Throwdown Lowdown – Blues @ Wild 11-05-11

Neither Brad Staubitz nor Brandon Prust play for these two teams anymore. Image via MPR529/Flickr

Well hey, whaddaya know? The St. Louis Blues came out clicking and played a mostly-solid 60 minutes at home last night, taking home a 3-2 victory over a jet-lagged Vancouver Canucks squad. And there even was a fight in the game! Scott Nichol – perhaps known more for his ability in the face-off dot than his fighting – battled David Booth (video will be shown in the next episode) and, in my estimation, won the fight squarely, but we’ll have to wait for vote totals to confirm this ruling. The Blues now have fought four times on the 2011-2012 National Hockey League season, now good for a tie for 19th place in the NHL with several teams, tentatively holding a fight record of 2-0-2.

The Minnesota Wild tend to bore teams to death, but that may not be the case this season. A huge shake-up deal  with the San Jose Sharks changed the core of the team, possibly bringing a bit more spunk to a lineup that had been built for years to trap teams to pieces. The results have been mixed thus far, and it’s not like they’re fighting much to counteract this movement. The Minnesota Wild are in the same tie for 19th in the NHL with four fights as the Blues are. Last year, the Wild finished in a tie for 20th with the Montreal Canadiens with 32 fights on the season. The Wild were a solid 13-11-8 on the 2010-2011 NHL season, and this year they are a very healthy 3-0-1.

Wild players that have fought this year include enforcer Brad Staubitz (6‘1“, 215lbs, 2-0-0) with two fights and Clayton Stoner (6‘3“, 225lbs, Win, day-to-day with a finger injury) and the bloodthirsty Matt Kassian (6‘4“, 232lbs, Draw, recently sent down to the AHL’s Houston Aeros) with one fight each. Current Wild players who fought last year include Staubitz (7-6-2) with 15 of the Wild’s 32 fights last season. Six of the fights were contested by Stoner (3-2-1), and Kyle Brodziak (6’2”, 209lbs, 0-1-1) fought twice. Folks who fought only once each include former Flyer Darroll Powe (5’11”, 212lbs, Win), former Shark Devin Setoguchi (6’0”, 200lbs, Draw) and former Penguin Nick Johnson (6’1”, 183lbs, Loss).

Ryan Reaves played last night, but don’t expect a return. Perhaps Nichol, seeing some of his former Sharks teammates now playing for the Wild, will dial up two fights in two nights. Perhaps there will be no fighting. Perhaps monkeys may fly out of my rear end. With this team, who knows anymore, really?

The second of a home-and-home. Wanna win two? Go win two.

LET’S GO BLUES!!!!!

Information obtained via the incomparable Fried Chicken’s Hockey Fights