Inside the Box: Wolves 87 Clippers 91

Watchable Wolves games will not be televised. The Wolves won't win them either, because at this point they're bound to be pretty comfortable with losing.

Jonny Flynn had his best game of the season, with his first 2+ assist:turnover ratio. It had been a tough stretch for the young guard, when he stopped performing his greatest strength: scoring. Defenses were definitely keying in on his dribble-drives because he would look nowhere but the cup. He not only found his scoring touch again, he dished out five assists. You never know with assists, as official scorers tend to give them out for things as dumb as feeding Al in the low post.

Speaking of Al, he sucked in this game. Eight turnovers, six traveling violations, three in the fourth quarter. The Wolves had closed the score to 87-89 with under thirty seconds to go, and got the stop they needed. So needing just a deuce to tie the game, they fed Al in the post. Then Al took a different kind of deuce, traveling yet again to kill whatever momentum the Wolves gained from Ryan Gomes' huge three (which would be the Wolves' last of the night). Nice one, Al.

Hopefully there will be other opportunities to win a close game. Hopefully Big Al won't choke again, but nobody has ever called him or any of the other Wolves winners.

The Cowboy delivers

No not the Cowboys. Owen Nolan, the toughest son of a female dog around, took his 37-year-old body to the ice at the X, and nearly left without it. Throughout the game he threw the living corpse of his nineteen year NHL career at the puck, at the Islanders, and at the net. Remember his last target, because the Wild would need him to hit it to avoid overtime.

The entire team played an energetic and fast-paced first period. The New Yorkers couldn't hang on to the puck in any zone, and couldn't deal with the Wild's very improved puck-possession game. More time spent with their line-mates always improves the players sense of timing and positioning, but it's been the break-out of their defensive zone that's allowed the Wild to keep the puck after they've forced a turnover. What's helped has been an extra pass within the defensive zone in order to shake the opposing forecheck. Call it what you will, but playing with patience in their own zone has allowed a much faster and cleaner transition through the neutral zone. That's a good thing. Once they reach the opposing zone, they tend to lose their way, but getting there is half the battle.

Getting the first goal usually wins the game for the Wild, but for all the energy with which they opened the game, they were no properly awarded. Owen Nolan eschewed his body for the puck, hitting the net with a fluky bounce off the goaltender's skate as he fell into the boards. This was after taking numerous shots to the face, none of which were called by the referees. The Islanders got that benefit, but the Wild continued their strong power-play kill. New York went 0 for 6 on the night. The Isle got the equalizer not long into the second period, but were gracious enough to take back-to-back penalties, giving the Wild the dreaded 5-on-3 power play for more than a minute. Dreaded for all of the wrong reasons given the way the Wild have played with extra men in the past few games. Predictably, the Wild collapsed the New York defense, but really only got one good shot before the power-play died, buried side-by-side with the Wild's momentum. The Islanders took it to the Wild, the Wild did not score on their other two power-plays (0/4 in the period), and Josh Bailey took the lead after Backstrom got turned around on the Islanders' puck movement. More often than not this season, game over.

Yet the Wild tied it on Mikko Koivu's, get this, power-play goal in the third period. The play was beautifully skated, beautifully passed, and beautifully finished with a one-time deflection. No standing around, passing back and forth between the points, which inevitably leads to a shot from one of those points. Not the way to score, on a power-play or otherwise. The way to score is to pass the puck from the goal-line, through the crease, and then back across the slot to Koivu's waiting blade. Misdirection that the goaltender cannot handle is the way to create scoring chances. Hopefully they can learn from that power-play.

They'll watch the tape from the end of the third as well. The Cowboy went to the net on Nick Schultz shot, and took a shot of his own from the Islander defense. Erik Belanger hustled to keep the puck in the zone, shooting it high as Nolan picked himself up from the ice in time to catch Belanger's shot, drop it to his stick, and shove in the winner. After the checks around the net, the sticks to his face, and his diving blocked shot (off of his laces no less), the game-winning catch-and-shoot seemed pretty easy. For a fiery Irishman like Owen Nolan, it probably was.

Lukewarm water: Coyotes 3 Wild 2

The Wild hit the ice skating, and promptly took a penalty. They killed it without much trouble, but did not seem to realize it. They remained on their heels for the rest of the first period, though it remained scoreless throughout. It was actually a mistake they didn't make that cost them. Owen Nolan's phantom slash (a light tap on the knee as Sami Lepasto's stick snapped in two from a relatively weak pass) gave Phoenix the power-play needed to open the scoring.

The Wild's top line tried their best to keep the Wild in the game, but a complete lack of secondary scoring from Marty Havenot and his linemates ultimately doomed the Wild. Andrew Brunette, Antti Miettenen, and Mikko Koivu? A combined +6. Every other Wild forward? A combined -6. Not winning numbers.

As far as winning plays go, surrendering another goal nineteen seconds after tying the game is quite the opposite. No movement from the defense as Backstrom allowed his only rebound of the night, after which Scottie Upshall's gliding shot slipped under Nik's pad from a sharp angle. Inexplicable and inexcusable, from both Backs and the defense. We all hoped that these kinds of lapses disappeared. We were wrong. This team is still growing within the little talent they have.

Inside the Box: Timberwolves @ Trail Blazers

The Wolves played a basketball game and lost, because they suck, and will continue to suck for fore and unforeseeable future. They suck enough to lose their only national TV game (or any TV broadcast that night for that matter). They've lost just about everything but their bladder-control, but will probably lose that by the time the season's over. If they're even on TV when it finally happens, watching every miserable moment of basketball will be worth it.

A little too easy

So after two weeks off, the Vikings are finally back to playing NFL football. It's good to have them back, too, because Sunday just isn't the same without the boys in purple. Though it remains to be seen whether any remaining opponent will put up any fight. I don't feel like the Vikings have really been tested, except for their only loss of the season.

There's plenty to like about the details. Except for some big plays, the defense shut down the Seahawks, both through the air and the ground. Not a lot of sacks, but except for the mentioned plays, most of the completions were short, underneath, and harmless. Those big plays came during garbage time, but they ruined several things for the Vikes:
1. The shutout, which they haven't had all season.
2. Every improvement that their pass defense seemed to show against the Steelers
3. Their season-long redzone rushing shutout. To a guy weighing less than 200.

All of these, against an awful Seahawk O-line, pretty much spells out what's been true all season: the Vikings defense is not dominant. They'll show flashes of dominant play, but when the sacks aren't coming, receivers are going to get open. Wide open. For big gains. Tyrell Johnson and Madieu Williams don't do anything from their safety positions. Karl Paymah couldn't cover a guy in a wheelchair, and Cedric Griffin seems invisible. Have you heard of or seen Griffin making a play in the past month? Me neither. I'll give him a pass (ha), since teams haven't thrown one his way since Antoine Winfield went down. I don't think Winfield being out is the main problem though.

Even Darren Sharper, he of 7 interceptions this season, never made a large amount of plays for the Vikings under Leslie Frazier. Not that I completely blame Frazier's scheme or believe Sharper's derogatory comments towards it. It's a combination of poor play and a passive two-deep scheme. Ed Reed isn't the best safety in the league because he sits back in prevent mode. He takes risks, and thrives by being allowed to do so. The Vikings safeties don't take risks, whether it's their decision or Leslie Frazier's. Either way, the corners can't do it by themselves, because they just aren't that good. Asher Allen in the starting line-up would definitely be an upgrade though. The kid can play, let him.

The special teams didn't generate any touchdowns, but didn't allow any and forced a fumble. The offense shook off the rust from their bye weeks and started to cruise in the second quarter through some good short-passing before the Seahawks' weariness opened up the route-tree. The Vikings have three legitimate weapons for Favre to use, and that excludes Adrian Peterson. If defenses take away one or two, like they did to Sidney Rice and Peterson in the first quarter, then Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe, and even Bernard Berrian can make them pay.

Of course, it all depends on Favre, who has played nothing short of spectacularly. That's what I'm still getting used to: the dependency of my team's success on an elite quarterback, and the knowledge that a one-two year rental will get credit for every win. It won't be our championship, it will be Favre's, because he'll have earned it.

Look, They're on TV

The Wolves were going to be bad this year. There's no getting around it. David Kahn tries to tell us that he will not accept the lack of effort and wins, but what can he do? Only three competent players returned from last year's bottom-feeder squad, and even they have never played a prominent role on a winning NBA squad.

Jonny Flynn started hot, but has cooled since and never really played like a point-guard should. Hopefully he'll learn that you can and should pass it when three defenders follow you to the rim. His strength is driving to the hoop, but the league has caught on to that, sending plenty of help to prevent easy lay-ups. Jonny makes some low-percentage shots, but that doesn't mean he should keep taking them. All of Bill Belicheck's non-sense has one great defense: the right decision doesn't always create the best outcome, and the best outcome doesn't always follow the right decision. Flynn will learn, as more and more of his minutes go to the much more polished Ramon Sessions. Though Flynn is not the only Wolf in need of some schooling.

If Kurt Rambis wants to come out and say that he's designing his offense to take mid-to-long-range jumpers, then I'll figuratively table my complaint, but for the moment the Timberwolves, one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, are taking too many long two-point shots. The long two has all the difficulty of the three without any of the reward. It's the most inefficient shot in basketball (besides the desperation-heave), and most teams design their defense to force an offense into that kind of look. It's only open because the defense is inviting you to take a low-percentage, inefficient shot, keep looking. Not that the Wolves should start jacking up threes either. The only way the Wolves will break this losing streak is through the lay-up, which all of that ball-movement should create. I'm not enough of a strategist to see any easy passing lanes into the paint, but Kurt Rambis should be, and hopefully he'll pass that along to every big that's taking a 15-footer and every guard who's choosing the 18-foot stepback instead of driving the ball. In that respect, Jonny Flynn is doing something right: most of his jumpers are three-point attempts, and everything else happens near the basket, triple-teamed or not.

