Cautious and careless: a bad mix

Injuries left the Wild ill-equipped to push the attack on offense and with no margin for error on defense.

By Michael Russo, Star Tribune

Last update: October 30, 2007 - 12:01 AM

DENVER - At times in the third period Sunday against Colorado, it looked like the Wild was trying to protect a one-goal lead -- dump the puck and get off.

It took that much energy to get through the neutral zone, especially with speedsters Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra inside the Wild's groin triage center.

After an opening 10 minutes in which the undermanned Wild was all over the Avalanche, offensive chances were few and far between during a 3-1 loss at the Pepsi Center.

"There's no doubt we overplayed certain guys because of the injuries that we had," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said.

The Wild is a very different-looking team without the Slovak tag team of Gaborik and Demitra. It's easier to check the Brian Rolston-Eric Belanger-Pierre-Marc Bouchard line, and legitimate scoring chances are that much harder to create.

And with a four-game homestand beginning Tuesday against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, it's uncertain what the Wild's lineup will look like this week.

"Whoever's in is in," Rolston said. "Those guys are out, and that's the way it is. We've got to prepare ourselves like they're not going to be in, and we have to have guys step up."

Avalanche goaltender Peter Budaj kept the Wild, 0-2-1 on the road trip, from possibly stealing a point by robbing defenseman Petteri Nummelin with a glove save off a wraparound with 2 minutes, 58 seconds left.

"I thought that I had it, but he made a hell of a save," Nummelin said.

Added Lemaire, "We tie it, we get a point and then the trip is different."

The balloon deflated 42 seconds later when rookie James Sheppard jumped on for Rolston, who had not yet come off for a line change. The Wild was nailed for a too-many-men penalty, and Wojtek Wolski scored on the power play.

"Tough penalty to take at the end like that when we're trying to tie the game," said Belanger, who heard the whistle just as he took a shot off an odd-man rush. "That just can't happen. I mean, we had a 4-on-2."

Lemaire shuffled his defense pairs in the third after partners Martin Skoula and Brent Burns were a minus-2.

With zero room for error with such little firepower, Skoula's gaffe resulted in Marek Svatos' goal, which became the eventual winner, with 4:30 left in the second. Skoula lost the puck behind the Wild net as Joe Sakic arrived on the forecheck.

Sakic picked up the loose puck and passed in front. Ryan Smyth's shot fluttered to the other side of the net, and Svatos nudged the puck behind Josh Harding, who started in place of injured Niklas Backstrom.

"Especially when you do have certain guys missing, you need the guys at their best," Lemaire said of Skoula.

Despite a solid start by the Wild, the Avs took a 1-0 lead off a two-on-one when Smyth was the beneficiary of a perfect Sakic tape-to-tape pass.

Belanger tied the score with a power-play goal, but Rolston said: "We're definitely going to have to be tighter defensively. Really, mistakes that shouldn't happen. Mistakes that we don't usually make. To give up two-on-ones, when do we ever give up a two-on-one?"

The Wild's six days away from St. Paul could not have gone worse. Winless in three games, the Wild blew a 3-0 lead Wednesday in Calgary and then had to be content to take a shootout loss out of Edmonton.

In the Mile High City, it lost Gaborik and Backstrom with "minor" groin injuries.

"We won't go home and cry," Lemaire said. "We'll go home and try to get the guys to play as hard as we can so we'll win the next game. That's all we can do."

Michael Russo • mrusso@startribune.com

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