Sport-scan daily brief

Veteran Clayton Stoner had a strong opener Thursday but was scratched for Dumba.

Yeo said his message to Stoner is: “We’ve got a lot of quality players. It’s early in the season. Things have a way of sorting themselves out. You just got to hang in there.”

Koivus together again

Wild captain Mikko Koivu is beginning his ninth season in the NHL, and it was only his 17th meeting against his older brother, Saku, the Anaheim Ducks center who used to captain Montreal.

So during the season, they don’t see each other much. But by good fortune, the Ducks were the Wild’s second game, meaning it didn’t take long for Saku to meet his new niece, Sofie, who was born Sept. 24.

Saku came over to Mikko’s house Friday night.

“He has two kids, but he was more nervous than I thought he’d be holding her,” Mikko Koivu said. “It meant a lot to get together.”

Saku said Mikko has asked for some fatherhood tips.

“He’s been close to my kids and spends a lot of time with them in the summertime, [but] obviously there’s a few questions,” Saku said. “You’re always worried when you’re expecting your first one. You don’t know what to expect and what’s ahead of you.”

“As a new parent, you learn new things pretty much daily. … I think he’s been doing great.

‘‘I don’t think there’s a lot of sleep right now but other than that, it’s been good.”

Star Tribune LOADED: 10.06.2013

719755 Minnesota Wild

Wild-Anaheim game recap

MICHAEL RUSSO

October 5, 2013 - 11:19 PM

game recap

three stars

1. Zach Parise, Wild: Effort off the charts and scored two goals for his 30th multi-goal game, fifth with the Wild. Took six shots after taking eight on opening night.

2. Jonas Hiller, Ducks: Severely under fire in the second period, he made 16 of his 30 saves then.

3. Matt Cooke, Wild: Drew two power plays that led to Parise and Jason Pominville power-play goals.

By the numbers

7 Points for Saku Koivu in 17 meetings vs. Mikko (10-3-4 record).

11 Points for Mikko Koivu in 17 meetings vs. Saku (7-9-1 record).

146 Power-play points for Mikko, first in franchise history.

Star Tribune LOADED: 10.06.2013

719756 Minnesota Wild

Postgame: Wild lose in OT and lose Coyle to lower-body injury

Blog Post by: Michael Russo

October 5, 2013 - 11:48 PM

There was a point back in the 90s in the NHL when you could theoretically go 0-0-82 and make the playoffs. Not anymore.

Not panic time, but 0-0-2 doesn’t exactly look pretty in the standings after a two-game homestand to open the season. The Wild needs to get some W’s after tonight’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Just five seconds from a shootout tonight, Mathieu Perreault tucked a breakaway between Niklas Backstrom’s wickets after Jared Spurgeon toppled inside the blue line and Marco Scandella went down on one knee in an attempt to block Francois Beauchemin’s pass to Perreault.

Didn’t work.

It was the end to an up and down, exciting overtime (great, entertaining game in fact).

“I don’t want to see it, but it sure is good for hockey,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said of OT. “They could show that last minute in the highlights all day long and I think people would say, ‘hey, I’ve got to see that sport.’ The average fan’s not looking at how many dumb mistakes there were.”

Scandella was on for all four goals, Spurgeon for three, but Yeo said while there’s no doubt they weren’t at the level they were at during the Kings’ opener Thursday, it’s too early to make rash decisions. Prior to that last goal, I actually thought Scandella recovered pretty well and played a factor in tonight’s comeback, but this has always been the MO with Scandella.

He’s the epitome of inconsistent.

Before I get into the game more, the big bad news of the night is second-line center Charlie Coyle was lost with 8:54 left in the second period with a lower-body injury. Coach Mike Yeo said he doesn’t think it’s “gravely serious,” but it’s a stretch to think he’d be able to play in the Predators’ home opener Tuesday in Nashville.

Hold your breath with this one folks because the Wild cannot afford to lose Coyle for an extended period. Plain and simple. I don’t like to normally guess on injuries, but it could be a knee since I saw orthopedist Joel Boyd checking him out in the runway between the bench and the locker room.

Coyle was checked by Andrew Cogliano very late in a shift near center ice and just landed funny.

