Minnesota Wild

Antti Miettinen scores winning goal a shootout

Minnesota Wild — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:08:00 GMT

Minnesota Wild Antti Miettinen scored the winning goal in a shootout to give the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in the final preseason game for both teams on Tuesday.

Mikko Koivu and Martin Havlat also scored shootout goals for the Wild, which snapped a three game losing streak. Danny Briere and Mike Richards had the shootout goals for the Flyers.

Havlat, Brent Burns, Cal Clutterbuck, and James Sheppard had regulation goals for the Wild. Richards, Briere, Claude Giroux, and Mika Pyorala scored for the Flyers.

Minnesota Wild Goalie Niklas Backstrom had 35 saves for the Wild before stopping Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter in the shootout. Philadelphia’s Ray Emery stopped 10 of 11 shots before being replaced by Johan Backlund late in the second period. He saved 10 of 13. The crystal clear replay was shown over and over on the Suddenlink Communications Cable Network

After Sheppard put the Wild ahead 4-3 on a shot that bounced off Philadelphia’s Ryan Parent into the net at 15:20, Briere pulled the Flyers even by scoring from in close at 16:56.

Koivu, who had two assists, and linemate Andrew Brunette made their first appearancers of the preseason after being sidelined with leg injuries. Minnesota right winger Petr Sykora returned after missing three games with an ankle injury.

The Philadelphia Flyers open the regular season at Carolina on Friday. Minnesota Wild opens at Columbus on Saturday.

Wild Goalie Niklas Backstrom undergoes hip surgery

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:27:00 GMT

Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom underwent successful hip surgery on Friday and will have a recovery timetable of about 12 weeks.

According to the team's website, Backstrom had a labral deficiency and cartilage damage repaired by Dr. Marc Philippon. The cartilage damage was less than originally anticipated, lowering the recovery time.

Backstrom, who was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, signed a four-year deal worth $24 million to keep him in Minnesota through the 2012-13 season. He appeared in 71 games for the Wild in 2008-09, compiling a 37-24-8 record and a 2.33 goals against average.

Minnesota failed to advance to the playoffs this season.

Preview: Minnesota Wild (32-28-7) at Dallas Stars (32-28-8)

Minnesota Wild — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:08:00 GMT

Hosting a Minnesota Wild club that hasn’t won in Dallas since 2003 could be the ideal scenario for the Stars to create some space in the crowded Western Conference standings Saturday night. The Dallas Stars (32-28-8) avoided a third straight loss overall Thursday, defeating Carolina 3-2.

After going 15-3-1 at home, The Dallas Stars had lost a franchise-worst six straight there prior to Thursday’s victory.

Steve Begin scored his first goal with the Stars after going seven straight without one since being acquired from Montreal for Doug Janik on Feb. 26.

Center Brendan Morrison also notched his first point for the Stars with a second-period goal in his fifth game with his new team.

Mike Modano, who assisted on Morrison’s goal, has a goal and five assists in his last seven games.

The Dallas Stars have done plenty of scoring when hosting Minnesota in recent years, winning nine straight home games in the series and netting at least three goals in each. The Wild lost 4-2 in Dallas on Oct. 29 and haven’t won there since a 3-2 overtime victory on March 21, 2003.

The Minnesota Stars are looking to avoid a three-game slide following Thursday’s 2-1 shootout loss at Colorado. Marc-Andre Bergeron gave the Wild a 1-0 lead with a first-period power-play goal, but Minnesota could not convert on its final four opportunities with the man advantage.

The Wild are 1-of-14 on the power play in their last five games. Dallas, meanwhile, has killed 85.9 percent (61-of-71) of opponents’ power-play chances in its last 17 games.

The Minnesota Wild also would like to do a better job getting the puck on net, having totaled 17 shots Thursday and averaging a league-worst 27.5 per game.

They’re likely to face Marty Turco, who is 12-4-1 with a 2.02 goals-against average in his career against the Minnesota Wild. In the teams’ last meeting, Marty Turco made 25 saves in a 4-3 victory.

San Jose Sharks - March 5, 2009

Minnesota Wild — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:18:00 GMT

The San Jose Sharks offense has been one of the league’s best this season but has picked an inopportune time to play its worst.

The San Jose Sharks look to end their offensive slump Thursday night as they try to knock off one of the league’s lowest-scoring teams when they host the Minnesota Wild.

One of six teams to score 200 goals this season, San Jose Sharks (42-11-9) has been limited to seven in the last five games - its fewest in a five-game stretch all season. Only two of those goals have not come on the power play.