All in all, the Wolves are just playing too tight. NBA players have been making lay-ups all their life, yet several fast-break attempts turned into games of Tip-In as the first, second, and sometimes third player would miss the easiest shot in basketball. Fangraphs had an article today about the nature of choking. In short: consciously controlling an action that relies on muscle memory (such as shooting a lay-up) messes with the way the brain normally processes that action. So Corey Brewer and Pesch says to himself, "I have to make this lay-up," instead of just letting his muscle memory do what it's meant to do. How does that stop? Who knows. Maybe making lay-ups is a talent the Wolves lack, just like most other conceivable basketball talents.

A Point They Didn't Deserve

Another shootout loss to close the road trip 1-1-2, but this one took the exact opposite tone from Tampa. The Wild chose to save their effort for the second half of the game, as they started it like a skate at Rockefeller Center. They left their fire in the locker room, as the first goal of the match showed.

On a face-off after a Minnesota icing, Owen Nolan officially won possession, but Tuomo Ruutu fought for and shot the puck, which ricocheted off of Johnsson's skate. The puck moved from Kim's feet all the way across the crease, untouched as Johnsson and James Sheppard did nothing as Jussi Jokinen easily put it into the net. It was not the first time the Wild would fail to put forth even the slightest of efforts for the puck.

It's much easier to win a fight when the opponent doesn't want to win, and that's the way the Wild played until half-way through the second. That's when Brent Burns' shot was deflected by Antti "Just About Useless" Miettinen into the goal. After that moment, the Wild started to fight back. Unfortunately, they managed to take yet another penalty, and their special teams continued to suck, letting the Hurricanes (previously on a 1 for 28 streak with their power play) score their third goal with the man advantage. Not good. Just about the time teams would cave in their comeback chances.

The Wild did not give up, however, continuing their strong play for the rest of the second period. Instead of failing to finish on their chances though, they scored twice on two NHL-first goals by Robby Earl and John Scott. Two players, two goals, four first names, all in twenty seconds of ice-time. The Wild made a game of it, and Robby Earl scored his second goal of the game and his career on a wicked (yet admittedly open and short-range) snapshot to the high corner. It was a perfect shot on a bit of a gift from the other team, but Earl actually capitalizing on a scoring chance will hopefully earn him some more playing time.

The Wild did not get the win, but in this case it was a victory to come back and steal a point. Even if they won (lost) the honor of breaking Carolina's fourteen game winless streak. Moral victories do exist, but only in the NHL.

The best are the best for a reason

The Wild have gotten past their trend of slow starts, as they really took it to the Caps in the first and part of the second period. Washington's defenders struggled to get it out of their zone, which is the hallmark of Todd Richards' forecheck system. Minnesota kept the pressure up for much of the first period, but their lack of finishing let the air out of their tank.

The Capitals, even without Alex Ovechkin, are one of if not the best teams in the NHL. Every team has a weakness though, and Washington's is its defense and goaltending. Jose Theodore's struggles give the Caps their bad goaltending, and unfortunately for the Wild they drew the sophomore Varlamov, who is a lot better than Theodore the Toreador. In order to win the Wild would have to take a bunch of shots and try to outwork the Capitals' defensemen's daydreams of the offensive zone.

They nearly pulled if off, thanks to an outstanding effort by Josh Harding, the Wild's young back-up goaltender. Until the third period when the Wild became more aggressive in pursuit of the tying goal, they held off the Caps on the defensive end. The Caps' talent still found a way to generate good chances, and they CAPITALIZED (three levels!) on two of them. Josh Harding was there on the rest of their forty shots. Some were routine, but Josh absolutely robbed Washington of several near-certain goals. It helps Josh and the Wild when he's able to perform like this. He's probably their most valuable and available trading asset right now.

After a slow second that saw the Capitals take control in every way except the score, Washington broke through for the lead, after which the Wild finally regained their opening period energy. They played the puck possession game very well, and started letting loose on their shots. Because, you know, you have to take shots to score goals. They nearly did on several occasions, but the Wild could not buy a good rebound, other than their solid effort after having their hearts broken in Tampa. The Wild have improved by finally playing within their new coach's system, but until they learn to finish their scoring chances, they will remain a mediocre hockey team. We'll see if they can find a shooting touch or another shooter before the season ends.

Inside the Box: Two without Al

So I thought that without Al Jefferson's insistence on taking every shot, the Wolves would get into a better flow on offense. On defense a complete lack of his complete lack of physicality, length and athleticism would allow the Wolves to put Ryan Hollins in the middle for some actual NBA-caliber defense from the pivot. The rebounds would start flowing in with an all-natural right ACL launching for the ball.

Both results were similar, but neither differed much from the pattern's that's developed: When teams go slow, the Wolves get stops. When teams run, the Wolves give up easy shots. In both circumstances, the Wolves don't make as many shots. They don't make shots, period.

The season is starting to snowball, just like last year. Their only win came against the only winless team in the NBA. Memphis was a game they could have taken in a battle of one-win teams. The Wolves lack talent, the Grizzlies lack any sort of organizational cohesion, with a club full of shoot-first headcases, topped off with Allen Iverson's night life, which needs some personal time. Yet the Grizzlies have more talent than the Wolves, and sometimes talent trumps everything else (just look at Shaq's career).

Talent will come eventually, but it seems like our cubs aren't quitting anymore. At least the box score says they've stopped.

Everything but the End

Sometimes a team can play well throughout the game. They will work hard for loose pucks and on the forecheck. They'll create opportunities with that and the breakout. Their goals won't be gritty, they'll be plays in which the defense doesn't touch the puck before the net does. Those are the best kind of goals, as they don't rely on a big rebound or obvious mistake from the other team. Sometimes the underachieving youngsters will make a beautiful play together, and the aging veteran will score on grit and toughness alone. All of these things will happen, and the Wild will still lose.

Besides their overall strong play, generically described in the previous paragraph, the good news is that the Wild still got a point in the standings for their shoot-out loss. The bad news was also generically described in the previous paragraph.

The forecheck was absolutely tremendous for most of the game. Tampa had a lot of difficulty getting the puck out of their own zone, and when they managed that the Wild created peril in the neutral zone as well. About the only major defensive lapse was on the final play of the game, but leaving Ryan Malone unchecked in front of the net with 15 seconds remaining did not single-handedly lose this game. It certainly played the most visible role, but Kyle Brodziak's bone-head turnover lead to the goal that put the game within reach for the Tamp Bay Can't Believe They've Won the Stanley Cup.

The easiest goals in hockey come from odd-man rushes, which is why Jacques Lemaire's breakout keeps the defenders and center back, making long-passes. More men back, less likely the other team can outnumber you. So as Tampa Bay overextended to try and score, they turned it over with four of their players even with the puck. Part-luck, part smart positioning by the Wild in order to gain a three-on-one breakaway off of the Tampa turnover. Odd-man rushes should at the very least end in a shot, but Kyle Brodziak couldn't even manage an initial pass. The puck simply left him once he gained the offensive zone. Tampa took possession, and Cal Clutterbuck did not realize what would happen if he missed on his challenge at the Wild blue line. Another three-on-one, and Tampa wouldn't cough it up. Shot, rebound, and another shot would make it a much more exciting figure than any Minnesota fan would like.

All of Tampa's goals came off of Wild mistakes, seemingly the only ones the Wild made all game. That's hockey. The Wild still played well, and have played well since their last regulation loss against Vancouver. Tomorrow night in Washington will be a real test against a top team, but will be a bigger test of whether the Wild can recover after such an avoidable loss. Until then.

Consistently Inconsistent

It's never a good sign when you get excited that your team managed to pull within fifteen. The Wolves are a bad team, and no matter how hard they work, their lack of talent will eventually bring them down.

The Blazers' much slower pace helped the Wolves on defense, as they seem much more comfortable defending in the half-court as opposed to transition. Their defensive energy was especially impressive at the beginning of the game, as they got the stops they needed to compensate for their still inconsistent offense. Some of those stops came from the gift of wide-open misses by the Blazers, but the rotations seemed quick, and the guards stayed busy on the ball. It was encouraging to see the Wolves try and cleanse the stink from their very unwarrior-like performance against the Warriors. As per usual though, the Wolves did not maintain the effort that gave them a lead after the first quarter.

The Blazers started making those shots that they missed, and the Wolves compounded the problem by rotating too slowly on the Blazers' big men. Al Jefferson in particular seems to leave his man unguarded in order to help on dribble-penetration by guards. An extra pass leads to all the dunks we're seeing on a nightly basis. Al just isn't that good of a defender, even if he didn't give up fifty pounds to most starting NBA centers.

Rambis tried to make for Al's defensive inefficiencies by giving Ryan Hollins his first start as a Wolf, but Ryan Hollins is not very good. He has length, athleticism, a fifteen-foot jumper, and six fouls per game that he insists on using. Maybe some day he'll guard the rim with some skill, but for now he's a project, just like Nathan Jawai and every other Wolf big besides Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. Neither of them will ever have the length or bulk to defend players like Greg Oden. Long-term, I don't see both of them remaining with the team. Lucky for the Wolves they're both young, talented, and tradeable. We'll have to wait and see which one can get the Wolves a real franchise center.

The Wolves can't keep up with small teams like Golden State, and they get pushed around by bigger teams like Portland. Talent is an issue, yes, but it just seems like the Wolves don't have the versatility in their roster to even pretend to match up with any but the worst teams. Another draft and a few more trades will fix that hopefully. Until that happens, the Wolves are not going to win a lot of games. I'll keep watching, but I don't blame you if you've stopped.

Inside the Box: Wild @ Maple Leafs

I managed to catch the third period, but besides the dicey final minutes, the game was over after two. So I'll read the box score instead.

There was a flurry of activity in the first period, with each team taking fourteen shots. It wasn't until the Wild's second power-play of the night when Marty Havlat opened the scoring, ending his month-long and the Wild's 0-14 power-play drought. I can't comment on Marty's game as a whole, but even if he spent the rest of the game passing the puck to everyone but the men in white (road jersey), any goal is a goal. Havlat didn't get a plus because his goal was on the power-play, but he didn't get his customary minus. So Toronto didn't score during any of Marty's shifts. I'll venture a guess and say Havlat played well.