If Coyle’s out Tuesday, the Wild will need a callup. Most likely, Mikael Granlund moves to center and the Wild calls up a winger.

As you know, Jason Zucker is down in Iowa. He’s been dealing with the lingering effects of the training camp groin injury, but he did play in Friday’s 2-1 overtime win over Milwaukee in a preseason scrimmage.

Another option may be to just move Torrey Mitchell to third line and call up Carson McMillan for the fourth. Unless they’re moving Nino Niederreiter down in the lineup, it may not be Zucker. But I’ll say this: I didn’t think Niederreiter played particularly well tonight.

Mike Rupp, I don’t think is close. He’s skating with the team, but this morning, it still really looked like his knee is a big issue. He just wasn’t skating well, especially his first couple strides. So it won’t be him.

Me? If he’s healthy, I’ll jump on to the Zucker bandwagon. The second unit looked lost without Coyle and Zucker proved in the AHL last year that he can put the puck in the power-play basket. I also think Zucker-Granlund would bring chemistry because they played together in Houston.

Like I said, Niederreiter concerned me tonight. He just seemed to be confused system-wise a few times glaringly tonight. There was one forecheck in the first period where he could have easily made it a 2-on-1 if he had supported Dany Heatley down low. He stopped, turned and skated back to the circle like he was supposed to be the third man high. But Coyle was already back there as third man high. Maybe I’m reading what I saw wrong, but to me, Niederreiter should have been down there forechecking with Heatley to outman the Anaheim defenseman.

Either way, this isn’t good as the Wild head into Nashville, which coincidentally possesses last year’s Wild second-line center, Matt Cullen.

As for the game, awful start for the Wild, falling down by two goals and having to chase the game from the very opening seconds.

First goal occurs because Scandella doesn’t check Saku Koivu in the corner. Second goal, I thought Backstrom was slow to get over on a rebound, but Scandella again was caught in the middle of the crease defending nobody.

Matt Cooke drew two penalties that led to power-play goals by Zach Parise and Jason Pominville.

Unfortunately, after the Wild cut the deficit to 2-1 on Parise’s goal, the Wild first allowed the Ducks to score a simple one 1:19 into the second. Kyle Brodziak looked like he lost Jakob Silfverberg, the key piece in the Bobby Ryan trade with Ottawa, and he roofed it. Again, Scandella and Spurgeon playing starring roles.

The Wild absolutely dominated the second, at one point outshooting the Ducks 15-4. But Minnesota could only get the Pominville score by Jonas Hiller.

Parise tied it 1:15 into the third, and a key moment came when Dany Heatley rang the post on a power play. The Wild had other close calls to win it but couldn’t put it home. Right before the Perreault winner, Brodziak was denied by Hiller on a 2-on-1.

Yeo took the positives tonight, although obviously not happy. He raved about the leaders (the top line carried the Wild back into the game), he was happy with the fourth line of Justin Fontaine, Zenon Konopka and Mitchell, and of course, the power play connected twice.

But again, the Wild didn’t win and hasn’t won in two games while Colorado, Winnipeg and St. Louis are 2-0 in the division.

Check out the gamer for the quotes. I liked Matt Dumba’s game tonight. I am concerned with Backstrom. He made some great saves but does look like he’s been slow to get over laterally all preseason and the first two games. Yeo wouldn’t go there and wasn’t about to be critical of anybody in the postgame, saying all that talk will be behind closed doors with his staff.

The Wild has the day off Sunday and will practice in Minnesota on Monday morning before flying to Nashville. So, we may not get news of the callup Sunday, and we likely won’t get a Coyle update until at least Monday.

Have a good night.

Star Tribune LOADED: 10.06.2013

719757 Minnesota Wild

Short takes: Roy's outburst planned

Roy’s outburst planned

It’ll be entertaining watching Patrick Roy as a rookie head coach in Colorado. The Hall of Fame goalie and fiery coach in juniors received a $10,000 fine by the NHL for his exchange with Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau opening night.

Roy, upset that Ben Lovejoy kneed No. 1 overall pick Nathan MacKinnon earlier in the game, twice pushed the alarmingly flimsy glass partition toward Boudreau.

Boudreau said Roy’s antics were “bush league” and said it would be a long year for Roy if he keeps yelling at refs and opposing players.

