(updated)

Very upbeat locker room today at the L.A. Kings/Lakers practice facility, and for good reason.  

I’m still amazed at what I saw last night from the Wild, but did you also notice that Dallas was up 3-0 also last night and lost 5-4 in overtime to Los Angeles? Talk about a swing in points. If Dallas would have won in regulation and the Wild lost in regulation, the Wild would be four points out of a playoff spot tonight. Instead, the Wild is only one point out with three teams above them tied at 68 points.

Just for your information, the Wild’s first goal has officially been switched back to Marc-Andre Bergeron (ninth goal) from Brent Burns and Antti Miettinen.

The off-ice officials originally had it as Bergeron from Burns and Mikko Koivu (which was wrong to begin with because Miettinen clearly gave it to Burns), then for some reason changed it to Koivu from Bergeron and Burns even though Koivu was a couple feet away.

Four little pieces of news from practice:

1. Jacques Lemaire is leaning toward playing Nik Backstrom in both weekend games. “We need the wins. We need the wins,” Lemaire said.

2. On Kurtis Foster possibly playing against the Kings, Lemaire said, “I want to, but I don’t think it’ll be tomorrow.”

3. Andrew Brunette (knee) practiced today.

4. Owen Nolan did get extremely sick during yesterday’s game, throwing up on the bench after his first shift. He only played nine minutes. But he practiced today.

OK, I must write. Lots of good stuff today. I may blog more later depending on what I can’t squeeze into my stories for the paper.

Jam-packed blog today. 

– Owen Nolan hopped on a 9 a.m. flight out of Minny this morning and came right to GM Place from Vancouver customs to join the Wild for today’s practice.

He made quite clear what his intentions are for tomorrow night’s game against the Canucks: “I’m here to play.”

Nolan, who’s missed the past three games with a broken toe, has a plastic toe guard on his left skate. He’s in a walking boot, which all his teammates were making fun of. Quipped Nik Backstrom, “Hey, you’re overdressed today.” Lots of “old mans” tossed Nolan’s direction, too.

Andrew Brunette, who is playing through a serious knee injury, didn’t practice today but will play tomorrow, according to coach Jacques Lemaire. Brunette received hours of treatment today, which included physical therapy from a pro.

These guys are a dying breed.

“I’m not here to watch games or milk an injury,” Nolan said.

– Speaking of watching games, Marian Gaborik put his foot in his mouth today back in Minnesota when he voluntarily said when asked if he feels the pressure to return with the team sinking, “Quite frankly I haven’t really been watching games. I’ve been following the scores but I haven’t been watching games. From my perspective, I just really need to focus on how am I feeling, how everything goes with me and then if everything goes good I’m going to jump in to play. Definitely the pressure is on, but first of all I want to feel confident in my body and … so far everything is going well.”

Gaborik should probably hire a publicist. Whether he meant it the way it sounded or not, with the me-me-me stuff and the not watching games stuff, he sounds like a player who’s emotionally disconnected, and there were some teammates bemused by the comment. If you’re injured, you probably shouldn’t announce you don’t watch the team that pays you $7.5 million play games.

Gaborik also was inconsistent today with what the team’s been saying. Doug Risebrough’s said he’s hoping Gaborik will be the “shot in the arm” the team needs and that he’ll be back sometime between March 10-20.

Gaborik said he hasn’t set a timetable and will be back “toward the end of the month, hopefully earlier.”

By the end of the month? “We’ll have five games left,” said Eric Belanger.

Said Gaborik, “Obviously this is a tough road trip. I wish I could help. I just have to wait and come back at the right time and come back strong. I don’t want to just come back to come back. I want to come back when I really feel I can contribute and be a big piece.”

This is not good news for the Wild. If it was trying to broadcast how close he was in order to trade him, Gaborik’s comments don’t help. And if the Wild truly believed he’d be a “shot in the arm,” well, the Wild’s fate could already be decided when he’s ready to play.

(more…)

You heard me. I was six feet from Tori Spelling in the lobby today. She was with a bunch of other Hollywood types that I recognized but couldn’t put face to name. I’ve done some reporting since, and her husband is one of the guys I saw, Dean McDermott. I was also just a few feet from Paul Sorvino. They’re filming Santa Baby 2 in Calgary, so lots of actors here, which explains why I wasn’t upgraded to a suite, ha.

OK, coming to you from ice-cold, frigid, icy Calgary, where at least it’s not snowing. Owen Nolan did not make the trip to Calgary with a broken toe. As I mentioned yesterday, he tried skating but was clearly struggling. He thought he’d make the trip though, but he didn’t.

