Bad news for the Wild, but last year’s NHL hits leader, Cal Clutterbuck, indeed sustained a sprained ankle Saturday in San Jose.
GM Chuck Fletcher said he will be sent back to Minnesota for an MRI to see the extent of the injury. If its a high ankle sprain, that’s usually four to eight weeks.
Derek Boogaard has rejoined the team after suffering a concussion.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) has seen a neurologist and the team is waiting for the results.
The Wild will call up two forwards by the morning - (it’ll be Hilbert and Nathan Smith).
More later.

Injury updates should be coming soon. Wild just arrived in the OC and is on its way to the arena.

Petr Sykora’s injury looks to be minor. It’s Cal Clutterbuck who’s the big issue. He’s been in a walking boot and on crutches since the game, and like I mentioned Saturday, if it’s a high ankle sprain, that’s usually several weeks.

And then obviously forgotten in all this is the fact that Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s still out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms, so the 1-3 Wild’s in a very fragile state right now.

I’ll be back on soon with updates and then will have a fresh blog later this evening.

I’m going to be quick. I’m writing on Blackberry. No Internet in pressbox and now dial up’s not working.

The Wild will have to make a couple roster moves Sunday or Monday after losing Cal Clutterbuck and Petr Sykora in the first period tonight in San Jose. There are no extra forwards on the roster, so I’d suspect we’re going to see Andy Hilbert here at least and probably Nathan Smith. There’s also Colton Gillies, Craig Weller, Danny Irmen and Petr Kalus in the minors.

Sykora tweaked his groin. He’ll be evaluated Sunday to see how serious, but Clutterbuck hurt his ankle and it looked to be very serious. He could put very little weight on it as he hobbled off. He got his skate caught in a rut when he went for a hit.

“He was in a lot of pain, so that’s not a good sign,” coach Todd Richards said.

Of all the hits Clutterbuck’s dished and taken, the poor guy’s hurt because his toe gets caught in the ice. If this is a major injury (and remember, broken ankles are often better than sprained ankles, especially high ankle sprains), this is a huge loss for this team. Granted, I don’t know the extent of the injury yet. Just saying.

The Wild played a tremendous game the first 30 minutes tonight, outshooting San Jose 26-13 and outscoring the Sharks 2-0. But then a little letdown, and two goals in 2:41 turned the tide. Then the Wild began to unravel. They didn’t have another shot rest of period. The Sharks ultimately took the lead late in the period on Dany Heatley”s goal, then took a 4-2 lead nine seconds into the third when Marleau somehow skated himself into breakaway. Heatley’s goal was awesone. Whole time he’s waiting for puck in slot, looking at net, waiting, looking. Then he gets puck and perfect one timer with two guys on him. Goal scorer’s goal.

The Wild was overextended up front. It went from 12 forwards to nine for the final 40 minutes because Todd Richards stopped using John Scott.

The Wild’s power play was hideous tonight. Yeah, it scored a goal, but the power play between Jed Ortmeyer’s goal and Patrick Marleau’s first was beyond terrible. It was like the Wild lost its heads in the neutral zone. The Sharks barely let Minnesota in the zone, then tied the game 14 seconds later. This after the crowd finally had reason to cheer earlier because the Wild couldn’t score on a two-minute 5-on-3, then took a penalty to nullify the final 48 seconds or so. Sometimes, when PP is that bad, you wish you could negate it bc the always-incredible SJ crowd was just going nuts with every kill.

The Wild worked hard and everybody reeled off that line after. You know the old, if we play like this, we’ll win our share of games.

Moral victory, yes. Standings say 1-3 with three games left on this trip. And now no Clutterbuck and Sykora.

Four games into the season, it’s gut check time. I’ll only update the blog Sunday if the Wild have injury updates or make roster moves.

Otherwise, complete day off for the team and me. Thirteen Wild players are going to the 49ers game. The rest are doing their own thing in San Fran. I’ll be in Napa if you need me checking out Val Bure and Candace Cameron Bure’s winery.

