Wild pound Predators 8-3, wait on fate of playoff hopes

The Wild proved they still had life in them Friday night. Then they waited to see if their playoff hopes still did, too.

[kat]

See what happens when you score? Wtg boys, fingers crossed for the long shot to play out!

[New Coach Soon]

" The Wild proved they still had life in them Friday night "

Yeah......... folks are already looking forward
to next season with a new coach........and BASEBALL!

Take this sorry season and end it quick......the
suffering will only last with this teaser of a game!

[kat]

420 DuDe wrote:

<quoted text>Hello kat :)
YES sure was good to see 8 goals & YES my fingers are crossed for the playoffs, but it sure doesn't look the WILD favor, but I hope for at least a 8Th spot :)
Give my best to your family & enjoy life to it's FULLEST !!:o)
Peace '09

And how about the Twins?

Right back atcha.

[See Ya]

Went to the game. Was pleased to have been there to watch Gabby's last home game in a Wild sweater. Just saw that the Ducks got to OT for a point and a dagger in the Wild's playoff prayers.
Nice knowin' ya Gabby!

[ugh]

8 goals... about flippin' time.

Every team has injuries every year. That's part of the game.
No excuses, this was a crappy season from a mediocre team. Lemaire's almost gone, Gabby's almost gone, and the team of 18,000 is bound to shrink if this mismanagement and resulting blah hockey continues.
Good luck Gabs, enjoy your stacks of money while you hobble through the rest of your NHL career.
And to dog Riseborough, do something right and keep the two bright spots of this season around for a while. Clutterbuck and Nolan deserve extensions.

[Fire the Front Office]

These clowns didn't deserve to make the playoffs. From first to not even making the playoffs to losing gabby. What a freaking joke around the league....

[MooDog33]

Tootoo continues to exhibit what a dispicable human being he is. His throw elbow at the end of the hit against Fritche showed his intent. I hope Fritche is ok because that type of hit can end a career. Tootoo better get fined & suspended to the extent that this POS gets it. Aggressive and energetic and antagonizing is all part of the game and makes it fun to love 'em or hate 'em, but this guy is scum.

I did get a good laugh when Tootoo started in with Zidlicky and it was like Zidlicky was saying 'no, your not going with me...fight him!' as Scott put a mitt in Tootoo's face. I think Scott had him by a good foot in height. Shockingly, Tootoo turtled and nothing happened. I sure hope Scott gets a contract from the Wild for next year.

[daburns]

It's amazing that the Wild were the only team in the NHL with injuries this year, and that every key player on the team missed most of the season. Well how about making some deals to cover all the injuries, or was that impossible because no one wanted our garbage draft picks from the last 4 years?

I just hope Liepold has enough sense to bring in his own guy to run the team and that it's not another Canadiens reject from the 70's Dynasty.

Let's get bring in someone with a plan not an excuse!

[Justin]

I agree a lot with "daburns." A lot of you want to blame Lemaire because he's "defensive minded." The Wild's problems are far more front-office than behind the bench.

Every player was a minus except for the top and 4th liners. What does that mean, Riseborough keeps trying to stretch 3rd liners into 2nd liners, we only started the season with one legitimate Center (Koivu). And our D need to do more to protect Backstrom. I think Backstrom makes our D look better than they really are. Though I am pleased with what Scott was able to after his call up, he may be what the Wild need next year.

My point is all of you who think Lemaire is a problem might be right, but all of you need to recognize that Riseborough is the bigger problem. He expects miracles from Lemaire, has never given him enough forward depth to succede, and Dougie will probably scapegoat him this offseason. Oh to be a General Manager, always able to take the credit or pass the blame, it's pretty sick.....

[Grant]

Tough season after last year. I think all Wild fans are looking forward to the big changes coming up next season. Even if Risenborough is still the GM.

Looking forward to next year, until then, GO TWINS!

[STPboy]

Too bad about this season but I sure had a great time last night at the game! Can't wait till next season... I'm with you guys Go Twins!

[Al Coholica]

Justin wrote:

I agree a lot with "daburns." A lot of you want to blame Lemaire because he's "defensive minded." The Wild's problems are far more front-office than behind the bench.
Every player was a minus except for the top and 4th liners. What does that mean, Riseborough keeps trying to stretch 3rd liners into 2nd liners, we only started the season with one legitimate Center (Koivu). And our D need to do more to protect Backstrom. I think Backstrom makes our D look better than they really are. Though I am pleased with what Scott was able to after his call up, he may be what the Wild need next year.
My point is all of you who think Lemaire is a problem might be right, but all of you need to recognize that Riseborough is the bigger problem. He expects miracles from Lemaire, has never given him enough forward depth to succede, and Dougie will probably scapegoat him this offseason. Oh to be a General Manager, always able to take the credit or pass the blame, it's pretty sick.....

