State of The State (of Hockey): New Year’s Eve Edition

Hot off the presses!! There’s life—the Wild finally showed up, against the best team in the NHL no less. Let me try to recap the game for you guys quick. Owen Nolan started the scoring for the Wild on the powerplay when he got in front of a Brent Burns shot from the point. Play went back and forth for the rest of the period, and despite a flurry of action by San Jose, the period ended with a 1-0 Wild lead.  San Jose evened the score on a shot by Devin Setoguchi on the power play. It was a shot that snuck between the legs of Martin Skoula (who else?), and then between the pad of Backstrom and the post. The team of 18,000 thought the score was tied nearly a minute later when Derek Boogard missed the net with a shot, Burns hit the post, and Andrew Brunette tapped it home- but apparently the whistle had already blown. The Wild then actually tied the game on the powerplay—twice. First (this was the goal that actually counted), Kolanos ripped a wrist shot past Nabokov with an ... (link)