Second period: The Wild has lost Petr Sykora and Cal Clutterbuck with lower body injuries. Specifics after the game. Brunette goal now, not Hnidy 

Second TV timeout of first period, Wild has lost Cal Clutterbuck. Looked to be some kind of left leg injury. John Scott also hurt his right knee when hit with a shot, but he’s still on Wild bench. 

Good evening from high above the HP Pavilion, where the Wild and Sharks are about to clash.

Same lineup for the Wild, although I’d think we’d see some new lines and maybe a return of an old one. Let’s put it this way: Martin Havlat was not with Petr Sykora and Eric Belanger this morning.

Beautiful day here in San Jose, so sorry for no blog. I did go to the Innovation Museum though.

Wild better be much better in its own zone tonight, or it’ll be another long game for the men from Minnesota. Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi lit up the Jackets the other night.

Tonight will be the first game for Wild coach Todd Richards against San Jose. He spent last season here as an assistant.

Tonight will be the first game for Sharks assistant coach and birthday boy Matt Shaw against Minnesota. He spent eight seasons with the Wild organization, including the last two as an assistant/video coach.

Talk to you after.

Lines

 FIRST LINE: Andrew Brunette, Mikko Koivu, Martin Havlat.

   SECOND LINE: Petr Sykora, Eric Belanger, Cal Clutterbuck.

   THIRD LINE: Antti Miettinen, James Sheppard, Owen Nolan.

   FOURTH LINE: John Scott, Kyle Brodziak, Benoit Pouliot.

Late update I know, but I had all sorts of travel problems getting from L.A. to San Jose, had to go right to practice, then needed to write for the paper, then needed to finish my Sunday stuff (which I still haven’t) and I’m keeping half an eye on the Twins game as well.

Plus, there wasn’t any news at practice. Same lineup Saturday against San Jose, other than Niklas Backstrom getting the start. Jaime Sifers will again be out, unless for some reason Greg Zanon can’t play. But Zanon practiced fully today but he looks a little banged up from the hit he took from Dustin Brown in the third period last night.

The word of the day down at the HP Pavilion was “accountability.” Marty Havlat and Petr Sykora were benched for parts of last night’s blowout loss at LA, and Richards said his gloves are coming off. If players don’t show up, they too will get cemented to the bench. He said he’s done giving players the benefit of the doubt. Show up or lose ice.

Havlat admitted he had a tough go last night and said any coach would have benched him for being a minus-3 on his first three shifts. I asked him if he’s ever had a worse period, and he’s said always in L.A. Havlat’s game log confirms. Career at Staples Center: Three goals, two assists, minus-11 in eight games.

I did want to point out today after reading my story in the paper, Richards never called out Havlat last night. The way it reads, I wrote that Richards “clearly blamed” Havlat for the goal. I didn’t mean that to read that he audibly blamed Havlat for the goal after the game. I meant he clearly blamed him for the goal because he benched him for the next seven minutes.

When I asked about Havlat after the game, that’s when Richards answered with the quote about certain guys not showing up.

Richards talked a lot about the players’ pride today and how they know what they’re going wrong. He again bemoaned how difficult it is to get the players to rid themselves of previous coaching habits, but it’ll come.

The growing pains though could be long in my opinion. Power play, Wild’s been great — first in the NHL. Five-on-five, they’re terrible. Two goals for. Eight against, and loads of scoring chances.

I’ll talk to you Saturday, but lastly, from the Wild:

    SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Saturday, Oct. 10 is the distribution day for the used hockey equipment drive headed by the Minnesota Wild, Let’s Play Hockey and Minnesota Hockey. It will be held from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at Xcel Energy Center, inside Gate 1. FREE hockey equipment is available to all individuals, families, teams and associations on a first come, first served basis. New and used youth and adult hockey equipment will be available.
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    Over 2,000 pieces of new and used hockey equipment were collected during the equipment drive including goalie gear, sticks, helmets, gloves, breezers, bags, socks, jerseys, elbow pads, shin pads, shoulder pads and skates. All collected items will be available to pick up for FREE on Saturday, Oct. 10 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. inside Gate 1 of Xcel Energy Center.
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WHAT:   Over 2,000 pieces of new and used hockey equipment to be distributed for free on a first come, first served basis as part of the Minnesota Wild, Let’s Play Hockey, Minnesota Hockey Equipment Drive
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WHEN:   Saturday, Oct. 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
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WHERE:  Xcel Energy Center Gate 1

Maybe the Wild will learn its lesson this time. Can’t fall down by three goals every night in the NHL and expect to win.

