Tag Archives: Minnesota Wild

The great Northwest

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According to Elias, Minnesota Wild center Matt Cullen has been at his best against Northwest Division opponents.

Cullen has 17 points in 17 games against Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Colorado. He has six multi-point games against division competition.

He has 16 points in 32 interdivisn games, with two multi-point games.

What does this all mean? Cullen could be a major player in Minnesota’s race to get into the playoffs. The Wild (30-20-5) are currently in eighth place in the Western Conference.

The Wild is second in the Northwest to a talented Vancouver team (81 points), and just one point ahead of Calgary in the division.

Minnesota hosts Vancouver at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Center.

Cullen has 10 goals and 23 assists in 51 games for the Wild this season.

Did that really just happen?

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This isn’t Matt Cullen related, but a new video of USHL forward Andrew Prochno is making the rounds that I wanted to share with the masses.

Prochno, a Minnesotan who plays for Sioux Falls, spit puck in half with a shot off the post the other day. Yes, you read that right. He split a PUCK IN HALF with his shot off the post.

The video tells the story. To bring it back around to the topic of this blog, Wild forward Matt Cullen and some teammates told Wild StarTribune beat writer Michael Russo that they had never seen anything like this before.

Take a look for yourself.

Prochno splits puck

Line changes

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Star Tribune Minnesota Wild beat guy Michael Russo is reporting that Martin Havlat and Matt Cullen have not meshed the way the team would have liked coming into the season.

We all know that Havlat and Cullen have been productive together on the power-play.

However, the duo has failed to produce a 5-on-5 goal when on a line together.

So, Havlat is now with Eric Nystrom and Jon Madden. He’s had four assists in the last two games with the new linemates.

Cullen has still played well with new guys rotating in-and-out on his line. He has 14 points in 16 games.

“You’re trying to find Marty (Havlat) and Cullen some complements that’ll work,” Wild coach Todd Richards told Russo.

We’ll see if things can continue to go well for both Havlat and Cullen as the season progresses.

Bug hits Wild locker room

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An illness seems to be going through to the Minnesota Wild locker room.

Several players, including Matt Cullen, did not practice Monday morning, due to illness.

Matin Havlat and Nick Schultz also missed practice on Tuesday. So far, we’re not sure if they will all be ready for Tuesday night’s game against Vancouver at Xcel Energy Center.

Power-play machine

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With his goal and assist in a 4-2 win against Edmonton on Thursday night, Matt Cullen is tied for 14th in the NHL in points scored this season.

Cullen, in his first season with the Minnesota Wild, has two goals and two assists in four games.

Cullen is tied for first in the league with two power-play goals, and tied for second with a pair of assists with a man advantage.

He’s been a huge help for the Wild on the power-play this season, providing a spark with a man advantage — as he has throughout his 13-year career. Forty-five of his 171 career goals have come on the power play. He has also assisted on 85 goals on the power-play.

Can you say “playmaker?”

“Defintitely one of the best starts I’ve had,” Cullen said. “Starting to really settle in and get comfortable wi the team and system.”

And what about that first regular-season home game experience Thursday night.

“The atmosphere was electric last night,” Cullen said.

First home game finally here

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Matt Cullen’s return to his home state will finally be compete when he plays his first regular-season game with the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The game against Edmonton is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Cullen

Matt Cullen puts a shot on goal during a preseason game earlier this year against the St. Louis Blues at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Cullen, from Moorhead, has a goal and an assist — both coming in the season-opener against Carolina in Finland — in two games this season.

“I’ve been looking forward to opening night since the day I signed,” Cullen said. “It’s gonna be a lot of fun. It’s a big game for us, too. We need to get that first win.”

The Wild are 0-1-1 and the Oilers are 2-0-0.

Moss news travels fast — to Finland

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News that the Minnesota Vikings re-acquired star receiver Randy Moss on Wednesday hit the Minnesota Wild locker room in Helsinki, Finland just minutes after it became official.

Randy Moss

Receiver Randy Moss is headed back to Minnesota. Minnesota Wild center Matt Cullen loves the deal.

“Sounds like a good deal to me,” said Wild forward Matt Cullen, a former Minnesota high school and St. Cloud State standout who is making his own return to the Land of 10,000 Lakes this year after several years away. “Especially for a team that really needs help at that position. Sounds like he needed a change of scenery.”

The Wild open the regular season with a pair of games against Carolina on Thursday and Friday in Helsinki.

Letters from Helsinki

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Matt Cullen and the Minnesota Wild wrapped up the exhibition season on Monday with a 5-1 win against Tampere of Finland in Helsinki.

Cullen finished the final preseason game with a pair of assists. The Wild ended 1-4-2 in games that don’t count.

The Wild begin the regular season with a pair of games Thursday and Friday against Carolina in Helsinki.

“(I’m) very anxious for the season to start,” Cullen said from Helsinki. “We’ve been working hard — practicing a lot. Ready to get going.”

Cullen said he and his teammates have been able to take in some of the sights in Helsinki during the trip.

“(I’ve) seen a lot of Helsinki,” he said. “Very nice place. Love the saunas!”

Cullen lights the lamp

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Former Moorhead High School star Matt Cullen scored the first goal of his Minnesota Wild career during a 3-2 shootout loss Tuesday night to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Wild dropped to 0-5 this preseason, but Cullen said Tuesday night that the team appears to be headed in the right direction as the regular season approaches.

“Yeah, it felt good,” Cullen said via text late Tuesday night. “We definitely have some wrinkles to iron out but we’re making progress.”

Minnesota opens the regular season against Cullen’s former team, the Carolina Hurricanes, on Oct. 7 in Helsinki, Finland.

Cullen played four seasons in Carolina (two stints), winning the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2005-06.

Note: Remember, we want this blog to be interactive and a place where you can get insight on Cullen’s first year with the Wild that you can’t get anywhere else. Send me your questions for Matt, and I’ll do my best to get them all answered.

Wild lose backup goalie

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The Minnesota Wild likely lost backup goaltender Josh Harding for the season to a torn ACL and MCL. Harding suffered the injury in the first period Friday night when he was run into by St. Louis Blues forward Brad Boyes in a 5-0 exhibition loss.

Harding was playing in his first game since offseason hip surgery.

“I feel terrible for him,” teammate Matt Cullen said Saturday. “It’s tough to see a guy who has worked so hard to come back from hip surgery lose more games to a knee injury.”

Anton Khudobin is the leading candidate to replace Harding as Niklas Backstrom’s backup. Star Tribune sports writer Michael Russo said prospect Dennis Endras will be the backup when Minnesota travels to Finland in early October. 

However, Russo says the Wild are committed to keeping Endras in Germany this year.

Khudobin was 2-0 with a 0.87 goals against average in two appearances with the Wild last season.