First things first, the Wild is 6-0-1, the only NHL team without a regulation loss.

It’s the third time in the Wild’s eight-year history that it has started with points in at least its first seven games (7-0-1 last season and 3-0-3-1 in 2001-02).

I will tell you this: If the Wild makes it eight, then it really has something going because I have never ever ever covered the Wild win a game in Dallas during my Star Tribune tenure. Wild is 0-6-2 in its past eight in Dallas, I believe.

Onto the not-so-good news, defenseman Brent Burns left this game early in the third period with what the Wild is calling a lower body injury. He tried to come back to the bench, but he couldn’t go, so he walked gingerly back down the runway.

At one point in the third the Wild was without Kim Johnsson, who was stung after blocking a shot, and Marek Zidlicky was in the penalty box. That meant the Wild was briefly down to three defensemen, but Johnsson came back to the bench, skated immediately onto the ice and immediately cleared a puck the length of the rink on the PK.

Jacques Lemaire said assistant coach Mario Tremblay, who changes the D, wanted center Eric Belanger in a panic move before Johnsson’s return.

Burns will be re-evaluated in the morning, so we’ll see if he’ll be on the team’s flight to Dallas.

The Wild was outshot 36-18, but Niklas Backstrom, also in the last year of his contract, made 34 saves. He sparkled in the second. The Wild was outshot 18-4, yet the Wild outscored Chicago 2-0. Backstrom is 13-0-5 in his last 18 decisions.

Backstrom made seven saves on back-to-back Blackhawks power plays, including a 67-second 5-on-3 disadvantage. Mikko Koivu, Martin Skoula and Burns also was terrific on that PK.

The Wild is now 22 for 22 on the PK this season. VERSUS apparently said the Wild is the first team since 1962-63 to not allow a power-play goal in the first seven games, but the Wild couldn’t confirm that through the Elias Sports Bureau, so I didn’t go with the stat in the paper.

Skoula and Nick Schultz were particularly strong tonight.

And of course, there’s Koivu, who assisted on all three goals to give him an NHL-leading 12 assists. That’s 12 assists on 22 Wild goals, by the way. Miettinen, who left in the final minute with what appeared to be an injury, and Andrew Brunette had a goal and an assist.

But Miettinen was not on the Wild’s injury report after the game, so it sounds like he’ll be able to make his grand return to his old team, the Stars, with a Wild-leading six goals.

The Wild was obviously hemmed in its end for much of the night, but Backstrom was able to see a lot of pucks and it was really two forward lines — the third and fourth — that struggled, Lemaire felt.

That’s it for now. I have a very early flight to Texas. Later.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 6:37 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.