Officially, the Wild says he can join the team in the middle of the road trip, but coach Jacques Lemaire said he doubted it. Last season, Eric Belanger had a broken toe and came back two weeks sooner from his monthlong prognosis and did join the Wild on a trip when it was in Edmonton.

Brent Burns left practice sick today. He’s listed as probable, but if he has what Colton Gillies had the other day in Chicago, good luck. If that’s the case, maybe Kurtis Foster, the only other extra defenseman, makes his debut. Although, Lemaire went on in length today about how he thinks it will be some time before Foster returns and how he doesn’t think he’s ready.

Bad timing for the Wild to be playing in Calgary, a place it rarely wins. The Flames are 6-0-2 in their past eight. Also, Jarome Iginla, who’s scoreless in his past three games against the Wild, is always motivated to face Minnesota. The all-time leading scorer against the Wild is two goals from 400 and three points from passing Theo Fleury as Calgary’s all-time leading scorer.

Told these facts, Lemaire literally flinched.

What else? You should have seen Derek Boogaard wearing a power blue sweater in practice. He could have only looked worse in pink. As he joked, trainer Tony DaCosta is mad at him.

Fifty excited Wild season-ticket holders were on my flight this morning here to Alberta. So if the Wild actually wins for only the second time in Calgary since I’ve been covering the team, you know who brought the luck.

The Wild is having a team dinner tonight at a local steak house. My invitation was lost in the mail.

The trades are starting to move now in the NHL. Steve Begin to Dallas, oh, and the big one being Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz and a prospect.

Guaranteed: Chris Pronger will be moved now by the Ducks. It’s just a matter of whether it happens before the March 4 deadline or this summer.

Lastly, here’s the Calgary Sun’s Randy Sportak working on his power poll clearly unaware of the fact there’s such a thing as gravity.

OK, that’s it for now. Have a good night, and stay safe back there in snowy Minnesota.

Good afternoon Russoville.

Light practice today down here in Minneapolis as, off the top of my head in no particular order, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Peter Olvecky, Dan Fritsche, James Sheppard, Derek Boogaard, Kurtis Foster, Colton Gillies, Craig Weller, Stephane Veilleux and Josh Harding skated with the coaches.

Cal Clutterbuck and Andrew Brunette also received off-ice treatment and Niklas Backstrom was roaming around.

Also, after practice, Owen Nolan skated briefly in a warmup suit. Out with a broken toe, Nolan never quite looking comfortable. He seemed to labor a fair amount, but he said as far as he knows, he’ll be on the team plane for Calgary on Thursday.

There could be a lot of travel problems getting out of here tomorrow because of snow, so I spent most of time today working ahead for a Friday story to advance the six-game road trip (just in case myself or the Wild don’t get out of here).

Funny stuff from practice. So Derek Boogaard was making fun of Cal Clutterbuck for being interviewed by everybody today. “Anything to get your name in the paper.”

So then I chime in (and this took guts folks), “You almost got your name in the paper for giving up a 2-on-0 in the third period last night.”

That’s when the hysterics started. Backstrom heard this, then got all over Boogaard for the hiccup, which Boogaard said happened because he looked up to see where the defensemen were and when he realized there were none to be seen, oops, he lost the puck.

“I looked for the D, and then I realized there were no D. And then, I’m missing the puck. I was like, ‘Oh God.”

I asked Backstrom what he was thinking when he saw Boogaard leave the puck, which led to a Derek Armstrong-led 2-on-0 that amounted basically into a bad-angle slap shot that Backstrom gloved down.

Backstrom, staring at Boogey with a mischievous grin, quipped, “Didn’t surprise me. I knew it was going to happen. Boogey, you forgot something there, something important, like the puck. You were looking for a breakaway or something.”

I told Boogaard that when I wrote about it for my first edition, file-at-the-gun story, I wrote, “in what became Boogaard’s last shift of the game.” But I told him as I wrote that line, I looked up, saw him on the ice and deleted that part of the clause.”

That’s when Boogaard put his hand on his mouth and started laughing.

I said, “What?”

Turns out Boogaard’s shift after his mishap was not supposed to be. He was indeed benched, but he hopped on with less than five minutes to go when Eric Belanger didn’t know he was supposed to hop on the ice as a winger. One player said when Jacques Lemaire saw it was Boogaard who jumped on for Belanger, “Jacques was losing his mind on the bench.”

OK, I have to get to work. I actually might come back later with some other stuff.

Good Friday afternoon to you all. Stensaas here for the first of three straight days of Wild news coming from yours truly while Russo enjoys sunny Florida. I stress the “sunny” part because prior to leaving today Russo mentioned more than once to me the weekend weather forecast for his destination. We deal with cold and snow, he gets sun and fun. Lucky us.

OK - on with the news. Andrew Brunette, who left last night’s game late in the first period hobbling to the team locker room, did not skate today at Parade Ice Garden. And unless I totally whiffed on spotting him, I don’t think he was even in the building. But that might not stop Brunette - again.

Official word from assistant GM Tom Lynn, via a team spokesman, is that Brunette has a “lower body” injury and he is “possible” for tomorrow’s game against the Red Wings. Sounds like he will try and give it a go. Unreal.

Brunette, the NHL’s current Iron Man with 509 consecutive games played, was able to fend off one “lower body” injury already this season without too much of a hitch (and obviously without missing a game). So what happens with this one is anybody’s guess. I wouldn’t bet against the 35-year-old, however.

Practice again today, as it did Wednesday, dragged on a little longer than I thought it would. Afterwards, even Jacques Lemaire made mention of how practices that normally would be scheduled for 25-35 minutes lately are running 50 minutes or longer. This is because of the team’s inconsistencies. And there sure were plenty of those in last night’s game.

Lemaire, by the way, was quite snarly today. It’s not uncommon for Jacques to crack a joke or two or have some fun with the media after practices. None of that today. He was almost stone-faced. Quick responses to questions, little elaboration and certainly no flair.

Inside the dressing room it was at least a little upbeat. Derek Boogaard - who had a nasty bout with the flu earlier this week - skated fully today and said he felt “awesome.” Other players were their casual selves.

I talked with Dan Fritsche about Flames coach Mike Keenan alleging Fritsche used a slew foot on Rene Borque prior to Fritsche’s shorthander last night.

Borque, who left Xcel on crutches and in a protective boot due to an ankle injury on the play, told the Calgary Sun that he had little recollection of the play. That was Fritsche’s take, too.

“I don’t even remember; I have no idea,” Fritsche said.

I have not seen a replay of the incident, so I can’t say whether or not Keenan has a valid argument. Players can be suspended for slew footing, but Fritsche said he had not heard a thing about it until a certain reporter brought it up, meaning the NHL had no contact with him as of the end of practice today. Stay tuned.

I’ll be back on tomorrow after the morning skates or later today if any news breaks. I’ll leave you with today’s line combinations:

Fritsche-Koivu-Miettinen
Bouchard-Belanger-Nolan
Veilleux-Sheppard-Clutterbuck
Boogaard-Olvecky-Gillies-Weller

A little over 24 hours ago I wrote to expect a full, hard-nosed practice today over at Parade Ice Garden. Darn, it stinks being right.

Then again, it didn’t take much to predict that, after yesterday’s virtual day off, today would be a tough one for Wild players. And it was. I counted nine different team drills today - most with a lot of up-and-down skating. Coach Jacques Lemaire afterwards said the practice was not the team’s best (he noticed a lot of rust) but he’s confident the team will be ready for tomorrow’s tilt with Calgary. Boy, the team better be ready. Tomorrow’s game kicks off a three-game stretch against some of the toughest teams in the league (Calgary and Detroit here, Chicago there), then it’s home for one more (LA) before playing 14 of 17 on the road. How’s that for a challenge?

Lots of talk after practice about this upcoming set of games. More on that in tomorrow’s paper.

Marc-Andre Bergeron, who has been out the last couple of days with an “upper-body” injury, was back on the ice today and appeared to be fine. Derek Boogaard, though, is still out with an illness. I didn’t even see him at the rink today. So I would guess he will miss tomorrow’s game.

Lemaire, after taking a spill twice in the past eight days, managed to skate the whole 70 minutes upright today. Funny scene: As Jacques was taking the ice at the beginning of practice rookie Colton Gillies (who hit Lemaire with a puck on Monday) jokingly wound up to take a crack at the coach. Goalie Josh Harding then got in front of Jacques and motioned for everyone to stop, putting his hands up in the air like one of those marshals carrying the “QUIET” signs at a golf tournament. Lemaire then escorted himself into the scorer’s box - behind a pane of glass - and only then said practice could resume. He got back onto the ice after that, then put the boys to work.

Catch Russo Radio tonight at 6, and he’ll be back with you here tomorrow. I’m on all weekend, but until then enjoy the big game against Calgary.