Owen Nolan scored the two-most clutch goals in his storied career tonight. For a week now, I’ve been planning an off-day story on the guy to run Tuesday, but a loss or a monster game by somebody else or a bad injury or something unexpected could have put a wrinkle into that. 

But Nolan pots two in the first period. What a pro!

(Hey, I feel we know each other well enough by now that you’re more than aware it’s all about me, me, me, me and me).

I guess the two goals helped the Wild, too, which rode them all the way to the end for its first-ever shutout against the Avalanche. That’s 61 all-time meetings — 48 in the regular season, 13 in the postseason.

The Wild, 3-0-1 in its past four in this building, won on the road for the first time since Nov. 29, snapping a six-game road losing streak.

And don’t look now, but the struggling, under-talented Wild, as first reported by the Star Tribune on Dec. 31, are 2-0-1 in its past three and back in a playoff slot.

Don’t believe everything you read

Of Nolan’s nine tallies, six are on the power play. Niklas Backstrom stopped 33 Colorado shots for his 13th career shutout. He’s 9-2-1 against Colorado. Only Miikka Kiprusoff’s got more (11) wins vs. the Avs since the start of 2006-07.

This was not a game the Wild sat back. The Wild fired 66 shots at Peter Budaj — 37 on net, 16 that were blocked by Avalanche defenders and 13 that missed the net. 

The Wild played a smart road game, and when it broke down, Backstrom was solid. Short shifts were the key after playing Detroit last night in Minnesota.

As usual, Darcy Tucker lost his mind at times. My favorite was when he took a three-foot leap into that king pugilist Kim Johnsson. The refs saw it for a charging, and then when play stopped, Tucker went after Johnsson and started screaming at him. He probably was saying, “Why are you still walking?”

Cal Clutterbuck, who drew a first-period retaliatory minor on Adam Foote leading to Nolan’s power-play goal, then goaded Tucker into a 10-minute misconduct late in the game. Tucker held Brent Burns’ stick for a minor, then Clutterbuck said, “Good penalty $&^*$#” to make Tucker turn and go after him.

No hits credited to Clutterbuck tonight. I can remember at least three off the top of my head, including the one on Foote. I guess the off-ice officials were too busy counting shots that were five feet wide.

Eric Belanger was an unsung guy tonight. He blocked a Ruslan Salei blast with his left foot on a penalty kill. He was in visible pain, but stayed out there to create a breakout before laboring to the bench.

Burns was very good, as was Nick Schultz. Krys Kolanos got second-line duty, had an assist, took four shots and won 8 of 10 draws. Nolan had seven shots. I liked the energy rookie Colton Gillies brought. Pierre-Marc Bouchard was very good. Backstrom raved about the job Johnsson did back-checking on the Wojtek Wolski breakaway. Wolski couldn’t cut inside, so Backstrom just had to make the save, he said.

Foote left the game with an arm injury tonight, and I saw Tucker coming out of the x-ray room after the game. So Colorado, ravaged by injuries, looks like they keep on coming.

OK, I know this was a rushed blog, but I’ve got a red-eye tonight for Boston via JFK. I cannot even convey to you how much I am looking forward to this cross-country trek. The Wild isn’t leaving Denver until later than expected Monday morning. Practice, which isn’t until 3:30 anyway, may be delayed because of that. I’ll blog after practice, but I anticipate it will be lightly attended.

Anyways, Nolan story likely coming for Tuesday. I need story ideas. The Bruins have anybody with Minnesota ties? 

—————————————-

Warmups have begun.

Derek Boogaard and Benoit Pouliot are the forwards scratched.

Seven defensemen are in warmups. If Marek Zidlicky plays, it’ll be between John Scott and Erik Reitz. With Boogaard out, it would not shock me if Scott plays over Reitz (maybe Scott would introduce himself to Darcy Tucker), especially if you read the previous post. Jacques ain’t happy with Reitz. And indeed Reitz is scratched.

Funny story: Before the game, Mario Tremblay called Brent Burns over. Next thing I know, Burns yells, “Roose, did I complain to you last night how much I played?”

I’m like, “No, I was in Denver. I wasn’t even at the game.” Turns out Tremblay was just messing with Burns, who bit.

He played a career-high 33:33 last night. 

If you didn’t read the previous post yet, give it a twirl. I’ll be back on before the game to update which defenseman is out.  

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 4th, 2009 at 6:35 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.