The Buffalo Sabres have it right. They don’t charge full prices for exhibition games. Apparently, lower bowl tickets are reduced to $35.

Most teams charge regular prices, which is not fair. Preseason games are often slop, and this one certainly was.

“Not a lot happening,” Andrew Brunette said after.

No, there was not a lot happening for either team most of the night, although the Wild had a particularly difficult time getting out of its zone and generating any offense. Of course, five of its most skilled players were back in St. Paul - Gaborik, Burns, Bouchard, Zidlicky and Koivu.

I made three good predictions tonight - 1. I told Tom Lynn, Tommy Thompson, Tom Reid and Bob Kurtz in the press room during dinner that I had just interviewed Tyler Cuma, and you wouldn’t believe how calm he was. 2. I told media relations director Aaron Sickman within 10 minutes of the game that this bad boy was going to a shootout. 3. I blurted out loud on a late third-period Wild power play, “Only way they score is by accident.”

Three bingo’s.

Jaroslav Spacek gets the first assist for Brunette’s tying goal with 2:57 left.

Tyler Cuma was so poised, it was ridiculous. He’s 18, and was solid in every way. Only thing that didn’t go his way were two shots, one when he broke his stick and the other when he swung and missed. But defensively, he was outstanding with Kim Johnsson. You can read more about that in tomorrow’s paper, too.

In overtime, Niklas Backstrom was tremendous, making five saves, four on a Buffalo power play. He made 28 in all and drew big praise from Jacques Lemaire: “He was very solid. You could tell. He was in control, which I was happy to see.”

In the shootout, Backstrom, and his shootout troubles are well-reported, was again solid, making three saves. Owen Nolan scored a Mikko Koivu-like shootout goal, and Brunette won it. Funny story: He was yanked off the ice in Round 2. Somebody told him it was his turn. It wasn’t. It was Benoit Pouliot’s. You can see Brunette’s quote in tomorrow’s paper.

(more…)

Coming to you from the HSBC Arena press box, one of my favorites in the NHL. Cool arena, great fans, media-friendly facilities, and Rick Jeanneret and Harry Neale. What else could you ask for if you’re a hockey nut like moi?

I ran into my old pal, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff – the old Panthers assistant coach (first Florida reference of the new season) — as he came into the building. I was being detained by security for not having my credential and Ruff threw out the old, “We don’t allow hudlums in here.” 

How about this? The Aud, the house that Mike Ramsey built, is almost demolished. They’re building a Bass Pro Shop apparently.

Just got done talking to 18-year-old Tyler Cuma, who’s making his NHL debut tonight. Sure, it’s the preseason, but he’ll be wearing Wild colors in a big-league rink playing against guys like Pominville, Hecht, Afinogenov, Rivet, Tallinder, Spacek and Stafford.

Patrick Lalime’s in goal.

The well-spoken Cuma, the Wild’s first-round pick in June, seemed extremely calm. He’s from nearby Bowmanville, Ontario, so his parents, step-parents and siblings will be making the 90-minute drive to just over the border.

Looks like Derek Boogaard is the extra forward out. Not sure of the defenseman yet.

Here’s a funny one. I walked into the radio booth and play-by-play vet Bob Kurtz was cleaning out his briefcase because his whiteout exploded. He also forgot his scorecards.

“He’s not in game shape,” quipped sidekick Tom Reid.

Kurtz also left his passport in Chicago. If he doesn’t get it back in time, Kevin Falness has to go to Montreal. DEAR HOCKEY GOD, PLEASE MAKE SURE KURTZ GETS HIS PASSPORT BACK. PLEASE!!!

(more…)

Russo from gloomy Buffalo. I’ll be back on before, during and after tonight’s game, but this is from Brian “Stenblood” Stensaas from today’s practice.

Marian Gaborik skated early with non-Buffaloers, then stayed on the ice with the whole team. And he was one of the last ones off (if not the last …)

Risebrough

(On Gabby) Two days ago, he had a real hard workout. Yesterday we gave him a light workout just because the muscles sometimes need to kind of rebuild. Today he had a harder workout, and he’ll practice with the team. Again, because it’s a light practice. And then we’re going to measure how he feels tomorrow. We believe he’ll practice with the team tomorrow, which will be like a practice day practice.

