The Anton Khudobin Show!

And I'm not just talking about his performance during his first NHL shut out, in just his third NHL start!  We'll get into the game, piece by piece, further down in this post.  But for now let's all enjoy the open, honest and downright delightful way Anton expresses himself in his post game presser.  Wait until he starts talking about losing his stick, for the umpteenth time, and not being able to make up his mind when it would finally be safe for him to go pick it up.  I laughed so hard while listening to him I peed a little.  This kid is a flippin' hoot!  He's the answer to not having Jacques Lemaire post game pressers anymore. 

Click here for wild.nhl.com, click on Game Videos and choose KHUDOBIN POST to watch his post game presser. 
For some unknown reason, the techno genius for the Wild site has put the embedding code for the game teaser in every one of the videos from tonight's game.  Way to go, dork.   

Game puck for his first NHL Shut Out!  Photo courtesy of mnwild.com


The Wild absolutely dominated the Canucks in the first period, owning the offensive zone and putting up 9 unanswered shots on goal within the first 9 and a half minutes.  Khudobin was ALL OVER the place - he's in the net, he's out of the net, he's doing a meet-n-greet with a Canucks player to handle a puck.  At one point Brent Burns went diving into the net behind Khudobin to stop the puck from crossing the goal line.  I'm pretty sure Anton didn't know Brent was in there until after he came out of the net.  The kid was giving us all heart attacks with his antics and there were still two more periods of hockey to go! 

The second period was a testament to never giving up - something the Wild are not known for, sad but true.  Khudobin dropped his stick after every friggin' save he made or any time someone came near him, it seemed.  Warrior Zanon played goalie, stopping a point blank shot in the crease while Anton was preoccupied outside of the crease.  Even though the Canucks were putting more shots on goal, the Wild managed to get the puck into the offensive zone.  There was an intense battle for the puck in the crease with bodies landing on top of each other.  Brunette finally shoveled the puck in under Schneider's leg for the goal.  Should the ref have blown the whistle?  Perhaps, but hey - all those unlucky post pingers and bounces not going our way during the last game just got reversed.  Karma, baby!  Just over the halfway mark of the 2nd Marty Havlat got the puck and made a bee line for Canucks zone and buried the puck with a wrister for the 2-0 lead.  

The third period was the best, at least for me, due to the fact the Wild were putting in 60 full minutes of hockey.  They never let up, they didn't take any shifts off despite being outshot 15 to 6.  Anton was spot on when he needed to be and the guys collapsed down in front of him like they were ready to die for him.  It's such a beautiful thing to behold and I'm so happy to be writing positively about a game for a change.  Cullen's short handed goal was spectacular!  When he's flying up the ice, man - I could watch that over and over and over. 

Not that John Madden's goal six minutes later wasn't as nice - from Cullen behind the net to Kobasew who slid the puck across the goal mouth to Madden for the bury!  John was everywhere tonight, making huge plays long before he netted his goal in the third. 
There wasn't a Wild player who didn't leave everything out on the ice tonight and it paid off with a resounding win.  From the game teaser, to the double anthems and all the way to the final buzzer there was an energy in the arena that's been missing for too long.  It felt great to cheer for the team, shift after shift and for all three periods!  The Canucks didn't stand a chance tonight...  


Stars of the Game, NonPlayers:

• Dave and Alex at the game tonight - great to see you both!  Alex, plays defense for her high school team, and her dad were so cute talking about how the Wild defensemen were playing, positioning themselves.  Alex was all over the guys when they were 'wasting their energy' on an opponent who didn't have the puck.  I've missed the Daggets greatly this season and was overjoyed to have tonight's game with them!  
• Sally in her Wild sweatshirt, worn over her Penguins jersey which was covering her Steelers tshirt.  She had all her bases covered while cheering her lungs out for the home team tonight!  She had Dave on the ropes with her texting jabs and I was rolling with laughter after she gave Khudobin a good talking to when he wouldn't go pick up his far flung stick.  As always, a rowdy good time was had by us all :)
• Vicki in her role as audio/video replay gal at home tonight.  Even though she missed the hub-bub after the Brunette goal because she had to use the facilities, she got right back on the horse and kept us up to speed with her mad texting skilz.  

Side Notes:

• We were discussing how small Jared Spurgeon is and how he was still able to be effective, much like Clutterbuck.  Sally confirmed he's listed at 5'10" which is the same as Clutterbuck if I'm not mistaken.  It's interesting to see that Russo had the same take we did: "That's why tiny Jared Spurgeon was taking hits to make a play." 
• Chicago and Anaheim won tonight, gettting to 54 points.  This means the Wild moved up to being just three points out from the now-eighth-place Avs (52 points for the Avs, 49 for the Wild).  
• The Wild cannot afford to lose even one of the upcoming four road games prior to the All Star break. 
• Rick Rypien, the Canuck player who accosted a Wild fan during the Oct 19, 2010 game here at the X, is still on an indefinite leave of absence from the Canucks.  The club is being respectful of Rypien's right to privacy.  Rypien did have a previous multi-month leave of absence from the team two years ago.