State of the Northwest Division (Second Edition)

1. Minnesota Wild by Eric Burton of Goon’s World

Last night on Versus I had the opportunity to watch the Wild and the Capitals play a non-conference game. Minnesota raced to a convincing and almost unheard of four goal lead. At this point in the game you expect a Wild team to go into their patented defensive mode where they shut down the opponents in the offensive zone and make it almost impossible to score.

In Monday’s game that was not the case and before the third period was over, the Wild had tried to give the game back to the Capitals allowing them to score three goals in under four minutes from Matt Bradley, Alex Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom. For the Wild that is very uncharacteristic.

I think it is an enigma to see the Wild score four goals in a game, in fact it is almost unheard of. The Wild are known for their stifling defense and lack of offensive prowess. The Wild are offensively challenged and are in the bottom of the league for goals (49) for and are only ahead of lowly Phoenix (48). Breaking it down further the Wild have only scored four or more goals in a game only five times so far this season. Wild goalie Nicklas Backstrom should sue his forwards for lack of support.

The Wild had been getting a most of their scoring from the big three: Mikko Koivu (5-4-19), Andrew Burnett (6-5-11) and Anti Miettinen (6-7-13) finally got scoring from two unexpected sources last night as Kyle Clutterbuck (2) and James Sheppard (1) scored their first goals of the season.

There have also been some disappointments so far this season. Pierre-March Bouchard that signed a big contract in the offseason has been invisible so for going (2-4-6) in 16 games so far this season. That is unacceptable for a player of Bouchard’s offensive talent.

Defensively the Wild have been solid getting great offensive play from Marc-Andre Bergeron (2-7-9), Marek Zidlicky (3-5-8) and Kim Johnnson (1-6-7). Also in the mix is Brent Burns (3-4-7) who has been hurt earlier this season and sat out four games has now been asked to play at forward for the Wild because of the Wilds lack of offensive dept.

I think the Wild are going to have to get some balanced scoring or they won’t be able to remain in the top part of the western conference. They are going to have to eventually have to score more than 1-2 goals a game to win. Backstrom is good but he is going to have stretches where he is going to be well, human.

2. Colorado Avalanche by Shane Giroux of Avs’ Talk.

Four goals, three games, two points, two losses, zero heart. That sums up the latest week for the Colorado Avalanche.

You would think that after suffering a 4-1 loss to the Flames at the Saddledome, the Avs would head back to the Pepsi Center with fire in their eyes and revenge on their minds.

Instead, they appeared to be thinking about kittens and lollipops as they sleepwalked to another Flames victory. This time it was a 1-0 loss on home ice. Shutout. On home ice. That just shouldn’t happen.

Could it be that this team is lost without Joe Sakic in the lineup? The team hadn’t had a chance to really gel before their leader went out with a back injury. Sakic hasn’t seen action since November 8th and some players have indicated how disheartening it is not to see him in the lineup.

But if this squad will just roll over and play dead without #19 on the bench, there are some serious leadership issues at the player and coaching staff level.

I was leery of the Granato hiring from day one but was willing to give him a chance. And though some would claim he’s got a hard puzzle to put together, he doesn’t appear to have taken the first step in solving the teams problems.

Add on that his promised “run-and-gun offense” has led to a grand total of 50 goals scored – 25th in the league – and it’s looking like Granato is once againlost behind the bench.

Peter Budaj continues to be the saving grace for the team but he’s going to burn out real fast. In fact it looked like he was very close to burning out last night against the Ducks. He’s not ready to play 70 games a season nor to strap the team to his back. And he shouldn’t have to.

But until somebody(s) takes the reins of this team, they’re going to wallow in self-pitying mediocrity.

3. Vancouver Canucks by Kevin Madigan

It’s fair to say the Canucks have been on a roll lately. After a disappointing shootout loss to the Islanders, they’ve knocked off New York, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Detroit – impressive in itself, but even more so when we consider that they did it in six nights, travelling between each game, stricken with the flu, and lacking the services of stud defenseman Kevin Bieksa and elite goaltender Roberto Luongo.

How are they doing it? I’m not even sure they know. Everyone seems to be clicking. The Sedins have finally found their ideal linemate in Pavol Demitra – the three of them have combined for 8 goals and 11 assists in the past week, with Henrik picking up NHL player of the week honors (2nd star). Burrows and Kesler are shutting down like they’re the FBI. Shane O’Brien is a perpetual motion machine of shutdown defense – he just keeps getting better and better.

But still, there are some dark clouds. Alexander Edler is playing the worst hockey of his life. Ryan Johnson is going to miss some time with a broken finger from blocking a shot. And, obviously, to the angry dismay of most fantasy poolers, Roberto Luongo’s got an adductor strain. Generally, everyone’s thinking about the health of Luongo. There are conflicting reports from all angles – his agent is reporting his injury as up to five weeks. Various newspapers have reported his injury from a range of 2 weeks to 3 months. The Canucks’ official status is week-to-week. Guessing how long Luongo’s going to be out is about as futile as guessing when Chelios is going to retire.

