Boy, I would have been better off staying in Edmonton. This had to be a lot more fun to watch than write when you’ve got to file the second the game’s over.

And I had a masterpiece in the can before Ryan Kesler scored the tying goal with 16 seconds left. OK, that’s probably overstating it a tad. (I have no idea why I originall wrote/thought it was with 43 seconds left other than the instanteous panic of looking down and tearing apart my article and starting over).

Lots and lots of good stuff came out of the locker room after the game, but because of the time difference, I decided to hold most of it for my follow for Monday’s paper since most editions won’t even see the game story Sunday.

I also did get a chance to talk to Cal Clutterbuck regarding Don Cherry’s comments on the Coaches Corner tonight. Cherry lit into Clutterbuck for fighting with a visor, and Clutterbuck, and his teammates, weren’t happy at all.

But that’ll be in Monday’s paper (the Wild’s off Sunday). As for tonight’s thrilla in Vancouva (sorta rhymes), Marc-Andre Bergeron scored his first career overtime winner, capping an outstanding night for the fella. He had two goals and an assist. Pierre-Marc Bouchard, playing his 400th career game, was tremendous as well, assisting on three goals.

I guess, since Roberto Luongo robs Bouchard every time he shoots the puck, he decided the best solution was to do what he does best — set up goals.

Niklas Backstrom is now 9-1-3 in his first start after getting yanked in his career. He made 37 saves, and was just awesome on a five-minute major in the second after Clutterbuck was called for boarding Alex Burrows. Backstrom made eight saves.

Clutterbuck completely disagreed with the call, saying, “I thought Burrows embellished. Two-minute boarding would have been a sufficient call. I’m OK with that. He saw me coming the whole time. He turned his back. You come to expect that from him. It’s probably my fault for continuing on with it even though I knew who I was going to hit.” 

(editors note: when there’s an injury on a boarding penalty, the rulebook states it has to be a major, and Burrows sustained a cut over the eye. And he was so hurt, he immediately sprinted to the ref to show him his boo-boo and returned a shift later).

Backstrom had awesome stuff to say about killing that penalty, as you’ll read Monday (boy Monday will be a well-read paper because of the Wild follow mostly, and a little football game second). The kill did take its toll because guys like Martin Skoula and Eric Belanger looked exhausted afterward. Lemaire joked that Belanger, whose third-period goal was nearly the winner, weighed 52 pounds after.

Also, because Clutterbuck was gone and Lemaire was shorthanded forwards, he moved Brent Burns back to wing in the third period. It was Burns that tripped Mats Sundin with 1:32 left. That led to Kesler’s 6-on-4 tying goal. By the way, Sundin — not good tonight. Not good at all.

Just some random thoughts, but I have to go because it’s been a long day and I’ve got a car waiting to, believe it or not, bring me back to an airport hotel for my 6 a.m. flight (I really, really pray) tomorrow.

– Just ran into Pavol Demitra. He badly wanted to play tonight, but he said he should be back for the next game. I know, weird first one, but it’s the most recent thing on my mind.

– How good was Mikko Koivu tonight? Besides the goal, he was a defensive horse that continually bailed the Wild out of scrambles.

– Tough night for linesman Lonnie Cameron. Nailed by an Alex Edler shot in the head (he stayed), then got upended in the third.

– I found it humorous watching Roberto Luongo during the TV timeout admiring his Bouchard save with the blocker on the Jumbotron. He used to do that in Florida, too. Reminds be of Brad Penny, who always looks at the stadium radar gun after every pitch.

– I did have other things to say, but I need to run. Tomorrow at the airport, I’ll probably tinker with the blog.

Enjoy the Super Bowl.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 12:26 am 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.