Good afternoon. Wild had a pretty solid practice today out in Mendota Heights despite coming off a bad night.
Yeah, yeah, I know they didn't play last night, but talk about bad luck. Division rivals Colorado and Vancouver, and Calgary and Edmonton played 3-point games against each other, Edmonton getting a point after Calgary blew a 4-1 lead, and Colorado getting a point after Matt Duchene scored the tying goal inside the final 90 seconds.
Still, Wild's only two points out of eighth.
Lots of great games yesterday, by the way. Both Northwest Division games were highly entertaining, Florida got the shaft in Toronto when Colton Orr barreled over Scott Clemmensen for the go-ahead goal and Jean-Sebastien Giguere got away with an egregious trip just prior to Phil Kessel's breakaway backbreaker.
Also, Ducks fighter George Parros scored a breakaway goal. For all you Aaron Voros fans out there, you may remember how physical he'd get with Wild players in goal celebrations. Last night, Voros, who was on the shift with Parros, basically punched Parros excitedly three times in the chest during the celebration.
It was typical Voros.
On to the Wild news, coach Todd Richards said left wing Guillaume Latendresse had an MRI yesterday and there is "something wrong as far as his groin," so he won't play Thursday vs. the Caps, who play tonight in Raleigh.
Richards said he doesn't know how long Latendresse will be out, but he doesn't think it's major at all. I asked about a sports hernia or something like that, and he said, "No, no, nothing like that." He said there is "something there" and Latendresse just needs some rest and recovery and therapy, and Richards even put Latendresse's status as questionable for Saturday vs. Chicago. I asked him more about it after the scrum, and he definitely said he doesn't expect Latendresse to miss two weeks or something.