Clutterbuck still fuming over Gonchar elbow

The Colin Campbell wheel of justice has once again determined that star players receive kid’s glove treatment and players that aren’t stars receive different treatment and unequal punishment, imagine if Clutterbuck or Boogaard had done the same thing.

Clutterbuck was upset Gonchar wasn't suspended by the NHL.

"I'd have been suspended indefinitely," Clutterbuck said. "There's no doubt that all he was trying to do was hurt me."

Gonchar told Pittsburgh reporters: "[Clutterbuck] hit me in the head, which I thought the NHL was now looking for. ... In my opinion it was a late [hit], a [dirty] hit and that's why I paid him back."

As for Gonchar's hit, Clutterbuck said if he was knocked out or taken off the ice on a stretcher, "then it's an uproar. But because I got up and my nose is bleeding a little bit, it's a different story?"

Clutterbuck was irritated that Monday's referees, after much debate, gave Gonchar a five-minute major for interference rather than elbowing. Because of the cut nose, a game misconduct would have had to be imposed with an elbowing major.

"Why are they going out of their way to keep this guy in the game?" Clutterbuck said.

Clutterbuck led the NHL with 356 hits last season and leads the league again this season with 182. Some critics have com
[Star Tribune]

Inventory of the Wild's equipment fire

This is a crazy story that you would have to try real hard to make up. When I first read it on someone's twitter yesterday I thought it was a fraternity prank. Being a former athlete I can’t imagine my equipment just going up in flames. Some of these guys have to start all over again. This has to be hard for the goaltenders, who most of us at time think they are nuts anyways. This is the equivalent of a golfer being given new clubs the day before a big golf tourney the Masters. I can’t imagine trying to break in new skates and having to use them in a game when they aren’t broken in yet.

Here's an inventory, and some are a bit comical:

Zidlicky-Good

Johnsson-Good

Zanon-Lost a ton, but not his knee brace

Stoner-Skates and pants only saved

Koivu-Everything lost but skates

Kobasew-Good

Havlat--Everything lost, but they found a set of skates he used to wear in Chicago and put on a new blade

Brunette-Good

Ebbett-Everything gone

Miettinen-Everything gone

Clutterbuck-Everything gone

Brodziak-Good

Boogaard-Good

Belanger-Good

Hnidy--Everything gone, and two left skates burned

Scott-Everything gone

Earl-Everything gone

Backstrom-Everything gone

Harding-Everything gone

Sheppard--Everything gone, except, get this, his contacts and a mouthguard

Schultz-Everything gone, had skates picked up at his house that he wears in pond hockey and he went to Play It Again sports to buy shoulder pads he likes

Latendresse-Good
[Russo's Rants]

Big Shocker: Gaborik doubtful for Wild game

Honestly, you just can not make this stuff up; this is unfolding into a pretty good drama. Some might say that this is poetic justice that Marian Gaborik is doubtful for the game against the Wild. I would love to be at the game and be able to boo Gabby as he skates out on the ice at the Xcel Energy Center.

NEW YORK — Minnesota Wild fans anticipating the return of erstwhile superstar Marian Gaborik on Friday night likely are in for a disappointment.

The first-year Rangers right-winger will travel to Minnesota for his team's only game in 2009-10 at Xcel Energy Center, but a leg injury threatens to ruin the homecoming.

Gaborik injured his leg late in Tuesday night's 5-2 victory over Phoenix, a game in which he scored two goals and added an assist.

He and the team emphasized the problem is unrelated to his hips or groin muscles, which have plagued him most of his career. Gaborik will not play tonight against the Islanders and his status for Friday is doubtful.

Gaborik, the Wild's first draft choice who played eight seasons in Minnesota, signed a five-year, $37.5-million contract with the Rangers after Minnesota declined to make him an offer upon becoming a free agent July 1.

In the Big Apple, he is off to his best start in seven years. Gaborik is tied with Anze Kopitar of Los Angeles for the league lead in goals with 10, and his 18 points are second only to Kopitar's 21.

The always colorful interview that is New York Ranges head coach John Tortorella, I wonder how many times Torts has taken Larry Brook’s head off.

Gaborik came out of the trainer's room at the Garden late Monday night and said the injury was unrelated to the hip and groin ailments that have bothered him in the past, and John Tortorella stressed that again Tuesday while saying that he wasn't overly concerned with the injury.

"It was a little sore, so we just kept him off the ice," the coach said. "It has nothing to do with any of his (past) injuries."

Asked to confirm whether it was a lower-body injury, Tortorella said, "It's a body injury."
Read more: [New York Daily News]

Wild not as boring this season.

I know it's only one game and it was the first Wild game that I have been able to watch this season, however, after only one game I can say that the Wild are going to be a much more exciting brand of hockey to watch then they were last year under the defensive minded former coach Jacques Lemaire.

Personally, I don't watch hockey to see the neutral zone trap, I want to see attacking and counter attacking hockey and that was what the Wild did as they pushed the puck up and down the ice and created offensive opportunities all night.

This season with the Wild playing a more up tempo offensive style of play it will cause a higher risk/reward. There were a few instances last night where the Wild got caught up ice focusing on offense and not remembering where the defensive zone was.

Last night I thought defenseman Brent Burns had a poor game and looked like a pylon as there were numerous times he was caught up ice on turnovers in the neutral and offensive zone. None the less, I liked what I saw last night and it was a lot more exciting hockey to watch and I expect more of the same.

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.” [Russo's Rants]

Wild Sign Peter Sykora to a contract.

I just hope he Sykora can put 20+ goals behind the goalie this season and doesn't end up being that player that only played in 7 games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. On the flip side of that equation, if Sykora can score 20-25 he could fill a void the Wild lack through the forward lines. There isn't many in the Wild line up that have the ability to score 25 goals.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)—The Minnesota Wild have signed right wing Petr Sykora(notes) to a one-year contract.

Sykora skated with the team on a tryout basis for two practices. His deal was done on Thursday.

The 32-year-old ranked fourth on the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins last season with 46 points in 76 games. He had 25 goals, giving him 300 over his 14-year career. Sykora has played in the Stanley Cup finals five times.

The Czech Republic native has played for five other teams, first with the New Jersey Devils in 1995 after they made him their first-round draft pick.