Just ran into referee Tim Peel in the press room, where they have the most disgusting water to ever come out of a faucet.

I instantly thought of that Dave Matthews Band song with the lyric, “Don’t Drink the Water, there’s Blood in the Water.” 

Anyways, Tim told me the major on Boogaard the other night at home was indeed interference (new rule this year) like was announced in the arena. Unfortunately, the stat sheet, like pretty much every detail of the sheet the other night at home was incorrect. The penalty was labeled elbowing, and thus the confusion.

By the way, every detail of the stat sheet in Detroit last night was incorrect, too, so hopefully this is just preseason blues. Hey, I can’t pin blame. Last night, which I now know was Thursday, I thought it was Wednesday. So several times in both stories, I wrote the game occurred on Wednesday, the quote was said on a Wednesday. Luckily, a very sharp copy editor named Randy Johnson saved me from looking like a moron today.

My excuse is there’s nothing worse than a Wednesday, and since I was in Detroit, I thought it was Wednesday subconsciously. That’s probably not as funny as I think it is.

Good news, I know today is Friday for tonight’s stories.

Speaking of good news, we turn to Boogaard. The injury is being labeled a facial laceration and he’s day-to-day. Of course, it is the deepest laceration I’ve ever seen (you can almost see the imprint of the puck), but assistant GM Tom Lynn said there is no head injury.

Andre Lakos has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his vertebrae. Lynn noted this was an old injury he didn’t tell the team about, which may sound very lawyer-like for a reason (if you get my draft).

Ok, I’m putting on my iPod now so I can write and get this elevator organ music being pumped through the empty United Center OUT OF MY HEAD.

Just talked with Rick Dudley. He said at the end of the day, Jon Toews will be the best two-way forward in the NHL. Mighty praise.

Also, just talked with Ed Olczyk. The former NHLer/coach caught a foul ball at the Cubs game today. You should see his right hand. Swollen.

Just dawned on me. Here in Chicago, I was chatting with three former Panthers coaches — Rick Dudley (and GM), John Torchetti and Duane Sutter.

OK, let’s get this party started.

Kalus-Walz-Gaborik starting against Samsonov-Lang-Havlat (star power!) Puck drop in five mins.

OK, here we go: Veilleux-Koivu-Parrish is a line; Pouliot, Payer, Bouchard is a line ; A. Foster, Moore, Voros is a line. D are Schultz-Burns, Nummelin-Belle, Skoula-Scott.Koivu wearing C tonight. Wow, Patrick Lalime lives. He plays for Chicago.

Wild on PP, Lang off for a hold. Moore stopped on a 2-on-1. Now Scott takes a rough and compounding things, Gaborik going off for a hook. 1:47 Chicago 5-on-3 upcoming.

Backstrom just made a spectacular diving stop with his paddle to deny Martin Havlat’s shot into an empty net. Penalties are donzo. Sorry, sorry, I was wrong. Havlat hit the post.

Kane, very nifty. Smoothly steals puck from Scott, and two passes later, Patrick Sharp has a great scoring chance. Backstrom is there.

Gaborik stole the puck from his pal Robert Lang in the neutral zone. For some reason, every Chicago player stopped skating and seconds later, Cam Barker tripped him up.

Awful PP. Awful spacing, and things turned really bad after Moore’s turnover at the blue line. The puck came back and Skoula put it off Burns’ butt in front of Backstrom.

Bigtime fight between John Scott and David Koci. Both have gotten in some huge shots. Scott has a cut under his right eye. Scott had him early, Koci late. Draw.

Adam Burish just ran into Backstrom. Another Wild PP. Wild working very hard. These grinders like Voros, Foster, Payer, Veilleux, Walz, they’re neutralizing Chicago’s bigtime skill right now.

Another less-than-stellar Wild PP ends with Kalus hacking James Wisniewski in the face. Kalus off for 4 mins. Look out.

Period 2: 3:32 in. Backstrom’s been great. Sorry, I just dozed off. Payer going off for holding Kane. Second penalty he’s drawn. This one, I think Gord Dwyer was sleepy like me and figured he’d liven up things because I don’t see it.

Gaborik just scored shorthanded, or maybe as Payer came out. Wisniewski turned it over for the 50th time tonight, this time to Gaborik in the neutral zone. As the Wild drove the net, Gaborik got the puck caught in a defender’s skate as he tried to pass. When Lalime cheated to his left, Gaborik snapped a shot into the defender’s skates from the inside of the left circle, the puck exploded out of there and was in before Lalime even realized.

Havlat going off for hooking Schultz. 23 ticks in, Parrish beauty of a cross-ice pass for a Koivu one-time goal.

Voros just missed a goal after forcing a turnover with pure grit. end of 2, 2-0 wild

I just said to my colleague, the only thing that will liven this game up is 2-1 “and there it is.” 1:24 in, Kane sets up in Gretzky Land and feeds Wisniewski for the goal.

I dont remember the last shift Pouliot, Bouchard and Payer has played, but Wes Walz just made it 3-1 with a nice sweep shot of a Gaborik pass 42 seconds after Chicago scored. We have a shootout suddenly. Thirty seconds later, the other No. 37, Burish, makes it 3-2 on a breakaway after Burns went for the steal and missed. Three goals in 2:30 of the third.

Koivu just made it 4-2 at 4:35. Hard work by Veilleux down low gets the puck to the point for Schultz. He hits Parrish in the left corner, who again feeds Koivu with a second great pass.

Voros just drew a hook. As the penalty expired, Chicago drives the zone and Patrick Kane scores his first NHL goal. Beautiful play as he got inside position on Skoula and redirected Jim Fahey’s pass. 4-3 Wild lead with 10:21 left now.

What a shift by Voros. Man, this has turned out to be quite a game. Havlat and crew just had two scoring chances in the Wild end, then on the next shift, Veilleux was hit four times on one shift but kept battling away.

Gaborik just drew a trip. Wild going on PP with 2:47 left in 4-3 game. They didn’t score, but they have the puck and are killing time. Chicago just scored at the buzzer. Actually they’re not looking at it. They’re giving the goal to Sergei Samsonov. 

Minnesota, being outshot 41-24, is going on PP with 2:01 left in ot . Wild winner with 5.3 left. Either Parrish or Koivu got the redirection of a Bouchard shot.

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