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32 Backstrom25 Belanger47 Bergeron24 Boogaard96 Bouchard15 brunette8 burns26 foster10 Gaborik29 Harding5 johnsson9 koivu20 miettinen11 nolan2 reitz55 schultz51 Sheppard41 skoula19 Veilleux12 Weller3 Zidlicky10/4/07 • Minnesota 1 vs. Chicago 0: The Wild blanked theBlackhawks 1-0 to post the franchise’s sixth straight seasonhome-opening win...Pierre-Marc Bouchard broke the scorelesstie with an even-strength goal at 4:47 in the second period...Niklas Backstrom made 27 saves en route to notching his sixthcareer NHL shutout...The Wild are now 4-2-1 in all-time seasonopeners while Jacques Lemaire moved to 8-3-2 as a head coachwhen beginning a new campaign...RECORD: 1-0-0, 2 pts.10/6/07 • Minnesota 3 vs. Columbus 2: Minnesota rallied todefeat Columbus 3-2...Pierre-Marc Bouchard recorded the 50thgoal of his Wild career...Bouchard became the third Wild playerin club history to post goals in the first two games of the season(Todd White in 2006-07, Andrew Brunette in 2002-03)...BrianRolston assisted on all three goals, matching a single-game careerhigh...Niklas Backstrom made 19 saves in net...Brent Burnsregistered the game-winning goal at 6:35 in the third...Eric Belangerscored the game-tying tally...RECORD: 2-0-0, 4 pts.10/10/07 • Minnesota 2 vs. Edmonton 0: Niklas Backstrom registeredhis second shutout of the season to guide the Wild toa 2-0 win over the Edmonton at Xcel Energy Center in the firstNorthwest Division match-up of the season for both clubs...BrentBurns opened the scoring at 12:22 in the first period...PavolDemitra notched his first goal of the season at 7:48 in the secondperiod...Marian Gaborik put away his 86th multi-point game...AMikko Koivu assist accounted for his 50th as a member of theWild...RECORD: 3-0-0, 6 pts.10/13/07 • Minnesota 3 at Phoenix 2: Eric Belanger snappeda tie with a short-handed goal with 3:15 left in regulation, asMinnesota rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena...Mikko Koivu tied the game minutes earlier with apower-play goal and Marian Gaborik scored his first goal of theseason...Niklas Backstrom made 27 saves for his fourth straightvictory...Brian Rolston skated in the 900th game of his NHL career...RECORD:4-0-0, 8 pts.10/14/07 • Minnesota 2 at Anaheim 0: Josh Harding recordeda career-high 37 saves for his third career shutout, and BrianRolston and Mark Parrish scored a goal apiece, as the MinnesotaWild remained perfect with a 2-0 victory over the defendingStanley Cup champion Ducks...Eric Belanger tallied his teamleadingfifth point of the season (2-3=5) when he assisted onRolston’s goal while Branko Radivojevic secured his first helperof the season when Parrish scored...The Wild killed off all eightDucks power plays…Wes Walz played in his 600th NHL game...RECORD: 5-0-0, 10 pts.10/20/07 • Minnesota 3 at St. Louis 1: Josh Harding made 33saves and Eric Belanger posted the game-winning goal andadded an assist, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 3-1 victory overthe St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center...Pavol Demitra and BrentBurns also scored for Minnesota, which finished a four-gameroad trip 3-0-1...RECORD: 6-0-1, 13 pts.10/21/07 • Minnesota 3 vs. Colorado 2: After a scoreless firstperiod the Wild took a 2-0 lead on second period power-playgoals from Mark Parrish and Brian Rolston...Colorado responded2007-08 GAME SUMMARIESwith two second period goals of their own to tie the game...Mikko Koivu netted the unassisted game-winner with 3:04 left inregulation...Niklas Backstrom made 29 saves and Pavol Demitraadded two assists for the Wild...RECORD: 7-0-1, 15 pts.10/24/07 • Minnesota 3 at Calgary 5: The Wild jumped out to a3-0 lead after the first 20 minutes of play on power-play goalsfrom Brian Rolston and Mark Parrish, and an even strengthmarker from Wes Walz...Calgary collected three goals of theirown in the second period and tallied two more times in the thirdperiod to earn a 5-3 come-from-behind victory...The loss markedthe first time in franchise history Minnesota lost a game whenholding a three-goal lead...Niklas Backstrom made 19 saves...RECORD: 7-1-1, 15 pts.10/30/07 • Minnesota 2 vs. Pittsburgh 4: Sidney Crosby scoredfour points (1-3=4) in his first game at Xcel Energy Center andEvgeni Malkin had two goals