The Sunday extra is below, but the Wild, currently the NHL’s only undefeated team at 4-0, committed highway robbery here tonight by rallying from a 2-1 third-period deficit by scoring power-play and shorthanded goals 3:05 apart in the final minutes.

Mikko Koivu scored the Wild’s first PPG of the season with 6:20 left, then a very furious Eric Belanger scored shorthanded with 3:15 left.

A few shifts before, Belanger was elbowed in the face by Mathias Tjarnqvist, brother of ex-Wild Daniel Tjarnqvist. Belanger, who lost three teeth in the preseason, had a fourth chipped.

“That’s the best way to get back at them,” Belanger snapped, before adding that he took down Tjarnqvist’s No. 22 and there’s “three games left against that guy.”

The Wild was on its heels much of the night, but give Phoenix credit, the Coyotes were the ones pressuring.

“We were not at our best,” coach Jacques Lemaire said. “I could see a lack of energy. … Turnover after turnover. We definitely [stole one]. But you know what? We’ll take it because they won’t get easier.”

Speak to you from Anaheim.

Each Sunday, as a supplement to my Sunday column, I’ll compile a bunch of notes that have been reported around the NHL to appear on Russo’s Rants. Here’s this week’s version:

– It seems every week now there’s an ugly incident that requires at least a 20-game suspension - the Islanders’ Chris Simon, Philadelphia’s Steve Downie and now Philly’s Jesse Boulerice, who’s a goon who shouldn’t even be allowed to play in the NHL.

When I covered Florida, the now-Flyers’ “tough guy” took a two-handed chop at the face of Guelph’s Andrew Long, a Panthers’ prospect.

Long went into convulsions and was taken to an Ann Arbor, Mich., hospital with a blood spot on his brain and a broken nose, nasal cavity and cheekbone. Long eventually pressed charges, and Boulerice pleaded no contest.

Last week, in the middle of an 8-2 pummeling of Vancouver, Boulerice, just like his MO, cross-checked the Canucks’ Ryan Kesler in the face after he tried to hit Flyers defenseman Randy Jones.

“It’s in his makeup,” Matt Cooke said of Boulerice, who earned a 25-game suspension.

Kesler, dazed but OK, said, “I’m just happy I’m still playing. I don’t think there’s any room in the game for plays like that. I didn’t see him coming. I mean, there’s no need to cross-check someone in the face.”

Said Brendan Morrison, “Just when you think you see the last one, here we are two weeks later (after Downie’s flying elbow into Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond) talking about it again. It’s not good for the game. It’s a contact sport and there’s a lot of risk. But as time goes by, it seems like there’s more risk.”

– On Vancouver’s humiliating loss, former Wild defenseman Willie Mitchell said, “It’s tough to describe. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in something like that. I was on an expansion team in Minnesota and we were a little [overmatched] but I don’t remember a game like this. I think we let each other down. It wasn’t just one guy. It was everyone.”

– With Detroit going through difficult economic times, one of the places that has been clearest is at Joe Louis Arena, where the waiting list for season tickets used to be in the thousands.

According to the Detroit News, even though crowds have been announced anywhere from 16-18,000, there have been actually 13-14,000 in the building.

“It’s very disappointing,” Dominik Hasek said. “We talked about it during training camp, so we expected some games wouldn’t be sold out. You like to play in front of 20,000 people. It’s a better feeling. Unfortunately that’s the way it is.”

Said Chris Chelios, “There wasn’t a need for marketing before, we had the (Steve) Yzermans, the (Brendan) Shanahans, the (Brett) Hulls, and so on. Now, that’s not the case. It’s time to do your homework and figure out a way to get fans in the building. And that goes for the NHL, too.”

– As of Friday, Atlanta was the only team without a point (0-4), scoring just four goals. Against Buffalo, even star Ilya Kovalchuk fought.

“When you have guys like Kovalchuk, who is our game-breaking scorer, fighting, you know things aren’t going well,” defenseman Garnet Exelby told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You want people to stick up for each other and that’s great from that aspect of it, but we don’t need him to be doing that.”

The clock on Atlanta coach Bob Hartley could be ticking.

– With Jarome Iginla (zero goals) and Miikka Kiprusoff (3.60 GAA, .871 save percentage) all off to slow start, new coach Mike Keenan sent some messages after Thursday’s practice.

“It’s not our responsibility to get them going, it’s their responsibility,” Keenan told Calgary reporters. “Jarome did a lot of work in the offseason to get ready and now he’s got to get his game together. And Kiprusoff, if he has notorious slow starts, that’s his responsibility to contribute to the team as he should be able to on consistent basis once the season does start. So he’s going to have to figure out what he’s going to have to do to make some improvements quickly.”

The result? Iginla scored, Kiprusoff won and Calgary beat Dallas 3-2 in overtime for the Flames’ first win under Keenan.

– Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle continues to rehab after a freak training-camp accident results in his skate blade dropped from his locker and severed three tendons in his left wrist.

Apparently, and this is weird, but his two-inch scar looks just like a lightning bolt.

“Maybe I’ll get a tattoo over it when it’s all said and done,” Boyle told the St. Pete Times.

– After back-to-back Blue Jackets shutouts, Columbus forward Jason Chimera said of goalie Pascal Leclaire, “You couldn’t get a ping-pong ball past him right now.”

– After becoming the Toronto Maple Leafs’ all-time leading goal scorer and points producer during an 8-1 win over the Islanders on Thursday, Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin was named first, second and third star.

He scored his 390th goal and 917th point.

“The way things are today, not many players get the chance to play so long for one organization,” Sundin said. “I have to thank all the guys I played with who gave me [the points] and the fans who have stayed with the team, even though they’ve had no Stanley Cup since 1967.”

– Finally, asked what being an honorary St. Paul police officer now entitles Oilers goalie and ex-Wild Dwayne Roloson to do, Roloson said, “Absolutely nothing.”

Roloson became a friend of SPPD’s canine unit soon after he came to Minnesota. Once during a ride-along, Roloson watched one of the canines catch a fleeing suspect.

“You see the dogs at home, kids riding on their backs, just like a lab, and in the car they’re pretty relaxed too until something ticks them off, whether it’s the speed of the car or the adrenalin from the policeman or the lights,” Roloson said. “Then the dogs get so intense.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 14th, 2007 at 12:04 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.