The Wild are who we thought they were, and they gave up the tying goal twenty seconds later. A pretty typical first period. In the second though, the Wild exploded. Another power-play goal, scored by Marek Zidlicky, gave the Wild a lead on which they would not sit. Only nine shots for the entire period, but the last two quieted the Toronto faithful (read: suckers). Mikko Koivu joined the scoring sheet with what turned into the game-winning goal. Greg Zanon followed 26 seconds later with his first goal as a Wild. You know that cheer that cuts out once the home fans realize it was goal, not a save? The silence after is so much sweeter.

They would have a little more reason to cheer in the third, as the Wild's commanding lead suggested that they enter a defensive gameplan. It worked out for the most part. Late in the period however, Phil Kessel got past the Wild defense and converted on the breakaway. Kessel's an elite talent, so I'm not going to fault Backs for not making what would have been a spectacular save. I will fault whichever flat-footed defenseman let Kessel into the open ice.

No biggie though, the Wild were still up by two with under two minutes to play. What could possibly go wrong? The Leafs (yes I know that Toronto doesn't know how plurals that end in "f" work) put a lot of pressure on the Wild, getting tons of chances. Toronto's possession in the Wild zone seemed endless and with a minute and a half left the Leaf goaltender came off for the extra attacker. The Wild bent, but did not break... or successfully clear the puck. They were tired, and it showed as Captain Koivu shot the puck into the Wild bench. That's a penalty, making it a six-on-four advantage. Imagine the disappointment when a couple of good stoppages by Backstrom later, Zidlicky was called for tripping. The two offensive stars of the game could very well have been the goats. Six-on-three for almost a minute.

Normally big trouble, but not for Niklas Backstrom. He was like a cat if that cat were a 196 pound Finn with goalie pads. He made his fair share of spectacular saves, but also made his routine ones by stopping as much as possible. The Wild did not clear the puck until Owen Nolan's short-handed goal in the closing seconds, leaving no opportunity for a change except for Nik stopping the play. Good saves, no rebounds, and stoppages to keep the badly outnumbered Wild defense fresh. Those defenseman could do little more than act as a shield around the net, because there were too many attackers to attack the puck. The Wild collapsed towards the 'tender, and Toronto didn't have the space to use all those extra attackers. It was about as well as anyone could play the situation, both in strategy and execution.

Count the Wild among the great number of teams who have scored more than three goals in a game this season. It only figures that even a three goal lead wouldn't protect a heart-racing conclusion for the Wild. Fortunately, Doug Risebrough left at least one unexpected legacy: Niklas Backstrom.

That really sucked.

The Wolves are starting to return to their roots. Dumb turnovers, a stagnant and repetitive offense, and zero defense. The Warriors were able to gain the lane with great ease, dribbling or passing. No physicality from the guards, no help from the bigs, and a bunch of inactivity. The Wolves defenders only watched as Golden State's kick-outs led to wide-open threes. Nobody seemed willing or able to run in transition, and when they did keep up with their men, they lost their positioning. Which meant (guess what?) more open shots. Wolves Wolves Wolves, ugly ugly ugly. The Warriors shot 57.1% from the floor and 52.2% from three. That's absolutely abysmal. The Wolves gave up a team record 146 points.

The game got out of hand in the second quarter, when the Wolves started making turnovers instead of shots. The Warriors took advantage of every one, and didn't stop scoring for the rest of the game. It's becoming harder and harder for the cubs to stay watchable. Three blow-out losses in a row does not progress make. They're regressing, and it's not pretty. Of course, we could almost see this coming. New coach, new system, new and mostly bad players. It's almost a good thing that they're losing all these games. A high-lottery pick for a star-caliber prospect could be the next step. After the season of course. As far as the season goes, every win is a step away from winning the lottery, but another step towards being actually watchable. After tonight's game, I'd almost have the latter.

Playing Against Grown-Ups

Just a few years ago the Trail Blazers were in a similar situation. They only won 21 games, less than the 24 the Wolves won last year. So as the surprisingly pro-Portland announcers said, it gives you hope that our cubs can grow up to a real pack of wolves. What the Wolves need to do first though is make the kind of savvy trades that land you Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge for Randy Foye and some basketball players. Hopefully Kahn will play the Kevin Pritchard of Minnesota, instead of the Kevin McHale benefactor of another team's future.

Sometimes reading the box score is more fun, but at least Friday's game remained competitive until the third quarter. No doubt in tonight's match. The Blazers hit just about every shot they took... and we already know the Wolves couldn't hit Unicron with a basketball. Here's a stat for you: the Blazers racked up 35 assists on their way to 41 field goals. That's an assist on 85% of their makes. The official scorer judges the assist in varying ways, but a percentage that high is not a hometown gift. They looked good doing it, whether the passes were bullets inside or drive-and-dishes to the perimeter. It's the kind of teamwork the Wolves might show someday, will need to show someday in order to contend.

Our lil' cubs can't make up their mind. Some possessions they pass on open shots, while on others they don't make the extra pass that would guarantee the easy lay-ups they need. Jonny Flynn and Al Jefferson are the only fearless shooters on the roster. You could include Corey Brewer in that category, though his complete lack of balance on his jumper doesn't exactly spell "fearless." The bench is especially brutal, though Wayne Ellington and Sasha Pavlovic seemed to find their strokes during garbage time. Garbage time counts for fantasy, but sometimes a few meaningless shots can help a player make headway towards some meaning.

Everything they don't do well

There was only room for one slow-starting team at the X tonight, and thankfully the Minnesota North Stars Dallas Stars called dibs before the Wild entered the room. The men in that snazzy new green jumped all over their hockey predecessors. The puck needed to waft any scent of the Wild net, because it didn't come close on any occasion. Niklas Backstrom needed only four saves for his first period shutout. Their solid puck movement created a lot of good chances, but the Wild remained hesitant on shooting the puck, not taking the one-timers that turn good chances into goals. Of all these great chances, it goes to figure that the first goal comes in transition, on the first shot, with the only movement of the puck coming from Clutterbuck's nasty wrister. Great individual play, but not exactly the kind of team effort that consistently scores goals.

Mikko Koivu's goal was the kind of ugly, gritty play that the Wild need. Captain Koivu was lucky enough to get a second chance after he waited for the goaltender to recover on Marek Zidlicky's centering pass. Naturally the 'tender made the save. Redemption came in the form of a long rebound back to Mikko's stick, which after a little razzle dazzle sent the puck off of Alex Auld's skate, into the net. The Wild had done what they had yet to do this season: gaining a two goal lead in the first period.

Which would not hold, because the Wild's NHL-leading penalty kill took care of business on Cal's short-handed goal (did I mention that?), but in the second period they gave up a goal within five seconds, with a little help from Nick Schultz. So it was a night of two firsts for the Wild: a short-handed and own goal. Twelve minutes later Loui Eriksson would actually score on another power play. Tie game.

The Wild's luck may be changing on offense, with Mikko's rebounder and the game-winning goal: a karmastic own goal by Dallas' Nicklas Grossman. The Wild don't necessarily deserve bounces like that, but after more than one game where they outshot and outworked the other team and still lost, they could use a game where badly outshooting the other team actually translates into "Win."

Inside the Box: Bucks @ Wolves

The Wolves showed a lot of heart in pushing the Celtics to a crappy last-second call, and the optimists among us thought they could ride that moral victory into some actual W's against weaker teams. So last night's game against the Bucks tested that theory, and proved that there's no such thing as a "moral victory" for the Wolves or any other team, only defeats.

The Bucks outshot the T-Cubs, but not by much. All of the news outlets made Andrew Bogut (pretty good) vs Al Jefferson (pretty darn bad) the story, but the Aussie's numerous dunks and blocks don't reflect the real reason the Wolves lost: rebounds.

It stands out among the other stats like a giant pimple, ready to pop and infect the surrounding area. Milwaukee out-rebounded the cubs 51-38. That's thirteen more possessions, which meant eight more shots for the clusterbucks. The offensive rebounds shot the Wolves right between the eyes. Seventeen off the offensive glass has another name: inside domination. It wasn't just Bogut either. Every Milwaukee starter grabbed an offensive board, and only Brandon Jennings snagged less than two. That's where the Wolves have really missed Kevin Love, who is one of the best rebounders in the league. He's gone for at least three more weeks. Until then, the cubs gotta grow up and grab the ball.

The good news is that Jennings' hot start cooled when he faced Jonny Flynn, who not only shut down his draft classmate's shot but also took him to town for twenty points. So no, David Kahn did not screw up by taking Flynn over the other point guard from Europe. Flynn's already the Wolves' best guard, and he's only going to get better. He'll learn more of the offense, and his teammates may learn to hit shots eventually.

It's not pretty now, and thankfully the powers that be chose not to broadcast the game. Sometimes the box score is more fun to watch. It won't be for long.

Go Go for JJ

In case you haven't heard, the Twins have traded Carlos Gomez for the Milwaukee Brewers' shortstop JJ Hardy. That's big enough news to make ESPN's front page. Which is impressive, as ESPN can be known to assume no one gives a crap about small market teams.

JJ Hardy had a terrible '09 season. After hitting 26 and 24 homers in the '07 and '08, he only hit 11 this year. His OPS of .659 was well below his career average of .751 and his career high of .821 in '08. It's hard to expect him to perform at his '08 level, especially while switching to the American League, but he won't have another year as disastrous as '09. That disastrous season by the way, which included a demotion to the minors (mostly to set back Hardy's free agent clock), was forty-six points better than Carlos Gomez' performance in terms of OPS. In 100 more at-bats, Hardy struck out only 12 more times. The only advantages Gomez has over Hardy are age, arbitration status, and stolen bases.

I didn't forget their defensive prowess either. Hardy and Gomez are both very good with the glove. FanGraphs is down right now, but the numbers are mostly the same, with Hardy possibly having a slight edge due to the importance of the short-stop position.

