FanHouse Cory Schneider

It's been a rough stretch for the Minnesota Wild over the past two weeks, and it continued on Sunday as they dropped their fifth in a row -- and sixth in their past seven games -- as they fell to Anaheim, 4-2. During this current losing streak, Minnesota has scored only five goals, and is finding out that it's quite difficult to win every game 1-0.

After overcoming a 2-0 deficit thanks to a pair of goals by Marc-Andre Bergeron and Eric Belanger, the Wild allowed Brendan Morrison and Bobby Ryan to reclaim the lead for the Ducks. From that point on, J.S. Giguere shut the door for Anaheim, as he turned aside 26 shots in the win. The Ducks also received goals from Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, as they won for the third time in their past four games.

Josh Harding received the start in goal for Minnesota, making 30 saves on 34 shots.

Not one of Ilya Bryzgalov's best performances for Phoenix, as the Chicago Blackhawks lit him up seven times on 28 shots, as the Coyotes lost a laugher, 7-1. Chicago received a pair of goals from Ben Eager, while also getting tallies from Dave Bolland, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, and Andrew ladd in the win.

Ladd also picked up three assists in the win, earning himself No. 1 start honors with his four point effort. The four points, by the way, were a career-best for the 22-year old forward.

With the Coyotes trailing 7-0 in the second period, Envir Lisin at least got them on the board with his fifth goal of the season, which was the shot they could sneak behind Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet, who stopped 20 shots in the win.

Rookie goaltender Cory Schneider made 16 saves in the Canucks 2-1 win on Friday night, picking up his first career win against the Minnesota Wild.

Vancouver outshot the Wild by a 14-3 margin in the first period, and took advantage of -- according to the box score -- 15 Minnesota giveaways to escape with the victory. Kevin Bieska picked up his fifth goal of the season in the first period, while Jason Jaffray scored his first of the season at the 3-minute mark of the second period.

Mikko Koivu scored Minnesota's only goal of the night, while Niklas Backstrom turned aside 29 shots in the loss.

The win is only Vancouver's second in six games since the loss or Roberto Luongo, while the Wild had won three of four coming into action on Friday.

The best action of the night was probably the assortment of brawls in the first and second periods, resulting in the two teams combining for 56 penalty minutes during the game, and the ejections of Derek Boogaard and Darcy Hordichuk.

Paul Maurice made his debut in his second stint with the Hurricanes on Thursday night, and, well, it wasn't exactly an impressive showing by Carolina, as the Penguins walked out of the building with a 5-2 win. Sidney Crosby registered four assists on the night, while Petr Sykora picked up a pair of power play goals to lead the Penguins.

Carolina goalie Michael Leighton struggled most of the night, giving up the five goals on only 22 shots. He struggled with puck control and wasn't exactly helped by his defense, as they were guilty of a few costly turnovers in the defensive zone. With the Hurricanes trailing 1-0 in the first, Josef Melichar (former Penguin) turned the puck over to Pascal Dupuis who ripped a shot behind Leighton giving the Penguins an early 2-0 lead.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan also scored for the Penguins, while Tuomo Ruutu and Matt Cullen scored the only two goals of the night for Carolina. Both goals brought the Hurricanes to within two goals on the scoreboard, only to have the Penguins quickly strike back, squashing any momentum Carolina may have built.

The Hurricanes have now lost four of their past five games.

The Minnesota Wild are probably the last team you would expect to be involved in a 6-5 game, but, hark, here we are. Paul Stastny scored a pair of goals and picked up an assist for the Avalanche, as they snapped the Wild's modest two-game winning streak on Monday night.

Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom had what was, perhaps, his worst night of the season, giving up six goals on 26 shots through the first two periods. He didn't come back out for the third, as Josh Harding took over and stopped all five shots he faced in the defeat.

For the Avalanche, Peter Budaj gave up five goals of his own on 17 shots, as Minnesota picked up goals from Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2), Owen Nolan, Mikko Koivu, and Brent Burns.

Bouchard scored his second goal of the game just 22 seconds into the second period, giving Minnesota a brief 3-2 lead. Just three minutes later, Stastny picked up his first, as the Avalanche would fill the net three more times in the period, ultimately chasing Backstrom from the game.

Minnesota head coach Jacques Lemaire called the first 40 minutes the worst two periods he had seen, as Colorado was not only leading 6-4, but also holding a commanding 26-12 edge in shots on goal.

While not strictly the NHL, this game is important to the future of the sport as no less than 19 players in tonight's NCAA Final game of the Frozen Four are draftees of NHL clubs. Some of the talent on display tonight (unfortunately opposite the Habs and the Leafs)when Boston College faces off against Michigan State are:

• Cory Schnieder (G) -- 1st round, Vancouver Canucks, starting netminder for Boston College
  
• Nathan Gerbe (C) -- 5th Round, Buffalo Sabres, 5'5" leading goal-scorer for BC.
• Tim Kennedy (LW) -- 5th Round, Washington (traded to Buffalo), PPG forward. Leads MSU with 40 points.
• Justin Abdelkader (LW) -- 2nd Round Detroit, MSU. 22 points and a solid, physical two-way winger.
  
• Mike Ratchuk (D) -- 2nd Round 2006 Philadelphia. Freshman offensive defenseman for MSU.

In other CCHA news, undrafted forward Ryan Duncan was awarded the Hobey Baker award as the Best Player in the League for 2006-07. Past winners include, San Jose's Matt Carle, Buffalo's Ryan Miller and Chris Drury and Nashville's Paul Kariya.

U.S. collegiate hockey is beginning to produce a higher quality of player on average than it used to. The level of competition is beginning to rival that of some of the Canadian junior leagues as evinced by the rising number of draft picks being used by NHL teams on these players. So, if your team is playing a game tonight that doesn't have particular meaning to the playoffs or the standings, I highly recommend this rare opportunity here in the U.S. to catch the next wave of the NHL in action before they arrrive.

Ta,