Minnesota's late-game rally makes for a home-opening thriller with come from behind 4-3 overtime victory over Anahiem

It has been a whirlwind of activity throughout the Twin Cities and Minnesota as it seems to have one blockbuster event after the other. The Golden Gophers ended up coming just short on their bid to take back Paul Bunyan's Axe from the Wisconsin Badgers, while the Minnesota Vikings powered by the arm of Brett Favre managed to stave off a late-game comeback attempt to defeat their arch-rival Green Bay Packers 30-23. If that alone wasn't enough to get Minnesota sports fans excited, the dramatic finish to Major League Baseball's regular season again has the "Little Engine that Could" Twins in another one-game playoff for the post season against the Detroit Tigers. At the start of September the Twins seemed to be down and out; trailing by 7 games but have been surging and pushing this race to an all-or-nothing final game. That showdown is tonight, marking the first time in Major League Baseball history that a team in back-to-back seasons has forced a one-game playoff for the post-season. That game begins around 4:00PM CST, but another event that has been overshadowed by the drama of the Twins, Vikings and Golden Gophers has been the start of the Minnesota Wild's season. The Wild lost its season opener to the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Saturday, and hope to do better in its home opener against the drastically changed Anaheim Ducks. The Blue Jackets have shown themselves to be a formidable opponent early this season earning not only a win over the Wild but a 5-3 victory at Vancouver late last night. The Ducks stumbled out of the gate and lost 4-1 to the San Jose Sharks. In its first game, the Wild gave glimpses of their aggressive two-man forecheck even though at times it wasn't overly effective and at times seemed to invite odd-man rushes for the opposition. In football, the old coaching adage is that the greatest amount of improvement is from Game 1 to Game 2, and while hockey and football are very different no doubt Wild fans hope to see an improved effort this evening where the team doesn't give up so many prime scoring chances for the Ducks as they did in their first game. Offensively there is still plenty of room for improvement, especially in 5-on-5 play where some of the team's more offensively gifted players (most notably Pierre-Marc Bouchard) must demonstrate more assertiveness if the team is going to both provide enough goal support as well as give some relief to Niklas Backstrom who made 37 saves in a losing effort. The Ducks are hoping for much of the same as it felt its offense put far too much pressure on still fairly young netminder Jonas Hiller to win the game. Without question, Ryan Getzlaf, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry will be looked to provide the offensive punch. A rebuilt Ducks defense is one area that the Wild may be able to exploit as Nick Boynton replaces the far more intimidating Chris Pronger. Scott Niedermayer is still the veteran catalyst for much of the power play as well as the team's best defender and it will be interesting to see how he handles the Wild now that they try so hard to take away time and space on the ice. These two teams always seem to bring out both the best and worst of each other and its fair to say that they call themselves rivals and if we're lucky perhaps John Scott and the mustached George Parros will drop the gloves. So without further adieu here's the in-game review.The game started off with some great pace and it was Minnesota with the first great scoring chance as an errant Ducks pass from Ryan Getzlaf was picked up in the slot by Mikko Koivu and he'd rip a wrist wide left of the Anaheim goal. The Wild were pressing the play with a strong two-man forecheck early, and this was causing some problems for the Ducks as they chipped and battled to alleviate pressure on Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Minnesota's defenseman were supporting the play well; especially assistant captain Greg Zanon who maintained the zone and fired a slap shot on goal that was stopped and held onto by Giguere. The Ducks attempted to catch Minnesota bunched up in their zone by attempting the long stretch pass; and this would help a bit as Bobby Ryan found some space to work a puck back to James Wisniewski who blasted a slapper that registered a giant rebound off the pads of Niklas Backstrom. Anaheim would make its attempt to regain some offense more difficult when youngster Bobby Ryan was caught hooking Owen Nolan giving the Wild its first power play of the game. Right off the initial faceoff the puck would be slid down low to Andrew Brunette who walked out in front of the goal but his wrist shot would slide wide of the Ducks' crease. Minnesota would struggle to get set up in the zone initially, but showcase some fine puck possession as Owen Nolan set up Kim Johnsson for a big blast from the point that was deflected aside by Giguere. The Wild continued to pepper Giguere with shots as James Sheppard flung a sharp angle shot that the Ducks goaltender tried to freeze as a roving Cal Clutterbuck hoped to punch into the goal but the Anaheim goalie would be spared by the officials