Could this trade backfire on the Twins? Sure, because Hardy will be paid a lot more than Gomez' league minimum, because Hardy's lost it at the plate, because Gomez will tear it up against inferior National League pitching, because Hardy lacks Go-Go's speed and energy, because Milwaukee's Best really isn't that good a beer. Any trade can backfire, especially when it's made by Bill Smith. You have to give Bill some credit though. He targeted a relatively young, formerly productive, slick-fielding shortstop when Hardy's value was at its lowest. All he had to give up was a very young, never productive, slick-fielding center fielder who had been replaced by Denard Span. He solved Gardy's outfield dilemma and short-stop dilemma in one move. That's a win in my book.

A Little Backwards

So besides Derek Boogard and James Sheppard's tag team turnover, I thought the Wild played pretty responsible hockey in their own end. What they lacked for the entire first period was energy. They seemed to be playing the system properly, but in slow motion. Naturally, the Canucks moved at normal speed.

Niklas Backstrom found the molasses as well. He was not sharp at all tonight, making approximately zero good saves. He also allowed a couple of soft goals. The first came at the tail end of a Wild power play, as Henrik Sedin made a good shot off of Alex Burrows drop pass, but not an impossible shot. Backs lost it, and the Canucks regained their two-goal lead for the first time. On Vancouver's second lead recovery, Backstrom slid to the right side of the net, as Matt Pettinger tried to decide what to do with the puck. The Canuck chose to try and go through Niklas... and it worked. The puck trickled into the goal, and all the momentum the Wild had built throughout the second period trickled away.

Speaking of power plays, the Wild have been in more than a bit of slump on theirs. Over the past seven games, the Wild are 3/26 (11.5%) on the power play. In tonight's game they were 0-fer 5. They didn't look very good in doing it either. They took some shots, but really only had a couple of good scoring chances during ten minutes with the man advantage. They just don't seem very organized on the power play, getting stopped in the neutral zone on some break-outs. Kim "Power Play Captain" Johnsson has been out with an injury, but the Wild have had ample time to adjust to one average player's absence. Power plays are supposed to be a reward at the end of a good shift. The Wild's are instead killing any and all momentum they've gained, thanks to poor puck handling and goaltending

The days off did their job in resting and rusting the spirit right out of the Wild. It's not too late to make their season respectable, but it's going to be hard. And this group of players just doesn't seem ready to work hard, every single night.

Screw KG

Perhaps it's because I wasn't a huge Wolves fan before he left. Maybe it's because he's the guy you love to play with, but hate to play against. Maybe it's because he's a star and star's get all the calls in this league. Maybe maybe maybe, but to hell with Kevin Garnett. He's a dirty player, physically and verbally. His "intensity" is infectious in the sense that everyone around him wants to smack him in the face, because he deserves it.

That said, the Wolves chose the wrong quarter to play poorly. Throughout the beginning of the season, they've saved their best effort for the final period of play. The LeBron game remains the only one where the Wolves did not have a chance to win in the end. All of those close games have been of the comeback variety, in the fourth or third quarter.

Against the Celtics, the Wolves lead for most of the night. They outhustled and outshot the Big Three for most of the night. They limited their mistakes, and responded to any rally the Celtics mustered with a few baskets of their own. After all the slow starts, the Wolves shot the lights out of the ball.

Except when crunch time came of course. The Celts locked down, and the Wolves managed to get some stops as well. The T-Wolves offense sputtered though. Oleksiy Pecherov had a great night shooting the ball, and didn't cool off, unlike Al Jefferson and the rest of the pack. Al got cold, and started forcing long jumpers to cool off even further, culminating in his coughing of the ball to Rajon Rondo late in the fourth quarter. Al's performance seemed to go along with the team's. When he moved the ball away from double teams, the team moved the ball. When Al worked on defense, the team did as well. When Al hit his shots, the team followed suit. When he tried to force his way through triple teams, the team started to force things too. When he lost his man on D, the rest of the team lost focus as well. Al Jefferson is stepping back into his role as a team leader, and it's his responsibility to make a good example, because the team will follow whatever one he sets.

Yet the starting line-up really wasn't the problem tonight. The tricenarian club's starters were all a "minus" for the game, and their entire bench was a "plus." Since I'm a Jonny Flynn fan, I'm going to blame Ramon Sessions. Not to mention that Sessions just didn't do anything good tonight. Flynn started driving to benefit his teammates, and Sessions started to drive into the middle of nowhere. Flynn actually took and made decent shots, while Sessions took and missed bad ones.

Blame can be spread all around, but let's face it: the Wolves almost beat the best team in the NBA. It was an inspired effort. They shot over 50% against the league's best defense. They held the best three-point shooting team to under 30%. One more shot, one less turnover, one more stop, and the T-Wolves would have had their biggest win of the season.

KG would have gotten what he deserved.

Blergh

So I guess I was wrong to tamper enthusiasm about Al Jefferson. Because he's back in a big way. The shots he's been missing have started to drop, and he's stepped up in the defensive end as well, accruing three steals and a block in this game. The Wolves were great defensively, with very few noticeable break downs. The Clippers only shot 42.7% overall, 22.2% from the arc, both of which are below their season averages. They did not block many shots, but applied good pressure on the ball, leading to some bad decisions by L.A. Light, which meant ten steals for the Wolves. Corey Brewer continued his energetic play on the defensive end. Unfortunately, he continued his terrible shooting on the offensive end as well.

For all of the talk about his improved jump shot (at least the FSN announcers spoke of it), there's just not a lot of actual improvement in his results. It wouldn't be such a big deal, except that he led the Wolves in shot attempts. It wouldn't be such a big deal, except the other Wolves wing players did not shoot much better. It's not just a matter of shooting talent. I can't believe in a world where a team's actual shooting ability is below forty percent. The problem is shot selection. Brewer took tons of contested, long-range jumpers. The Clippers might drain a three every five attempts, but the Wolves would do the same every five long-two attempts. The long-two is the worst non-desperation shot in basketball. Difficult to make, and no extra incentive to take except for laziness. Jonny Flynn isn't one of the Wolves' leading scorers because he's a great shooter, it's because he works hard to get close to the basket, is a natural finisher, and on occasions he can't finish, he'll get some free throws out of the contact he generates.

The Wolves were at their best when they generated turnovers, which led to easy baskets at the other end. Unfortunately, they ran out of time, and were left in a situation that required a three point shot. Naturally they were unable to make one, and they lost. Yet we can't take away how hard they kept playing, and the leadership of Al Jefferson to will his team to a near-victory. Kevin Love will return, and with him some better shooting and much better rebounding, which hurt the Wolves on the Clippers' last few possessions. Maybe he'd make that last-second three as well. Either way, I've felt compelled to watch every game this season (Sunday's excluded), and I've finished all my viewing attempts. That's infinitely better than my finish-percentage during the Kevin McHale era. Becoming watchable is the first step. Winning will come later.

Oh yeah, hockey

Hockey is such a fickle sport. After the lots of shots, no goal games of the early season, they come up with some of the same tricks that Edmonton used two and a half weeks ago.

I was not on my game this weekend, as I failed to realize that by "NBA Basketball" the TV guide meant "NHL Hockey." I don't blame FSNorth for choosing LeBron James over... an injured Marion Gaborik. I blame myself for not realizing that they wouldn't broadcast the Wolves game on two channels until the third period had started. From what I saw, it seemed that they entered the defensive shell of the previous Wild regime. Sure it worked, but it'd be great for them to keep up the pressure, put their skate on the Rangers' neck, and empty their jugular.

There would be a similar theme in the Wild's first road win of the season. The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins were short two of their key players in Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar. Their power play in particular has suffered without their point-man in Gonchar. So the Wild dodged a bullet in more than one way.

The first two periods left the Wild ahead by one goal, and what a goal it was. A strong forecheck kept the puck in the Pittsburgh zone. After a deflected shot into the corner, Marty Havlat corralled the puck, and fed Erik Belanger, who absolutely schooled Marc-Andre Fleury with a top shelf corner shot. Need finishing? That's about as good as it can get.

Already knowing the final score, I was unsure what to expect for the rest of the game. Two scoreless periods could be pretty boring. Then again, this game of hockey has excitement even when you know there won't be a goal scored for forty minutes of play. That's part of the beauty. How is just as important as what happened.

The how began in the second period, where the Wild maintained their forecheck, and for the most part traded rushes with the Pens. Pittsburgh really got the best of it, creating several chances that miraculously did not go in. The Wild were quick to clear any rebounds, and they got their sticks on a lot of Pitt's shots.

The third period brought even more magic for the Wild, as Pittsburgh continued to apply an ungodly amount of pressure on the Minnesota defense. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: Niklas Backstrom is not a luxury to be taken lightly. He's an elite goaltender, and he absolutely robbed the Pens on several opportunities. After the Pascal Dupuis' equalizer, where Backstrom was late reacting to the play, he shut it down. He doubled his focus, and did not let another shot hit the netting.

For the first time all year, the Wild have a winning streak, and instead of it being Todd Richards' system creating dominant offense, it's the Wild's defensive instincts that have created it. They've yet to win by more than one goal, and four off days carry the risk of the momentum fading. For the moment though, things are looking up in the state of hockey.

Keeping track of things

So I completely lost the Wolves game in the shuffle. I feel bad, because they deserve better. Ok maybe they don't deserve better. Since I failed to record the game, and there's zero chance of a re-run, I'm going to introduce a new, spur of the moment feature here at Funkify Minnesota. It's called "In the Box," and in it I will read the box score of the game. It'll most likely happen for the Wolves more than the Wild or heaven forbid the Vikings or Twins. So let's do it up.

Inside the Box, the Timberwolves on 11/1/09:

Ryan Gomes showed some of last year's promise, leading the Wolves in scoring while shooting the lights out of it. 100% from downtown. It's a shame that he only took two three's. That was the greatest disparity in the overall team performances.

The Suns like to run, and apparently the Wolves do too now. 120 points in one game is a lot, but so is 112. The team assists were consistent, the Wolves turned the ball over less, and they outrebounded the Suns.

The real difference in this game was in strategy. The Suns run-and-gunning involves a lot three point shots. Kurt Rambis knows that his team can't make three point shots, and must be emphasizing that point in practice, because the Wolves took the same amount of total shots as the Suns... but the Orange Balls of Fire made more from long-range than the Wolves attempted.