The San Jose Sharks have been limited to three goals on 73 shots in dropping their last two games. Now they look to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the season as they continue to battle Detroit for the best record in the Western Conference.

Joe Thornton’s power-play goal in the first period was all San Jose could manage Tuesday night in its most lopsided home loss of the season, 4-1 to Dallas.

Patrick Marleau leads the team with 34 goals but has one in the last six games. Fellow winger David Setoguchi has tied a season high by going four consecutive games without scoring. Ryane Clowe has a career-high 21 goals this season, but only one in his last 13 games and he’s pointless in four straight.

Injuries to Mike Grier (knee) and Jeremy Roenick (undisclosed) along with Wednesday’s acquisition of winger Travis Moen and defenseman Kent Huskins from Anaheim for two prospects will reshuffle the team’s lines. The Sharks also sent minor leaguer Kyle McLaren to Philadelphia for a sixth-round draft pick.

Top goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has missed the last three games with the flu, and Brian Boucher has given up seven goals in consecutive losses following a 2-1 win at Ottawa last Thursday. Nabokov will miss this game with a minor lower-body injury suffered in practice Tuesday.

While offense has only been a problem recently for San Jose, the Wild (30-27-5) have struggled in that area all season. No Western team has scored fewer than their 153 goals, including just six during their current four-game losing streak.

Despite Owen Nolan’s return after missing three games with a fractured toe, the Wild were held to two goals or fewer for a fifth straight game Tuesday with a 4-2 loss at Vancouver.

Minnesota Wild slipped to 11th in the West, but is within three points of seventh.

Minnesota Wild’s normally reliable defense has struggled through the first half of a six-game western road trip, allowing 11 goals in losses at Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Behind Niklas Backstrom and his 2.28 GAA, Minnesota has given up a conference-low 2.35 goals per game. But hours after signing a four-year, $24 million extension Tuesday night, Backstrom allowed four goals for a second straight start.

He had lost all six of his career starts against San Jose before winning the most recent matchup between the clubs, 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 31.

The Minnesota Wild had lost the previous eight meetings overall. They’ve lost four straight against San Jose Sharks

Losing continues - Vancouver Canucks Beat Wild 4-2

Minnesota Wild — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:37:00 GMT

Vancouver Canucks forward Alex Burrows celebrated his contract extension Tuesday by making it a lot tougher for Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom to enjoy the first night of his new deal.

Backstrom’s four-year, $24-million extension earlier in the day may have trumped the four-year, $8 million deal Burrows agreed to just before the game. But with two goals, the gritty Vancouver Canucks winger was the only one smiling after a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Burrows rewarded that faith against the Minnesota Wild, leading the charge as the Vancouver Canucks won for the 11th time in 13 games to stay four points ahead of Columbus for fifth place in the tightly packed Western Conference. Minnesota fell nine points back into 11th place—and three points behind a three-way tie for the final two playoff spots—after losing its fourth straight game.

In addition to sparking a comeback with his first goal after the Vancouver Canucks fell behind 2-0, he helped change the momentum on a dominant shift with about seven minutes left in the second period. Combining with new linemates Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Burrows controlled the play for almost 2 1/2 minutes in the Minnesota Wild end. They didn’t score, but set the stage for Pavol Demitra and Steve Bernier, who got goals 28 seconds apart before the period ended.

Demitra, who left Minnesota last summer to sign with Vancouver, fired a 37-foot slap shot over Backstrom’s glove with 2:04 left in the second period. It followed a Wild turnover just outside their blue line that allowed Mats Sundin to chip the puck ahead for a partial breakaway. Another turnover on the next shift—this time Marek Zidlicky and James Sheppard failed to clear—allowed Bernier to pounce on a loose puck in the slot, spin and fire it under Backstrom.

Dan Fritsche and Zidlicky staked Minnesota Wild to a 2-0 lead 7 1/2 minutes into the game. Burrows started the comeback with a nice deflection seconds after a power play ended midway through the first period, and helped keep it going as part of the Vancouver Canucks’ dominant second-period shift.

Burrows added his second goal of the game on a breakaway with 6:57 left, taking a nice pass from Henrik Sedin and beating Backstrom with a strong deke to his backhand. It was the 18th goal and 35th point of the season for Burrows, who was rewarded as he continues to build on career highs in both departments.

The 27-year-old Burrows started the season in his usual role as an agitating checker, but was promoted to the top line with the Sedins 10 games ago. He has six goals and 11 points since, and 10 points in his last eight games.