whistle. Kyle Brodziak would race in a 2-on-1 with big John Scott and Brodziak would lift a wrist shot that was knocked down by the big bodied Ducks goalie and he'd freeze the puck for faceoff. Anaheim tried to answer back with some big point shots by Ryan Whitney and Steve Eminger respectively, the latter's shot was redirected forcing Backstrom to make a tough toe save. The Ducks pressure started to pay some dividends as Wild skaters began making dangerous cross-ice passes in their own zone that turned into easy turnovers. Minnesota still took its chances as Andrew Brunette and Martin Havlat attempted to create some offense off the rush that was only stymied by a diving Giguere. A few moments later, Brunette would see the Wild bench in a way he never wanted too as he was sent head over heels over the boards on a hit delivered by Bobby Ryan. He wasn't the only member of the Wild to take a big hit, as Kim Johnsson was blasted with a nice clean open ice hit by James Wisniewski. The Ducks would get Minnesota to scramble a bit in its own end and this would result in a Wild penalty when Nick Schultz hauled down Mike Brown for a 2:00 Interference call. On the power play, Minnesota's timely pressure worked well to disrupt most of the Ducks' plays. Yet Anaheim made a great play off the rush and Ryan Getzlaf made a great pass to Joffrey Lupul who threaded a diagonal cross-ice pass to a wide open Andrew Ebbett on the doorstep who was denied by a fantastic save by Backstrom. At the very end of the power play, James Wisniewski would be up ended by a terrific hip check by Brent Burns. The Ducks had a great late-period rush as Teemu Selanne found some open space and ripped a slap shot that was blocked by the Wild's defense and never made it to Backstrom and the period would end with both teams scoreless. Minnesota resumed its attack on the Ducks early in the 2nd period as Cal Clutterbuck would have a close-in chance that Giguere managed to knock away with his paddle. The Wild continued to apply pressure as Zanon found some open ice and he wristed a shot from the point that was redirected by Mikko Koivu on goal but Giguere was there to make the stop. The pressure was taking its toll early as Ryan Getzlaf would hold up Martin Havlat for a penalty. Anaheim's penalty killers were scrambling but they were only giving up shots that Giguere had a good view of allowing him to make fairly simple saves. The Wild at times were able to make some plays but the Ducks were doing a good job of getting into passing and shooting lanes giving Minnesota little free room to thread passes and take shots and Anaheim was able to get the big early kill. The Ducks would get on the scoreboard first, when Ryan Whitney would wind up and rip a slap shot that was perfectly redirected downward allowing the biscuit to beat Backstrom 5-hole to give Anaheim a 1-0 lead after fairly short review. The replay clearly showed Lupul's stick was well below the crossbar and the goal never should've been reviewed in the first place. The goal seemed to take some of the wind out of the Wild's sails at this point in the game, a game which they had dominated up until this point. Minnesota tried to answer back as Mikko Koivu deked around a diving Steve Eminger to fire a shot on goal that forced Giguere to freeze it. A bit of a scary moment in the game occured when Antti Miettinen would take a shot that hit a sprawling Joffrey Lupul right in the face that left him a bit worse for the wear. Lupul would be attended to by the training staff but he took the full brunt of Miettinen's wrist shot. Greg Zanon made a nice play to steal a puck from James Wisniewski and get a clear that ended up creating a 4-on-2 but the Wild were unable to get much of a scoring chance and the Ducks would counter attack with a 2-on-1 of their own where Ryan Getzlaf ripped a shot that was blocked aside by Backstrom. The Ducks would gather up the rebound and Corey Perry would draw the Wild defense to him which seemed to be running around its own end before threading a pass to a wide open Evgeni Artyukhin who buried the puck on a wide open net as the pass even fooled Backstrom and thus was caught out of position giving Anaheim a 2-0 lead. It would not get much better in the minutes shortly after this goal as the Wild tried to counter attack and in doing so would end up taking an interference penalty as Antti Miettinen would head to the box. Minnesota's penalty killers did a decent job at frustrating the Ducks on the man advantage with their passive pressure and was able to clear the offensive zone. Late in the power play a blocked shot slid over to a wide open Saku Koivu who unloaded a slapper that clanked off the left post and in to lift the Ducks to a 3-0 lead. Tempers started to flare and after a small tap in attempt that was frozen by Backstrom, Shane Hnidy would get into a shoving match with Anaheim's Mike Brown and both would earn coincidental roughing minors. With the ice more open with four skaters aside, the Wild continued to make poor turnovers and bizarre decisions to dump the puck in the zone and then go chase it. You could even hear a few boo's from the crowd as the team struggled to generate shots on Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The Wild