It's pretty easy to lose when one guy on the other team makes more threes than your entire squad. These canines don't have much bite when it comes to defense, especially when the other team is making three point shots. The Wolves scored more than enough to win this game, they just needed to close out enough to stop three more three point attempts.

The good news though is that Al Jefferson had a much better game than his first two. Against Amare Stoudemire, a.k.a. The Human Sieve, you have to tamper your expectations of Big Al based on this one game. Yet even against a completely indifferent and soft defender, it's good to see Al making some shots, instead of missing almost all of them.

This team is still growing, and it's going to improve. Jonny Flynn inexplicably played less than Ramon Sessions, and still managed to outperform him. At least numerically. But of course, the numbers are all we have to go on in the inaugural and future editions of Inside the Box. Thanks for reading.

With and Without him

Wins are wins, but "Great Wins" come in two categories:

1) The game is close throughout. The teams trade the lead several times. Spectacular plays are needed, whether they're an awesome third down catch or interception/kick-off return for a touchdown. A great example would be if the Vikes had won last week at Pittsburgh.

2) Your team completely, entirely, and utterly dominates the opponent in every facet of the game without remorse. The losing team is left questioning whether they were ever meant to play football. The losing fans do not remember the game, be it from the untold crushing of their competitive spirit or the untold amount of alcohol they consume. A good example would be last week's Atlanta-Chicago game, where Atlanta made Jay Cutler look even more petulant. Yeah, I didn't know it was possible either.

I could easily go on, but suffice to say that today was not a "Great Win." The Packers never had the lead after the first quarter, and the Purple seemed on their way to an elusive Great Win over the cheeseheads. Brian Robison had other thoughts. After the Packers decided to squib every kickoff (thanks Percy, you're the best), the backup defensive end enjoyed carrying the ball so much he did not go down immediately upon fielding it. Needless to say, DEs aren't given the ball for a reason. Brian fumbled, and the Packers scored off the turnover.

After that moment, the Vikings D could not generate the pressure they had, and Aaron Rodgers knew what to do with the extra time. So disappointing after such dominance in the first half (forgive me for being without a number, but it was less than 100). I don't know what else they can do. Different calls, higher effort, whatever. The second half defense has seen a let-down in every game against a competent opponent except for Pittsburgh last week.

It's got to stop, because the offense isn't goint to remain this hot. Last week (yet again) the offense was unable to get it done. This week the defense did not. Maybe one of these weeks, they'll both show up for sixty minutes. Then again, maybe neither of them will.

No Heroics

The Wolves still have a better record than the Cavaliers, but not for long.

I won't say that it was a lack of effort. The Wolves didn't give up until perhaps the waning, losing moments of the fourth quarter, but that's to be expected when the Cavs have had their way for most of the night. I'm not sure where their "1 vs 5" offense went, because it would have been nice to have doubled and tripled LeBron James for most of the night. The Wolves seemed to have that sort of strategy, but it did not work well. Cleveland had some beautiful ball movement, with and without James. It nearly seemed like a bit of toying, as the Wolves could not keep up with the Cavs' shooting past the second quarter.

Shooting remains the primary issue with the Wolves, though there were a few bright spots in the forms of Jonny Flynn and Corey Brewer. Until they start making more shots, the little pups won't compete. The Cavaliers collapsed into the paint, daring the Wolves to shoot beyond the arc. They did not make Cleveland pay. The Cavs are a great defensive team, and if I haven't said it before, I'll be saying it a lot more: The Wolves don't have a lot of talent.

Flynn, Jefferson, Brewer, and Wayne Ellington are the only players on the roster that figure into future plans. Kevin Love does too, but he's injured, and him coming back might create more issues than it solves. Flynn's showing some great scoring acumen, but the assists aren't there (poor shooting can be blamed) and he committing some bad turnovers. Al Jefferson is working his way back from injury, but also has showed some of his low-post scoring prowess. Brewer is also returning from injury, but has shown that he remains the Wolves' best defensive player. He leads the Wolves in blocks and steals, and has remained in decent control of his ridiculous athleticism.

After the other night's comeback, this game remained captivating... until all those dagger three-point-shots started falling. The Wolves couldn't answer with any of their own, and they would never threaten the Cavs commanding lead. Sometimes teams are just plain better than you. Kurt Rambis said before the game that this would be a good test. Well, we now know what we knew before: The Wolves aren't contending this year. They will get better though, and are already more compelling than last year's squad. Keep watching.

Luck of the Irish

To tamper enthusiasm as usual, the Nets are not a very good team. They just traded away their best player (Vince Carter) after missing the playoffs. They've been projected to finish last in the Eastern Conference. The Wolves won their opener last year against a similarly bad team, and then lost their next eight games. All of that said, Jonny Freakin' Flynn!

The Wolves are a terrible shooting team, so this is the kind of effort they'll need to succeed. For almost the entire game they could not buy a basket. What changed was their defensive strategy. They took more gambles, forced more turnovers, which lead to some fast breaks, which allowed them to get next to the basket, where shooting issues become easily hidden.

Even when they weren't playing the press, the Wolves seemed to move well, though the ball stayed put more often than it should. They're obviously still learning the Triangle Offense, or whatever parts of it Kurt Rambis uses, but from watching this team play it seemed obvious that they had a plan. They had a system both on offense and on defense. Especially on defense.

The difference between Ryan Hollins and Al Jefferson on defense is remarkable. Hollins lacks strength, but the length and height of his body makes a profound impact altering and blocking shots. His energy also stands out, while Big Al seems very indifferent. Al was the Nets sole defensive focus, so he won't have such an offensively offensive game every night. He'll also get back his conditioning to keep up with the fast guards on the Wolves roster. In other words, don't panic that the Wolves' franchise player looked lethargic. He'll get his shot back, he'll get his wind back, and he'll resume his role in the low post, where there won't be double and triple teams every night.

Already the Wolves' new guards have looked much better defensively, and the help defense and rotations have been quick. Corey Brewer is a big part of that, but I also believe new, more disciplined coaching has instilled a better team effort. That's the most impressive thing at all. The Wolves' shooting is likely to struggle all year, but with a consistent defensive effort and getting to the line like they did in this opening win, they'll be able to compete with most teams in the NBA.

Did I mention that Jonny Flynn's game fits perfectly with that model? He's awesome, though definitely not Irish. He doesn't need any luck.

So much for the North Pole

Hockey can be a weird game. Sometimes the team that is obviously dominating play for the majority of the game can lose. Sometimes even the weakest of shots can go in. Sometimes the home team can take a lead in under two minutes, just to squander it away.

The Wild played their most complete game. Throughout the first two periods, they applied tons of pressure to the Nashville defensemen, forcing early and errant passes with the forecheck, which led to turnovers and opportunities on goal. The Wild were all over the ice in the first period, yet Nashville led by two goals at the end of it.

Both of those goals came on "easy" shots, which Niklas Backstrom usually saves. The first was a quick back-hand lob by J.P. Dumont from ten feet. Backstrom used to have a problem with going down too early, and he seemed to get fly happy on this goal, as he went down while the puck went up and over his shoulder to find the net. It wasn't a major defensive lapse, just a poor play by the goalie. The second was a wrister from the blueline on the power play. It did not deflect, and while there was a screen, Backstrom normally would see and stop such a shot. He failed on this chance, completing the Wild's usual early deficit.

The beginning of the second period was a key moment for our Christmas Elves, as they have struggled to maintain effort on the other side of intermissions. Be it solid coaching from Papa Claus or making fewer toys during the break, the Wild kept it up, and finally got something to show for their work. An early power play led to an early wrister and goal for Brent Burns. An unblocked slap-shot from Clutterbuck found the top shelf. Owen Nolan then took the lead on a nice skate-trap and shoot. No, there weren't any shots between those goals. A minute and forty seven seconds and three shots were all the Wild needed to take the lead.

They needed another four to lose it on a four-on-four stemming from some extra-curriculars by Martin Havlat (how quaint). The Predators got a good rush after a failed Minnesota possession. The shot bounced off the toe of a Nashville player whom Marek Zidlicky failed to push away from the goal. It's really hard to buy Z as an actual defensemen. He hasn't made any of his signature bone-headed turnovers yet this season, but he's still held up to his reputation as skilled but soft and small. Maybe he can provide some trade value at the deadline, but I'm tired of having him cost the Wild these types of soft goals.

The third found the Wild starting to fall into a defensive shell, where it was from lack of energy or a strategic decision. It didn't work. When they received a potential game-changing power-play at the ten minute mark. I may have lied about Marek Zidlicky earlier. He HAS made one of his bone-headed turnovers. On that power-play, a round-the-bend dump into the Predator zone cleared the blue line, and Z was unable to corral it. Jerred Smithson did, and took it to the Wild zone, beating Backstrom on a toe-drag to take the lead for Nashville. More than a minute remained on the power-play, but the Wild's sails had lost their wind. A few more scoring chances with the empty net, but there would be no comeback this time.

Yet there were good things to take from this game. The Wild's effort through the first fifty minutes impressed the Hockey Gods enough for them to let some pucks go in. If they can shake off those bad plays instead of letting them ruin the night, they can compete in most games. Winning is the next step after that.

Subtract 4 from 14 and you get 10

The Wild are coming home. Starting tonight, all of the major additions to the Wild will follow their new team to where they once lived. Chuck Fletcher and Todd Richards return to Pittsburgh, while Marty Havlat and Marion Gaborik return to their spurned prior cities. Only one of them seems to have made a difference.

Martin Havlat gave the Wild a big discount over the franchise's leading scorer, surrendering 2.5 million per year from Gaborik's price in exchange for a no-movement clause (like a no-trade, except it applies to the minors as well as another organization). Marion Gaborik hated Jacques Lemaire and Doug Risebrough because they treated him like a child, and so he refused a gigantic contract before last season. Fletcher did not extend an offer to Gabby, who signed with the New York Rangers for 7.5 million a year.

