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Wild top Blue Jackets after controversial call

Oct 26, 2008 - 5:07 AM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- A late review of a goal saved the Minnesota Wild from another third-period letdown.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Owen Nolan each scored their first goal of the season as Minnesota benefited from the late reversal and posted a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

Niklas Backstrom made 25 saves for the Wild, who have started the season with five wins in their first six games. Their lone defeat was a 4-3 overtime setback to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

Playing in just their third game of the season, Bouchard scored with 26 seconds left in the first period and Nolan tallied eight minutes into the third, giving Minnesota a 2-0 advantage.

Defenseman Rostislav Klesla scored his first goal of the season for Columbus, which was coming off a 3-1 loss one night earlier to the New York Rangers.

"Five-on-5, we played very well," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We put a lot of pressure on them. We turned a lot of pucks over. We created a lot of scoring chances, but we only scored one goal."

Backstrom was making his sixth start in as many games this season. With the Wild leading, 3-1, on Thursday, the Finn allowed goals 46 seconds apart late in the third period before surrendering the winner 44 seconds into the extra session.

It was almost the same case in this one.

After Klesla cut the deficit to 2-1 with 8:26 remaining in the third, Columbus thought it had tied the game with 11.5 seconds to go.

Defenseman Christian Backman sent a shot toward the net from the point that was tipped past Backstrom by captain Rick Nash. But after a video replay, the goal was waved off as it was determined Nash had used a high stick to tip in the shot.

"One hundred percent I thought it was a goal," Nash said. "He waved a goal. I can't tell myself if it was a high stick, everything happens so fast. You have to depend on the ref's judgment and, you know, he said high stick, and that's the rules of the game."

"I didn't see the shot. I just saw it go in the net," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said of the reviewed goal. "When I saw the replay on top, it was obvious how it went in. You know, (Nash is) a tall player. He had his stick over the shoulders. At that moment, we were sure it wasn't a goal."

Backstrom was strong in this one from the beginning. He made a sliding pad stop early on rookie Derick Brassard, who had slipped between the defense to go 1-on-1 with the netminder. In the opening minutes of the third, he also denied Nash on a breakaway.

"I was lucky to get it," Backstrom said. "You want to be there for the team when they need it. I think we played a really great game. That goal would have kept them in the game, so I was really happy to help our team because the guys played so well in front."

Late in the first, the Wild pressured goaltender Pascal Leclaire, and a rebound kicked out to defenseman Marek Zidlicky, whose shot went wide. But Bouchard corralled the bounce off the end boards and put the puck past Leclaire for a 1-0 edge.

Playing for the second time in as many nights, Leclaire left the game midway through the second period with a sprained ankle. He stopped 13 of 14 shots before giving way to Fredrik Norrena, who made eight saves.

At 7:59 of the third, Mikko Koivu made a centering pass from behind the net to Nolan in the slot. The veteran forward, who was returning from a leg injury, wristed a shot past Norrena for his 382nd career goal and first as a member of the Wild.

"I had seen him do it a few times with the other guys, so I figured he was going to do it," Nolan said of Koivu. "I just had to sneak in there somewhere. I knew the puck was going to come. I just had to be ready for it."