Minnesota Wild hopeful for new season, back optimism with 4-3 win over Edmonton Oilers -NHL Update
Minnesota Wild was just another team on the list of struggling franchises after the last season ended with them missing the playoffs for the third straight time. For the teams’ management, enough was enough and the 2011 offseason was a time for them to either
make it or break it.
During the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) offseason, Minnesota had more than enough time to look back and see where they have been going wrong for the past few seasons. Changing coaches was one of the first things on general manager, Chuck Fletcher’s,
mind.
"There's no way we could compete with the top teams in this league with the talent pool we had at the end of last year", Minnesota Wild general manager, Chuck Fletcher, said.
Adding top scoring players like Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi and acquiring minor league coach, Mike Yeo, seemed to have made all the difference as they played their preseason opening game against Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, September 20.
Minnesota won their first matchup against Edmonton, 4-3, while playing in the Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, as defenseman, Jared Spurgeon, scored two goals, including the winning one during the final moments of the third and final period.
Jarod Palmer and Pierre-Marc Bouchard also added first period goals to increase Minnesota’s lead to 3-0 at the end of the initial 20 minutes but Edmonton Oilers managed to recover the next period by scoring three consecutive of their own.
Anton Lander, Magnus Paajarvi and Antti Tyrvainen scored a goal each and levelled it going into the final period.
Wild’s first preseason game might have gone their way, but most might think that it could of been because they were up against a equally weak team. According to former San Jose Shark top scorer, Devin Setoguchi, their going to continue giving it their all.
"I don't think there's a sense we're the saviour or anything", Setoguchi said. "We're going to bring what we can do and play how we play. That's all we can control".
For Minnesota, the next regular season will be a do or die situation for them.
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