Not that I totally disagree, but Rolston, Dmitra, Gaborik, Bouchard, Koivu is a pretty good line up that Doug gave JL and he couldn't come up with anything different for the playoffs to take the team to the next level. I put that on the coach(s). DR has plenty of blame landing on him, but with a lineup like that, there is no excuse not to score goals and if you look at our offensive stats, they aren't very good... EVER. Also, JL keeps sending away guys like Pouliot for the likes of Sheppard, Vellioux and Ovechky because supposedly they work harder. Don't get me wrong, I like hard work but isn't it the coaches job to keep the talent and make them better?

[Mike]

The Wild remind me of my 21 year old son. He's at his best when his back is against the wall. But he'd be alot better if he'd start working long before his back was against the wall. The injuries as an excuse don't make it with me. If Gaborik was here we'd have 30 more goals. That would still put us near the bottom of the league in goals scored. And it's now a goal scoring league to win.

[T-Bone]

I am not mad at Naegle or Risebrough any longer. I just do not care. High school and college hockey are more entertaining and they play on rinks that fit their talents instead of 85 foot wide NHL clown rinks. The Wild took the money and ran and I am not going to take it anymore.
Bye!

[gumper]

C'mon new ownnership group; time to start spending some $$ to get a few more players that can score! Trade Gaborik while you can 'cause his value continues to plummet! Every game's sold out, your merch sales/revenue are through the roof, you have a state-of-the art venue/facility that generates the team a boatload of revenue. Where's all this money going towards?! If this team, realistically, wants to win the Cup, they need to spend some dough on a few more players that can, seriously, find the net. Wild fans have waited long enough...The honeymoon's over!!

[ALL THE ANSWERS]

You know the real problems we had started right from the start and right from the top. We didn't sign anyone good first off and what really made it bad was the fact the the GM Douggie R. tried to pawn the ones we did sign off on us as great additions. Yeah we could have used Gaborik, but one man, well besides Koivu can run a team to victory. My hat is off to Owen Nolan, if we had 15 guys like him playing on this team we'd be hoisting the cup in a couple months.
The fact they score 8 goals doesn't mean anything more then plum luck, you go by the law of averages...this is a 2 goal a game team, plain and simple. It's a good lesson for the brass to see what happens when you don't dive seriously into the free agent market. The Minnesota fans are way to smart for ANY owners and you can pull your crap one time and thats it. No signings or letting Gabby go is going to start meaning empty seats. We are Minnesota, the brass is transplanted, we are the state of hockey but your making us look like a bunch of dumb clucks. And above all this, in the economic crunch we are in, the seats were always full, you have to have the beer and food financed, and then there is the hats, jerseys, etc. All I am saying is that the fans have done their part, please return the favor and put a team together that looks the part. Like I said, you might have punk'd us this year, next year we start eating away at your wallets.

[onemilbbc]

To Management: You will have to do something or missing the playoffs will be a regular occurance. Chicago is back... Toews, Kane and Company will keep getting better, ST Louis and Columbus have drafted well and have lots of good young talent,[St Louis has the best record in the HHL since Jan. 3rd, Columbus has the best young goal tender in the NHL] and Detroit can always buy their way to the playoffs. Add San Jose to the mix of future playoff teams and you only come up with 3 playoff slots up for grabs in the next few years. So make some moves or get used to missing the playoffs.

[SeasonTicketHold erWildfan]

Hey, MN Wild G.M. Doug Reisborough, don't take a look at any of the Minnesota kids or any U.S. kids in the upcoming NHL combine. We wouldn't want any non-foreigners on our team!! I'm sure it's a fluke that U.S. born players are tearing up the league this year

[beat blue rackets]

it's still important to beat these guys and show them they are not that great. We're the better team.

[Get a Grip]

...utterly pathetic.

give away your top scorers, make no effort to replace them. Continue to tell fans you know what you're doing, fail miserably......

Well I'll be applying the same level of effort when my season ticket renewal notice comes.....none.

the team of 18,000 just lost an original member. Sadly they probably don't care.