while chipping in a helper, leadingPittsburgh over the Wild 4-2...Brian Rolston and StephaneVeilleux scored a goal apiece as the Wild lost for the first time athome during the 2007-08 season...RECORD: 7-3-2, 16 pts.11/3/07 • Minnesota 4 vs. Calgary 1: The Wild improved to19-0-2 all-time when Marian Gaborik has at least three pointsand snapped a five-game winless slide (0-4-1) with a victoryover the Flames at Xcel Energy Center...Gaborik had two goalsand added an assist on Brian Rolston’s first-period score...BrentBurns notched two assists, giving him a three-game assiststreak – tying his career-high in both categories...Niklas Backstrommade 23 stops in his first appearance since Oct. 24 at Calgary...BrankoRadivojevic recorded his first goal of the season...RECORD: 8-4-2, 18 pts.11/5/07 • Minnesota 5 vs. Edmonton 2: Mark Parrish scored twopower-play goals and Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Kurtis Fosteradded man-advantage goals 11 seconds apart late in the firstperiod, as the Wild routed the Oilers 5-2...Mikko Koivu tied hiscareer high with three assists, Stephane Veilleux also scored andNiklas Backstrom made 22 saves to improve to 6-0-0 lifetimeversus the Oilers...Koivu notched three assists for the secondtime in his career...RECORD: 9-4-2, 20 pts.11/11/07 • Minnesota 2 at Colorado 4: Paul Stastny registeredtwo goals and an assist, while Ryan Smyth and Wojtek Wolskitallied a goal and an assist apiece, leading Colorado past theWild...Eric Belanger and Pierre-Marc Bouchard each scored agoal for Minnesota...RECORD: 9-5-2, 20 pts.11/13/07 • Minnesota 2 at Calgary 3: Despite two goals fromMikko Koivu, the Wild lost to the Flames...Minnesota fell to 1-9-2in its previous 12 trips to Pengrowth Saddledome...Dion Phaneufhelped the Flames claim a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at15:43 in the first period...Koivu then scored twice to give the Wilda 2-1 advantage before Calgary responded with a pair of its ownto ice the victory...Kristian Huselius paced the Flames with twopoints (1-1=2), including the game-winning goal at 19:07 inthe third...Niklas Backstrom made 25 saves in defeat...RECORD:9-6-2, 20 pts.11/15/07 • Minnesota 4 at Edmonton 2: Eric Belanger tied aWild record and set a personal best with four assists, MartinSkoula scored his first goal in 114 games and Marian Gaborikreturned to the lineup, after missing three games, tallying a goaland an assist and leading Minnesota past Edmonton 4-2 at RexallPlace...Mark Parrish pushed his point streak to four gameswith a goal and an assist while Kurtis Foster also scored for Minnesota,which overcame two goals from Jarret Stoll...RECORD:10-6-2, 22 pts.11/18/07 • Minnesota 4 vs. Colorado 1: Matt Foy notched hisfirst points of the season (a first period assist and second periodgoal) as the Wild dispatched Colorado at Xcel Energy Center...Aaros Voros found the net for the second straight game to givethe Wild a 1-0 lead...Brent Burns also picked up a goal for thesecond game in a row with his fifth of 2007-08 in the third period...JamesSheppard posted two assists and Stephane Veilleuxnotched a goal in the second period...Josh Harding received thewin, stopping 27 shots in his first victory since Oct. 20 at St.Louis...RECORD: 11-7-2, 24 pts.11/24/07 • Minnesota 4 at Nashville 3: Branko Radivojevic talliedthe game-winning goal at 18:07 in the third period to liftthe Wild over Nashville at Sommet Center...Aaron Voros, Matt Foyand Marian Gaborik also scored for Minnesota, which led 3-2after the second period...Both Foy and Dominic Moore posted twopoints while Niklas Backstrom faced 43 shots for the second timein his career...Minnesota moved to 9-2-1 when scoring more thantwo goals this season...RECORD: 12-9-2, 26 pts.11/28/07 • Minnesota 3 vs. Phoenix 1: Niklas Backstrom made21 saves while Stephane Veilleux, Marian Gaborik (GW) andJames Sheppard scored a goal apiece, as Minnesota topped theCoyotes 3-1 at Xcel Energy Center...Aaron Voros also notched twoassists as the Wild moved into a first-place tie with Vancouver...RECORD: 13-9-2, 28 pts.11/30/07 • Minnesota 3 vs. St. Louis 2 (OT): Marian Gaborikscored his second career overtime game-winner with 2:39 left inthe extra session, as the Wild defeated St. Louis...Brian Rolstonand Brent Burns also scored while Niklas Backstrom made 22saves