A Wild Night

     I felt like I was watching a alternate reality in the Wild game last night. When Nino buried the puck in the back of the net, after the initial elation, I was confused. Did they really just score in overtime after trading goals the entire game? Going into the extra period I gave the Wild no chance. I didn't care that they had just tied it up with two minutes left. All I knew was that they were in Denver, that they had traded goals all game and it was the Avs turn. Some other thoughts on the game.
     Watching the game with my uncle Pete is always an interesting experience. Every other second he likes to tell the players what to do through the TV. Along with that, he's an actor and comments on every commercial with things such as, "Nowadays, young men in commercials have beards," and "This is really cheaply done," He also assigns nicknames or personas to players. "Semyon Varlamov. that sounds like the name of a James Bond villian," Yes it does. And from now on we will only be referring to him as Dr. Varlamov.
     This was the third most intense game of the century for Minnesota. Only trailing...
1. Vikings vs Saints NFC championship game, 2010
Ugh, this was four years ago and it still kills me. The Vikes had so many opportunities to put the game away, Peterson fumbling at the goal line, the no call when the Saints put a high-low hit on Favre, 12 men in the huddle, Tracey Porter picking off Favre on the last play of the game. I'm getting depressed. Let's go somewhere happier.
2. Twins vs Tigers Game 163, 2010
Ahhhhh, much better. This was a grueling, five hour game that included Alexi Casillia botching what could have been the game winning run, Nathan getting out of a jam after a line drive double play, all ending with the iconic image of Gomez spiking his helmet after diving across home plate.
     Is it just me, or does it not seem like the Wild just took four out of their last five? It felt like they were playing from behind the entire series. In fact they really were in the last game. They lead for exactly zero minutes. four out of five typically feel more dominating. Not this time.
    I'm not too concerned with the goal tending for two reasons. One is that Kuemper seems like he'll be able to play in the Blackhawks series. The other is that Bryzgolav is so inconsistent nobody knows what's going to happen.
     The best cross sport analogy for this game and for the most part the entire series would be a big fifteen round heavyweight bout. Both teams trading blows the entire time before one of them eventually goes down. Bring on the Hawks.