Enforcer Derek Boogaard has been suspended the next two games for his knee-on-knee hit on Edmonton's Ryan Jones last night. Boogaard, who was suspended for five games last February for elbowing Brandon Prust, is now considered a repeat offender. He loses $21,341.46 in salary, based on the number of games in the season (82), rather than the number of days (193).

"It wasn't like it was an intent to injure or anything like that. I was just finishing my hit. It's not like I'm going out to hurt guys," Boogaard said this morning before flying back to Minnesota. He's currently in the air, so he doesn't know yet of the suspension.

Jones suffered a sprained knee. He was limping badly on the way to get an MRI this morning.

"Looks bad but nobody means to do that," said Jones, a former Wild draft pick traded to Nashville in the Marek Zidlicky trade. "I know Boogey from the summers. We do some road biking together in Minnesota. We're not best friends but we know each other.

"It's one of those things where a guy's reacting to a guy making a move around them. I'll let the league deal with it."

The suspension by the way makes the referees Dennis LaRue and Kelly Sutherland, who were brutal all night, look bad. It should have been a major. They called a minor.

Theo Peckham, by the way, got nothing for an almost identical play on James Sheppard that Maxim Lappiere did to Scott Nichol the night before. That got four games.

MINNESOTA WILD TO PLAY 400TH GAME AT XCEL ENERGY CENTER SUNDAY
CLUB EXPECTING 400TH CONSECUTIVE SELLOUT; LONGEST CURRENT STREAK IN NHL

SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The National Hockey League's (NHL) Minnesota Wild will play its 400th game at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday, March 7 when it hosts the Calgary Flames at 2:00 p.m. The team is expected to extend its sellout streak to 400 consecutive games on Sunday, the longest current streak in the NHL and third longest recorded streak in league history. The Wild has sold-out all 399 games played at Xcel Energy Center in team history (27 preseason games, 13 playoff contests and 359 regular season matches). During the 2000-01 campaign, Minnesota set an NHL expansion team attendance record when it drew 751,472 fans in 41 regular season contests.

The Wild's all-time attendance stands at 7,380,123. The club made its Xcel Energy Center debut on Sept., 29, 2000 with a 3-1 preseason win over the Anaheim Ducks. The largest crowd in franchise history occurred on Oct. 5, 2005 when 19,398 fans attended the home opener against the Flames. Minnesota's all-time record at Xcel Energy Center is 217-120-62 (.621). The official capacity of Xcel Energy Center for Wild games is 18,064.

Season ticket holders will be recognized throughout Sunday's game in arena and will help announce "Let's Play Hockey".

The assumed modern NHL record of 487 straight sellouts was set by the Colorado Avalanche from November 9, 1995 to October 14, 2006. The Detroit Red Wings hold the second longest streak at 452 games.

Longest Recorded NHL Sellout Streaks
487 – Colorado Avalanche*
452 – Detroit Red Wings*
399 – Minnesota Wild
359 – Buffalo Sabres*

*regular season and playoffs combined, not preseason. The Wild counts preseason.