GAME 1...Colorado 3, Minnesota 2 (OT)...Take It On The Run

What can you say about tonight's game, just the first of what could be seven? In no order we saw:
Post shots
No Goal Calls
Penalty Shot (honestly who else was dreading that moment?)
Highlight Reel Saves
Great Passing
Huge hits
Great crowd
Toe Drag
Overtime
...and a bit of fighting.

Yes, its disappointing that we come out on the bad end of the score, but man, what a game. Minnesota had chances to score throughout the game, but had just as many sequences where they were pinned in the zone fending off Colorado; that's a dangerous game to play. For me, its not so much that we didn't score more (that Brent Burns/Stephane Veilleux 2 on 1 was such a golden opportunity), but that we got too caught up in the end to end style of play.
As a fan, you can't really fault just one person for playing poor- on the whole I thought the Wild were really good, if not dominating at times, and that its just a lucky bounce that went Colorado's way. I really thought James Sheppard was very good, and it surprised me that Jacques Lemaire showed that much confidence in the 19 year old; along with the youngster I thought Derek Boogaard was exceptional, considering what he is and what he is supposed to do. Boogaard was effective in all 3 zones (I can't believe I just wrote that) and maybe he can be more than just a 3 minute-a-game guy. But like I said, I thought everyone was good.
The main question now is how is Mark Parrish doing- the tv telecast only showed one replay of the Ruslan Salei hit on Parrish, and even then it was a poor angle (filmed somewhere up in the rafters or something.) On Mike Russo's blog he mentions that all he was told was that it was a head injury, which doesn't bode well for Parrish, or the overall depth of Minnesota. We've already lost Nick Schultz, and now Parrish- if it was me, I might go with Benoit Pouliot. I know the kid's still green, but he can play the wing and center, and can be effective offensively, and could provide some time at center so guys like Demitra, Koivu, and Belanger can catch an extra breather.
Now that game one is in the books I'd say the focus will be trying to eliminate the prolonged sequences of play in the Wild end; I felt that the forecheck was pretty good tonight, but maybe they could drop a guy back (there were times where I saw two forecheckers coming in for the puck) just to clog up the neutral zone a bit, to where to don't have the initial Avalanche player gain the blue line and drop it back for the trailing teammate for a shot. That's where I thought things got iffy.
B
ut anyways, it sucks to lose, but it was great entertainment. Bring on Friday.