Wild vs Blue Jackets GDT 11/6

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Mathieu Garon made his season debut against the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 16. He's since become the No. 1 goaltender for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Garon will seek his third straight shutout Saturday night in a rematch with the Wild as the Blue Jackets look for a fourth straight home win.

Columbus (8-4-0) had hoped Steve Mason would bounce back from a poor second season after winning the Calder Trophy as a rookie. Mason has continued to struggle, though, and Garon has taken advantage by earning the starting job.

Garon is 4-0-0 with a 0.89 goals-against average in five appearances, winning all four of his starts. He's expected to make his third straight start for the first time since he made five in a row Jan. 7-14.

His last two have been spectacular. Garon made 29 saves in a 3-0 home win over Montreal on Tuesday, then stopped 25 shots in Thursday's 3-0 victory at Atlanta.

"We didn't give them many chances," Garon said. "Our guys were blocking shots."

Columbus first-year coach Scott Arniel said Garon "made some shots but wasn't overly worked."

"We did a great job in front of him eliminating any quality chances and there weren't many penalties," Arniel said. "That allowed us to roll four lines and six defensemen."

Garon has allowed more than one goal only once, when he gave up two on 23 shots in a 3-2 victory at Minnesota (6-4-2) last month. He improved to 7-3-1 with a 2.59 GAA in 11 starts against the Wild.

Columbus has needed outstanding goaltending, as the only NHL team that has yet to score more than three goals in any game. Star winger Rick Nash has totaled four goals and three assists.

Center Derick Brassard has tallied all of his team-high five goals during his current six-game point streak. Brassard has scored in three straight games for the first time since Nov. 8-14, 2008.

"My game is going way better," he said. "The last four or five games, I've been trying to shoot more."

Minnesota won 2-1 at home over Calgary on Friday as Martin Havlat's first goal of the season snapped a third-period tie. Havlat's agent Allan Walsh recently criticized Wild coach Todd Richards for how he was using the winger, who hadn't scored since March 29.

"I hope that will be a start for him," Richards said. "If we are going to have any success, Marty is going to have a very big role for us."

The Wild still are having trouble scoring, with nine goals in their last six games -- a 3-2-1 stretch.

Richards plans to give backup Jose Theodore his second start. Theodore is 5-3-1 with a 2.33 GAA in nine career starts against the Blue Jackets.

The Wild lost both visits to Columbus last season, falling to 4-10-2 with one tie in 17 games at Nationwide Arena.

Columbus has activated defenseman Mike Commodore, who has missed 10 games since he injured his hand Oct. 9 against San Jose.

Wild should win 3-1.

odd. on my dtv guide it looks like fsn is blued out like i am not supposed to have the channel, but it still works....

You'll have to let me know how they play... I'm swamped at work and won't even get to listen to any of it...

2-2 right now, and they are looking OK. the first period was solid, this one not so much. i am gonna be at Bdubs during the 3rd, lol

better looking third period. not the best looking win, but i'll take it

Hey... they have a streak going!

a canuck loss would put us in a tie for first, lol

Yeah... unfortunately for the Wild, the season is 82 games long.

WTF detroit?!? you are up 5-4 and lose 6-4?!?

Wild vs. Columbus post-game and much more

Burns scores twice and Theodore delivers between the pipes as resilient Wild pull off 3-2 road victory over Columbus

Written by Derek Felska
Saturday, 06 November 2010 20:28

Ever sit in your car and come up with strange modifications of songs almost 'Weird' Al Yankovic-like? I started to think about the Wild's injury situation as I listened to the game on the radio as I was driving home from a school fundraiser. As I thought about all of Minnesota's injuries I began to hear the Wild radio broadcasters Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid lamenting about the Wild's inability to create shots on goal, I felt it was unfair since the team was being forced to replace some of their better offensive players with rookies and players normally suited as grinders. As I did that the rhythm and music to Adam Sandler's Lunchlady Song popped into my head and instantly I was able to modify it to a song that seemed to answer the question why Minnesota was struggling to get many shots on goal. Please sing along if you can, "Rookies and Grinders, Rookies and Grinders, Clutter-buck, Clutter-buck, Rookies and Grinders, Rookies and Grinders, AHL en-forcer....Sloppy Play, Slop sloppy play uh huh, slop sloppy play uh huh." It won't be available on iTunes anytime soon, but I really think it answers the question why Minnesota is being outshot by such a large margin. That is who the Wild have been forced to replace offensive cogs like Antti Miettinen and Guillaume Latendresse with a rookie like Casey Wellman and grinders like Cody Almond, and Cal Clutterbuck who is now playing on the top line. It means that the Wild are not going to be able to create much offense from its 3rd and 4th lines as its playing with lots of guys that normally would be starring for its AHL affiliate in Houston.

These two expansion cousins are both organizations hoping to give their fans a reason to be excited after having disappointing campaigns in 2009-10. The Wild are coming off a fairly successful 5-game homestand, and the Blue Jackets have been playing some of its best hockey all season as of late. Something has to give. The Blue Jackets and their fans have felt like the red-headed step child of the league ever since they entered the league ten seasons ago and they love nothing more than to earn a victory over their expansion cousins. Columbus won the first meeting, so how will tonight's game end up? (click on the link for the rest of the article)

There is a complete post-game report as well as an Aeros update, and a complete WCHA Men's hockey report as well. Great road win, good to see!