Coming into this season, I was in a bad place as the Minnesota Wild were concerned. Not that it was unnecessarily unfounded. I think Wild fans have a lot to be cautious about, however it may well be that Minnesota fans should be cautiously optimistic.

Of most concern to me were the following: secondary scoring, play from the blue line and special teams. However, the Wild quickly quelled my concerns throughout the course of the first period. It wasn’t the vaunted first line leading the way to begin with. Rather, it was the Wild’s second line of Latendresse-Cullen-Bouchard which got the highly energized hometown faithful on their feet 70 seconds into the game, a new record for the Wild as season openers are concerned. Latendresse wired a 40 plus foot pass, tape to tape, to Bouchard who, in turn, sent a saucer pass to Matt Cullen who beat Mason glove high and gave Wild fans what they came to see, goals.

No doubt, the Wild were fired up. But this opening night was far different to last year’s home opener. The team had jump. The fans were fired up. If nothing else, hope had retured to St. Paul. Fans seemed more than just excited to get another season underway. The fans this year are hungry. Hungry for a winner to cheer for (Twins suck, Vikings suck), hungry for a return to the playoffs, hungry to become the team we want them to be, a Stanley Cup contender.

The Wild went on in the first period to survive two penalty kills and then, next, capatalized on their only power play opportuity in the first period. Coach Mike Yeo was essentially run out of Pittsburgh as an assistant coach because he was in charge of the Penguins’ power play and he failed to capitalize with some of the game’s best young players. As such, it was a big question mark for me, especially given the fact that the Wild’s power play seemed to struggle in the pre-season. Accordingly, the Wild met this question mark for me on a beauty of a play between their two defensemen, Spurgeon and Scandella. Spurgeon carried the puck out of the defensive zone and into the offensive zone. Scandella joined the rush. Spurgeon, who was in the center of the ice in the Jackets’ zone, put the puck to the open space to his right and Scandella arrived the same time as the puck, cut to the center of the ice and beat Mason. The Wild ended the first period, perfect on special teams performances killing two penalties and scoring on the power play.

As the period ended, the over-capacity crowd in St. Paul expressed their approval in a very appreciative manner. However, many in the press box were obviously suspect as the Wild tend to disappear in the second period.

As the second period was underway, Columbus came critically close to pulling to within one of the Wild as R.J. Umberger grazed the post on a wide open net to Bakstrom’s left. Notwithstanding the close call, Bakstrom looked confident, relaxed and silky smooth throughout the first period and into the second.

The Wild’s second and third lines continued to generate scoring chances as they were both skating and passing very well. The Wild went up 3-0 on a power play goal by Dany Heatley who tipped a laser of a pass by Bouchard over Mason’s glove. A t.v. timeout followed this goal and when the goal was announced, the Wild fans roared their approval.

Columbus scored late in the 2nd period on a very unlucky break for Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom. The puck was simply bouncing around his crease after an attempted save on a centering pass that deflected off of Wild defenseman Nick Schultz’s skate and a Columbus player got his stick on it with Heatley all over him.

In the past, this sort of goal would have been the beginning of the end for the Minnesota Wild. But not tonight, not this season. The Wild roared up the ice and, on a 2-on-1, Setogucci unleashed a bomb of a shot on a pass from Heatley that appeared to go right through Columbus goaltender Steve Mason. On the replay, the flex on Seto’s stick was unbelievable. With this goal, the Wild led 4-1. The period ended with Bouchard drawing a 4 minute penalty for high sticking which cut a Columbus opponent.

Not only had the Wild survived the 2nd period, they continued to thrive.

The Blue Jackets switched from Steve Mason to Curtis Sanford in between periods. The Wild started on the ongoing penalty and were successful in killing it only to have another penalty called against them. On this penalty kill, Bakstrom came up HUGE and the Wild came close to scoring short handed on an attempt by new Wild player Darrol Powe.

As the 3rd period continued, the Blue Jackets began pressing offensively and the Wild were extremely limited in shots. The Jackets kept coming waive after waive, perhaps under the impression from their assistant coach, Todd Richards (former Wild coach), that the Wild would wilt, sooner or later.

The Wild would bend, but not break. Although Columbus was able to score another goal late in the 3rd period, the Wild held fast to their lead and won this game 4-2, staying undefeated in home openers.

Not only did the Wild answer questionable areas not answered by their pre-season, but the strong points of their game also showed up in the Wild’s first line and their goaltender. Niklas Backstrom was clearly the number one star of this game despite the Wild scoring 4 goals. Without Backstrom's stellar play, the Wild may have well needed more than 4 goals to survive.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with this style of play. Something Wild fans have been longing to see. The Wild now play the Islanders in a Monday afternoon Columbus Day game and then play Tuesday evening in Ottawa before returning home to play Edmonton on Thursday in St. Paul.

Hopefully, the Wild can continue this style of play and, if so, could well be 4-0 before facing stiffer competition.

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