Interestingly enough, last night’s Minnesota game against Chicago was a clanker from the fan perspective.The Hawks knocked us around (or in Matt Foy’s case, helicoptered by Dustin Byfuglien), all we could do is hit the post (4 by my count), and two of the three goals Josh Harding let in were on the suspect side. We gave up breakaways, and aside from a few shifts, couldn’t maintain any pressure that they had sustained in the offensive zone. Last night sucked to watch.

On the flipside, Jacques Lemaire was happy with the work output, and the all-around effort out there; I guess that’s why he coaches, and I’m just some blogger who thinks he knows what he’s talking about. Before I continue to piss and moan about last night, there were positives; Brent Burns and Kim Johnsson where everywhere (sometimes to a fault), and as far as the forwards go, James Sheppard was the only one that continually stood out to me.

Now, when the 19 year old is the best forward out there, you generally have a problem.

Minnesota’s next game is Sunday; so between now (although somehow I think the team got rewarded with the day off today) and then, the foundation for some stability needs to be established. This sort of “bend but don’t break” philosophy just isn’t going to cut it in the playoffs; yet there is something that may be of some significance despite its outward appearance. The fact that Minnesota has managed to bend with out breaking, scraping by and getting wins and points when they clearly don’t deserve them (Vancouver, Tuesday night) could be a testament to a certain sort of resiliency; a method of surviving until they truly get their shit in gear.

How long can The Wild afford to do this though?

The Flames are now on their heels, just 3 points back, and maybe even closer by the team Sunday rolls around.