(He seems to be moving well) Yeah. The history with him has always been, you know, pretty straight forward. At the end of the day, we always seem to give him more time so we get by these things. And I have to say that’s probably, with the number of times its happened, a learning experience. Earlier, sometimes he came back with what we thought was the right amount of time and he got reinjured. We’re always more cautious with him. Let’s wait. If somebody says wait three days with him, we’ll wait five. And that seems to have worked. The one year, we committed to a half a year. Even though it was tough on the team, we committed to half a year and he ended up finishing strong. And people are focused on the quad, but he had major hip surgery, too. So sometimes, you have to keep in perspective ‘how are all these things working together?’

(If practice goes well, will he play against the Blackhawks?) That’s a possibility. There’s no use predicting that, because everything’s day-to-day on how he’s feeling. And if he doesn’t play against Chicago, I wouldn’t see it as a setback. The advantage of playing Chicago is there’s two days in between the next game. He won’t play back-to-back. Ultimately, if he plays Chicago, he can have two days before the next game.

(How important is it to have him back before the training camp is over?) It’s ideal. But I don’t believe there’s many ideal situations in our business. Yeah, you’d like him to play in all the games, but that’s not realistic. If he can get into a couple of games, that’d be good. If it ends up he’s just ready for the start of the season, that’d be good. I’ll start to get more concerned if he’s not ready for the beginning of the season.

(more…)

Wild coughed up a 3-0 first-period lead tonight, and I don’t want to say I told you so, but every person that came up to me during the first intermission that said, “Holy moly,” I responded with, “It ain’t over, trust me.”

C-A-L-G-A-R-Y.

Of course, this was completely different. Wild was playing a different cast of characters tonight, and certain guys like defenseman Maxim Noreau, you could see their hands shaking from up here.

Erik Reitz was a minus-3, and played pivotal roles on both the first and fourth goals by Chicago — both by Andrew Ladd.

Jacques Lemaire was honest in his assessment of Reitz:

“It starts by him wanting to freeze the puck on the side of the net,” said coach Jacques Lemaire, referring to Reitz trying to pin the puck under goalie Josh Harding moments before Ladd cut Chicago’s deficit to 3-1.

“You’ve got to learn. It’s experience. You know, you’ve got big guys there. You got a stick and try to hold onto the puck, it’s not happening. Too many big guys.”

On the winner, Jonathan Toews drove the Wild zone 1 against 4. He wheeled by Reitz before feeding an oncoming Ladd.

Reitz is on a one-way deal, which usually puts you in a position where you’re going to be on the team: see Matt Foy.

But Tomas Mojzis has impressed, and Reitz says he’s not taking that roster spot for granted.

“He’s got to work, even if he would be on the team, he’s got to work to play,” Lemaire said of Reitz. “I’m going to play the best guys. That’s it. Some of the guys, they have to realize, it’s important these games. It might not seem important, but it is important because I’m watching them.

“I mean, I had a feeling at a time, maybe I’m going to bench a couple guys. So when you’re in an exhibition game and you feel you want to bench certain guys, oh oh oh, that’s not good for you, man. That’s not good.

“But we kept playing them, but you know what, the closer we get to the season, the less chances they get.”

– Other tidbits:

(more…)

Fyi: Owen Nolan was scheduled to play tonight but didn’t make the trip to Chicago. Danny Irmen is in instead.

Nolan practiced this morning in St. Paul, and the Wild is saying he’s not injured.

How about this one? Wild minor-league coach Kevin Constantine had left knee surgery two days ago to clean up a meniscus tear. He hasn’t missed a day and is already skating.

Warmups, Skoula and Johnsson, sporting the captain’s C, just had a nasty collision. Both are OK.

Four minutes to puck drop: I’ll bring you scoring updates since I know nothing’s going on tonight for you all to pay attention to

Here we go:

35 seconds in 1-0 Wild. Eric Belanger makes a sick move to cut through the slot. Cristobal Huet kicks out a juicy rebound for Stephane Veilleux to pounce on.

Kyle Beach hit Colton Gillies with a hard check, and Marc-Andre Bergeron went after him for a brief fight. This came just as Marek Zidlicky was turned away on a pinch.

Wild forward lines and defense pairs:

Veilleux-Belanger-Irmen

Kalus-Koivu-Miettinen

Boogaard-Sheppard-Clutterbuck

Gillies-Pouliot-Weller

Bergeron-Zidlicky

Skoula-Reitz

Noreau-Johnsson

Miettinen in the box for hooking. Barker clanks the post.

Gillies makes a nice move to set up a Pouliot chance, but I think he hit the post because they didn’t give him a shot. No replays during the preseason for us blind scribes.