“What Boudreau said was all lies,” Roy said the next day.

Regardless, you can bet this was calculated. Avs fans loved it, as did his players, who you know will work hard for a coach that 1) defends them, and 2) has a fiery temper that could one day be aimed at them.

Ugly tie back on bench

Longtime NHL journeyman Dallas Eakins made his coaching debut for the Oilers and in honor of his former Florida coach, Roger Neilson, wore one of the old coach’s hideous jungle ties. Neilson died of cancer in 2003.

“Roger was known for his horrible ties and I was saving this one for a long time,” Eakins said.

Eakins, by the way, replaced the media’s donut breakfast during training camp with daily fruit and yogurt. Eakins is a fitness buff. Most of the media? They’re not.

Star Tribune LOADED: 10.06.2013

719758 Minnesota Wild

Dumba to make his NHL debut tonight against Anaheim

Blog Post by: Michael Russo

October 5, 2013 - 12:37 PM

The Wild expects a “grumpy, desperate” Anaheim Ducks team at the X tonight. The Ducks lost 6-1 in its opener Wednesday in Denver and as Wild coach Mike Yeo predicted, Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau made clear this morning that “It’s a big night for us. We have to redeem ourselves.”

“The message was pretty simple this morning [to the Wild]. We’ve got two teams searching for their first win,” Yeo said. “There should be a high level of determination coming into this game tonight.”

Despite a strong game by Clayton Stoner in the opener, rookie Matt Dumba will make his NHL debut tonight. The 2012 first-round pick will be paired with Keith Ballard, who will move to the left side after playing the right on Thursday.

I believe Dumba is the youngest defenseman to debut in Wild history. Brent Burns debuted at age 18, but I think he played forward his rookie year (I didn't cover the team). Dumba and Jonas Brodin is/was 19, and Dumba’s got a July 25 birthday, Brodin a July 12 birthdate.

Knowing me and the way I do math, I’ll probably be back later to correct this! Like

Dumba’s folks, Treena and Charlie, will be in the house tonight to watch their oldest son debut. Dumba led the center-ice team stretch after the morning skate in a neat scene.

Teammates joked with him that they’ll be happy in Red Deer tonight.

“They’ve all been great,” Dumba said, adding teammates told him to “just go out and play my game and just have fun. I’ve been playing this game since I was little and just relax and be myself out there.”

Dumba said, “I’m just thankful that my opportunity has come along. Now I’m just going to go out there and work my hardest and do whatever it takes to stay around.”

He said he’d try not to put on “extra pressures and nerves. Just another game. Looking back afterward, hopefully it a good one.”

Yeo said, “I’m excited for him. This guy’s a big part of our future. He’s had a really strong camp, so I’m excited to get him there and see how he goes out and performs at this time of year. We’ve seen it. We saw it Game 1 for us, the pace of play, the intensity picks up right now, so you want to see how he handles that.”

Asked if assistant coach Rick Wilson, who changes the D, will manage his ice time, Yeo said, “It’s important to get him out there early and get him into the feel of the game. And then every game you manage the game. But it’s important that we show him the faith and confidence in him to get him involved in the game.”

Yeo wouldn’t say if Dumba would play the power play, but Yeo indicated yesterday that it would tough taking Brodin off after playing so well Thursday and scoring a power-play goal.

Jonas Hiller vs. Niklas Backstrom tonight.

Dustin Penner gets in for Anaheim as Teemu Selanne sits in anticipation for another return to Winnipeg tomorrow.

The Ducks’ Emerson Etem (lower body), Luca Sbisa (ankle) and Sheldon Souray (wrist) are out. For some reason, I forgot to add them to my injury report in today’s paper.

What else? Saku Koivu got to meet his niece last night. I’ve got some cool quotes from Mikko that I’ll toss into tomorrow’s paper.

Yeo also was impressed Charlie Coyle took a leap onto the knife in today’s paper regarding his mistake on the tying goal against L.A. in the opener.

“That’s the kind of accountability that we like around here,” Yeo said. “He had a solid game. He had a really solid game. He was close to a great game. What he did with the puck all night and what he did without puck the puck most of the night, he had a really strong game.”

