DEREK BOOGAARD RETURNS FOR MASTERTON NOMINEE AARON VOROS 

He hadn’t played since Jan. 22. It was his sixth game since Nov. 23. He got a loud ovation on his first shift, clobbered Cody McLeod on that shift and played six in all, 2:29 of ice time.

Postgame notes: You’ve got to love hockey. The Wild is on fire. Who said anything about slumping? This team’s got points in five straight games. What a surge!

OK, 2-0-3, but it’s a start. The team played very well tonight, starting with killing off a 40-second 5-on-3 almost immediately. Colorado scores there, and it changes the entire complexion of the game.

But the Wild killed it, and Brent Burns snapped his 14th goal, which is second behind Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf for goals by Western Conference defensemen.

Ian Laperriere’s play before the goal proved again why Jacques Lemaire doesn’t like his penalty killers to leave their feet. Laperriere dropped to the ice to try to block a Brian Rolston shot.

So Rolston pulled up, wheeled around him and the waves parted. He wanted to cross a pass to Mikko Koivu, but the Avs collapsed and Rolston put it to Burns at the top of the circles.

Joe Sakic tied the game, but Branko Radivojevic, who blew two great chances in the first period by missing the net, redirected Burns’ shot for the winner in the second.

The goal came a minute after Nik Backstrom robbed Laperriere. That’s two games in a row the Wild scored the winner moments after Backstrom made a huge save. Last game, it was Backstrom denying Alex Frolov and Rolston responding with the winner against L.A.

On the Radivojevic winner, the Wild put together an impressive forecheck and nearly executed an entire change while pressuring in the offensive zone. Martin Skoula, again terrific tonight, made a big save at the blue line to get the puck back deep.

The Wild was up to the physical challenge, registering a season-high 30 hits. It also won 31 of 53 faceoffs, led by Mikko Koivu winning 13 of 19 for the second game in a row.

Big, big two points, and you can’t underscore that the Wild won in regulation. It pulls six points up on ninth-place Nashville, two up on Calgary and Colorado. Vancouver is up 2-1 on Phoenix after 1 right now.

Big two points also because of the upcoming four-game trip to SJ, VAN, CGY and EDM.

Other tidbits:

– James Sheppard snapped a 17-game pointless streak with an assist.

– Burns has four goals and nine points in his last nine games. He’s got a team-record 14 goals, 40 points and seven power-play goals.

– Nik Backstrom has lost in regulation once in his last nine starts (5-1-3). He sports a 1.73 GAA and .943 SP during that span. He’s got 28 wins, two behind Manny Fernandez’s team record set in 2005-06.

– Stephane Veilleux, instead of chipping it off the glass, hit an empty net from 130 feet for his 10th goal. He ices it, not a good play though.

– The Wild has won three in a row against Colorado, tying its longest win streak in the series, and is 5-0-2 in its past seven at home against Colorado.

Talk to you Tuesday from San Jose. Wild don’t practice until 4 p.m. CT, so it’ll be a late update.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Game coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.