With 29 teams looking up at the first-place
Wild in the NHL standings Thursday,
franchise owner Craig Leipold had good reason to be thankful on
Thanksgiving.

A youthful corps on the Minnesota blue line?

No problem.

A first-year coach running the show?

Cool.

Riding a five-game winning streak for the second time this
season and one point ahead of Pittsburgh even though the Penguins
have played one more game, the
Wild have spawned a lot of optimism
around the Xcel Energy Center this month.

Hard to believe, Leipold said Thursday, especially because of a
kiddie corps on defense that includes Jared Spurgeon and Marco
Scandella, both 21; Justin Falk, 23; Nate Prosser, 25; and Clayton
Stoner, 26.

Over the summer, Leipold said, fans approached him to talk about
front-line additions Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi or veterans
Niklas Backstrom and Mikko Koivu.

Now, he noted, strangers praise the play and poise of the young
defensemen.

Its fun talking about those guys that dont get the credit
that a marquee player would get, Leipold said.

A former owner of the Nashville Predators, who lost 3-2 to the
Wild on Wednesday night at the X,
Leipold visited with Predators coach Barry Trotz before the
game.

The owner came away with a grin on his face.

Trotz, the only coach Nashville has had, said the
Wild and Predators are cut from the
same cloth: Both rely on excellent goaltending and solid defense
and work hard to manufacture goals. Although Trotz and rookie
Wild coach Mike Yeo arent much
alike, Leipold said, the parallel is their winning attitude.

What I feel in Mike Yeo is just a sense of confidence, that
hes in control, Leipold said. I sense our players, even when
were down one goal or down two goals, we still feel like we can
come back in the third period and win this game.

Exactly, center Kyle Brodziak said.

Brodziak, who scored a power-play goal against Nashville and has
five goals and four assists going into todays game against
Edmonton, said it stems from confidence.

That confidence, he explained, comes from the teams work
ethic.

Its not like confidence is a magical thing that disappears and
comes back, Brodziak said. It comes from the work weve put
in.

Minnesota outplayed the Predators through much of the game
Wednesday night but trailed 1-0 early in the third period. With
four straight victories and a good effort to show for their
evenings work, players could have been content.

They werent, Brodziak said.

Its the reward that makes all the work worthwhile, he said.
When youre working that hard every day and you see results and
youre starting to get wins, the reward makes everything worth
it.

Yeo said that two intense practices leading to Wednesdays game
demonstrated that nobody is complacent, even during a winning
streak.

That was what enabled Minnesota to come back with three
third-period goals to defeat Nashville and stay atop the
standings.

And keep the smile on Leipolds face.

I wake up in the morning going, Are we really in first place
in the National Hockey League? We didnt think it would happen
this quickly, Leipold said. But theres a long season; a lot of
things can happen. What matters is at the end. Its not in
November.

But, having said that, its really nice to be here in
November.

Briefly: Yeo said Josh Harding will start in goal today.
Backstrom missed Wednesdays game but will return today.

– Defensemen Greg Zanon and Mike Lundin practiced with the
Wild again Thursday, but neither is
ready to play. Defenseman Marek Zidlicky, sidelined by a
concussion, skated on his own Wednesday but experienced recurring
symptoms and did not skate Thursday. Forward Guillaume Latendresse
also is still sidelined because of a concussion.

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