5-1 final 

Third period starting

8 minute update left, 5-1 Brodziak: I haven’t seen Benoit Pouliot on the bench in some time. Miettinen hasn’t played the last 10 minutes, but he’s been sitting on the bench. Maybe Richards doesn’t want to risk him getting hurt, or maybe Richards just figured, might as well sit him down since he didn’t seem all to with it tonight.

Tyler Cuma (minus-3). Everybody a minus but Kassian, Sykora and Kalus. Harding still in net. 

5-0, on a power play that was a bit on the bogus side, Huselius feeds Brassard for a beauty.

5-1. Brodziak on a wrap-around.

Wild’s being outshot 35-15.

Fight Night again at the end, and it all starts when Marek Zidlicky understandably took exception to Michael Blunden taking a run at him with 2:58 left in a 5-1 game. The game is over. Zidlicky gives up the puck and Blunden wants to put him through the glass well after. The funniest thing is Zidlicky dodged the check and Blunden went head-on into the glass.

———————————————————-

Start of second period of what one scout called, “A BAD HOCKEY GAME!”

Harding just stoned Alex Picard on a breakaway. I’ve got to say, a couple Wild veterans don’t want to be here. That is obvious. Like, say, Miettinen, who could not play worse.

Zidlicky in box. Now Burns going off. 1:09 5-on-3 coming up.

Scandella playing really well. Just a teenager. Brodziak has had a helluva camp, too.

Sykora just robbed by Mason at the post.

3-0 Jackets. Zidlicky, playing with his mind in Minnesota all night, just had his shot blocked on a breakaway. Antoine Vermette beats Harding on a shorthanded breakaway.

4-0 Jackets. Seconds later. Rick Nash just undressed Tyler Cuma.

First period 

Zanon, Brodziak, Miettinen wearing the A’s.

Gillies-DiSalvatore-Milroy;    Scandella-Zidlicky

Hilbert-Brodziak-Irmen;     Scott-Zanon

Miettinen-Pouliot-Sykora;     Cuma-Burns

Kassian-Smith-Kalus

Zidlicky’s skated right into his own crease twice tonight!

Folks, tonight’s the ice crew auditions here at Nationwide. You don’t know what you’re missing during TV timeouts.

Steve Mason’s been sharp early, denying two deflections from Pouliot and Hilbert.

1-0 Jackets 9:14 in. After a Zanon turnover at center ice, Josh Harding serves up a juicy Sami Pahlsson rebound to Raffi Torres, who scores. John Moore had the takeaway. 18-year-old D is going to be a good one for the Jax.

2-zip Jackets: Grant Clitsome sent in alone by Derick Brassard. Clitsome shows the soft touch with a nice-looking goal.

End of 1: 2-0 Columbus

——————————————————- 

Good evening from rainy Columbus, where the Aeros and a few Wild players are about to take on the Blue Jackets.

I’ll be live blogging if you want to return for updates. I’ll probably keep it to goals and notable things, not play-by-play.

Couple items:

1. Jason Chimera, as you know, lit into Eric Belanger today. He did admit though that his chin strap should have been tighter, and Chimera is a guy whose helmet pops off a lot according to the media. Regardless, it was a hit from behind. Eric Belanger again was apologetic.

From tomorrow’s article on where Belanger fits right now in the Wild’s plans: “I didn’t have one bit of intention of hurting Jason Chimera,” Belanger said. “I don’t think I’m a dirty player. I talk about protecting players all the time. That’s why I felt so bad after the game. It happened quick. I wish I could have done it differently. But it happened so fast.
“Even if I would have been frustrated with Jason Chimera, I never would have done that. It’s not like Jason hit me or something happened earlier in the game. It was just me going into the corner to get the puck and it happened. I’m sorry it did.”

2. Josh Harding is getting the full 60 tonight. At least, that’s the plan.

3. Nine scouts here.

4. Fresh ice, and it’s apparently terrible. It’s been covered for 10 days, and already this morning, R.J. Umberger and Fedor Tyutin tweaked their hips. So they’re now out of the lineup.

5. Mikko Koivu practiced today. Cody Almond plans to skate tomorrow (knee). Derek Boogaard, Shane Hnidy, Andrew Brunette still dinged with undisclosed injuries.

6. Wild plans about seven or eight cuts in the next few days. The team plans off-ice work tomorrow only, not on-ice.�

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