Wild's support players carry scoring load as stars offer little offense

r, Associated Press

From left, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette and Marek Zidlicky; the first three players, all forwards, have struggled to generate offense in recent games for the Wild.

Minute-munching forwards have generated few goals of late.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: January 9, 2009 - 10:59 PM

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Earlier this season, a lot was made of Wild support players not offering an inkling of offense.

That's changed, at least a bit. Checking winger Stephane Veilleux is one of the Wild's hottest forwards. He's scored four goals in his past nine games.

But when Veilleux has one of the hottest sticks on the team, it's a pretty good indication of a team that's not scoring often enough.

Other than Owen Nolan, it's now the Wild's minute-munching forwards who are offering no offense.

Mikko Koivu has one goal and seven assists in the past 15 games. Andrew Brunette has one goal and three assists in the past 16. Pierre-Marc Bouchard has two goals and six assists in the past 17. Eric Belanger has one goal and four assists in his past 15. Antti Miettinen has one goal and two assists in the past 13.

It's no wonder that in the Wild's past 16 games, it has scored 27 goals (1.68 a game). In the 30-team NHL, it ranks 29th with 2.38 goals per game.

"The top guys, sometimes they do [squeeze their sticks], but other times -- a lot of times -- it's execution that has to be better," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We've got to work on execution -- hitting the net or feeding the right guy so we can get that goal."

Two guys who especially seem to be pressing are Brunette and Koivu.

At the start of the season, Brunette seemed to control games from behind the net. Lately, he has been unable to make plays from there, plus he hasn't been able to pull the trigger from the top of the crease.

"He's been fine. It's not one guy there," Lemaire said. "When Bruno gets the puck, guys have to get open. But maybe he needs to go in front of the net more, and do other little stuff so he can be better."

As for Koivu, Lemaire said: "He plays really hard. It's not that he doesn't try. He's one of the guys that tries the hardest. But he also has to think about going to the net a little more and getting more shots and practicing his shots."

Power play prodding

After the Wild went 0-for-8 in a 3-1 loss Thursday at Philadelphia, Lemaire used most of Friday's practice to work on the power play. This came after a team meeting in which the seasonlong mantra of getting the puck to the net was repeated ... and repeated again.

"Last night, we played a great game, an excellent game," Lemaire said. "They gave us a chance to win that game on the power play and we didn't take it. They took penalties because we were skating so well, and then we don't score on the power play? This cannot happen too often."

Injury/illness updates

At least on Friday morning, the stomach virus running through the Wild didn't hit any players. Everybody practiced, except goalie Niklas Backstrom, who was given the day off, and left winger Derek Boogaard, who is out because of an "upper body" injury. Defenseman Martin Skoula, who missed Thursday's game because of the illness, practiced.

In an attempt to keep sick players from infecting teammates, every Wild player got his own hotel room in Columbus.

Recent Minnesota Wild stories

Tired legs are Wild's undoing in D.C. defeat - January 9, 2009

Tired legs are Wild's undoing in D.C. defeat - The Wild hit the Capitals with an early goal and big burst of energy, but playing back-to-back games eventually took a toll. More