Wild Hold On To Beat Thrashers 3-2
by Chris Thompson

Thursday October 30, 2003

After a successful three game road trip, the Minnesota Wild returned home to begin a two game homestand, as well as the annual team skills competition. Minnesota struggled during its last home stand, but found life on the road to their liking as they earned victories in Florida and Buffalo and nearly won in Tampa Bay as well. Now the question was could the Wild carry that success back onto the home ice. Atlanta would prove a mighty test. The Thrashers entered the game with a record of 5-1-2-1. Many hockey fans expected the tragic story of Dan Heatley and Dan Snyder to be a distraction for the Thrashers, but it seems to have only inspired them early in the season. Could Minnesota beat them?

Well, it started off on a sour note when Antti Laaksonen took a high sticking penalty just 16 seconds into the game. But Minnesota was able to successfully kill the penalty and keep Atlanta from gaining the early momentum. In fact, the Wild prevented the Thrashers from even getting a shot off.

Minnesota gained a power play at 6:42 of the first and took little time to convert. Pascal Dupuis slid into goalie Byron Dafoe, leaving the puck loose in the crease. Andrew Brunette tapped it in for his second goal of the season before diving headfirst into the net. Pascal Dupuis and Filip Kuba assisted on the goal at 7:29 of the first period. The goal marked the 8th straight game Minnesota scored on the power play, a team record

Minnesota nearly made it 2-0 in the first when on the power play Andrew Brunette fed a pass through the crease, but even Richard Park, who was wide open on the far post was surprised to see the puck get through and he was unable to connect. The first period ended with a 1-0 score as the Wild controlled the play and outshot the Thrashers 12-4.

Midway through the second Atlanta got their first really good scoring chance when Jean-Pierre Vigier broke away short handed, but Manny was able to come out and cut off the angle, leaving Vigier’s shot wide of the net. Less than two minutes later, just as the power play expired, Walz blasted a shot that trickled through Dafoe’s pads and into the net for a goal. Laaksonen gave the puck a little boost into the back of the net for good measure, but the goal went to Walz, his third of the season. Schultz and Dupuis got the assists. Atlanta wasn’t happy about the goal and Francis Lessard tried to take out his frustrations on Matt Johnson. Not a good idea. Johnson pummeled Lessard in a short-lived bout.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard took a holding penalty at the 14:33 marc of the second period and at 15:45 Frantisek Kaberle of the Thrashers converted a one-timer to pull within a goal of the Wild. Atlanta played a much more aggressive game in the second period, but Manny Fernandez stepped up his game and, besides the power play goal, was stellar in net. Atlanta outshot the Wild 9-6 in the second period.

The third period started slow, but Darby Hendrickson’s boarding penalty at 3:55 of the period gave Atlanta a chance to tie the game. They did little with the chance though. Shortly after the penalty expired, Byron Dafoe earned a tripping penalty. Minnesota took just 35 seconds to score as Brunette found Kuba pinching in on the far post. Kuba put the puck in the net for his second of the season. Brunette and Brandner got the assists on the goal. Minnesota kept the heat on in the third, breaking down ice several times with odd-man rushes and coming close to adding another tally several times, but there were unable to cash in successfully to add the back breaking goal.

That inability to finish the Thrashers off allowed them to climb back into it as Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 11th goal of the season at 16:06 of the period. The goal brought the Thrashers within a goal and put the Wild fans on edge. Minnesota had another great scoring chance with 2:40 to go in the period, but again they were unable to clip the Thrashers wings. It looked like the Thrashers took themselves out of the game with 1:47 to go when Serge Aubin was called for hooking Pascal Dupuis to the ice, but Dupuis received a questionable matching penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct-diving to keep the Thrashers hopes alive.Byron Dafoe left the ice with 1:25 to go in the period, giving Atlanta the extra attacker, and the Thrashers moved the puck well in the Wild zone, Kovalchuk found himself wide open on the back side of the net with the puck, but pounded the puck off the post and through the crease, missing an easy game tying goal. Atlanta took a timeout with 13.1 seconds to go to regroup for one last shot at the Wild, but they were unable to cash in and the clock ran out. Minnesota finished with 24 shots to Atlanta’s 23.

Dupuis got the third star. Kuba got the second star. Brunette got the #1 star. *For the second consecutive game both Travis Roche and Alex Henry played as Andrei Zyuzin continued to battle back spasms and Brad Brown was once again a healthy scratch
*Thursday’s game marked the first home game of the season for Pascal Dupuis.
*Former Wild defenseman Andy Sutton returned to the X as a member of the Thrashers. In a humorous moment a little more than half way through the first period, Antti Laaksonen pretended to challenge Sutton to a fight after getting a late nudge after the whistle. Laaksonen quickly retreated with a smile on his face.
*Manny Fernandez started in net for the third straight game.
*As the game ended, a fan on the glass held up a huge sign reading “Marian Who”
*After the game, coach Lemaire was asked about the status of Andrei Zyuzin. Lemaire said he could have gone tonight, but he wanted to see Roche play some more.