from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune,

The Wild has been branded a trapping team since the days of Jacques Lemaire, so any time a game borders on the boring side, critics usually assign fault to the Wild.

The neutral zone in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals was so congested, Wild and Chicago Blackhawks players looked as if they were skating through a labyrinth.

In the days since, the national media and hockey fans across the globe have analyzed the game like, “Same old Wild.” That has rubbed some inside the Wild the wrong way, especially because early in Tuesday’s game, it was clear the Blackhawks, perhaps after seeing the storm the Colorado Avalanche had to weather in Games 3 and 4 last round, tried to silence the Wild’s record crowd of 19,416 by sitting back in an attempt to limit the Wild’s ability to get through center ice and get on overpowering forechecks.

Slowly but surely the game turned into a hard-to-watch, neutral-zone chess match. Neither team could get through cleanly.

“Of course we’re going to be blamed for that. I mean, it’s the high-flying Hawks,” Zach Parise said, sarcastically.

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