Effort isn't its own reward

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

MInnesota's Niklas Backstrom stopped a Detroit shot on goal in the first period of Tuesday night's NHL game. He had 35 saves, but the Red Wings beat the Wild 3-2 in overtime.

The Wild led the league-leading Red Wings with 80 seconds to play, only to lose in overtime.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: February 5, 2008 - 11:54 PM

The ebullient Wild had been skating with an extra bounce ever since beating the Detroit Red Wings three weeks ago, but knew Tuesday's rematch against the team running away with the NHL would provide a truer measuring stick.

"We want to know where we stand, how good our team could be," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said Tuesday morning.

So, Tuesday night, after watching Minnesota blow a one-goal lead with 80 seconds left in regulation and fall 3-2 in overtime instants later, it wouldn't have been surprising if an annoyed, puzzled Lemaire had emerged from his back office at Xcel Energy Center.

As it turns out, that couldn't be further from the truth.

"I thought we played our best game of the year," said Lemaire, despite the Wild (7-2-2 in its past 11) wasting a chance to beat Detroit in regulation for the first time in 10 meetings.

Continued Lemaire: "I'm really happy the way our players played. We played hard. We got a point."

After exuding loads of energy in the first 40 minutes to draw unceasing cheers and standing ovations from the sellout crowd, the Wild -- the league's best when leading after two periods (now 22-0-1) -- played the final 18 1/2 minutes on its heels (outshot 16-3 in the third after being outshot 11-1 in the third Saturday in Columbus).

Finally, Niklas Backstrom, who made clutch saves but also served up juicy rebounds, gave up the tying goal with 1:20 left when Dan Cleary's shot from the sidewall slipped between Backstrom's pads.

"That puck had eyes," said Eric Belanger, who hit the post on a wide-open net in the second. "When a goal like that goes in, you're like, 'Are you kidding me?' A fluky goal to send you to overtime. That was really hard to swallow."

Said Backstrom: "It hit one of our guys' skates, changed direction. I don't know if it hit my back pad. I don't know how it went in."

In overtime, Dominik Hasek, unbeaten in 12 career games against the Wild (10-0-2), robbed Brent Burns. Fifty seconds later, defenseman Brett Lebda slipped behind Brian Rolston and scored the OT winner.

Still, in the first 40, the Wild outskated the Red Wings, who have won 41 of 55 games and eight in a row. Goals by Rolston (six-game goal streak to set a Wild record) and Pavol Demitra gave the Wild a 2-1 lead heading into the third, and it could have been more if Hasek wasn't stellar.

"I thought we took it to them for the majority of the game," Rolston said. "We've got to take that out of it. We took a big step tonight. If you want to take a positive, we skated with the Red Wings."

Tuesday, Lemaire played a trick on the Wild by calling an optional morning skate.

"I did it just to see if some guys would stay away from it. Nobody did," Lemaire said.

It proved to Lemaire how determined the Wild was to make a statement. In the end, Lemaire felt the Wild had reason to leave the arena with its head high.

"After the first period, I said, 'I think it's our best period all year.' Then we come back after the second and say, 'This is our best game all year,'" Lemaire said.

"A lot of positives. It's the first time we played these guys where I'm relaxed behind the bench because I look at the effort they're putting in and how they're playing as a team."

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