by By John Shipley jshipley@pioneerpress.com , St. Paul Pioneer Press

"Yeah, I got a game-winning goal instead of six stitches on the bridge of my nose," said Clutterbuck, who scored in overtime after teammate Greg Zanon's shot ricocheted off the post and hit Clutterbuck square in the visor.

The puck bounced off the visor and landed in the low slot, a fact only Clutterbuck seemed to know. He lunged at it and took a swing from his belly, finding the back of an open net to give Minnesota a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Not bad for a guy who wasn't supposed to be in uniform.

"I felt pretty good, my normal self," said Clutterbuck, who suffered a high ankle sprain Oct. 10 at San Jose and was initially supposed to miss about six weeks. Instead, he missed five games, getting the OK to play Saturday just before the puck dropped.

"We got him in the lineup, and thank goodness we did," coach Todd Richards said.

Andrew Brunette and Kyle Brodziak also scored goals, and Niklas Backstrom made 21 saves as the Wild improved to 3-0 at home to help mitigate a franchise-worst seven-game road loss streak. All three victories have been in overtime or shootout.

"It was good just to get the win," Zanon said. "Clutter had to really battle for that one. He did a great job to put it in the net. We're just happy we got the two points."

Cam Ward made 26 saves, and Sergei Samsonov and Joni Pitkanen scored goals for Carolina, which also is winless on the road this season. Ward was defending Zanon's shot in the left corner when the shot banged off the far post and right at Clutterbuck.

"Pretty lucky, actually," Clutterbuck said.

Minnesota will take it. The Wild trailed 1-0 after Samsonov scored on a power play 10 minutes, 32 seconds into the game and could well have folded.

"You could hear it from the guys on the bench right away. The leaders, the older guys, are up and encouraging each other," Richards said. "In other games it had been quiet, and it turned into a downward spiral, and tonight we made a decision not to get back on our heels."

Minnesota scored the next two goals, first when Brunette knocked a puck in off the back of Ward's skate, then on a give-and-go play between Brodziak and Owen Nolan.

Brodziak stopped an outlet pass in the neutral zone and sent it ahead to Nolan at the far blue line. He immediately skated behind the defense and took Nolan's pass in the right circle and drove at Ward, changing from forehand to backhand and slipping the puck in after Ward had committed to the first move.

That gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead 1:51 into the second period.

Pitkanen scored on a two-on-one rush he started by stripping Antti Miettinen at the blue line to tie the score 2-2 with 7:35 left in the second period, setting up a furious but scoreless third period. Both goalies were phenomenal, Backstrom stopping breakaway chances from Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Staal to keep his team in the game.

"You want to win, and we needed to win tonight, but I was thinking during the game that tonight we were playing with a big heart and a lot of emotion, and we need that," Backstrom said. "When you do that, usually the result is going to be good."

The Wild will take a scheduled day off today, then fly to Chicago for a nationally televised game against the Blackhawks on Monday night. They should have close to a full lineup. Though Kim Johnsson is out with an upper body injury, and Derek Boogaard was sick, Petr Sykora played his first game since straining his groin Oct. 10 at San Jose.

And then, of course, there is Clutterbuck.

"It's definitely exciting to be able to get out there and get a winner like that," he said. "It was a step in the right direction."

For player and team.

Copyright 2009 St. Paul Pioneer Press All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.