How will the Canucks cope? Two letters – C S: Curtis Sanford and Cory Schneider. Sanford has won three consecutive games for Vancouver against elite competition and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Cory Schneider, the team’s backup goalie recalled from the AHL, has been touted as the best goaltender outside of the NHL. All eyes will be on his first game, which is expected to be one of the two games against Calgary later this week.

Additionally, Kevin Bieksa’s return is questionable for Thursday and almost definite for Saturday.

The Canucks can tread lightly with cautious optimism.

4. Edmonton Oilers by Pat McLean of Black Dog Hates Skunks

The Oilers’ bizarre season continued as they took a step forward, a step back and then a five day break between games. Have to love the NHL schedulemaker.

The second game of a back to back saw the Oilers lay a beating on the BJs. Despite getting outshot badly the Oilers exploded for seven goals as a number of players broke out of slumps. Shawn Horcoff, whose strong two way play has not translated into goals and assists, had a goal and two assists. Dustin Penner scored and had a terrific game after being benched while Cogliano went one and one, Marc Pouliot scored his first of the year and Sam Gagner had two assists.

Meanwhile a few guys who have been putting up the points continued to do so as three defencemen, Souray, Visnovsky and Gilbert, all went one and one and Ales Hemsky continued his nice start with three assists. The power play, long a sore spot under MacT, has improved and went two for three while the flip side saw the PK, once a strength, give up another goal.

Two nights later however the Oilers failed to build on the momentum as they faced the class of the league again and again fell short. The Wings were up three goals halfway through the first period and while the Oilers came on in the third it was another loss as Edmonton fell back to .500 The PP clicked twice again but the PK continued its abysmal play allowing three Detroit power play goals.

With almost a week off before they got back to it the Oilers called up Springfield captain Tim Sestito to provide some grit. With thirteen of the next twenty at home MacTavish reunited the underperforming kids, hoping that a steady diet of soft minutes might help get them back on track. Marc Pouliot who has slowly worked his way into MacT’s good books with quietly solid performances this season will get a chance to centre a tough minutes line with Moreau and Cole on his wings.

The Oilers have essentially treaded water the first quarter of the season which contained a tough schedule but a lot of uneven performances. If the next quarter sees more of the same expect some changes in Edmonton.

5. Calgary Flames by Drew Goyon

It’s been like clockwork since 2006. Just when you think that Miikka Kiprusoff is getting back into his groove, he takes a massive step back to square one.

The week started off well for Kiprusoff and his Calgary Flames, as the team allowed only one goal in sweeping a home-and-home series with Colorado. Although Kipper wasn’t often tested, he was solid, and the wins thus fuelled hopes that his annual shaky start was over.

Then came Saturday night.

In a game where the Flames needed their goalie to be the hero, Miikka Kiprusoff instead played the role of the goat, flubbing easy shots by Brett Lebda in the second period and Pavel Datsyuk in the third. Those mistakes ended up being the difference in the game, leaving Calgary with the 5-2 loss in a game where they, by and large, kept up with – and, at times, dominated – the defending Stanley Cup Champions. What could’ve been a major confidence boost to a team that needed it desperately ended up creating more questions about whether their supposedly-world-class goaltender would be able to carry the load for the team going forward, and that’s something that they don’t need right now.

Sure, you can blame the Flames’ woeful defensive play for the team’s high goals-allowed total, and you wouldn’t be remiss in doing so, given how unabashedly crappy that’s been. However, “The Fonz” of CalgaryPuck’s forums said it best when he said that “If you’re only good when the defence makes it easy for you, you are not worth $8 million.” That price is currently buying the Flames a goalie with a goals-against average over 3 and a save percentage under .900, and that doesn’t even make you an average goaltender in the NHL nowadays. An $8 million goaltender should be able to steal his team a game or two when the guys in front of him play like garbage, but it seems that every time the Flames’ opponents get a good scoring chance and put it on net, the red light comes on. That’s not worth the kind of money that the team’s paying, and given how tight the Flames are crammed against the salary cap, it means that Kiprusoff is going to have to work out his demons without help from Darryl Sutter.

The coming week is going to be a critical one for the Calgary Flames. After taking on the Los Angeles Kings – a team that outclassed the Flames the last time they met – on Tuesday night, Calgary will move on to another Northwest home-and-home; this time, they’ll be up against the hated Vancouver Canucks, who not only have been on a major hot streak as of late, but have also had the Flames’ number for quite a while. If the Miikka Kiprusoff of old can make his return, then the Flames have the chance to make up a lot of ground on their division rivals.

If not, however, the faces of Flames fans may end up as red as their jerseys.

*Note: I wrote this before the 6-2 drubbing of the Kings. Kipper doesn’t need to be amazing if we can hang six goals on the other goalie every time.*