Burn’s sure thing slap shot (with Auld sprawled out on the ice and the puck headed in at speed for the top corner) it seemed to be unstoppable  but TBA shot a big mitt up and snagged the bullet out of the air.

Freddy4 looked fantastic in the second. Stealing pucks, jumpin into the offense, clearing the boards (for a minute I thought he was turning into superman) then in the third the poor guy committed a Jovo. You know, the really, really bad pinch thing we all get our hearts broken over? It led to the PP goal that truly sunk us. But damn it! The guy is really tryin hard so I’m not gonna hash that over to harshly.

Kapi love! Oh yeah, you know I gotta rub it in. Kapanen to Carcilllooo! And whether you love the lil Finn or not, you gotta give him props for that pass to Carci.

TQ looked much better too. Good thing for Ziggy that Grats isn’t going to back too soon (Grats is destined for a reconditioning stint in the AHL) Ziggy! step it up brah!

The BigKids still have luster. Wellie seems to be getting much more comfortable in front of the opposing goalie’s crease.

Hanzal had a bit of trouble in the third with pucks rolling on end along the boards and getting stolen but nothing major mistake wise. Dwin seemed to be doin fine despite the Preds using his head for a game of pong on Thursday.

This was a heart breaker. But damned if it wasn’t some of the most exciting hockey the JOB has witnessed in waaay too long.

~photos from Norm Hall - Coyotes~

Original post by onyx_starr

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