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Graphic originally published in the November, 2016 issue of our digital magazine. Click HERE to view the November issue and subscribe to have future issues delivered directly to your email inbox. 

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Devils stick a fork in Wild’s offense as Minnesota teams go 0-for-Sunday

St. Paul – The seventh consecutive home crowd of more than 19,000 settled into the Xcel Energy Seats Sunday night possibly looking for the antidote to a thoroughly depressing day in Minnesota pro sports.

It was not to be.

The New Jersey Devils, losers in their previous three games and beset by injuries, scored two third-period goals to defeat the Wild 2-1 and leave the Sunday expectations of Minnesota fans frozen solid.

Earlier, the Vikings lost to Seattle and the Timberwolves lost to Dallas in Minneapolis, but the Wild opened against an undermanned Devils team riding a St. Paul record of 14-5-2 this season as well as record of 4-1-2 in their previous seven games.

Even though Devils’ leading scorer Michael Cammalleri and key center Patrik Elias were among those sidelined by injury, the Wild were able to muster just seven shots on goal over the first two periods as New Jersey’s defense turned the game into a total snoozer.

Zach Parise, who scored the Wild’s only goal and his first against his former team, looked a bit ticked off when it was over.

“Ugly, uneventful game,” Parise said. “For whatever reason here we’re not playing with any pace, we’re not controlling the puck well, we’re not moving it well. We’ve just been flat.

“I mean, seven shots after two periods, in your own rink against a team – no disrespect to them, but they’ve got a lot of guys injured and a lot of minor league players are playing for ’em – that’s not good enough.”

No disrespect to the Wild, but for a long time they appeared almost uninterested.

“We didn’t get to our game,” forward Charlie Coyle observed. “We’re too good a team to come out flat like that. We can’t afford to have games like that.”

The result left the Wild, who defeated the Stars by the same score 24 hours earlier in Dallas, with 52 points in 42 games and trailing Dallas, Chicago and St. Louis.

“We want to catch Chicago. We want to catch St. Louis,” Parise said. “You can’t come out and play like that.”

Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped 15 of 17 shots in his first game since suffering a concussion more than two weeks ago, then noted that neither team put on an offensive show.

“I’m sure it was a boring game to watch,” he said.

The Wild finally got the crowd of 19,028 on their feet with 11 shots on net in the third period, giving them a grand total of 18.

The result and the way it happened stung, Parise said, especially after the win at Dallas.

“It’s not pretty,” he said.

Wild coach Mike Yeo admitted he wanted more but was not about to criticize his guys.

“For the most part our game has been pretty good lately,” he said.

Then he went on a rant about the fact that Minnesota received just one power play Sunday night.

“The one thing that’s really driving me nuts,” Yeo said. “We’re a really good hockey team; I can’t understand why we get one power play a game right now. It makes no sense to me.

“Night after night – it doesn’t matter who we play against; it doesn’t matter who’s officiating – it’s a constant. I’m trying to find the reasons and I can’t understand why. It’d be nice to draw more than one power play a game and we just can’t seem to do it.”

It would also have been nice to give Minnesota’s fans a home victory Sunday, but like the Vikings and Timberwolves, the Wild couldn’t do it.

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Bergenheim, Stewart ignite the fire as Minnesota roasts the Devils

St. Paul — Goals by newcomers Sean Bergenheim and Chris Stewart 1:19 apart spanning the first and second periods sparked the Wild to a 6-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night before 19,034 at Xcel Energy Center.

The floodgates opened from there with Minnesota scoring twice more in the second and a pair in the third, including two goals from Thomas Vanek (No. 15 and 16 of the year) for his 50th career multi-goal game.

Zach Parise had a pair of assists and Devan Dubnyk was Devan Dubnyk in his 200th NHL game, finishing with 30 saves to raise his record to 28-9-3 overall and 19-4-1 with Minnesota this season.

Dubnyk’s play was especially critical late in the first period when the Devils made a push. But Dubnyk stood tall against a trio of odd-man rushes to keep New Jersey off the board.

“We were really good the first half [of the period] and then they started to take things over,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “He gave us a chance to settle things down a little bit and grab that lead and that was huge.”

Bergenheim, who was acquired via trade from the Florida Panthers last month, had a solid debut for the Wild against Nashville on Feb. 26 but has struggled as of late. After seeing time on Minnesota’s second and third lines, Bergenheim was dropped to the fourth line alongside Erik Haula and Kyle Brodziak.