By the end of the game, the sellout crowd of 18,630 was chanting Burrows’ name, not bad for a player who was never drafted, and worked his way up from the ECHL to the AHL before signing with Vancouver Canucks after the 2005-06 season started. He finished that year with seven goals and 12 points in 43 games and has been with the Vancouver Canucks ever since.

The Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo coughed up the puck behind his net to set up Fritsche’s goal 1:35 in, and was beaten through the legs by Zidlicky’s skipping point shot on a power play. But Luongo settled down with 17 saves for his 11th win in the last 12 starts and hasn’t given up more than two goals in six games.

The Minnesota Wild have dropped the first three games of a six-game road trip despite getting back top goal scorer Owen Nolan.

Edmonton Oilers knock off Wild 3-2

Minnesota Wild — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:31:00 GMT

Dwayne Roloson and the Edmonton Oilers stuck to the basics to pick up two more points in the Western Conference standings.

Roloson made 43 saves, Ales Hemsky, Zack Stortini and Tom Gilbert scored goals, and Liam Reddox had two assists to help the Edmonton Oilers beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Saturday night.

The Edmonton Oilers moved into a tie with Anaheim for seventh place—a point ahead of ninth-place Nashville and two ahead of Minnesota Wild and Dallas in the tight race for the eight playoff spots.

Reddox, who had his first two-point game, thought the Oilers were much better against the Wild than in their 1-0 loss to Columbus earlier in the week.

Andrew Brunette and Antii Miettinen scored for the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have lost three straight, two to start a six-game trip.

“I think in the first period we played good and the second period wasn’t what we wanted and I think the third period we had it again a little bit more there,” Wild forward Mikko Koivu said. “We had a good game, but we can’t be happy with it. We needed these points as much as they did, but there’s nothing else we can do. It was a good effort by the whole team, but we were short by one goal.”

The Minnesota Wild took a 2-1 lead on Miettinen’s power-play goal with 35 seconds left in the first period. The Oilers tied it at on Stortini’s quick wrist shot that seemed to freeze goalie Josh Harding at 5:03 of the second.

Gilbert capped the scoring with 4:38 left in the second. Minnesota outshot the Edmonton Oilers 18-3 in the third period. Minnesota’s Pierre-Marc Bouchard thought Roloson stole it for Edmonton.

In the final minute, Edmonton Oilers captain Ethan Moreau was struck in the eye by Miettinen’s high stick.

“We don’t have much further to say about Ethan other than he has gone to the hospital and it looks pretty serious,” MacTavish said. “He went under his own steam. It looks like the stick gave him a gash on the socket. According to the doctors you could see where it raked across the eye.”

Calgary Flames Mike Cammalleri beats the Wild

Minnesota Wild — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:13:00 GMT

Calgary Flames Mike Cammalleri can’t help but look forward to his first NHL playoff game. The left winger helped Calgary move a step closer to locking up a postseason spot, scoring his 31st and 32nd goals of the season Friday night in the Flames’ 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

Miikka Kiprusoff made 15 saves, and Dion Phaneuf and Jamie Lundmark also scored for Calgary, which has won four straight and picked up points in nine games in a row (7-0-2). Wild defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron spoiled Kiprusoff’s shutout bid with 3:36 left.

Calgary opened the scoring with goals 20 seconds apart in the first minute of the second period. Jarome Iginla and Craig Conroy set up Cammalleri for his first goal of the game, and Phaneuf made it 2-0 with a slap shot at 37 seconds.

Cammalleri made it 3-0 with 5:21 left in the third with a power-play goal. Clinging to a playoff spot in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Wild remained in a four-way tie for seventh place.

Niklas Backstrom made 25 saves for Minnesota, 3-17-4 overall in Calgary and 1-13-2 in its last 16 game at the Saddledome.

The Minnesota Wild will face Edmonton, one of the teams they’re even with in the standings, on Saturday night in the second stop of their six-game trip.

Drew Doughty scores in overtimel and beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1

Minnesota Wild — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:08:00 GMT

The Los Angeles Kings are fighting hard to stay in the playoff picture and will take wins any way they can get them. Drew Doughty scored the deciding shootout goal and the Kings beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night. The shootout was tied 1-1 after three rounds and Doughty scored the winner on the Kings’ fourth shot. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick denied Brent Burns, the Minnesota Wild’s final shooter, to seal the win.

Drew Doughty didn’t get much of a shot off against Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom, but the puck somehow trickled into the net. The Kings’ regulation goal was knocked in by a Minnesota Wild defender and the Kings escaped with two points.

