Throwdown Lowdown – Blues @ Wild, 02-12-11

I’m re-running this picture because Tom Sestito’s face here makes me laugh out loud. Image via Zimbio

That was quite the disheartening 5-4 overtime loss by the Blues to the Minnesota Wild.  At the very least, the Blues got one point out of the ordeal, but they could have had SO much more.  Such is the 2010-2011 season, as it seems.  There was a fight between Brad Winchester and Brad Staubitz in this game, and while I won’t have the video or results until Monday, I felt like Winchester won that battle.  With that fight, the Blues move to 52 fighting majors on the season.  The problem?  There were about 30,000 fights in the Penguins-Islanders game (I’m only slightly exaggerating).  So the Pens have not only shot to the top of the standings, they may run away with the flag at this point, given the team’s situation and pugilistic attitude.  At the time I wrote this, the Pens fight total was somewhere around 61.  The Boston Bruins, with 55, were already in second, so the Blues come into tonight’s action in third place in the NHL as far as fighting majors go.  The Blues’ fight record, tentatively, stands at 21-15-16.

So . . . you may know these people. They’re the team the Blues played last night.  This time, though, the scene is the home ice of the Minnesota Wild – the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. You’ve obviously heard about these guys before, and their lack of fighting prowess still stands even after last night’s fight.  After last night’s action, the Wild now are in 23rd place by themselves with 22 fighting majors on the season, and tentatively their fight record (based on a win by Winchester over Staubitz) is 9-6-7.

Brad Staubitz (6’1”, 210lbs, tentatively 5-2-3 awaiting his decision with Winchester), as you know, has now fought 10 times on the season.  He is (obviously) followed by five guys with two fights each – Matt Kassian (6’5”, 245lbs, 2-0-0, currently with the AHL’s Houston Aeros), Brent Burns (6’5”, 219lbs, 0-0-2 including one fighting major where he broke a guy’s orbital bone with the butt end of his stick), Eric Nystrom (6’1”, 193lbs 1-1-0), Clayton Stoner (6’3”, 225lbs, 1-1-0) and Kyle Brodziak (6’2”, 209lbs, 0-1-1).  Two solo fighters round out the squad – Chuck Kobasew (6’0”, 192lbs, Draw) and former Blackhawk Cam Barker (6’3”, 215lbs, Loss).

So after last night, I figure anything could be expected out there fight-wise.  It’s possible that Cam Janssen makes a triumphant return and pounds the crap out of Staubitz or, possibly, Nystrom for his hit on David Backes.  Maybe Barret Jackman gets spun around and he wraps fist and cold-cocks someone.  Maybe someone for Minnesota tells Erik Johnson a “Two Front Teeth” joke at the worst possible time.   The possibilities are endless here.

Three points is still possible, but not probable, out of this home-and-home set.  I want the three points.  Go get them, Noted Ones.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights