Winnipeg edges Wild 2-1 in preseason opener

WINNPIEG – It was a tight squeeze on the Wild bench Monday night during its 2-1 exhibition-opening loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

This offseason, Andrew Brunette's title changed from hockey operations adviser to assistant coach. Normally the Wild's so-called "eye in the sky" with fellow assistant coach Darby Hendrickson, Brunette will join head coach Mike Yeo and assistants Rick Wilson and Darryl Sydor on the bench this season.

Most teams have three coaches on the bench, including the head honcho. The workings of the four-coach Wild bench will be experimented on throughout the preseason.

When you add 13 skaters, a backup goalie and a handful of equipment and medical trainers, "the bench is a little tight," Brunette said, laughing.

"It'll take air time away from [equipment manager] Tony DaCosta and [athletic therapist] Donny [Fuller]. They're the ones really upset because they might not be on TV as much," Brunette joked.

Brunette's main task is the power play, but Yeo felt last season that Brunette couldn't make real-time adjustments from the press box. He communicated via headset with Sydor, but sometimes Sydor was busy with other responsibilities or things would get lost in translation.

"Now I'll be able to relay my message right away," Brunette said.

"It gives me the ability to focus on the game and concentrate on my matchups and Bru can be the one to do a lot of the in-game teaching with forwards. Darryl can do the same with the defense so Wils doesn't miss anything," Yeo said. "A few more teams are going with four guys on the bench. It's still not very popular, so we'll give it a try in the preseason and see the best way to make it work."

The Wild dressed only three regulars from last season Monday — Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Keith Ballard.

Minnesota went 0-for-6 on the power play and gave up a power-play goal to Dustin Byfuglien. However, the Wild won't work special teams for the first time in camp until this week.

In his first NHL action since Jan. 30, veteran goalie Niklas Backstrom stopped all 12 shots he faced in 30 minutes, 19 seconds of action before being replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov.

Backstrom looked poised and quick in net, and best of all, healthy after playing much of last season injured before undergoing season-ending abdominal and hip surgeries. He never felt completely healthy after offseason core surgery the year before and allowed seven goals in three preseason starts.

Backstrom, who likely will battle Darcy Kuemper for the No. 1 spot, made a jaw-dropping glove save on Mathieu Perreault's point-blank power-play snipe in the first period.

One good sign was the play of Jason Zucker, playing for the first time since season-ending knee surgery. He was fast, physical, made plays and got power-play and penalty kill time. He did appear to injure his left arm in the second period but shook off the pain. Zucker assisted on Tyler Graovac's goal with 13.6 seconds left.

With the Wild light on the back end from a physicality point of view, former Gopher Stu Bickel, a roster hopeful, got into two fights.

Right winger Justin Fontaine (groin) was slated to play Monday, but he didn't make the trip. Stephane Veilleux took his place.