seemed to be a bit stunned as they took their 3-0 deficit into the 3rd period. In the 3rd period the Wild was taking chances to get back into the game. That taking the chance to work the puck on goal and then crashing the net as best they could. They had a great initial chance of a point shot by Hnidy that hit the boards behind the net. John Scott sensed his team needed some spark so he challenged George Parros. Scott took control early with some quick left handed jabs as Parros tried to hold on and get ready to counter with some punches of his own but he'd never get the chance as the tough Wild forward would start firing big right hands that were landing with good effect to Parros' face. Just as Parros tried to work inside on Scott, the big 6'8" landed a big right hand that sent Parros to the ice on his back to the cheers of a greatful Xcel Energy Crowd who had not had a real occasion to cheer since they recieved word of the Twins victory over Tigers. As the Wild again did their best to create scoring chances, their own passiveness with the puck would thwart some of their opportunities as James Sheppard passed on an open sharp angle chance that potentially could've created a rebound instead opted to pass where the puck eventually ended up on the stick of Kim Johnsson who took a slap shot from the point that was promptly blocked and exited the offensive zone. The Wild continued to attack and off a quick shot by Owen Nolan that created a nice rebound, Petr Sykora attempted to take a whack at the rebound and was held up by Joffrey Lupul giving Minnesota a much-needed power play. On the man advantage the Wild moved the puck well from high to low, where they moved for quick shots in the slot area, and after a missed shot Andrew Brunette tracked down the loose biscuit and slid a short pass to Martin Havlat who quickly fed Mikko Koivu who snapped a shot 5-hole through Giguere to cut the Ducks lead to two, 3-1. A few moments later the Wild appeared to earn another power play when a charging Benoit Pouliot was held up by Nick Boynton, yet as the inteference penalty was called on the Ducks defenseman, Pouliot inexplicably ran into Giguere giving himself a goaltender interference penalty. It was a ridiculously undisciplined play by the Wild player who really needs to put up or shut up and without question will not win many points with Wild Head Coach Todd Richards. With the ice again opened up with 4-on-4 hockey, the Ducks were content to play keep away whenever they could to kill valuable seconds off the clock. After the 4-on-4 was over the Wild went on the attack with a new modified 1st line of Martin Havlat, Eric Belanger and Petr Sykora and right away Belanger and Sykora showed some hunger for the net. Off the rush Sykora redirected a Belanger pass on goal and Belanger followed that up with a mild push to the back of Scott Niedermayer who convieniently lifted the goal off its moorings as Belanger just tapped in a pass by Sykora from behind the net to the consternation of the 18,256 in attendance at Xcel Energy Center. The crowd would give another loud boo as they watched the replay which clearly indicated that Niedermayer lifted the net off without being shoved into the goal. The faceoff would be taken out of the offensive zone, but the new modified top line would demonstrate the best chemistry of the evening as they found themselves with some great passes and finally a perfect give and go between Havlat to a crashing Sykora who moved into the slot one-timed a shot just inside the left post to cut the Ducks lead to one, 3-2. The Wild had taken off whatever shackles they had on as they were relentlessly charging into the Ducks' zone as they worked for the equalizer. Anytime the Wild got the puck they went on the attack and this aggressiveness would pay off in the form of another Minnesota power play as Cal Clutterbuck would be hauled down as he was chopping after the puck that had been bouncing near the Ducks' crease. Ryan Whitney was the guilty party and Minnesota did not waste time throwing pucks on goal as Marek Zidlicky flung a wrist shot right off the initial faceoff. The Wild were flying all over the ice and Martin Havlat dished a pass to a charging Eric Belanger who raced into the Ducks zone where he wound up and took a slap shot that somehow snuck through the wickets of Giguere to tie the game with just over 2 minutes left. The Ducks tried to counter attack and both sides were getting a bit chippy as Lupul hooked Brent Burns who spun down to the ice where Cal Clutterbuck moved in to deliver a hit on Mike Brown and he then took a good hit from Saku Koivu and Clutterbuck slashed him back and then talked a little trash afterwards. With 53.2 seconds left, Wild Head Coach Todd Richards called a timeout to give his minute crunching defenseman a bit of a rest. The rest of the seconds would evaporate without incident sending the game into overtime. In overtime it was not the up and down affair that was the 3rd period. Both teams were cautious at the start but then each began trading rushes against one another and it started to look a bit dangerous as the Wild were taking wide angle shots that were missing wide nearly creating odd-man rushes against. However, it would be another Ducks penalty