#9...Les Habitants..."A Little Doubt Goes A Long Way"

Amazingly Minnesota failed to score once in 10 powerplays; that included 4 5-on-3's, although only one of them had some substantial length. Montreal kept the Wild on the perimeter during these man advantages, and when there was a shot to be had (if it wasn't fanned on or shot wide by Marc-Andre Bergeron,) chances are it was blocked. And when you keep getting golden opportunities (by either the Canadiens or the refs, your call,) and you FAIL to capitalize (or even put up a decent scoring chance,) the locals tend to get a bit ornery. My problem with the power play is this (and this was the case last year); that Minnesota is so reliant on the big shot from the point (whether its Brent Burns, Kurtis Foster, Marc-Andre Bergeron, or Brian Rolston,) that they tend to become predictable in their effort to get that shot; switch it up! Do a little "NHL 2K8" and change the power play scheme- instead of running it from the point (now for some fairness in discussion, Minnesota does have a few guys who can run the PP effectively, so why not run it from the blueline?) go down low; guys like Andrew Brunette (who has made a living down low,) Mikko Koivu, and James Sheppard are all excellent down low; so why not operate from below the goal line and have the wingers or defensemen crash the net so at the very least you show the opposition a different look. (Isn't there some irony about how many shots Montreal blocked and Bob Gainey's idea about shot-blocking?) I'm just saying, I don't claim to be a great hockey mind, but you sort become one dimensional with that modus operandi.
The main storyline was about the Flying Koivu Brothers facing off as Captains. The Strib wrote about it, the Canadian Media wrote about it, we all get the point; it's special for the Koivu family; Saku and Mikko's parents even flew in for the game. But maybe the most intriguing element of this main plot is that perhaps Saku left the door open for a family reunion. Of course its just heresay and speculation at this point, but it makes for a nice talker.


And it could be worse than 0 for 10 on the PP, and two losses in a row...we could be in Columbus.