October 11th

Wild Win Season Opener

St. Paul, Mn -- The Minnesota Wild opened the regular season Saturday night at the Excel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul against the Boston Bruins, and in addition to the regular season opening festivities the Wild raised their first Northwest Division Title banner to the rafters.

Going into Saturday night, Minnesota ranked fifth in the NHL on opening night with a .643 win percentage (4-2-1 all-time) including 4-0-0 in season openers that are home openers. The only tie was the Wild's first ever regular season home game against Philadelphia on 10/11/00 (3-3), and Marian Gaborik is the only player who has remained with Minnesota from the roster that night. Also since the Wild's first NHL season in 2000-01, they rank fourth in the league in GAA (2.47). Only New Jersey (2.30), Detroit (2.36) and Dallas (2.37) have given up fewer goals per game in the last seven NHL campaigns. In that same span, Minnesota goaltenders have the highest Save Percentage of any NHL team (.915). The LA Ducks are second with a .912 SV %. Also since 2000-01, the Wild has the third-best home GAA of any NHL team (2.25). Only Dallas (2.24) and New Jersey (2.24) have given up fewer goals at home over the past seven seasons.

Six skaters made their regular season Wild debut Saturday. Right Wingers Owen Nolan, Craig Weller, and Antti Miettinen along with Defenceman Marc-Andre Bergeron, Marek Zidlicky, and Tomas Mojzis. Left Winger Andrew Brunette, who played for Minnesota from 2001-04, officially started his second tour of duty with the Wild Saturday night. During his first tour, the 35 year old played in 245 games and registered 164 points (54-110=164) and has played in 453 consecutive NHL games, the most of any active player.

Also interesting to note is that Defenceman Erik Reitz is the only American on Minnesota's opening night roster. That is the fewest number of United States-born players of any NHL team.

For Boston this was their second game of the NHL season, as the Bruins defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Thursday in Denver, and looked the part as they won the opening face off and got their first shot on goal :11 in.

In a night and season of first's, Owen Nolan registered the Wild's first shot on goal of the season at 1:41 into the game, a wrist shot from 17 feet on the right side. Brent Burns was called for the Wild's first penalty, and double minor, of the season at 3:06. Minnesota killed off the four-minute penalty, but it wasn't too long after that the Wild found themselves trailing for the first time. Former University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Phil Kessel got off a wrist from the right face off dot that went past Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom, playing in his 100th NHL game, to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. The Wild got their first power play goal of the season, on their second chance, at 18:32 when 19 year-old Colton Gillies fed Eric Belanger, who was set up on the right side of the net, and fired a wrist shot past former Minnesota goalie Manny Fernandez to tie it 1-1.

Minnesota started the second period, just as they had finished the first, on the attack and charging the net. At 1:49 the Wild fired several shots which were stopped by Manny Fernandez, who finished the night with 22 saves, but it wasn't until 4:01 that Minnesota took the lead. Marc-Andre Bergeron fired a slap shot just a few feet in front of the blue line, that Fernandez got his pads on but didn't fully stop as it trickled thru him and past the goal line for the Wild's second power play goal of the night. At 10:22 as Minnesota brought the puck in the zone and was charging the net Andrew Brunette fed Antti Miettinen on a tic-tac-pass-shot that Fernendaz wasn't able to react to for the Wild's first even strength goal of the season. At 12:28 Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who was set up behind the net, fed Eric Belanger whose slapper gave the Wild a 4-1 lead, which they carried into the second intermission.

Boston cut the lead in half to 4-2 at 11:51 of the third period when Michael Rider skated into the zone and stopped by the boards and turned around just to the right face off circle, and fed Marc Savard whose wrist shot went over the blocker of Minnesota netminder Niklas Backstom. The Bruins also got a late goal, again from Savard, but it wasn't enough as the Wild won it 4-3.

Next up for Minnesota is a three-game road trip to Atlanta, Florida, and Tampa Bay starting on Tuesday, and the Wild's next home game is on Thursday October 23rd against the Buffalo Sabres at 7pm. On the other side, Boston will continue their season opening four-game road trip in Montreal on Wednesday. The Bruins home opener comes on Monday October 20th against the Pittsburgh Penguins.


Post-Game Notes:

C Eric Belanger tallied his first two-goal game as a member of the Wild. It was his sixth career multi-goal, with the last coming March 2, 2007.

D Marc-Andre Bergeron became the first defenceman to score in his Wild debut since D Kurtis Foster scored twice on Nov. 19, 2005, against Nashville. Bergeron was held to just two points (1-1=2) in his last 26 games last season with the New York Islanders and LA Ducks.

LW Antti Miettinen scored his second goal in as many regular season games, having finished off the 2007-08 season with Dallas with a goal against San Jose on April 6.

RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard notched his 46th career multi-point game with two assists. The Wild improved to 40-5-1 all-time when Bouchard has at least two points.

The Wild improved to 7-0-1 all-time in home openers, with seven straight wins. Minnesota is 5-0-0 in home openers that also begin a season.

Wild D Kim Johnsson had an assist in his 599th career NHL game.

G Niklas Backstrom improved to 53-15-10 in his last 78 decisions, and 44-12-8 in his last 64. Saturday was his 100th NHL appearance overall. He has won seven straight regular season home games dating back to last season, and is 8-0-4 in his last 12 decisions since his last home regulation loss on March 4, 2008.

Dating back to last season, the Wild has won seven straight regular season home games.

Minnesota went 8-24-5 when allowing the first goal last season.

C Marc Savard scored twice for the Bruins, while former Minnesota Golden Gopher Phil Kessel scored Boston's first goal. G Manny Fernandez, the Wild's all-time leader with 113 wins in net, made 22 saves in his first game back at Xcel Energy Center since a July 1, 2007 trade.


3 Stars of the Game (Picked by Doug Johnson of Lets Play Hockey)

1- Minnesota - Eric Belanger (2 Goals)
2- Minnesota - Mikko Koivu (2 Assists)
3- Minnesota - Brent Burns