that would prove to be most costly as a bit of a cheap shot given by Kyle Brodziak to James Wisniewski who would retaliate which was seen by the official giving the Wild a power play. On the power play as the Wild worked the puck down low to Andrew Brunette who fed Eric Belanger who fired a quick shot on Giguere who made the initial save but Brunette would lift home the rebound to give Minnesota the improbable 4-3 come from behind victory. Niklas Backstrom had a game which he might not feel all that great about making just 16 saves in the win. The Wild's attacking style really put a tremendous amount of pressure on the Ducks; especially in the 3rd period when Minnesota went on the offensive. Defensively, the Wild still were making too many dangerous cross-ice passes from their own zone and were lucky that Anaheim didn't capitalize on more of its chances. The Wild's blueline still was finding itself looking rather disorganized in its own end, and needs to be better than it was tonight. However let's give credit where its due, it was a vast improvement over their first game against Columbus. Martin Havlat is showing he can be an excellent playmaker with 3 assists tonight, and 4 points through 2 games. He seems to be able to create chemistry with just about anyone and by far is Minnesota's catalyst offensively. I have a feeling he'll likely be paired up with Petr Sykora and Eric Belanger more frequently as the line played very well together. While it was tough to watch the first two periods as the team worked so far and seemed to be destined to be unrewarded their persistence and aggressiveness paid off in the end and perhaps seing the Wild attack the way it did is almost as tantalizing as the win was itself. John Scott also proved he is a very capable fighter and perhaps he might be able to supplant (dare I say replace) Derek Boogaard who is currently dealing with a concussion he recieved in a pre-season game against Columbus. It has been a fantastic 48-hours in the State of Hockey, and the Minnesota Wild's win was the perfect icing on the cake. Unfortunately it will be awhile before Minnesota sees the Wild at home again as the team travels out west to play the Los Angeles Kings on five-game road trip. Wild Notes:~ Wild lineup is as follows: Mikko Koivu, Martin Havlat, Andrew Brunette, Owen Nolan, Petr Sykora, Cal Clutterbuck, Antti Miettinen, Kyle Brodziak, Eric Belanger, James Sheppard, Benoit Pouliot, Greg Zanon, Marek Zidlicky, John Scott, Shane Hnidy, Kim Johnsson, Brent Burns and Josh Harding backed up Niklas Backstrom. Jamie Sifers, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Derek Boogaard were the scratches. ~ The 3 Stars of the Game as selected by Let's Play Hockey are: 1st Star Andrew Brunette, 2nd Star Martin Havlat, 3rd Star Mikko Koivu~ The State of Hockey News would like to congratulate the Minnesota Twins on a fantastic run to overcome a seemingly insurmountable deficit to win the American League's Central Division. The Twins defeated the Tigers 6-5 on an Alexi Cassila single to right field that brought home Carlos Gomez for the win and a trip to the post-season to play against the much-hated New York Yankees.Golden Gopher Men's Hockey Update:The Golden Gophers Men's hockey team also started their season this weekend, in a Sunday exhibition tilt at Mariucci Arena against the British Columbia Thunderbirds of the Canadian college league. The Thunderbirds are primarily made up of ex-Major Junior players who were not tendered professional contracts. Unlike in the United States NCAA program, it is very rare for a Canadian college player to advance to the NHL. If you remember, current Nashville Predator Joel Ward was a star player for Prince Edward Island University before living his NHL dream. The Golden Gophers had little trouble extinguishing the Thunderbirds, beating them 6-1. Minnesota's top line started the scoring, with Jay Barriball and New Jersey Devils prospect Mike Hoeffel registering a goal in a 1st period where the boys in Maroon and Gold out shot the visitors 13 to 5. In the 2nd period, Cade Fairchild lit the lamp to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead. However the Thunderbirds would answer back with a goal by Max Grassi to cut the Gophers lead to two, but that margin would be increased again later in the period when Tony Lucia would cause the Minnesota Rouser to be played again off a great pass by freshman Josh Birkholz as Minnesota would carry a 4-1 lead into the 3rd. In the 3rd the Gophers clearly had worn down the Thunderbirds, as Dallas Stars prospect Nico Sacchetti found the twine and the Minnesota Wild's 1st round pick from 2009 Nick Leddy blasted a shot home on the power play. It is a small wonder this game didn't get more ugly than it did considering the Gophers out shot the British Columbia 24 to 2 and Minnesota would relish its 6-1 victory. If there was any sore spot for the Gophers was the lack of work their backup goaltenders received as both Kent Patterson and practice goaltender Jake Kremer never really were tested all that much, stopping a mere 10 shots the entire game between both of them! Gophers Head Coach Don Lucia was very pleased with the effort as a whole and said he was happy how well the freshman played.