A Look at the Week that's Past and Ahead

The Wild went 1-0-1 last week, losing for the first time against the Sabres in overtime after blowing a two goal lead and barely squeaked out a 2-1 win from the Blue Jackets last night. While there were only two games last week, this week has a fuller schedule with 4 games with Chicago and Montreal visiting the Xcel and the Wild visiting Dallas and Phoenix. The real test this week will be the back to back game in Dallas and back home against the Habs.

Monday - vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 7:00pm CT
Wednesday - @ Dallas Stars, 7:30pm CT
Thursday - vs. Montreal Canadiens, 7:00pm CT
Saturday - @ Phoenix Coyotes, 9:00pm CT

Notes about next week:

• Monday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks will be the Wild's first nationally televised game
• Captains Koivu on Thursday when the Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota Wild face each other, opening faceoff likely will be Koivu vs. Koivu like it was at the preseason game against the Habs

News and Notes from the Week that's Past

• The Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings introduced the retro jerseys they'll be wearing during the Winter Classic, and they're UGLY
• A bad start for goalies this season as Blues goaltender Manny Legace trips on the blue carpet rolled out for GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin, and if you're looking at the stats Turco is dead last in GAA with 4.26 GAA, Luongo is ranked 31 with a 3.29 GAA, and Osgood's 28 with 3.20 GAA, not too good for fantasy owner, huh?
  
• Injuries of note: former Wild Pavol Demitra will be out 3-4 four weeks, the Flyers' Daniel Briere will be out for up to a month, and the Devils will lose Bobby Holik for 3-4 weeks after losing Brian Rolston the week before
• Debates on hits to the head will continue after Doug Weight's clean hit against rookie Brandon Sutter who left the game injured
  
• My favorite headline from last week "Swedish hockey game delayed by sex-toy shower"
• Biggest hit of the week has got to be Milan Lucic's panel shattering hit
  

Games to Watch for this Week
Monday, October 27, 2008
Ottawa Senators vs. Buffalo Sabres, 6:00pm CT

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Minnesota Wild vs. Dallas Stars, 7:30pm CT

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Detroit Red Wings vs. San Jose Sharks