for the Wild...RECORD: 14-9-2, 30 pts.12/2/07 • Minnesota 2 vs. Vancouver 1: Aaron Voros posted thegame-winning goal at 16:45 in the second period for the Wild ina 2-1 win over Vancouver...When Eric Belanger scored his sixthgoal of the season at 16:38 in the first period, the Wild snappedRoberto Luongo’s shutout streak at 210 minutes, 34 seconds...The assist from Sean Hill on Belanger’s goal was his first sincejoining Minnesota as a free agent...Brian Rolston also assistedon the play, his third point in the previous two games (1-2=3),as the Wild stayed undefeated (14-0-0) on the season when allowingtwo goals or less...RECORD: 15-9-2, 32 pts.12/8/07 • Minnesota 2 at Columbus 1: Brian Rolston tallied thegame-winning goal at 2:22 in the third period to help Minnesotaedge the Blue Jackets 2-1 at Nationwide Arena. Minnesota tooka 1-0 lead when Aaron Voros scored his fifth goal of the season...NiklasBackstrom made 31 saves as Minnesota capturedits second franchise win over the Blue Jackets in Ohio (2-7-3)...2007-08 GAME SUMMARIESRECORD: 16-11-2, 34 pts.12/14/07 • Minnesota 5 at Anaheim 2: Aaron Voros (1-1=2)opened the scoring with an unassisted first period tally and theWild recorded a franchise-record tying four power-play goals inthe second period on the way to a 5-2 win...The five goals tieda season high...Marian Gaborik, Eric Belanger, Brian Rolston(1-2=3) and Brent Burns (1-1=2) tallied second period goalsand Kim Johnsson notched two assists...Josh Harding made 28saves in his first win since Nov. 18...RECORD: 17-12-2, 36 pts.12/15/07 • Minnesota 2 at Los Angeles 1: Minnesota completeda five-game road trip with a 2-1 win at Staples Center...MarianGaborik opened the scoring 3:48 into the game and BrianRolston scored the game-winner during a 5-on-3 power play at6:06 of the second period...Josh Harding made 35 saves and losthis shutout bid when Rob Blake scored with 1:12 remaining inthe contest...The Wild denied all nine of the Kings’ power-playopportunities...RECORD: 18-12-2, 38 pts.12/18/07 • Minnesota 3 vs. Nashville 2: Brian Rolston’s goal– his 600th career point – snapped a tie with 1:08 left in regulation,lifting the Wild to a 3-2 victory over Nashville in Jacques Lemaire’s1,000th NHL regular season game as a head coach...EricBelanger scored a goal and assisted on Rolston’s game-winner,Marian Gaborik added a goal and Josh Harding made 30 saves...Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard each added two assists...RECORD: 19-12-2, 40 pts12/20/07 • Minnesota 6 vs. N.Y. Rangers 3: Marian Gaborik talliedfive goals – the NHL’s first five-goal game in nearly 11 years– and an assist in leading the Wild past the Rangers 6-3 in theBlueshirts’ first trip to Xcel Energy Center since Oct. 10, 2003...Pierre-Marc Bouchard added a goal and an assist and JoshHarding made 32 saves for his fourth straight win...RECORD:20-12-2, 42 pts.12/27/07 • Minnesota 3 at Phoenix 2: The Wild converted threeof its four power-play chances, including one power-play markerin each period in a 3-2 win at Phoenix...Eric Belanger led the waywith three points (1-2=3)...Mark Parrish and Brian Rolston alsoscored and Brent Burns notched two assists...Niklas Backstrommade 46 saves for his sixth win in six career starts against Phoenix...JoelPerreault and Enver Lisin scored for the Coyotes, whooutshot the Wild 48-26...RECORD: 21-14-2, 44 pts.12/29/07 • Minnesota 5 vs. Edmonton 4: Minnesota overcamea 4-1 second period deficit by scoring the final four goals in thegame to claim a 5-4 overtime victory over the Oilers...PetteriNummelin (1-1=2) registered the game-winner on the powerplay 1:50 into the extra session...Niklas Backstrom made 23saves to improve his career record against Edmonton to 8-0-0...Kim Johnsson, Brian Rolston (1-1=2), Marian Gaborik and BrentBurns scored in regulation for the Wild and Pierre-Marc Bouchardadded three assists...RECORD: 22-14-2, 46 pts.1/3/08 • Minnesota 6 vs. Dallas 3: Marian Gaborik scored twogoals and added an assist, Pierre-Marc Bouchard netted a goaland two helpers and Brent Burns added a career-high three assists,as Minnesota routed the Stars. Pavol Demitra added a goal122 2008-09 MINNESOTA WILD TEAM GUIDE 2008-09 MINNESOTA WILD TEAM GUIDE 123Table of contents Hockey Operations Wild THings The Players Team History Team Records Playoff History The NHL