Zidlicky Contract Extension Imminent

According to Russo, 33-year-old Marek Zidlicky is close to signing a 3-year contract extension for a rumored $12 million ($4 million per year).

Post will be updated later today if Zidlicky does sign on the dotted line.

Blogging to Return Soon

I apologize to my few readers that this blog hasn't been updated in some time. Once the Wild resume play after the olympics, I will again be blogging daily about the Wild. A few things have come up in the recent months-first, a new job, but most importantly, my laptop quit working so I was unable to keep up on this site.

Thanks for the emails to those of you who have emailed me demanding me to get back on here and to continue blogging. Once the Wild resume play in March, I'll be updating the site again (with some new features too!!!).

Thanks for your input everyone and until I return, go Team USA!!!

Post-Game: Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild

	Wild Regular Season Game #36
4	Final Score	3

Associated Press Release
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)—Matt Hendricks scored short-handed to cap a three-goal second period for Colorado, and the Avalanche hung on to beat the Minnesota Wild on Monday 4-3 for the first time in five tries this season.

Matt Duchene, Chris Stewart and Milan Hejduk also had goals for the Avs, who took advantage of uncharacteristic sloppiness by Niklas Backstrom(notes) and the Wild and beat Minnesota in regulation for only the second time in the past 16 regular-season matchups between these Northwest Division opponents.

Barely.

Owen Nolan and Martin Havlat scored less than two minutes apart midway through the third period, with Havlat’s breakaway cutting the once-wide lead to one with 6:03 left and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Craig Anderson faced a flurry of shots, including a bad bounce off the board that almost caught him out of position, in the final minutes but finished strong with 28 saves.

The Wild outshot the Avs 13-4 in the third period.

They were playing well, their best stretch this season under new coach Todd Richards, until arriving in Ottawa on Friday. The van carrying their equipment caught fire, destroying half of the team’s gear, much of it form-fitted, and then three players fell ill and couldn’t play in the 4-1 loss to the Senators.

More than happy to be home, where they’re 10-4-1 this season, the Wild brought energy to this chippy contest—with Clutterbuck and bruiser Derek Boogaard mixing it up with the Avs the most—but negated it with a haphazard performance.

The Wild struggled in the second period.

Stewart and Hejduk each scored on slap shots from the right wing, sending the puck past Backstrom’s stick in both instances. Then came the bad goal to beat all bad goals, when Havlat tried to skate through two defenders and lost the puck at the Colorado blue line. The Avs cleared it all the way to the opposite end, but while the Wild changed lines nobody chased it down and Hendricks corralled it. He sent it to Cody McLeod, who gave it back to Hendricks for an easy score and a 4-1 advantage.

NOTES: Backstrom fell to 14-3-2 in his past 19 starts against the Avs. … Hendricks scored for the first time in his home state. He’s from an area suburb, Blaine, and played collegiately at St. Cloud State. … The Wild announced the call-up of RW Jon DiSalvatore from Houston in the afternoon and sent him back to the AHL club less than three hours later when Nolan was activated from injured reserve. Nolan missed the past four games with an unspecified lower-body injury. … After going 11 games with only one point, Duchene has eight goals and eight assists in his past 17 games since Nov. 18. Stewart has had a similar swing: After 10 games without a point, he has eight goals and nine assists in his past 14 games.

Scoring Summary
1st Period
19:49, Matt Duchene, 10th (Darcy Tucker, T.J. Galiardi)

2nd Period
3:49, Chris Stewart, 9th (Paul Stastny)
10:29, Milan Hejduk, 14th (T.J. Galiardi)
13:55, Cal Clutterbuck, 7th (SH) (Nick Schultz)
17:16, Matt Hendricks, 4th (SH) (Cody McLeod)

3rd Period
12:05, Owen Nolan, 8th (Chuck Kobasew, Kim Johnsson)
13:57, Martin Havlat, 6th (Clayton Stoner, Andrew Brunette

	Game Stats
21	Shots on Goal	31
18	Faceoffs Won	33
0 of 5	Power Plays	0 of 4

Game Highlights


To hear the PONDcast POSTgame from tonight's game from rockstar Kevin Falness, click the Play Button below

Earl, DiSalvatore sent to Houston

In what might be the shortest call-up in Wild history, Jon DiSalvatore was sent back down to the Houston Aero's two and a half hours after he was called up by Minnesota. Winger Robbie Earl was also returned to Houston as well.

