Bob CollinsJust checking in on the Denver sportswriter who criticized Minnesota Wild players and fans last week after the Colorado Avalanche appeared on the version of wiping the local team off the playoff map. He said Wild players were bellyachers, calling the coach duller than a fence post, and seemed to mock “The Great State of Hockey.”
It was all one big, cruel piece of irony for Avs fans in the end. The team that always found a way to win games like these just kept trying to find ways to lose the biggest one of all to this point – and succeeded.
Go on…
Hey, the Wild didn’t have many two-goal leads on the Avs either. But tonight? I mean, you get FOUR one-goal leads in a Game 7, including one with under 8 minutes left? You have to close that out. It just always seemed like the Avs were “satisfied” with their slim leads, and never were hungry enough to truly put the Wild away. That goes back to Game 6, too, when they came back from a 2-0 deficit on the road to tie it in the second period, only to kind of let up again. For this team, for any team, to be a champion, you have to stomp and kick and crush a team when you have it down and vulnerable. The Avs just didn’t do that.
A little nod to the Wild might not be a bad idea, sir.
Yet, let’s not make injuries the total focal point. The Wild had to play this series without their two original goalies on the season, Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom. They had to play without Darcy Kuemper for the final few minutes of regulation and OT tonight too, while the Avs had their Vezina Trophy finalist in net.
Meanwhile, over at Tom Reid’s in Saint Paul…
No cars were burned or arrests were made following the win.
In the end, the Wild got to enjoy the greatest tradition in sports.
Still up? (Of course). You've been waiting for it. Show up late to work, thanks to the #CapFinn and @mysarewards pic.twitter.com/VksxI11fEn
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) May 1, 2014
