Blog updated on bottom:

Helluva night in the Twin Cities, eh? I’m not about to compare tonight’s comeback at the X in Game 2 of an 82-game season with the Twins’ finish to win the division and advance to the playoffs, but if you happened to be one of the fans that actually attended this doubleheader, man, you won’t ever forget this night.

Wild down 3-zip. Playing absolutely hideously. Coughing up pucks. Giving up 2-on-1’s and 3-on-2’s and even an astonishing 4-on-1. Getting zero done in the offensive zone.

And then … a couple choice words during the second intermission and a fight, and the first-ever Wild comeback from three goals down in the third for a W.

Yes, I know there are people who hate fights, but tonight, there was an example about what a fight can do to a hockey game.

Kinda like when Stephane Veilleux got goaded into fighting Dion Phaneuf in Calgary once when the Wild was ahead 3-0, George Parros decided to fight John Scott. Well the 6-foot-8 Scott absolutely clocked the experienced fighter with a right uppercut. He went down, and for the first time in the game that wasn’t Carlos Gomez scoring at the Metrodome, the Wild fans had reason to cheer.

And, said Todd Richards, “It stirred up some emotion on the bench.”

Joffrey Lupul, who had an eventful game with a goal and puck to the eyebrow, then took a hooking penalty. Mikko Koivu scored his first of the year, and the comeback was on.

Petr Sykora scored his 301st with 7:50 left and on a power play, Eric Belanger, who had one of the worst first periods I’ve ever seen (three times put the puck in his own slot, and he’s usually defensively responsible) and one of the best third periods I’ve ever seen him play, scored with 2:13 left to tie it. He had a goal and two assists.

In OT, Kyle Brodziak goaded James Wisniewski into punching him in the face, and Andrew Brunette scored his first career OT goal on the ensuing power play. Actually, to be exact, first career OT regular-season goal. I think he once scored an OT playoff winner. I think he did. Not sure though.

One heckuva way for Todd Richards to earn his first victory, and this after the Wild played with their brains off, as Richards said, the first two periods. And did they ever. The worst was the second goal by some guy with a lot of vowels in his name, so I won’t bother spelling it again. Wild, dead tired after a long shift, when on a messy odd-man rush. But when Brent Burns’ cross-crease pass attempt was turned the other way, Anaheim came with speed with the even more exhausted Wild players now all chasing. Backstrom made the 2-on-1 save, but the Ducks scored seconds later.

Exciting stuff though in the third as Wild outshot Ducks 13-2. Martin Havlat, by the way, had the first assist on all three third-period goals in his Wild debut. That gave Havlat points 398, 399 and 400 of his career.

Big-needed win as the Wild, and moi, leave Wednesday for an eternity. Five games, 11 days. Wild doesn’t play at the X again until Oct. 21.

– Brunette’s goal was his 27th career game-winner.

– The Wild extended its home-opener win streak to eight, tying Washington for the longest active streak in the NHL. The Wild is 8-0-1 all-time in home openers (the 1 being a tie, not OT loss, by the way).

– Mikko Koivu sparked the comeback after his brother scored Anaheim’s third goal. Mikko played a career-high 25:16. Mikko won 16 of 21 faceoffs. Mikko hit his brother in overtime. Mikko good.

– Nik Backstrom made 16 saves and is 9-0-4 in his past 13 home starts.

Lastly, as you know, Pierre-Marc Bouchard is out with recurring headaches. The Wild has no extra forwards now and leaves for a five-game trip Wednesday. At some point, one would assume it will have to recall a forward or two. Andy Hilbert and Nathan Smith would likely be first choices. So is Colton Gillies, although he has to play with a cage after surgery to repair a broken nose.

There’s Craig Weller, Danny Irmen and Petr Kalus.

I’m going to L.A. Rachel Blount’s got practice as I get a new laptop before my flight. Yes, it died again tonight, but Brian Stensaas came to my rescue with a laptop. Team Strib, baby.

Talk to you Thursday from the City of Angels. (Actually, I’ll probably blog before my flight once Rachel sends me a practice update).

8 a.m. update: I talked with GM Chuck Fletcher again this morning. He wanted to reiterate that the team will go through every means necessary to figure out what’s going on with Bouchard. He wanted to make clear that when I wrote the team doesn’t think he has a concussion, that the team just doesn’t know and that his point was he undoubtedly originally had a virus. Now, was it something more, that’s what the team will now try to figure out. He said the only goal is to get Bouchard better.

Also, the Wild now only has one extra player — defenseman Jaime Sifers — and leave for a five-game trip. Usually you’d want to cover an extra forward in case of a practice injury or gameday sickness, but with so many days between games, Fletcher said the Wild probably won’t call up a forward unless it needs to in California. However, when it goes to Edmonton-Vancouver, the team probably would just because it’s not as easy getting players into Canada.

while the team isn’t sure what he has, d that he certainly could have a concussion.

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