The Minnesota Wild is 4-2 in shootouts and the Kings are 4-7. Jack Johnson got credit for the Kings’ goal and Antii Miettinen scored for the Wild in regulation. Miettinen scored a short-handed goal for the Minnesota Wild in the second period. Mikko Koivu assisted on the 2-on-1 break for his 55th point this season, a career high.

Allowing a short-handed goal is tough to overcome, but the Kings came right back at the Wild.It was Minnesota’s fourth short-handed goal in its last eight games, but the team continues to struggle to score at even strength. Johnson was credited with a goal 10 minutes later to tie it. However, it was Minnesota’s Kim Johnsson who put the puck in the net. After a scrum in front, Johnsson mistakenly poked the puck past Backstrom.

Andrew Brunette returned to the Minnesota Wild lineup after missing the last two games with a knee injury and was denied by Quick from in close with 1:40 to play in regulation. Los Angeles’ Derek Armstrong was one-on-one with Backstrom after a Minnesota Wild turnover, but couldn’t break the 1-1 tie earlier in the third period.

Los Angeles had lost three in a row, but is 9-4-2 in its last 15 games and entered Tuesday as the 12th best team in the Western Conference. The Kings were only five points out of a playoff spot and Tuesday’s victory over a conference foe will go a long way toward helping them sneak into the playoff picture.

Following a weekend sweep of Detroit and Chicago, the Minnesota Wild are solidly in the playoff picture in the Western Conference. Holding that playoff spot will be a challenge in the coming weeks as the Minnesota Wild plays 14 of its next 17 games on the road.

Josh Harding leads Wild past the Chicago Blackhawks

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:17:00 GMT

Minnesota Wild goalie Josh Harding needed an extraordinary performance to finally earn his second victory of the season. Josh Harding made a career-high 44 saves, and Peter Olvecky snapped a tie early in the third period with his first NHL goal to help the Wild beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 on Sunday night.

Dan Fritsche also scored for Minnesota Wild, which was outplayed in the first half of the game, but rebounded to end Chicago’s four-game winning streak. The Wild’s NHL-leading penalty kill snuffed all eight Chicago Blackhawk advantages.

Josh Harding, the backup to Niklas Backstrom, was sharp—and nearly perfect—in posting his first win since Nov. 29 at Nashville. Jonathan Toews was the only Blackhawk to beat him.

Josh Harding hasn’t played poorly this season. He entered the game with a 1-7-1 record, despite a 2.25 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

Harding, 3-1 lifetime against Chicago Blackhawks, got the call from Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire after Backstrom made 35 saves in a 5-2 home win over Detroit on Saturday night.

Toews gave Chicago a 1-0 lead midway through the second period, scoring on the Chicago Blackhawks’ 26th shot. Chicago could have blown the game open by then had it not been for Harding.

Chicago’s Cristobal Huet started his sixth straight game and made 22 saves. Nikolai Khababulin, who normally alternates with Huet, is on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury.

Minnesota Wild’s Owen Nolan sustained a lower-body injury early in the second period and did not return. The Chicago Blackhawks returned home following a 3-0 road trip. Entering Sunday’s game, Chicago had played 11 of its last 12 games on the road, going 8-3-0 in the road contests and 9-3-0 overall.

The Blackhawks play 16 of their final 24 games at the United Center. Chicago outshot Minnesota 18-5 in the first period and dominated play, but Harding made several tough saves to keep the game scoreless.

Additionally, Chicago’s Andrew Ladd hit the post on a point-blank chance midway through the first, Toews misfired on a one-time attempt from the edge of the crease in the final seconds.

Harding was especially sharp early in the second to help the Wild whether 4:18 of consecutive Chicago Blackhawks power-play time, including a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 1:42. He robbed Chicago’s Troy Brouwer with a glove save 2:29 into the second during the 5-on-3.

Toews finally beat Harding at even strength to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 10:03 of the second.

Harding slid to his right to cover a possible shot from Martin Havlat. Havlat, however, passed to Toews, who fired into an open net from the edge of the crease.

Fritsche tied it 2:45 later with a power-play goal on a deflection in the air that withstood a video review.

Parked in front of the crease, Fritsche redirected Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s shot from the top of the slot. The puck struck Fritsche’s stick, ruled to be at crossbar height, and caromed downward past Huet.

Olvecky gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 3:30 of the third. Olvecky, playing in his 11th NHL game, fooled Huet with a low shot from the left circle. Harding made a sprawling pad save on Dustin Byfuglien in the final seconds to preserve the win.