Havlat's been a ghost for the Wild. Hockey players are the opposite of offensive linemen: if you're not noticing them, they're doing a bad job. Mikko Koivu's been making some nice moves with the puck; even if they don't result in goals, he's still showing the effort to not only keep the puck, but keep the puck moving. Havlat's missing the box score and any "eye pop" in his first season with the Wild. At least until he came home tonight.

Marty's line started the game, and it didn't hesitate to put some pressure on the 'Hawks, with a little razzle dazzle... that resulted in an easy save by Cristobal Huet, statistically one of the worst starting goaltenders in the league. Havnot put in a couple more good shifts, before taking the rest of the night off. He's failed to consistently flash for the Wild, and after tonight's momentary blip of activity, I'm going to venture a guess that his effort is the problem.

Havlat showed up for his old fans, while Gaborik has showed up all season for the Rangers. He's tied for the league-lead with ten goals. Translate those to the Wild, and they're at least middle of the road as far as scoring goes. The record might be a bit better too.

The Wild just aren't that good. Havlat has failed to make his teammates better, and so has just about every other Wild player. They just aren't scoring, and I don't see any evidence that they're going to start anytime soon.

You already knew he was a waffler.

This was a complete game by the Vikings. The defense held the high-flying Steelers to thirteen points. Three in the second half. The Steelers had been averaging near 300 yards passing per game. The Vikings held Big "WWE" Ben to 147. It was a defensive struggle all the way, with the only major defensive lapse being the forty yard touchdown to Mike "who the heck are you" Wallace at the end of the first half.

The Vikings did all the big things right. They dominated on defense, got a return TD on special teams without allowing Pittsburgh any damaging returns of their own, and though their offense struggled in the beginning, they found a groove on several drives. The big picture didn't cost them, the big plays did. The Steelers defense scored more points than the Vikings offense, because of two fourth quarter turnovers. Both by, though not necessarily caused, by our man Brett. Both in, or very close, to the red zone.

The first play should not have happened. On the preceding play, Jeff Dugan's cut block was called a trip, negating Sidney "#1" Rice's ten yard touchdown catch. Instead of a seventeen to thirteen lead, Favre was stripped by Brett, the Keisel version. LaMarr Woodley picked up the ball, and played James Harrison by returning the ball into the Vikings end zone.

Any defensive touchdown in the fourth quarter would normally spell game over, but Percy Harvin played The Man for the Vikings yet again, running over a weak tackle from the kicker to the endzone. He might have saved the day for the Vikings, who forced a punt. That left over three minutes for Our Man Brett to construct a game winning drive.

He needed some help, and he got it from Adrian Peterson. All Day finally included himself in the two minute drill, taking a screen on third-and-five nigh thirty yards to put the Vikings in tying field goal range yet again. Yet again, the Steelers would outscore the Vikings on their own drive. This time there was no one to blame except Chester Taylor and Brett Favre, who failed to complete a middle screen. Taylor got his hands on the football, but could not control it, deflecting the ball to Keyaron Fox, who also mimicked James Harrison by scoring the dagger-in-the-heart touchdown.

Neither of the deciding plays were guys trying to do too much. Good effort by Keisel caused the fumble, and bad concentration by the Vikings gave the ball to Pittsburgh on the last significant play of the game. Two plays. That's all that lost the Vikings this game. Reductive projections are always dangerous, but in this case we know the Refs cost the Vikings a touchdown. If the Refs had their heads on straight? Vikings win. That's how narrowly this game escaped the Vikings grasp.

Just like last week's win asked more questions, this week's loss answered all of them. This is a strong football team. As long as they avoid costly turnovers, hell as long as they avoid the other team scoring on costly turnovers, they can hang with anyone in the NFL. On to Green Bay.

Clutterbucked

The Wild continued their inspired effort at the Xcel Energy Center, and they would need every bit of it to top the Hurricanes.

They got a boon of returning injured players, as Petr Sykora and Cal Clutterbuck made their way back to the ice. Yes, the same Clutterbuck who was supposed to be out for weeks, laced up and took the rink. The two wingers replaced centers James Sheppard and Benoit Pouliot: two young players, two top-ten Risebrough draft picks, and two healthy scratches for their lackluster hustle and results (though I thought Pouliot had been playing better).

The Wild hit the ice running... uh... skating and really took it to the 'Canes, drawing two penalties in the first ten minutes of play. Their power play looked pretty good, but the Wild again did not finish the chances they generated. After the consecutive power plays, Shane Hnidy would commit one of his own, and the Wild's penalty killing streak finally ended. They kept their energy up for most of the first period, and finally equalized on Andrew Brunette's savvy power play goal. He got behind the goal, and shot it off Cam Ward's back and into the goal. Nice.

In the second period, the boys in green finally got a break, as Owen Nolan's forecheck/dump-in went straight to Kyle Brodziak, who made a nice fake over to his backhand past Cam Ward. It was the kind of finish the Wild have lacked this season.

Of course, with that kind of luck, karma would strike back. A half-rink pass left Antti Miettinen all alone but flat-footed in the Carolina zone. He stood still while his teammates and opponents caught up, and made the wrong choice by back-handing towards the middle instead of bouncing it off the boards. It cost him and the Wild, as the 'Canes intercepted the pass, and scored on the two-on-one rush that followed.

As usual, the Wild gave up more than one of those odd-man rushes, but yet again Niklas Backstrom bailed the Wild out. He didn't make as many saves as his very capable counterpart, but the saves he did make were essential, spectacular, and game-saving. He had some help as well.

Greg Zanon is a beast. He had six blocked shots, one crouching in the net, another clear of a puck in the crease, and the primary assist on the game winning goal. He's easily been the Wild's best defender and best free-agent signing from the summer.

Cal Clutterbuck is the highlight of the night, and of the Risebrough era. Captain Koivu entered the zone as the overtime ticked away, and snapped a wrister towards the net. The puck bounced off of the 'tender Ward, right onto the tape of Zanon. Chuck Fletcher's best move found the post, but Risebrough's best move was there. The puck bounced off Clutterbuck's face, and landed in the slot as Cal leaped, lunged, and fell as he back-handed the puck into the open net. It was gritty and spectacular at the same time. The Wild's best goal this season appropriately won them the game.

The next step will be having those energetic, offensively and defensively active sticks follow the Wild away from the XCel. With their healthy bodies getting back into the swing of things, I'm optimistic. Though that optimism's been misplaced before.

Looks like a long winter

I haven't been the greatest Wild fan since its inception, so I got curious. Looking at each NHL season since 2000, the Wild have never ranked in the top-fifteen in goals scored. That's mostly due to Jacque Lemaire's "don't lose" system, which never let defensemen join the attack, and kept the center from forechecking as well. In an ideal scenario, no goals would be scored, and some luck in the overtime/shootout would give the Wild a better than .500 record. Marion Gaborik did enough to actually score enough goals, but now both he, Doug Risebrough, Lemaire are gone.

What's left are Gaborik's replacement (Marty Havlat), Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns, and all the mediocre players that Risebrough signed and drafted during his tenure. As a collection, they don't have many offensive skills. There were chances, but they couldn't finish. Chris Mason admittedly made some great saves, but so did Chris Anderson, Roberto Luongo, Nikolai Khabibulin, Jonas Hiller, Evgeni Nabokov, Jonathan Quick, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and Steve Mason. So which is more likely, that all of those goaltenders are spectacular or that the Wild just don't take good shots?

The Wild's only goal was a rebound that just barely squirted through Mason's pads. They seemed to keep up a pretty good effort, but the inability to control the puck in key situations lead to multiple odd man rushes, which Backstrom can only stop so many of those. Niklas played spectacularly after a few rebound issues early on. He's by far the Wild's best player, and has single-handedly kept the Wild in more than one game. He deserves better goal support.

Which won't happen until the opposing goaltenders stop being so spectacular. Or maybe until the Wild are completely healthy, and take shots on the edges of the net, instead of the middle, where those spectacular goaltenders have an easy time of getting it. I'm talking to you, Captain.

Home Sweet Home

No shoot-out is a great victory. If you listen to most puckheads, the shoot-out shouldn't be a part of hockey. If you listen to playoff rules, where the best professional hockey displays itself, the shootout stays invisible. Not that I want to take away from a refreshing change of pace.

Martin Havlat returned, and new acquisition Chuck Kobasew made his debut, but the real story was the debut of Mikko Koivu as the Wild's first permanent captain. Perhaps it was the home crowd, but it seems like taking his rightful place as the official leader inspired the team... to not get run over.

The first period the Wild showed their usual glimpses of dominant play. The puck rarely left the Colorado zone, and when it did, the Wild recovered, requiring Backstrom to make a below-average number of spectacular saves. The same problems remain however, as Brent Burns top-shelf rebound collection made the only tally of a period. The Wild outshot the Avalanche 13-6 in the period. Several of those thirteen shots were good chances on the four penalties the snowboard-killers committed. What the shots on goal don't include are the missed shots, of which Brent Burns' post-job was a part.

Burns played a big role in the undoing of the Wild's great first period effort. After the Avalanche tied it on a loose rebound, Burns committed one of several terrible turnovers in the Wild's own zone. Brent's led to a well-executed two-on-one break that Backstrom nearly turned away, but a third Avalanche overwhelmed the Wild 'tender. These are the types of turnovers that make the Wild one of the worst five-on-five teams in the NHL.

It's difficult to figure out why the Wild play so terribly at even-strength, even more so because they are still strong on special teams, which showed in tonight's victory. The Captain tied up the game in the third period. On the power play. It was one of the prettiest goals the Wild have scored all season, with Antti Miettinen's quick centering pass finding the net from Mikko Koivu's sweet sweet blade.

The Wild played with a great deal of discipline, giving the Avalanche a man advantage only twice (making quick work of the CO power-play as well). Combined with their own strong power-play, the Wild aren't too far away. They just need more outstanding play from Backstrom, and to learn to shoot it into the net, instead of the not.

Chillyball

A win is still a win, but when you win like this, it's about the worst one can feel after a win. I was at the game. I screamed my guts out, much to the chagrin of the neighboring fans. My mood while ruining my voice varied greatly however.