They just went after Boogaard. Sopel cross-checked him, then went back at him with a shot to the face. Boogey took both shots, and drew a four-minute power play for the Wild at 7:30 of the first.

But nine seconds later, Petr Kalus takes a hook. Not good. Extinguishes two minutes. 4-on-4 until Wild gets a power play again.

Kalus comes out of the box for a power play and 2-0 Wild. Gillies drives the net. Huet kicks out the rebound and James Sheppard buries it.

This could get ugly. Everybody is taking runs at Boogaard now.

3-0 Wild. Kalus PPG. Zidlicky just made a SICK blind, spinning, backhanded pass to Kalus, who split through the slot. Kalus lost control of the puck and it just happened to slide in near post.

Nine of 18 Wild skaters have points right now.

(more…)

UPDATED, 1 p.m. 

I’m out of breath with that headline. Think I can get that sized headline into the paper?

Watched the Blackhawks skate this morning. The Wild practiced in St. Paul this morning and the crew is due in at 4 p.m. Good luck fighting the traffic down to the United Center. It was bumper to bumper at noon.

The Wild lineup is on the below post.

NHL players playing tonight for the Hawks include Patrick Kane, Jonothan Toews, Brian Campbell, Patrick Sharp, Brent Sopel, Andrew Ladd, Cam Barker, Craig Adams, Adam Burish and some guy that looked strangely like Keith Carney.

It was weird seeing Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville wearing Hawks jackets.

Bowman was hired as senior advisor to hockey operations and Quenneville, who coached the Avs past the Wild in last season’s playoffs, is doing part-time scouting for Chicago.

OK, first things first:

1. Eagle-eyed Brian “Stensation” Stensaas spotted Pierre-Marc Bouchard leaving practice after a brief try this morning. Turns out Bouchard’s got back spasms. He practiced at 85-90 percent yesterday, GM Doug Risebrough told Stensation, but it appears as if it didn’t go too well today.

2. It might only be an exhibition game and this town is currently going nuts watching the Cubs’ ride into the postseason and the White Sox’s possible ride into the offseason thanks to the Twins, but the United Center should be hopping tonight.

This Original Six club has risen from the dead. They’re back on TV, they’re selling lots of tickets, they’ve got an outdoor game at Wrigley and they’re on the rise.

Tonight, Cristobal Huet will make his Blackhawks debut between the pipes. Tonight, 20-year-old Jonathan Toews will wear the captain’s ‘C’ for the first time. Tonight, 19-year-old Patrick Kane, last year’s Rookie of the Year, will audition at center after the recent trade of center Robert Lang. And tonight, a 38-year-old named Keith Carney will wear a Blackhawks sweater for the first time in 10 years.

Talked with Scotty Bowman — and Denis Savard and Kane himself for that matter — a lot about moving Kane to center. He says the plan is for Kane to play next to Patrick Sharp and Toews to play next to Martin Havlat, who continues to work his way back from a shoulder injury and should play in an exhibition game this weekend (remember, Havlat first separated his shoulder last preseason against the Wild in a scrum in front of Minnesota’s net).

Kane says the Hawks ask a lot of the center in the defensive zone like Minny does, so he says that will be his biggest adjustment. He asked if Marian Gaborik was playing tonight and was delighted when I told him, “No.”

Kane is a little guy, and Savard, who is a little guy, pointed out that he was a little guy and Igor Larionov was a little guy and Michael Cammalleri is a little guy and that little guys can succeed at center in the NHL.

Kane thinks it’ll allow him to be more creative in the center of the rink, which should scare the heck out of Blackhawks opponents.

“I know he’s going to get tired in the third period. There’s a lot of ice to cover as a centerman,” Savard said.

As for Carney, he’s on a tryout with the Hawks. He was talking to the Hawks all summer, but they were $3 million over the cap. Now they’re about $1 million under after the Lang trade. So now he’s trying to earn a contract, and he’s playing tonight.

This could be an ideal fit if he makes the team. He could mentor the Duncan Keiths and Cam Barkers and Brent Seabrooks like Brent Burns. The Hawks have 12 defensemen in camp and five are guaranteed spots, so it will be a challenge for Carney to get one of those two last spots.

Carney was bummed Burns wouldn’t be here, but maybe they’ll catch up next week in Minnesota if Carney makes the trip.

I’m sure there’s more. I’ll add as I transcribe if that’s the case. I’ll be on before the game, throughout the game and after the game. Later.