Now in the NHL, ex-Gophers stars set to tangle in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. – Friendly ribbing will be plentiful Monday when the Wild and Panthers face off in South Florida.

The ice will be littered with former Gophers as Thomas Vanek, Keith Ballard and perhaps Stu Bickel play for the Wild and we get to see Round 1 of the Panthers' Nick Bjugstad vs. the Wild's Erik Haula; they were teammates from 2010-13 at the U. In their last two seasons together, Bjugstad was the leading goal-scorer and Haula the top point-getter.

"I definitely had this one marked on the calendar," Bjugstad said by phone Saturday from Nashville, where later in the day he forced overtime with yet another clutch goal with 30 seconds left. "There's a little rivalry with me and Haula, so I'm sure we'll know when one another is on the ice. We were roommates in college, so we'll have fun with it."

Bjugstad, 22, accelerated his high school studies at Blaine so he could get to college earlier. He promises to keep the banter aimed at Haula, 23, on Monday night civil and intelligent.

"We had the same major, business marketing, so we went to head-to-head to always see who was smarter," Bjugstad said, laughing. "But I'm graduated and he's not, so I'll probably remind him of that a few times.

"Being from Minnesota, I could always take advantage of summer classes. Erik couldn't because he wanted to go home to Finland in the summer. That's how I graduated and he didn't."

Bjugstad loves chirping Haula and how he talks in his sleep in Finnish, "which he always gets super-mad about."

Thirteen months ago when Bjugstad played the Wild for the first time, he skated on Florida's fourth line. A ton has changed. The 22-year-old is centering the top line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Brad Boyes, and he's riding a four-game point streak (five goals, eight points) into Monday's game. That includes two goals and two assists last Sunday in Anaheim, two goals and the shootout winner in San Jose and Saturday's tying goal 12 seconds after teammate Rocco Grimaldi's first NHL goal in an eventual shootout loss.

"I don't know what it is, but something's clicking," Bjugstad said before Saturday's game. "First 10 games, I struggled a little bit as far as producing goals, so I don't know. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it doesn't. You just have to ride the wave."

Haula has been paying attention.

"I talked to him recently and he said he was getting a ton of chances but couldn't buy a goal," Haula said. "I just talked to him again and he said they're going in from everywhere. That's just how it works."

Under new coach Gerard Gallant, Bjugstad said he's developing his defensive game and with that, offense has come.

Haula says Bjugstad is one of the nicest people you'd ever meet, "a guy who just wants to be friends with everybody, whether it's somebody he knows or somebody he meets on the street."

Bjugstad attended some Wild playoff games last season and got to see Haula score against Chicago.

"It was great to see him do well in the playoffs. I knew he had it in him," Bjugstad said. "It was only a matter of time for him to prove that he had it."

Haula lately has been relegated to the Wild's fourth line. But remember, Bjugstad has been there, and knows Haula's role can only expand.

"I still feel I have an important role, but I have things I have to do better," Haula said.

"It's so crazy to see all of us in the NHL right now," Bjugstad said. "And there's more coming. I think it says a lot about the Gophers."