Anyone want to predict Minnesota’s record after this weekend?

Hmph. The 6-0-0 vaunted offense-style Minny Wild are in Anaheim (4-0-2) tonight and in San Jose (6-1-0) tomorrow night. Now I’m not going to go off and say that the Wild hasn’t been a good team this young season, but there’s a lot of Malkinesque hype going for this squad:

• Yeah, they’ve won their first six games, but only twice have they been able to win in regulation. 2 OT wins and 2 SO wins do well to inflate a team’s record.
• Anaheim and San Jose, on the other hand, each have only twice NOT been able to win in regulation.

• Yeah, they’ve got a PP clicking at 27.8%, but you should consider that a large part of this was that they went 5-for-8 against a "wait, the season has started?" Nashville squad, who started the season by killing 3 of their first 10 penalties.
• Anaheim (27.8%) and San Jose (26.9%) are right there with them, at any rate.

• Yeah, they’ve got a perfect road record, but that was only a 2-1 OT win in L.A.
• Anaheim and San Jose have a combined home record of 7-0-2, outscoring opponents 31-16.

• Yeah, they did take 6 of 8 games against the Ducks and Sharks last year (including 2 shootouts).
• Um, not much I can say against this, except that the Sharks and Ducks took both decisions after the Olympic break.

Hey, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Wild, though. It was very nice of them to advance to the 2003 WC Finals and score exactly one goal over those four games.

J.S. Giguere 2003 WCF: 4-0, 0.22 GAA, .992 S%, 122 saves on 123 shots, 3 shutouts.

At any rate, some high-profile games coming today and tomorrow. Though all three squads have started with fairly easy schedules, the numbers look good: 3 teams, 2 games, 1 regulation loss.