The game could not have started better. The Vikings made the rare decision to receive the ball on the kickoff, and it paid off with a quick touchdown drive, set up by All Day's first of over twenty yards in a few weeks. He stayed quiet for the rest of the first half, but he wasn't needed.

Brett Favre has transformed this offense. The threat of Peterson gives Favre very good looks, and he's taking advantage. After a season with a forty-seven:fifty-three pass:rush ratio, the Vikings have already passed ten more times than they've ran. That's a great thing because, after the first two games of dinking and dunking, Brett's leash is off. He's developing a good rapport with Sidney Rice between the red zones and with Visanthe Shiancoe in the red zone. What's odd is that Bernard Berrian hasn't gotten a lot of long looks, which seems a side-effect of the play-calling. Either way, you know the offense is absolutely humming.

The defense is humming in a different way. When the pass rush doesn't hurry the quarterback, e.g. the entire fourth quarter, the secondary lets receivers get open. It didn't help that Antoine Winfield got hurt (seriously, why can't they announce that at the stadium?), putting Karl Pay-dirt-for-you-mah into the line-up. As you can imagine, it did not work well. He overran Mark Clayton on his touchdown catch, in addition to completely whiffing (with his half of the Vikings defense) on Ray Rice for a big preface to another touchdown. That's fourteen points that Winfield might have prevented. He's one of their best defenders. When he's not on the field, twenty one points in the fourth quarter happens, game-winning field-goal drive happens, and a well-deserved loss should have happened.

Yet that gift-wrapped win could have been taken on the Vikings last offensive possession. Third and nine at the Baltimore seventeen yard line. Childress had ridden Favre's hot right arm all day, yet with the game within grasp, Chilly stepped off his steed and rode another. Peterson had a great game as well, but the likelihood of gaining nine yards on a draw play on such a crucial play? Very low. I've no doubt that Childress would say he was trying to catch the defense off-guard. The truth is he settled. He settled for the small hope that his tired, injury-depleted defense could do what they hadn't done the entire fourth quarter. He played so as not to lose. He did not play to win, and it's a miracle they ended up winning despite him. It was Chillyball at its very finest, in the most leveraged of moments. Kudos to Brad for collecting all this great talent. It does not make him a good game-manager.

The Vikes are undefeated, but I'm still bitter that Childress made me feel otherwise.

What the Wild lack.

Nick Schultz pinched to complete a great forecheck, Eric Belanger cleaned up the turnover, and Kyle Brodziak as he glided toward the net. He scanned his options before lifting his stick, lining up his shot, and then mimicking the shot to put it past the sprawling defender. A good idea, but the Oiler caught a piece of the puck, which squirted to Marek Zidlicky, who passed to Belanger. Eric shot, where Benoit Pouliot was waiting to put it home.

Later in the match, Benoit Pouliot had the puck on the Edmonton goal line. He gave it to Owen Nolan behind the net, who then fed a netward Pouliot, who merely backhanded it into the pads of Khabibulin.

There's been plenty of talk about the amount of shots the Wild take and allow. Those numbers work to the Wild's favor. They are fourth in the NHL in shots on goal. They are ninth in the NHL in shots on goal allowed. As the terrible TV announcers keep repeating, it's the quality.

On the first goal of the game, not far into the second period, a loose puck trickled vertically away from the Wild net, before Mike Comrie gained possession before quickly passing to Robert Nilsson, who fed the unchecked Comrie for the open-netter netted easily by the Oiler.

The Wild have played well in spurts, maintaining their on-again, off-again relationship with maintaining offensive pressure. They forecheck aggressively, forcing the other team into turnovers, on which the Wild have yet to consistently capitalize, as many of their players tend to glide and watch the play unfold.

As they did on Edmonton's second goal. Patrick O'Sullivan robbed Derek "Not A Real Hockey Player" Boogard in the Wild zone. As Danny Boy looped behind the Wild net, Brent Burns weakly checked him and kept on him while Nathan Smith followed him as well. They both turned their backs on Dustin Penner, who was about as wide open as you can be, fifteen feet away from the net. Irish didn't miss him, and he didn't miss the opening left as Josh Harding moved all the way from the other post.

The Wild outshot the Oilers 31-19. The first thing that stands out about the game tonight is how cool the Edmonton goals were. Three of the five were "alley-oops," passes hitting the scorer's stick in stride, setting up an easily converted scoring chance. Beautiful goals draw additional fans to hockey, and these were beautiful goals. The Wild score their pair with some grit, but when an offense is really clicking, or the defense is standing around oo-ing and aw-ing, those "alley-oops" will happen. How many of those have the Wild scored this season? None that I can remember.

Pouliot's goal is a great example of what Todd Richards' forechecking system can do, but Brodziak's failed deek is an example of how little skill the Wild work with on a nightly business. They need more playmaking ability. Not just passing ability, but to do the little deeks and moves that turn Pouliot's backhand into the hesitations that Corey Perry used to beat Backstrom in Anaheim. That turn Brodziak's flailing faked shot into the snapshot Dany Heatley used on the power-play in San Jose.

The Wild's injured players will return, bringing some more skill back to the line-up. Until then, grit will have to do. Translating it to the defensive end wouldn't hurt either.

And They're Off: Position Players

So now that we've had some time to remove the brooms from our stomachs, I'm going to take some time to review the status of various parts of the Twins major league club, and what I think needs to be done in order to not only win the division again, but also win at least one game in the playoffs.

First off, here's how the Twins most common line-up looked at the end of the season:
1. CF Denard Span .359
2. SS Orlando Cabrera* .321
3. C Joe Mauer .438
4. RF Jason Kubel .383
5. 1B Michael Cuddyer .370
6. LF Delmon Young .312
7. 3B Matt Tolbert .278
8. DH Jose Morales .334
9. 2B Nick Punto .295

Statheads are always trying to figure out one stat that can represent how good a hitter is, FanGraphs focuses on weighted On-Base Average (wOBA), which I've included in the list. In short combines all of the results of a batter's plate appearances, with different weights given to different results based on how effective they are (with a home-run carrying the most weight). It's not perfect by any means, but it gives a pretty good basis for comparison.

Looking at the Twins' line-up, you notice how top-heavy it is. Only Jose Morales comes the closest to the "Core" (Spantasm, Mighty Morphin Mauer Ranger, Cudds, and Kubes) in offensive performance, and by "close" I mean .25 less, which is a lot. That also doesn't consider Morales' late-season slump, where he seemed completely clueless at the plate. He just doesn't have enough major-league at-bats for us to know if he's this good of a hitter. The rest are incomplete hitters. You have the Nick Puntos and Matt Tolberts, who know how to draw walks but don't hit for average or power. Then you also have the Delmon Youngs and Orlando Cabreras, who hit for average, some power, and can't draw a walk to save their life. Not that you'd find complete hitters in the bottom of any Major League line-up, which is a perfect place for Nick Punto, but having Orlando Cabrera batting second, getting more at-bats than the three best hitters on the team, is a travesty.

There are two philosophies for one and two hitters. There's the old school, where speed and "bat skills" (like bunting) are the most important. Then there's the new school, where the name of the game is to work the count, take walks, and get on base to be driven in by the power hitters in the middle of the line-up. That's what makes Peter Span so fly: he gets on base well AND he can bunt AND he has good speed to take extra bases. Cabrera is fast but doesn't steal many bases, and is a contact hitter with "bat skills." He doesn't strike out a lot, but rarely walks, insisting on using his bat to get on-base, which just doesn't work. Look at it this way: Cabrera walked eleven times, and hit into nine double plays. That's not the way to follow Gerard Denardieu. Sometimes I think managers bat crappy hitters second so they can justify sac-bunting on a lead-off hit.

Criticism is all well and good, but who's going to replace all these bad hitters? Lucky for the Twins, they have a great one already signed with plenty of experience. Justin Morneau will return, most likely to the clean-up spot, allowing Gardy to remove at least one bad hitter from the line-up. The most likely candidate to lose a regular spot, however, is Jose Morales. He can't play any position besides catcher. So the worst hitters in this year's final line-up will remain in next year's. This assumes that the roster will remain the same, which it definitely will not.

Free agency has never been a fruitful venture for the Twins, and that won't change anytime soon, because the Twins choose to give big contracts to their own players rather than other teams'. No big contracts, no big players, though with the way the economy's going, there will be a few bargains out there.

A lot of decent or used-to-be-decent middle infielder's will be available. Some names that pop out to me are Orlando Hudson, Khalil Greene, Marco Scutaro, Akinori Iwamura, Felipe Lopez. They aren't a great bunch, but if you look at who the Twins' ran out there against the Yankees, they don't have to be great to improve the line-up. The Twins have already priced themselves into Nick Punto as an everyday player, so he can fill in at whatever position the Twins don't sign.

That still leaves third base open, which could be filled by another free-agent like Joe Crede, who played spectacular defense with pretty one-dimensional offense when he was healthy. I doubt the Twins would bring him back for a season that would most likely end in his fourth major back surgery. Perhaps they'll think the grass of Target Field will allow for better health. The ideal situation, however, would be for Danny Valencia, one of the Twins' top prospects, to take over the position. He regressed at the plate in his first year at AAA, and from what I've read he's been inconsistent defensively, but he couldn't be more inconsistent as Brendan Harris, and his bat troubles do not rival Matt Tolbert's lack of talent. It's too much to hope for Valencia to gain the trust of Gardy and his staff, but it'd save the Twins a lot of trouble at the consistently troubling hot corner.

So in an ideal world, next year's opening day line-up would look like this:
1. CF Denard Span .361
2. 2B Orlando Hudson .340
3. C Joe Mauer .384
4. 1B Justin Morneau .358
5. RF Michael Cuddyer .346
6. DH Jason Kubel .349
7. LF Delmon Young .319
8. 3B Danny Valencia >.300 (hopefully, though Twinkie Town thinks he's no better than Tolbert)
9. SS Nick Punto .294

I used career numbers for all of the hitters, which is why some of them seem low. I fully expect the big guns to outperform their career numbers. Regardless of what they actually hit, that's the making of a good line-up. There isn't an easy out until Delmon comes up (no, one hot streak does not a new hitter make, just look at how he did against the Yankees until his foul balls). You could easily substitute Gomez into center for defensive purposes, removing Delmon Young's dreadful leather from the outfield. If you believe FanGraphs' measure of total value, Gomez with his glove is better than Delmon's marginally better bat.

