Poor Play Haunts Wild Against Habs

Ten power play attempts. Zero goals.

One grisly statistic sums up the night for the Minnesota Wild as they fell to the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Thursday night at the Xcel Energy Center, the team's second consecutive loss following a 6-0-1 start to the season.

The Wild spent more than half of the second period on the power play, including three 5-on-3 advantages. Perhaps it was Halloween Eve, but it seemed like the Wild was playing with spooked sticks as the team struggled making clean passes and shots on net. In a word, the Wild was ghoulish.

Not that the game began that way. Wild defenseman Brent Burns, playing at the forward spot, scored in the opening 91 seconds, but Montreal's defenseman Francis Bouillon tied the game a couple of minutes later. It was during the second period, during a 5-on-3 advantage, that the Habs took the lead for good when defenseman Andrei Markov scored.

"We can't rely on just the power play. We've got to get goals 5-on-5, too," Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire said after the game, his team peppered with boos from Wild fans as its play frustrated the crowd as well as the players.

"Nothing's clicking, then the crowd gets into it and suddenly you can't make any plays at all. It builds up and builds up, and suddenly you're thinking too much instead of just making plays." commented forward Eric Belanger to the Star Tribune.

On tap: The Wild travel to Arizona to take on the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.

My heart will go on: I had the opportunity to sit in one of the Xcel Energy Center's Executive Suites at the game Thursday night--thanks to pop diva Celine Dion. My cousin works security detail for the French-Canadian singer and was in the Twin Cities as part of her North American tour. He had an extra ticket and invited me to go to the game. How could I say no? Now I wonder what I can get out of Cher...