But Coyle told Yeo yesterday that he couldn’t sleep after the game because of not defending Jeff Carter on the tying goal. Yeo said, “I said, ‘you’ve got to learn from it and you’ve got to move on from it and focus on the things you did well and just correct that stuff.’”

Star Tribune LOADED: 10.06.2013

719759 Minnesota Wild

Wild fail to avoid the obvious in loss to Ducks

Pioneer Press

Posted: 10/06/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated: 10/06/2013 12:20:04 AM CDT

If you know there's a tornado coming, why not go into the storm cellar? At the very least, why not cover your head?

The Wild knew exactly what was coming Saturday night. We all did. The Anaheim Ducks had been humiliated in their opener, 6-1, by the Colorado Avalanche. Worse, their coach, Bruce Boudreau, was verbally assaulted by Avs coach Patrick Roy. The volatile Roy probably would have physically assaulted their rotund, little coach, too, but he couldn't break down the stanchion separating the benches -- even though he tried.

So there was a real storm brewing.

"We watched their practice yesterday," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "We saw it coming. We knew they were going to start hard. They were a focused group."

And yet... the Wild stumbled out of the dressing room and fell behind by two goals in the first six minutes. After that, they played as well as I've seen them play. Great pace, won all the individual battles, really controlled the play. The fans got their $50 worth, or whatever it costs to watch the Wild play these days.

OK, maybe not $50 worth. That's a lot. But the contest was very entertaining. In today's NHL, however, a two-goal deficit usually is too much to overcome, especially for a team that generates scoring chances but not goals. So the Wild fell in overtime. That's their second straight one-point home game. They've pretty much fizzled at Xcel during the NHL's grand opening week.

"We played a good 45, 50 minutes," defenseman Keith Ballard said. "We lost the game because we started poorly. That start just killed us."

As the game moved along, there wasn't any question about which team was better. It wasn't even close. Had the Wild just survived those early minutes, it likely would have resulted in a rout in their favor. Yet they just sort of belly-flopped onto the ice to start the game. And I can't figure out why. Neither can Yeo, who said he wasn't very happy at the turn of events.

"We talked about a number of things tactically before the game," he said. "The two words that were underlined were determination and preparation. We didn't have enough of either of those things."

Why? It was Game 2 in front of a fired-up home crowd on a Saturday night. It wasn't Game 68 on a Wednesday night against Florida. So what we have here is an early-season mystery.

"Tough start," said Jason Pominville. "I mean, you're right. We're at home and we want to come out strong. We want to establish ourselves as a tough team to play against at home. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to do that tonight right off the bat. But I think as the game went on, we played more our style and took over."

The defeat just seemed so preventable. They knew what was coming. The Ducks' feathers were ruffled. The first few minutes were going to be critical. Yet they didn't handle it well at all.

Yeo said the loss hurt, and I believe him because his expression appeared to indicate that he was experiencing a sharp pain. But he didn't want to dwell on it.

"For us, personally, what I'd like to focus on tonight is that there were some positives," he said. "I thought the play of our leaders was something we should be talking about. The play of our fourth line was something we should be talking about tonight. The power play is something we should be talking about, too."

If he means he and his coaches should be talking about that stuff, fine. If he means, like, this is what should be written in the newspaper, then uh-uh. I'm more mesmerized by the lackadaisical start in the second game of the season.

He's right that the power play was good, though. The top line and the top defense pairing were good, too. The defense pairing of Marco Scandella and Jared Spurgeon was leaky, though. And on this night, Nik Backstrom was no better than OK in goal.

But, as everybody pointed out, it's ridiculously early. There is plenty of time to iron out these wrinkles. A couple of months from now, we probably won't remember this scruffy start. And that will be good because in these first couple of games the Wild have played just well enough to lose.

Pioneer Press LOADED: 10.06.2013

719760 Minnesota Wild

Ducks 4, Wild 3: Mathieu Perreault scores winner as OT expires

-- Chad Graff

Posted: 10/05/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated: 10/05/2013 11:50:18 PM CDT

RECAP: Mathieu Perreault scored a breakaway goal as time expired in overtime for the Ducks to drop the Wild to 0-0-2 this season.

