Made the red-eye with plenty of time to spare. Nice weather back here.

Good afternoon. Q&A Extra on below post.

Funny sight late last night as I was leaving the arena. At the same time I was leaving, the Wild coaching staff walked up the Staples Center loading dock hill and onto Chick Hearn Court so they could walk back to the hotel.

A Kings fan saw Lemaire smoking a cigar and ran up to him, not for an autograph but a light. Lemaire pulled out a match and lit the guy’s cigarette. Guy clearly had no clue who was lighting his smoke.

Amazing how back-to-back road wins changes the complexion of this team. The Wild, atop the tight Northwest, suddenly has won seven of 10, something that shocked Lemaire: “Huh? I thought it was three out of 10.”

Lemaire also alluded to a goalie controversy, saying of Josh Harding, who was in for both wins in Anaheim and L.A., “We need a goalie that will give us a chance to win.” Asked if that was an indictment on Nik Backstrom, Lemaire said, “I know he can do better.”

You’ll find a lot of this expanded in tomorrow’s paper (the Wild flew back today and didn’t practice).

Couple other tidbits from last night:

Derek Boogaard had a back injury. Branko Radivojevic and Matt Foy were sick, so Brent Burns had to play wing on the checking line with Dominic Moore and Stephane Veilleux. Burns was outstanding, but Lemaire made it very clear that this was an aberration and he will return to the blue line ASAP.

Lemaire criticized the ridiculous officiating last night. Eighteen power plays — conveniently nine apiece — handed out by Mick McGeough and his sidekick.

It completely took guys like James Sheppard and Aaron Voros out of the game.

“You could see Pav Demitra at the end there,” Lemaire said. “He couldn’t skate. He was done.”

Kent on tomorrow.

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