Casey Wellman was always supposed to spend this season in the AHL. He was supposed to stay down there to get bigger, to play big minutes, and to learn how to be a winning professional. After his recall on Wednesday and his game against the Rangers, consider those lessons learned.
Wellman scored the winning goal, and made a key defensive play in the third period as the Wild rope-a-doped the Rangers in a 3-1 win at Madison Square Garden.
Playing primarily on a line with Warren Peters and Brad Staubitz, Wellman played just 9:01 on the night, but he made it count. In the first period, he was on the ice, allowing Sean Avery to slip into the high slot to score the Rangers only goal. Watching the replay, it’s tough to tell whether Wellman or Staubitz should have picked up Avery, but it’s a minus either way.
The youngster spent the rest of his 13 shifts making up for his minus. After Kyle Brodziak tied the game in the second period with a deflection, Wellman found an open seam to tip home a pinpoint Brent Burns feed from the point. It was his first goal since April 10th of last season and the second of his career.
Wellman also made the play of the day defensively. Early in the third period, after Jose Theodore (who had another strong game) bobbled a long range shot, Wellman hustled back to prevent charging Rangers’ defenseman Matt Gilroy from having a close range tap-in. After the Wild were able to clear the zone, Martin Havlat set up Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s excellent insurance goal.
For the Wild, it was a huge win. They are still on the outside of the playoff picture due to wins by Los Angeles, Nashville and San Jose on Thursday night, but a loss could have put the Wild in a tough hole. Now they have avoided a three-game losing streak, and can ride that good feeling into Monday’s home matchup with Buffalo, where the Sabres are 9th in the East, in the thick of a playoff race themselves (actually the Wild did the Sabres a solid by beating New York last night) and feeling good under the week-old stewardship of new owner Terry Pegula.
For Wellman, it will be interesting to see where he is come Monday, but his offensive potential should have a lot to say as to whether or not he plays the rest of the season in Minnesota or Texas.
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