Continued: Clutterbuck snap shot earns praise

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As the Wild's Cal Clutterbuck was being interviewed this week, eavesdropping locker-room neighbor Mikko Koivu interrupted a reporter's comment: "Don't tell him that. His ego's big enough, buddy."

Well, wait until Clutterbuck sees that Islanders stud freshman John Tavares used Clutterbuck's name in the same breath as Alex Ovechkin on Friday morning when it came to describing Clutterbuck's shot coming down the wing.

Of Clutterbuck's 15 NHL goals, about half are from fooling goalies while streaking down the wing above or outside the faceoff circle.

"It's just like the way he hits. He's a very thick guy, and that's what makes his shot so powerful," said Tavares, the NHL's leading rookie scorer and Clutterbuck's former OHL linemate at Oshawa. "He's got a great snap shot coming down the wing. Maybe it's not like Ovechkin's in the sense of how hard, but he's got the same kind of torque and velocity in how he puts everything he has into it.

"It's very hard. He gets a lot behind it."

Clutterbuck prides himself on his snap shot, saying he's "put a lot of man hours before and after practice skating around and shooting from everywhere at different angles and trying to hit the top parts of the net because these days goalies are always on their knees."

He said in his rookie OHL season at St. Michael's, "Our captain, Tim Brent, had one of the best snap shots I'd seen, and he scored so many goals just because his release was so good. I was amazed how hard he could shoot the puck.

"My shot was terrible, just awful, so I decided it was something I needed to work on if I was going to score some goals. Years went by, and my stick got longer and longer until I finally found the right stick that allowed me to handle the puck and get a lot of wood behind the snap shot."

Clutterbuck hopes to develop into a 20-goal scorer to complement his defensive, hard-hitting style.

"It's going to take some work, a little bit of luck and confidence. If it's not this year, hopefully next year I'll reach that potential."

Havlat, Burns out

Right winger Martin Havlat (strained hamstring) and defenseman Brent Burns (illness) missed Friday's game. With four days off, Havlat hopes to be ready by Wednesday's game against Boston.

Havlat said he has been playing with the nagging injury before it got worse against Phoenix.

The Wild recalled center Nathan Smith from Houston and placed Benoit Pouliot (hand) on injured reserve. Smith, a gritty, defensive forward, played six scoreless games earlier this season, winning 60.6 percent of his faceoffs.

"We need more of [his] battle and compete and grit," coach Todd Richards said.

John Scott played for Burns.

Etc.

• Center James Sheppard jumped from the fourth line to the second and played wing.

"It'll be a chance to hopefully get some more shots," said Sheppard, who's got no goals on 15 shots this season. "As a winger, I think I'll get to the net more and not be worrying too much about being high. It's always on my mind staying high so I can be responsible. I'm excited to get more minutes."

Sheppard, who was struck off a faceoff last week in Washington, had a root canal Thursday and a temporary tooth put in.

• With former Gopher Kyle Okposo back in Minnesota, his family threw a pre-Thanksgiving bash in his honor Thursday.

• Hall of Famer Cliff Fletcher, the father of Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, attended Friday's game.