The Twins are unlikely to sign Hudson, as they would have to give a draft pick to the Dodgers (assuming LA offers him arbitration) if they do. They won't be high bidders, but like last year with Joe Crede, they'll try to find a bargain. There may be some good ones to find. It's nice to assume all this extra revenue from Target Field will go straight to payroll. Payroll will increase, but I bet Bill Smith will use that increase to pay Joe Mauer what he deserves, extend Michael Cuddyer, and start thinking about what happens when Denard Span hits arbitration. What will remain for anything but a cheap one-year deal? What major impact can a cheap one-year deal have? If you've actually read all of this, what do you think?

All answers pending.

Next Up: Starting Pitching.

Same old story

The Wild have been consistently inconsistent so far this year, and it's enough to make any fan wonder if they'll ever put together a complete hockey game.

They might as well be working in a cemetery, with all the grave-digging they've accomplished this season. Over the first and second periods this season, the Wild have been outscored 14-5, and it wasn't any different last night, as the Wild made some more fundamental errors that cost them the game before it really had a chance to develop.

In under two minutes, the Wild made a line change after a failed dump by Kyle Brodziak. If I knew more about hockey, I could assign some blame. My instinct is to point the finger towards the coaching staff for assuming Brodziak would succeed in getting the puck into the Anaheim zone. The puck instead bounced back to the Wild blue line, where the new Wild line couldn't catch up to Corey Perry, who was left to beat Backstrom one-on-one. Niklas couldn't bail the Wild out. 1-0 Anaheim.

Later in the period, Corey Perry again got positioned between the defense and the goalie by a simple give and go, and again schooled Backstrom with a nifty hesitation. By the end of the first period, it was already a two-goal game, with the Wild barely threatening with any chances of their own.

The second marked a change in momentum, as the Wild began to control the puck in the offensive zone, and created some good scoring chances... but did not score. They kept sustained pressure, but with most of their good finishers scratched with injuries (Sykora, Clutterbuck, Bouchard), they were unable to capitalize on the good looks that they got. With the mounting pressure in their zone, Anaheim committed a penalty, and it looked like the perfect opportunity for the Wild to get back in the game. However, on the power-play the Wild looked powerless, as Anaheim played keep-away. The Wild could not catch up to the puck, and had possession for maybe thirty seconds total. On their own power play. For the rest of the period, the Wild did not create many more chances, the ones they did create were wasted by lackadaisical effort.

The most pronounced of these failures to capitalize was on a good breakout by Marty Havlat, who took the puck all the way down the ice, unhindered, and made a great centering feed... that went through the crease untouched. His line-mates failed to keep up with him, much to their detriment, as it would have been an easy goal to an open net if they had only maintained their acceleration towards the Anaheim crease. A couple of minutes later, Anaheim padded their lead after another failed clear-attempt, and though an entire period remained, the Wild would not make a serious push for the rest of the game.

Eric Belanger was the star for the Wild, single-handedly scoring the Wild's only relevant goal on a takeaway, breakaway, putaway. It was a great play, but not of the kind the Wild need to start winning hockey games. The telecast had a good stat last night: The Wild had scored over 70% of their goals on the power-play. It's important to have an effective power-play, but to have that kind of ratio speaks more on the even strength ineffectiveness than good special teams play.

They still have the opportunity to improve. They played one good period tonight, just like they played one and a half good periods at San Jose. The key is to make those other periods competitive at the very least.

Three and done

Carl Pavano was great... until he gave up two homers in one inning. One of which looked catch-able by Delmon Young, who is slow and unathletic. A drawback to leaving Carlos Gomez on the bench, though Young would have been in left regardless. It was a sad way to give up yet another lead the half-inning immediately after taking it. Matt Guerrier is the only Twins pitcher to not give up any runs in the series, while also having the only scoreless inning proceeding a go-ahead effort by the Twins offense. That's the killer. The Twins held the lead in all three games of this series. They maintained none of them. Two of them immediately after taking them.

It was the little things that cost the Twins these last two wins. Little things like not getting the ball out of the infield with the bases loaded and none, one out. Little things like making unnecessary outs on the basepaths, and not hitting with runners in scoring position. Let's face it though, the big things were missing too. The Twins did not hit a single homerun, no thanks to Jason Kubel's nine strikeouts and .071 batting average. No, he did not have any RBIs, runs, or walks. Delmon Young did all he could to make himself an automatic out, Orlando Cabrera did nothing, and the other horses the Twins rode into the postseason stayed in the stable. One single player is not to blame, the entire team failed to get the job done. Except for Matt Guerrier, who's awesome.

Honestly, the Twins never had a chance. The Twins' four best hitters (Span, Mauer, Kubel, Cuddyer) would be lucky to bat sixth in the Yankees' line-up. The Twins' starters performed admirably (except for Duensing), but there's no comparison between them and the Yankees' staff. The Twins' have one pitcher with a 95+ fastball, the Yankees have three in their bullpen alone. Two of these games were very winnable, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. Our favorite team expended most of their energy just to get to the post-season, it was a stretch to expect anything besides this sweep, as humiliating as it is. The Twins had a good season, and I don't have any doubt that they'll put forth a season-long effort next year. Thank you Twins, you expanded the enjoyable part of the baseball season just a little bit longer, and given us hope that next year, you'll all be ready for a good playoff run. Have a good winter, and sign that extension Joe!

Complete victory?

That was one boring football game, for really only one reason: The Vikes completely stomped them. As they should have.

The offense was humming. AD got his two touchdowns on only fifteen carries, gaining 69 yards on the ground (4.6 yds/carry, very good but not dominant. Brett Favre got his as well, throwing for a couple hundred yards, keeping drives moving while increasing his lead on the all-time lists: touchdowns and interceptions. The touchdown was about as easy as you can get. Shiancoe got past the coverage, and there was not a safety in sight. The interception was about as bad as you could get. Brett leaked out of the pocket, under pressure, and Brett Favre does not throw balls away. He instead throws them into quadruple coverage, without a passing lane, unless you count the space between James Laurinaitis' hands as a "lane." The first real bad interception of the year for his man Brett, but he seemed to learn from it, not by throwing it away, but avoiding throws into double-plus coverage.

Brett put the defense in a bind with his hubris, but the D was up to the task. The Rams got a field goal, but they started in long field goal range anyway. The Rams put together several long drives against the Vikings, gaining the red zone four times, and gaining Vikings territory at least twice more. Yet all times except one, the Rams gave the Vikings the ball back with unforced fumbles, interceptions, or turnovers on downs. It was a similar pattern to last week's Monday Night Football game, where the opposing offense would gain plenty of yards, but not cash in on what should have been scoring drives by giving the ball away. It's an effective way to keep points off the board, but I don't believe that those big plays will keep happening for the Vikings. They're going to have to start forcing more 3-and-outs, and avoiding the big pass plays that have come mostly on screens and to tight ends. The offense is really clicking right now, along with the big play ability of the defense. The defense just needs to be consistent and explosive. The offense won't move the ball so easily every game, and the defense won't always negate the opponent's chances right before they score.

All in all, there isn't much room for complaint, as the Vikings easily took care of a terrible opponent. For some reason, it still doesn't feel like the Vikes have been tested yet. San Fran just got blown out by Atlanta, and Green Bay still threw for 380+ yards. Until the Vikings D completely dominates and shuts down a decent opponent, I won't be satisfied, and neither should they. They have the personnel to do it, now they just need to execute and start covering opposing tight ends and receivers more consistently. Baltimore will be a good test, and Todd Heap better not have a good game.

Inverse

So I guess the Wild got to show us what happens when they score the first goal. They started the game very well, putting a lot of pressure on the Sharks D. They created a lot of chances while remaining responsible on their end. When a team maintains possession inside the opponent's zone, you know that they're doing well. Shane Hnidy finally made the Sharks pay with a wicked shot that Andrew Brunette deflected to the attic. It's a play that would NOT have happened last year, as defensemen were not allowed to advance into the offensive zone and take shots under Jacques Lemaire. Something that's remained from the old regime is not the amount of scoring chances, but the Wild's inability to, you know, score on those opportunities. Whether it's by a missed shot, one off the post, a "miraculous save" (read: an inaccurate or weak shot), or too much hesitation before shooting. I noticed instances of all of these in tonight's game. That's how the Wild rank 10th in the NHL in shots on goal average, but only 20th in goals scored average.

Plenty of opportunities, with two goals to show for it, but that still meant a two goal lead halfway through the game. The Wild were aggressive to the puck, keeping their sticks active to disrupt the Sharks' passes and shots. The Sharks seemed completely out of rhythm, and none of their possessions lasted very long. Niklas Backstrom needed only thirteen saves for the first half shutout. If only the game had ended there.

The Sharks are one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL offensively, and they exploded for three in seven and a half minutes of play. The first two were just really good plays by the Sharks: quick one timers that left no chance for Backstrom to save it. The go-ahead goal though, was something else. It was another example of what happens when you leave the opponent unchecked around the goaltender. The Wild defenders both moved with a Shark moving in to the circle, leaving another Shark all by himself with poor Niklas, who had no chance on Dany Heatley's shot, unable to see past the mountain of teal in front of him. The fourth San Jose goal was just plain bad hockey, as Mikko Koivu and Greg Zanon could not decide who should cover Patrick Marleau (one of San Jose's best players). Marleau waltzed up to Backstrom's face before sliding the puck through the five-hole for the comfortable two goal lead the Wild had enjoyed just ten minutes before. Marleau's goal is an extreme example of the defensive lapses the Wild managed to overcome for half the game, but an adjusting team is not going to pull off a road win against a very good team with the kinds of mistakes that adjusting teams make.

All in all though, the Wild put on an impressive offensive performance, minus the most important stat: goals. If they keep up the kind of offensive presence they had against San Jose, the goals will come. Hopefully sooner rather than later, because you never know when they're going to leave the goalie out to dry... again.