Posted: December 6, 2010 2:48 p.m. CT
By Tom Chorske
FOX Sports North
After a great victory versus the Nashville Predators the day after Thanksgiving, the Wild find themselves in a five-game losing streak. Two of the more recent games, losses to Calgary 3-2 and to Dallas 4-3 finish and then an overtime, shootout loss to Calgary. The Wild have been victims to one-goal games.
On the positive side, the return of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who has a goal and an assist in his first 3 games, and the continued play of Martin Havlat, who has 4 goals and five assists in his last six games. Havlat has been extremely good for the Minnesota Wild.
They have an unusual break in their schedule this December -- four days off, at which point GM Chuck Fletcher has publicly announced that they will be looking hard at making some changes, either on the ice, with personnel, or behind the bench. Having a four day break during a five-game losing streak forces this issue, something to keep an eye on.
Headed into this road trip, the Wild will play the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday, and hopefully avenge a loss they sustained at home to the Coyotes, 4-2. In that game, Scottie Upshall, forward for the Phoenix Coyotes, had a two-goal game.
They will then play Saturday and Sunday -- Saturday at LA, and Sunday in Anaheim. Saturday verses LA, they face a hot goaltender in Jonathan Quick and a team that has extremely good penalty kill, fourth in the league, due in part to the great play of their goaltender. Anze Kopitar is the forward to watch.
Moving on to Sunday, that puts the Wild at three games in four days, to face the Anaheim Ducks. Anaheim does not pose any great threats. They'll be facing the Wild in their sixth game in eight days, and the Ducks are not a particularly high-scoring or a staunch defensive team. The Wild should look to get two points on the road versus the Anaheim Ducks.
