Pre-Season: Havlat scores twice in fight-filled 3-0 home victory over Chicago

In Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan, Ricardo Montalban plays the genetically enhanced villain, Khan and during the film he utters one of the most famous quotes in science fiction history, "There is an old Klingon proverb where revenge is a dish best served cold." That likely was the dish Martin Havlat enjoyed serving to his former team tonight as he lit the lamp twice in his Wild pre-season debut. As I stated in the pre-game, due to the contentious comments Havlat made about the direction of the Blackhawks after the re-assignment of Dale Tallon probably meant the goals the new Wild winger scored had a small dose of vitriol to them. The other side story to any pre-season game is the fight for jobs and players did not hesitate both literally and figuratively to fight to show their organization or others that they're worth keeping around. Well, let's begin shall we? In the first period, the Wild attempt to set the physical tone early as Jaime Sifers delivers a big hit on former University of Wisconsin star Adam Burish that rattles the boards rather nicely. It was not much longer that Martin Havlat tallied his first goal of the game, on a play that saw the speedy 6'2" Czech motor by two Chicago defenders and then slide a great pass to Benoit Pouliot who then tapped a pass right back to Havlat who buried the chance by Antti Niemi to put the Wild up 1-0. Perhaps sensing his team needed a boost, Chicago's Jake Dowell dropped the gloves with the Wild's Nathan Smith. Both players were throwing some big punches in a spirited fight that the crowd appreciated. It would end in a draw and both would sit in the box with 5-minute fighting majors. About a minute later, the feistiness of the evening continued when big 6'8" defenseman John Scott leveled Bryan Bickell with a big check, and the Blackhawks' Danny Bois took offense and challenged Minnesota's behemoth defender. It wasn't much of a fight as Scott, an experienced fighter dropped Bois to the ice with just one well-placed punch. Incidentially, it was Scott who recieved an extra minor penalty leaving his team a man short for the next two minutes. Chicago came very close to tying the game when former Detroit Red Wing, Tomas Kopecky rang a shot off the post that had Niklas Backstrom guessing. Minnesota's penalty killers did a good job at challenging the Blackhawks and the Wild would get the kill. Yet it would soon go back on the penalty kill as Sifers was called for interference and again the PK stood tall, as well as Backstrom who made an incredible save to stonewall Chicago's Andrew Ladd and Minnesota held onto its 1-0 lead. The Wild kept skating and creating as well as Petr Sykora and Martin Havlat work their magic when Sykora ripped a shot that was snagged out of the air by the glove of Niemi and Minnesota kept its lead going into the 2nd. In the 2nd period; the Wild's top line again starts with a great scoring chance created by the speed and offensive skill of Havlat who makes a strong move towards the Chicago goal only to be shut down by a great save by Niemi. Blackhawks young power forward Kyle Beach tried to notch the equalizer with a strong move down low but his wrister just missed high and wide of Niklas Backstrom. Both teams at this point are really flying all over the ice, and Minnesota's forecheck created some scoring chances as Sykora made a few nifty moves to free himself to get off a nice shot that was denied by Niemi. One of the more unexpected moments of the game came when young Tyler Cuma dropped the gloves against Shawn Lalonde. Apparently Lalonde who plays for the Belleville Bulls has some 'history' with Cuma and the two youngsters had nice little scrap with the Wild defenseman getting in a few right hands before Lalonde took over and eventually punched and wrestled the 1st round pick from 2008 to the ice. Either way it was good to see an element of toughness from a young player not normally associated with dropping the gloves. Danny Bois decided to ratchet up the physicality for the Blackhawks but he goes too far when he hits Jaime Sifers from behind giving the Wild a power play. For a brief moment the Wild thought it added to its lead when Sifers blistered a shot from the point that was tipped in by Pouliot but the officials waived off the apparent goal that went in and out from just behind the crossbar. Both teams would dump the puck and attempt to establish a forecheck over the next 6 1/2 minutes with neither one able to really get much going offensively other than a few distant shots that neither goaltender had much trouble with. Perhaps the inability to create anymore offense frustrated Jaime Sifers to drop the gloves against Colin Fraser. Sifers, another player not noted for fighting started to land some quality punches against the more experienced (fighting-wise) Fraser and eventually Fraser would rally back and bring Sifers down but he kept firing punches even as he fell back to the ice. Minnesota would take its 1-0 lead into the 3rd period. Minnesota switches goaltenders, as Niklas Backstrom heads to the bench and Anton Khudobin gets the shot as reliever. The Blackhawks try to test the smaller goaltender but Khudobin is poised between the pipes for the Wild. There is one last fight of the evening as Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia-native Aaron Johnson takes on heavyweight enforcer Matt Kassian. Johnson is quickly overmatched by the much-larger Kassian, and Johnson just hangs on for dear life as Kassian pummels him until he eventually turtles to the ice. A few minutes later penalties to Chicago, one from Moorhead's Mark Cullen and the other from Aaron Johnson give the Wild a 5-on-3 power play. Minnesota takes full advantage of it as a great centering pass by Cal Clutterbuck is tapped into the goal by Martin Havlat for his 2nd goal of the game. A few minutes later, Petr Sykora adds one of his own as Owen Nolan fed a pass to Sykora who lifted a shot up and over Niemi who was really feeling the pressure throughout this period and Minnesota skates away with an impressive 3-0 victory. Yes, it wasn't the Chicago Blackhawks "A team" we faced tonight. However it was a good showing for a portion of the Wild's "A team" most notably Martin Havlat who definitely showed how he can be the offensive workhorse for this team. The Wild got great contributions from Petr Sykora and Kim Johnsson as well who chipped in 2 assists. Jaime Sifers followed up a good effort on Friday with an outstanding one tonight. As a whole Minnesota showed toughness as well as skill and it was another solid effort in front of the home crowd. The Wild do not have long to rest as they travel to Columbus tomorrow night to take on the Blue Jackets.