DiSalvatore was called up by Minnesota earlier this afternoon as the Wild were worried that they might not have enough healthy players to play tonight versus the Avs. After this afternoon's skate, it was clear to head coach Todd Richards that the Wild would have enough forwards so DiSalvatore and Earl were both returned to Houston.

Gameday: Colorado Avalanche vs Minnesota Wild

Wild Regular Season Game #36
Monday, December 21st, 2009, 7:00 PM CDT
Xcel Energy Center-St. Paul, Minnesota

........................................................	........................................................
Season Series: 0-2-2	Season Series: 4-0-0
........................................................	........................................................
Overall Record: 20-11-6	Overall Record: 17-15-3
46 Points (3rd in the West)	37 Points (11th in the West)
Home Record: 10-4-2	Home Record: 10-3-1
Away Record: 10-7-4	Away Record: 7-12-2
Last 10 Games Played: 6-3-1	Last 10 Games Played: 7-3-0
Power Play: 28 of 146, 19.2% (15th)	Power Play: 25 of 142, 17.6% (19th)
Pen. Kill: 120 of 151, 79.5% (18th)	Pen. Kill: 107 of 129, 83.0% (11th)
Goals Per Game: 2.86 (9th)	Goals Per Game: 2.49 (23rd)
Goals Against / Game: 2.76 (15th)	Goals Against / Game: 2.76 (13th)
Shots Per Game: 26.2 (30th)	Shots Per Game: 29.4 (20th)
Shots Against / Game: 31.9 (25th)	Shots Against / Game: 28.0 (6th)
Faceoff Percentage: 47.0 (28th)	Faceoff Percentage: 52.7 (4th)
........................................................	........................................................
Starting Forwards	Starting Forwards
Starting Defensemen	Starting Defensemen
Starting Goaltender	Starting Goaltender
........................................................	........................................................
Avalanche Injury Report	Wild Injury Report
RW, Marek Svatos (groin)	C, Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion)
RW, David Jones (torn left ACL)	RW, Petr Sykora (concussion)
D, Kyle Cumiskey (foot)	D, Brent Burns (concussion)
D, Ruslan Salei (back)
........................................................	........................................................
Avalanche Scratches	Wild Scratches
LW, David Koci	LW, Guillaume Latendresse
D, Derek Peltier	D, John Scott
........................................................	........................................................

Story Line: The Minnesota Wild players and their families celebrated the holidays last night with a skating party at the Xcel Energy Center. The party was planned long ago when there was no idea that it would serve a dual purpose: quality time with the fam, and breaking in skates. After one game with half the roster wearing new skates, the Wild had just yesterday to get used to them some more before taking on the Colorado Avalanche tonight. Some players were not able to make the party due to the flu bug ravaging through the lineup.

The Wild will have a much different look tonight than it had on Saturday. Owen Nolan will return from a lower body injury, and Eric Belanger has recovered from the flu. The Wild has called up Jon DiSalvatore from the Houston Aeros to provide reinforcement.

The shorthanded Wild looked out of sorts in a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. Ottawa scored the first four goals before former Senator Martin Havlat tipped home his fifth goal of the season. Niklas Backstrom took the loss in a 20-save effort.

The Avalanche kept their winning ways going on Saturday night with a 5-2 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Chris Stewart scored 21 seconds into the game, and the Avs scored three more goals before the midway point of the first. Wojtek Wolski picked up two goals and an assist and Milan Hejduk added a goal and two assists.

Less than halfway into the season tonight will mark the fifth time that the Wild and Avalanche have squared off. The Wild has won all four meetings this season, two of which have come in shootout fashion. For whatever reason, the Wild has had the answers for the likes of Wojtek Wolski, Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk and Marek Svatos, who have a combined two goals in the four games. Over the season, those four have accounted for 42 of the team’s 109 goals in 37 games.

Against everybody else, the Avs find ways to win. Colorado has won three of four and five of its last seven contests.

Quick Hits:
1. No excuses for the Wild as far as points are concerned, they have a chance to gain ground on the Northwest Division leader tonight. As for Colorado, they simply have to do the same thing they did Saturday, dominate early and often.

2. Clayton Stoner has been impressive after playing his first two NHL games on the road. He’ll make his home debut tonight after posting his first-ever point on the assist to Havlat’s goal.

3. The Wild has scored just one power play goal in its last 26 attempts.

To hear tonight's game preview from rockstar Kevin Falness, click the Play Button below