Zach Parise tied the game 3-3 at 18:45 of the third period with his second goal of the night, but Perreault ended a back-and-fourth overtime session by slipping a shot through Niklas Backstrom's 5 hole on a breakaway in front of 18,213 fans at Xcel Energy Center.

Jason Pominville added an unassisted power-play goal for Minnesota, and Saku Koivu and Nick Bonino added goals for the Ducks.

MEANING: The Wild were arguably the better team in each of their first games but settled for a point in each. They lost their opener to Los Angeles in a shootout.

ETC.: In their 17th NHL game against each other, Mikko Koivu and older brother Saku each recorded points. Saku improved to 10-3-4 against his sibling. ... Charlie Coyle left the game in the second period with a lower body injury and did not return. ... The Wild outshot the Ducks 17-8 in the second period.

Pioneer Press LOADED: 10.06.2013

719761 Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild: Another one-point night leads to frustration

By Chad Graff

cgraff@pioneerpress.com

Posted: 10/06/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated: 10/06/2013 12:05:15 AM CDT

Before his team faced a desperate Anaheim Ducks squad on Saturday night, coach Mike Yeo went through the usual rundown with players in the locker room.

He talked to them about tactical adjustments special for Anaheim, and about defensemen jumping into the rush.

Then Yeo underlined two words on the whiteboard for his squad to remember: determination and preparation. The coach felt they were the keys to the Wild picking up their first win of the 2013-14 season.

Instead, the Wild opened with a brutally sluggish first period, fell behind 2-0 in the first six minutes and never recovered in a 4-3 overtime loss at Xcel Energy Center.

"Judging by the first period and the way we started the game, we didn't have enough of either of those," Yeo said of his underlined words.

The Wild lost for the second time in as many games this young season, the first coming Thursday in a season-opening shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The Wild walked away from that one with some optimism, but they felt they gave one away on Saturday.

"It's a completely different feeling," defenseman Keith Ballard said. "We played like s**t to start the game and that's why we lost."

Rather than sitting atop the conference with four points after two home games, the Wild settled for a point each in games they felt they could have won.

The team's top wingers, Zach Parise and Jason Pominville, accounted for all three goals, two of them on power plays.

"There were some positives for sure," Yeo said. "But I would say this is not similar to L.A. I cannot sit here and say that we played the type of game, top-to-bottom, that we wanted to bring. This was different."

Different takeaway, different feeling, same result.

It took into the third period for the Wild to catch up from their slow start. Parise scored twice, including the game-tying goal in the third period. But neither team was able to come up with much after that until a back-and-forth overtime. Mathieu Perreault ended it with 4.9 seconds remaining on a breakaway against vulnerable Niklas Backstrom.

The team also lost second-line center Charlie Coyle to a lower body injury in the second period; he'll likely miss the team's next game Tuesday, Yeo said

As well as the top line played, there were big holes in the Wild's game, starting with the second defensive pairing of Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella. Scandella finished a minus-4 and was the main player at fault for a Nick Bonino goal that gave the Ducks a 2-0, first-period lead.

"I'm not going to say anything bad about anybody right now," Yeo said. "We're two games into the season. I'm not going to sit here and paint a pretty picture or anything. I'm not going to try to do that. But there were positives in the game, and right now is the time to point to those, and anything that needs to get picked up will get picked up behind closed doors."

But after the Wild let another win slip by, there wasn't much to do other than point to the slow start.

"We knew they were going to come out strong and we didn't respond early enough and we got behind two goals," Scandella said. "I mean, we didn't start well and that didn't help our cause."

And it didn't help the general feeling surrounding the team. After the first one, there was still plenty of optimism; after Saturday's, that optimism was replaced by frustration.

"This one has a different feeling," Yeo said. "Hopefully we use this to start our next game similarly to what (Anaheim) did tonight."

Pioneer Press LOADED: 10.06.2013

719762 Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild: Stoner sits so coaches can evaluate

By Chad Graff

cgraff@pioneerpress.com

Posted: 10/06/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated: 10/06/2013 12:04:08 AM CDT

Toward the end of Saturday's morning skate -- the final tune-up before he makes his NHL debut -- 19-year-old Mathew Dumba was called to center ice to lead the team through stretches.

The players wished their youngest teammate luck, and gave him a stick tap.