“You can look at it as a punishment if you want, but it wasn’t,” Yeo said. “We felt like we were surrounding him with a couple players that would help him play the type of game that he needs to play and he responded really well.

“They were dangerous all night.”

Bergenheim agreed, saying his line could have had a few more goals than his lone tally.

“I think we had good pace and they had some moments where they kind of had a few good chances but, all in all, I think we had a pretty good pace all the way through,” Bergenheim said.

Bergenheim broke the scoreless tie late in the first period scoring his ninth goal of the season, but first in a Wild sweater, with 1:03 remaining on a feed from Kyle Brodziak.

“You always want to see the new guys get that first goal out of the way,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “It was a great shot. It’s good to see him and Stewart contributing, you want them to feel good about the way they’re playing because they’re helping us out a lot.”

“[The goal] took a little longer than I wanted but the most important thing is, every day, to keep on getting better because we want to be good in the playoffs,” Bergenheim said. “I want to get better and ready for that.”

Stewart made it 2-0 just 13 seconds into the middle frame with his second goal for the Wild and 13th overall.

“To get that one right away, I think that hurt them a lot and then after that we were able to just keep going,” Parise said. “But it was a good start to that second period that was the big difference.”

It was the second goal in two games for Stewart, who added an assist against the Devils to pick up his first multi-point game with the Wild and 62nd of his career. He now has four points (2-2–4) in five games since his March 2 acquisition from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2017 second-round draft pick.

“I think that’s Stewart’s best game that he’s played with us,” Yeo said. “I thought that he was really good and, I’ve said it a number of times, I’ve really liked the way that Mikko [Koivu] and he are reading off each other.”

After what had been a fairly even, although wide-open first period (the teams combined for 29 shots), the relatively quick goals lit a fire under the Wild as they pinned the Devils in their zone for long stretches early in the second.

Just 12 seconds after a roughing penalty to New Jersey’s Eric Gelinas expired, Jared Spurgeon’s blast from the right circle beat Devils’ goaltender Cory Schneider for his eighth of the year and a 3-0 Wild lead at 4:23.

In just his second game back from injured reserve, Spurgeon not only scored but assisted on Jason Pominville’s third-period tally and finished plus-3 on the night.

New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus cut the lead to two midway through the period but less than three minutes later, Vanek pounced on a loose puck near the crease to restore the three-goal cushion at the break.

Pominville’s goal 1:18 into the third sent Schneider to the bench in favor of Keith Kinkaid who allowed Vanek’s second goal when he got a stick on a puck Parise had pushed into the crease and appeared to be on its way in.

Asked if Vanek owes him a goal Parise quipped, “Yeah, I thought so. I celebrated like it was mine and then they announced it was his. I kind of feel like an idiot now.”

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Featured Image:
Jamie Langenbrunner during a break during the preliminary game against Canada during the 2010 Winter Olympics. (Photo: Rosie Perera)

When Jamie Langenbrunner looked across the outdoor ice of Washington Elementary school in Cloquet, Minnesota as a kid and saw the lights of his family home flickering in the distance, he knew it was time to take off his skates and head home. It has been many years since his days of organizing shinny games on the westernmost edge of Minnesota’s Iron Range, but the lights of home are once again flickering for the hockey player, bringing him back to the deep quiet nights of the “Wood City of the North,” as he officially retires from the National Hockey League.

On the eve of his retirement from a career that spanned nearly twenty years and included time with the Dallas Stars where he won a Stanley Cup, the New Jersey Devils and the St. Louis Blues, Langenbrunner took some time to discuss growing up Minnesota, winning the Stanley Cup and everything in between with not just another Minnesota kid, but me, a little girl who grew up in the very same city as he did, and skated the very same sheets of ice he learned on.

Q: First things first Jamie, now that your retirement is official how do you feel?

A: It’s a little bittersweet. It’s tough walking away and being officially done with something that you’ve been doing for nearly seventeen years. I’ve been playing hockey since I was five so to admit it’s over is difficult but I’m excited for the next chapter and being able to spend time with my kids and coach them and to get those other rewarding experiences…but it’s been a lot of fun.

Q: You grew up in Cloquet, Minnesota which is a pretty small town. Do you have any fond hockey memories from growing up in Northern Minnesota?