Wild tried to make it a game again after falling behind by 3-0, then 4-1, but after Kim Johnsson scored in the third period to make it 4-3, the Kings reeled off a couple more goals on backup goalie Josh Harding to send the Wild off with a painful defeat to begin this five-game trip that now heads to San Jose.

Harding was not good tonight. He wasn ‘t alone, but he wasn’t good. As I mentioned on the blog earlier today, he’s known as a very nervous goalie when given a start, but he was pretty jittery when talking to us this morning. He so wanted to earn the management’s trust now that he’ll be given more starts, and he’s not stupid. He knows he’s being showcased.

But if he has too many more performances like this one, it might be easier trading him by hiding him than showcasing him.

Even in warmups, he just looked uneasy.

“It’s disappointing. I get an opportunity like that and I put that kind of performance out, it’s disappointing,” Harding said. “You’re a goalie. Stop the puck. It’s as easy as that, and I didn’t.”

Martin Havlat was a minus-3 in 3:07 of ice time in the first period. His first three shifts against resulted in goals against, including his first shift after being benched for more than seven minutes.

Asked about Havlat, coach Todd Richards said, “There were just some guys that weren’t ready to show up. The way that the game went, it’s about doing the right things. You have to be committed to playing in your own zone, and we had some guys that just weren’t ready for that.”

I didn’t have time to hunt down Havlat after the game. Ill get him Friday. In the end, Petr Sykora actually got less ice time.

Defense partners Kim Johnsson and Nick Schultz, who both scored goals actually, were each minus-3 and Richards also seemed to criticize them. On Harding, Richards said, “He didn’t have a lot of help,” talking about the D.

The Kings send two guys to the net almost every time in the offensive zone. Richards said, “We talked about this being a team that goes to the net and we have to be strong out front of our net. They got two deflections with guys just standing there.”

I mentioned before the game the line to watch was Ryan Smyth, Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams. They combined for four goals and nine points. Young Drew Doughty was just awesome. The guy is a true star defenseman. Jack Johnson was very good, too.

Proving faceoffs mean nothing, hehe, Mikko Koivu won 15 of 25, Kyle Brodziak 8 of 10 and Eric Belanger 8 of 10. The Wild was again a mess on pinches, giving up a lot of odd-man rushes.

In a game like this, I probably should point out a single player, but Benoit Pouliot, one has to wonder how many more chances he’s going to get. Richards criticized his game against Anaheim this morning, and he was just terrific today. Two bad penalties and in my opinion, totally responsible for L.A.’s fourth goal — the winning goal.

First, he fails to check Wayne Simmonds after pulling up so hard, it’s amazing he didn’t strain a groin. Then, after Simmonds was allowed to swing the puck around the boards, Pouliot fails to check Michal Handzus in the slot. Handzus scored on that play.

He also took two careless penalties. 

Here’s Richards from the morning (this note had to be cut out of final edition):

Subhed

Benoit Pouliot’s got some work to do if he wants more than the five-minutes of fourth-line work he got Tuesday against Anaheim.
“He can play as high as the second line because he has that skill, but he needs to be a reliable player in his own zone and provide some energy and physical play,” Richards said.
Richards was displeased with the goalie interference penalty Pouliot took with the Wild down 3-1 in the third period. Pouliot nullified a power play he had drawn.
“He did a great job moving his feet to draw the penalty and then put himself in a position to take a penalty. You can’t do that,” said Richards.

Heading to San Jose in the morning, and suddenly all those concerns masked by the comeback vs. Anaheim is back to the forefront. Talk to you Friday.