Game Thread: Avs @ Wild 11/29

[IndyAndy]

Minny squares off vs. Colorado for the first of two consecutive games: The 2nd will be tomorrow night in Denver.

Mike Rupp will be out attending to family matters (death in the family) for a bit, & Erik Haula will make his NHL debut tonight filling in for him.

Time for the Wild to break the two game skid & get back to their winning ways.

 

[IndyAndy]

Zach Parise is back in the line-up for tonight's game!!!

 

[Cobiemonster]

Good to have Zach Parise back in the lineup

 

[IndyAndy]

Hejda gets the Avs. on the board 1st.

The announcers said that Colorado has yet to lose a game where they scored 1st.

 

[IndyAndy]

Cody McLeod gets a five minute major + a game misconduct for putting Jonas Brodin head first into the boards.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Yep looks like Cody McLeod is going to have a hearing for that

 

[IndyAndy]

1-0 Colorado after the 1st.

Konopka took a stick to the face mid-period & hasn't been up from the locker room since: Brodin went strait to the locker room after the incident with McLeod.

 

[IndyAndy]

After the Wild could do nothing with a five minute PP, MacKinnon puts the Avs up by 2.

 

[IndyAndy]

This game is getting pretty heated: A lot of pushing/shoving/chirping going on.

 

[IndyAndy]

Heatley!!!

... And Haula gets an assist in his 1st ever NHL game.

 

[IndyAndy]

2-1 Colorado after the 2nd.

 

[IndyAndy]

"Interesting" call on the no goal: Glad that it went our way - Even if I'm not sure that it was the right call.

 

[Cobiemonster]

Empty netter by Gabriel Landeskog seals the deal - Avs win 3-1

 

[IndyAndy]

The Avs get an empty-netter in the closing seconds to seal the game, 3-1.

Although we lost, there were some encouraging signs for Minny tonight. After being put on their heels in the 1st, the Wild got Colorado 'dialed in' though the 2nd and came to dominate play in the 3rd.

Also - while I hesitate to read too much into just one game - newcomer Erik Haula looked like a seasoned veteran out there tonight. He shows potential for being a bigger, offensive-minded version of Jared Spurgeon: A guy who has an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time.