Wild finds positives after its shootout loss to powerhouse St. Louis

I tweeted a bunch of quotes about how positive the Wild was after its 3-2 shootout loss tonight to St. Louis. I was hit back with so many cynical replies, my Twitter followers would make awesome sportswriters.

Read the game story on www.startribune.com/wild for some of the best.

Hey, nobody likes moral victories. You pay $100 for a ticket and your team loses a shootout, you walk out disappointed. But if the Wild pulled that extra point out from tonight's game by winning the shootout, did that really change anything in regards to how it actually played the game?

No. Obviously, it's disappointing the Wild couldn't get the extra point if you're a fan, but the reality is the locker room was upbeat after the game, the team played quite well and I think any Wild fan would have settled for one point after the Wild fell behind 2-zip early in the first.

Now, a lot of the positivity postgame was them trying to convince themselves that they can play and match up against the Blues, and as a fan, you better pray the Wild truly does believe it can match up against arguably the best team in the NHL because not only does the Wild have two more games this season against the Blues, the Wild could very potentially play St. Louis in the first round.

Again, #1 in the West plays the second wildcard team, #2 plays the first wildcard team. So, by St. Louis leapfrogging Anaheim tonight for the top spot in the NHL, if the season ended today, the seventh-place Wild would play Anaheim. But if the Wild falls to eighth OR St. Louis falls to 2 and the Wild stays 7, the Wild plays the Blues.

Now, it's just one game, and in the end, the Blues did, by virtue of that shootout, beat Minnesota for an eighth straight time and has beaten Central Division teams 15 straight times and are 18-0-1 against the Central. It was a team playing on the road and it was a team that, like the Wild, was playing for the second time in two days and it was a team playing without Ryan Miller, although let's be honest, Brian Elliott was certainly up to the task and usually is against Minnesota (6-0 in his career).

But again, it's one game. Did the Wild prove once and for all tonight that they match up with the Blues? Uh, no, they didn't. I still think it'd be a terrible matchup, and frankly, until the Wild shows they can play the Blues well in St. Louis, I'll still be skeptical.

But, hey, it was an entertaining game and the Wild played well, so it was natural for the Wild to feel as it did after the game. Even when the Wild was down 2-0, it wasn't getting overwhelmed, and in fact, held St. Louis to one shot through a 23-minute span between the first and second periods.

Jason Pominville and Matt Moulson (first with the Wild) helped the Wild rally in the second. Moulson, in two games with the Wild, has a goal, an assist, seven shots and three drawn penalties.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the third, the Wild lucked out early when Alex Steen looked to score. But referee Brad Watson ruled Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 21 saves in his Wild debut, had the puck covered.

A few minutes later, Elliott robbed Mikael Granlund's goalmouth shot with a desperation stick save. The Wild drew a power play with 1:29 left in regulation but failed to score for a third straight time. In fact, Pominville's turnover inside the blue line (very same spot to his boo-boo in San Jose that led to the Sharks' OT winner in January) led to Steen nearly winning it. But his hit the post shorthanded with seven seconds left.

Yeo on Bryzgalov, who looked like he was fighting it at times, "He didn't need to be exceptional, but I thought he got better as the game went on."

Yeo on the 0 for 3 PP: He said they're still trying to find chemistry with two brand new units, but "bottom line is we've got the personnel that we have to find a way to get one in."

On Parise and Koivu being 3 for 10 in shootouts and whether maybe he should change up his shootout list: "We've got more guys down the line that have the ability, but usually when I'm back there and we're making the decisions as coaches, we want those guys having the opportunity to make the difference."

I liked this quote from Kyle Brodziak, who fought Steve Ott early and got into it again later when Ott got too close to Bryzgalov: "That's definitely one of the most intimidating teams in the league. They're big, they play physical. It was a good response by everybody. Maybe early on, we didn't go all-in with it, but as the game wore on, we started to have a pushback and saw the benefit. Not a single guy shied away."

Again, please read the gamer for a more comprehensible look at the game and the quotes.