A: I have lots of great memories and I’m actually back here right now with my kids so I’m kind of reliving them a bit! I grew up next to Washington school which had a rink there and I’d walk across the field to skate there as a kid. I’d see my parents’ bedroom lights from the rink and when they started flickering that light it was time to come home. I was pretty fortunate to grow up during a time when our peewee and bantam teams were very competitive throughout the state and I got to play with some of my best friends in Rick Mrozik who went on to play a few games in the NHL and Adam Pavlatos and Kyle Young and guys that I grew up with and was able to play hockey with from the time I was little through high school.

Q: Is it weird for you at all being in Cloquet with how much people look up to you or is it just home?

A: I’ve never felt weird here. It’s always been home to me and I’ve always come back here in the summer. Most of my friends I grew up with are still around so it’s just home to me. They have the banners and such in the rink and I definitely feel special with that but I always look at the guys before me with Corey Millen and Derek Plante and those guys and they are the ones I’m always excited about so for me it’s not a big deal but I’m definitely honored by the nice things people say.

Q: You seem to have the reputation of being a solid leader in the NHL and beyond and have worn a C for multiple squads; do you attribute your leadership abilities to anyone or anything specifically?

A: I think part of it is that I’ve always just kind of been that way, even as a kid. I was the kid trying to arrange the games, as my mom would say. I would be calling all of my buddies making sure we had people from around town to get a game going and doing those kinds of things.

As far as the captaincy thing is concerned, in the NHL I was very fortunate early on in my career to be around some guys who I consider to be great leaders in Joe Nieuwendyk, Guy Carbonneau and Craig Ludwig. The teams I was on in my career also had some great guys I was around who either were captains or had been captains of teams. To see the way they conducted themselves and the way they treated people I was able to really learn firsthand how to do it at that level. I think leadership comes naturally though and you kind of feel comfortable in that role.

Q: Speaking of one of the teams you Captained, what was it like representing the US in the Olympics in 1998 and 2010?

A: Amazing would be the first word. I dreamed of being an NHL hockey player but the Olympics were definitely something that we all looked at and strived for and something I thought had gone away when I turned pro in 94’. Then the opportunity came up in 98’ when they brought the NHL guys in and it was amazing. Being named Captain for the 2010 team and being able to represent not only the country but my town and my team on the biggest stage, and for us to do well was probably the greatest individual honor I was given in my career.

Q: What was more flooring, winning the Stanley Cup or winning a silver medal at the 2010 Olympics?

A: Well if it had been a gold medal we might have a conversation! I think they are really two different things. To win the Stanley Cup, I mean you’re going through a season with a team. In Dallas we made a few trades at the deadline and added another Cloquet guy with Derek Plante and whatnot but you’re basically going through with a team for a six month battle and then a two month war with the playoffs, so you have a bond with those guys that’s pretty deep. You’ve spent more time with them then you’ve spent with your family by the time it’s over and it’s a really pretty amazing thing to go through.

The Olympics, especially with the way it’s set up as a two week long tournament is definitely different. It was a great experience since our group came together so well and we really bonded in a short time though. We had a lot of fun together but I think they are two completely different experiences although the world stage makes it so amazing especially with the country behind you. Hearing those stories back home from people who can tell you where they were while they were watching this game or that game is neat stuff and makes you feel pretty special to be a part of that.

Q: You recently spent some time with your most recent team, the St. Louis Blues, while they were visiting Minnesota. What was that day like for you?

Yeah, I brought my boys down the day before and spent the day with the guys from the Blues and went to pre-game skate. The boys were able to go to the pre-game meal with the guys and we had a good time seeing everybody and spent the day with Zach Parise and stuff afterwards so it was good to see some friends.

Q: So what’s next for you?

A: I’m kind of regrouping a little bit. I’ve actually been talking with the St. Louis management a bit about starting to do something with them. I’m just trying to find the right fit for me with the idea that I still want to have some flexibility to be around for my boys and stuff so we’re having ongoing conversations. Hopefully we find something that works for all parties involved and kind of slowly transition into something else. I’m not in a rush to do anything and it’s nice to have that luxury, so for now we’ll kind of wait and see what happens.

For more information on Jamie Langenbrunner and his career CLICK HERE for the NHLPA media release. You can follow Cloquet, MN native and the author of this article Amy Gist at @AmySnow17 as well as @MNhockeyMag for all of our latest updates, articles and events!

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