Petr Sykora News

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still in last place in the Northeast Division, but there's certainly a changing feeling as the Minnesota Wild arrive in town for Tuesday night's meeting.

The problem right now is that the Wild aren't sure who or what they are. They know what they used to be.

Vancouver Canucks left wing Darcy Hordichuk is congratulated by teammates on the bench after he scores a goal against Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom during the first period of their NHL hockey game in the Xcel Energy Center in St.

ST. PAUL - Tough guy Darcy Hordichuk and newly signed Matt Pettinger each scored their first goals of the season, leading the short-handed Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild.

The Minnesota Wild seem to be turning things around after a rough start to their 2009-10 season.

Eric Belanger has moved up in the Wild's scheme of things. The lithe center with jet-propelled skates has shed a recurring role as defensive specialist under Jacques Lemaire to become a prime scoring threat under Todd Richards.

The first month of the season is over and, honestly, the Minnesota Wild are probably relieved.

On his way from the Minnesota team bus to the visiting locker room at Mellon Arena a couple of hours before the Wild played the Penguins last night, winger Petr Sykora stopped by the familiar Penguins offices to receive his diamond-heavy Stanley Cup ring

Preview: The Wild, 0-8 on the road, visits the Igloo for the last time. The Wild is 6-2-1 all-time vs.

Is it just me, or has the play of the Minnesota Wild improved lately with Kim Johnsson out of the lineup? I'm sure most of the so-called experts in the media will say it's just me but warped minds never did believe much in coincidence.

Things didn't end well for Martin Havlat with the Chicago Blackhawks. His beginning with the Minnesota Wild hasn't been too good, either.

Justin Bourne mentioned the other day in his blog that there is nothing worse than a player playing well after he has been benched.

Backstrom made 34 saves and the Wild won an away game for the first time this season, beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Saturday night.

Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher sat down with Penguins GM Ray Shero, assistant GM Jason Botterill and Pens coach Dan Bylsma and reminisced Saturday before Shero handed Fletcher a special gift for his services as assistant GM last season: a Stanley Cup championship ring.

Petr Sykora had a goal and an assist, and Eric Belanger and Antti Miettinen also scored to help the Minnesota Wild win for the first time in regulation this season, 3-2 over the New York Rangers on Friday night.

After getting only nine minutes, 36 seconds of ice time in Monday's loss to Chicago, Wild winger Petr Sykora found his minutes cut to zero Wednesday when coach Todd Richards chose to scratch him against Nashville.

In Wednesday's loss to the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild head coach Todd Richards sat Czech sniper Petr Sykora in favor of fan favorite enforcer Derek Boogaard.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jerred Smithson scored a short-handed goal midway through the third period to give the Nashville Predators their second regulation victory of the season, 4-3 over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.

Wild wing Petr Sykora wasn't thrilled to find himself glued to the bench during much of his team's 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night.

Preview: This is the second of back-to-back games for both the Wild and Hurricanes.