The Minnesota Wild were grinding and grinding and pushing and shoving all night long against the New York Islanders, and thanks to a handful of forwards they were able to avoid what would have been a demoralizing loss.
Our guys ended up earning the 3-1 victory, but how they got there is a story of two miserable periods and one where their efforts were finally rewarded.
Trying to write about this game chronologically does it a disservice. Instead of some periods of action sprinkled throughout the first two periods — maybe some nice little back-and-forth scoring chances — we were treated to a slog of frustrating play and the Wild just not being able to get any clear-cut scoring chances.