It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...If ever there was a line from classic literature, none comes to mind as often as the opening line of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
The novel focuses on the cities of London and Paris during the time of
the French Revolution. While the time period is different as are the
events, the line very much applies to the start of a new hockey
season. Every game is a new battle between cities, yet in tonight's
home opener, it seems to apply even more.In one way, the Wild
and the Ducks are coming to the table in much the same situation. Both
teams lost their first game of the season, 2-1 for Minnesota against
Columbus and a 4-1loss for Anaheim against San Jose. However those
losses have different implications for the team. The Wild, unlike in
past campaigns found a way to get an impressive 33 shots on goal. On
top of the numerous shots, the Wild managed to get quite a few scoring
opportunities. It was a nice change of pace seeing the Wild pressure
their opponent for once. However, the turnovers the Wild had were to
their peril. The Blue Jackets took full advantage of the Wild
mistakes. Head coach Todd Richards was pleased for the most
part with the Wild's play. Now, the Wild need to focus on the mistakes
they made and hopefully find a way to cut back on them while being more
aggressive in both ends of the ice. Even Richards feels that once the
team gets into the flow of the season, those mistakes will become less
and less.For the Ducks, the same sense of optimism does not
exist after their loss. From the get go, Anaheim was behind the
proverbial 8 ball. After one period of play, the Ducks found them down
3-0. What was even more shocking is that the Ducks only managed a
paltry two shots on goal during the second period. That sort of
"accomplishment" reminds me of some Wild periods last season. On top
of the score and limited shots, it took over two and a half periods for
the Ducks to get on the scoreboard. According to coach Randy Carlyle,
the Sharks were simply playing at a higher level than his Ducks. That
higher level might have had a bit of revenge attached to it, since it
was the Ducks that knocked the top-seeded Sharks out of the first round
of last seasons playoffs.If there's anything to be thankful for
going into tonight's matchup is that for the first time in a long time,
the Wild don't have to deal with Chris Pronger in a Ducks'
game. The star, who was allowed to pretty much get away with murder on
the ice, is now in Philadelphia to the happiness of many Western
Conference fans. However, the Ducks aren't completely free of
agitators, but just having Pronger gone makes many breathe a sigh of
relief. While the Sharks were able to light the lamp with regularity,
that will most likely not be the case for the Wild. There could still
be the mental block of getting pucks past their goaltending duo of J-S Giguere and Jonas Hiller. We'll have to wait to see whether tonight is a best of times or a worst of times moment. You know which one I'm hoping for.As
you can see there are still no stats. Depending on tonight's offensive
output by the Wild, we might get enough numbers in order to get stats
for Thursday's game in Los Angeles or at the latest, Saturday's game in
San Jose.
Original Story:
http://mvn.com/thestateofhockeynews/2...
Original Story:
http://mvn.com/thestateofhockeynews/2...
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