Charlie Coyle's turning into a shootout rock star.
Just imagine 20,000-plus fans booing you as you skate in alone for a shootout attempt. I get distracted when one person looks at me as I write.
But for the third straight shootout attempt using three different variety of moves, Coyle buried it as the lone shootout goal tonight in the Wild's 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Asked what it's like to be all alone in the spotlight in a hostile arena, ChAHlie said, "It's cool. It's cool. You watch it, and you're out here now. It's kind of cool. Just try to zone in on what you're doing."
Coyle joked that he's running out of moves. He said he always has a few in his head and then last second makes the decision depending on what he's able to get the goalie to do. Today he went forehand, deke, backhand for a silky smooth one as the Wild grabbed back-to-back shootout wins on back-to-back days.
The bad news?
The Colorado Avalanche won, so the Wild remains one back of the Avs and out of a playoff spot as Colorado swept the same western Canadian trip the Wild swept in John Torchetti's first three games as coach.
The other bad news? The Wild three regulation/overtime wins behind Colorado, which again is the first tiebreaker if the Wild and Avs tie at the end of the season in points. So blowing that lead with eight seconds left in Ottawa, blowing that third-period lead Saturday against Carolina, blowing that two-goal lead in the second period tonight and then not burying the puck on a 4-on-3 power play in overtime, all that would amount for those three regulation/OT wins the Wild don't have.