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Home | Sports | Minnesota Wild

Wild makes big noise with a rally of its own

Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

Andrew Brunette, right, reacted after scoring the winning goal in overtime. Minnesota beat Anaheim 4-3 with a three-goal rally.

A couple of lackluster periods left fans restless, but three late goals and a decisive tally by Andrew Brunette sent them home happy.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: October 7, 2009 - 2:31 PM

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Wild 4, Anaheim 3 (OT) Up next: 9:30 p.m. Thursday at Los Angeles • FSN, 830-AM

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It's never a good sign when the loudest cheers at your home opener are because of what's happened 9 miles away at the Metrodome.

For most of Tuesday night, that was the case for the Wild, which through two periods provided its fans with a most unpleasant first glimpse at this new-look team by falling behind three goals to the Anaheim Ducks.

But in a shocking turn of events, the Wild players turned their brains from off to on and gave their restless fans a reason to scream by mounting a third-period comeback out of nowhere for a 4-3 overtime victory.

"I learned we're not going to quit, and that's something I wasn't sure if we had," said Andrew Brunette, who scored his first career regular-season overtime winner on a power play after Kyle Brodziak goaded James Wisniewski into a jab to the face.

It was the first time in franchise history the Wild won after trailing by three goals in the third.

"We knew every one of us could do better in every possible way," said Martin Havlat, who had the first assist on all three third-period goals in his Wild debut. "We did it the hard way, but it's always nice to get two points."

With the Wild somehow lacking any zip all night, 6-8 John Scott got things started early in the third by dropping the gloves with experienced fighter George Parros. Scott floored Parros with an uppercut, and the crowd loved it and his teammates got a jolt from it.

"You're looking for momentum-shifters, and it comes in a lot of different ways," coach Todd Richards said.

Mikko Koivu, who played a career-high 25 minutes, 16 seconds, scored a power-play goal, Petr Sykora scored his first goal as a Wild and Eric Belanger tied the score with 2:13 left in regulation on a power play.

After Joffrey Lupul, Evgeny Artyukhin and Saku Koivu turned a scoreless tie into a 3-0 Wild deficit in a 5:59 span of the second, the Wild outshot Anaheim 13-2 in the third.

It was one heck of a way for Richards to get his first NHL win.

"I'll always remember this one, that's for sure," Richards said. "The way it was accomplished, the way the guys played in the third."

After the game, Richards gave Scott, who never played another shift, a gold UFC championship belt for sparking the rally.

"It's always nice when you go do something," Scott said. "The fight, the guys feed off that. It's nice to contribute some way. I'm not going to score many goals, so that's the way I've got do it."

Added Belanger: "My hat to him. That's not an easy job. It sparked us. For some reason we found our legs."

For 40 minutes, the Wild lacked energy, displayed few sustained offensive threats, repeatedly coughed up pucks and surrendered odd-man rushes, including a rarely-seen 4-on-1.

The fans' only elation came late in the first when word instantly spread throughout the arena that the Twins had beaten the Detroit Tigers across the river for the AL Central Division title.

So the comeback was huge, especially because the Wild leaves today for a tumultuous five-game, 11-day road trip through California, Edmonton and Vancouver and doesn't play again at home until Oct. 21.

"We kind of got frustrated and lost ourselves," Brunette said. "To have a little gut check time and come through down 3-0 in this league, it's a big deal. We have to carry this momentum that we built to L.A."

Added Mikko Koivu: "To get some confidence early in the season, the only way to do it is by winning. Obviously the way you play is important, but in the end, the first win is huge."

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