February 4th, 1983
Montreal Canadiens (33-22-3) at Minnesota Wild (32-22-5)
Montreal visit the Wild at the Xcel Energy Center looking to beat Minnesota for the 2nd time this season. Montreal won 1-0 at the Bell Center earlier this year. RW
John Herrod joined the Habs after the trade on January 26th. Since then Montreal is 3-1 with Herrod having 2 goals an assist and a +3 rating. Montreal looked to Herrod for a shot blocking winger and he has blocked 4 in 4 games. Herrod has been averaging 21:53 minutes of ice time a game on the 1st line.
Minnesota are currently 5th in the West with 69 points, trailing the West leading Oilers by 23 points. The Wild can direct most of their success to special teams. The Wild have the 1st ranked PK at 90.3% and the 3rd ranked PP at 20.2%. An area to exploit with the Wild is that they give up 32 shots per game ranking them 21st in the NHL.
C
Vincent Pfister leads the Wild with 56 points and 45 assists, he has 11 goals in 57 games. The 21 year old 1983 All-Star is an offensive forward with strong playmaking skills. Not a physical player he was a rookie last season and had 14 goals and 46 points in 82 games. The Wild drafted Pfister in the 2nd round, 35th overall in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft.
LW
Dennis Bigham leads the Wild with 26 goals and is 2nd on the team with 51 points in 59 games. The 19 year goalscorer also has good stamina. He was selected to the 1983 All-Star in this his rookie season. He played the 2 previous seasons with the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL where he had 65 goals in 130 games. Bigham was the 1st round, 1st overall pick of the Wild in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft.
RW
Sergey Edeshko is 3rd on the Wild with 39 points, including 18 goals in 59 games. The 31 year Russian two-way forward is a strong skater. He is a 2-time All-Star that is playing on his 3rd NHL team. In 206 career NHL games, he has 74 goals, 151 points, 251 PIMs and a +35 rating.
Montreal starts G
Mike Blackshear, he has 28 wins in 48 starts and a .899 save %. Minnesota goes with G
Jake Wooten who has 24 wins in 44 starts with a .910 save %.
Minnesota takes a 1-0 lead at 7:49 of the 1st when RW
Sergey Edeshko gets his 19th of the year on the PP. Minnesota gets a 2nd goals for RW
Edeshko, his 20th of the year at 10:55 to make it 2-0. Montreal falls further behind when C
Vincent Pfister gets his 12th goal of the year at 16:59 and it is now 3-0 for the Wild. Despite Montreal out shooting Minnesota 11 to 8, the Wild lead.
Montreal gets on the board at 16:36 of the 2nd period when C
Dave Wright gets his 24th goal of the year on the PP. Its now 3-1 for the Wild. The shots were 12 to 9 for Montreal in the 2nd. Both teams are 1 for 3 on the PP.
Montreal does make it interesting when the make it 3-2 at 16:11 of the 3rd. C
Dave Wright gets his 2nd of the game. It was not enough at the Wild hang on, and I mean hang on for the win. Montreal out shot the Wild 21 to 2 in the 3rd period.
Minnesota's RW
Sergey Edeshko was the 1st star with 2 goals. The 31 year old now has 20 goals and 41 points in 60 games this season.
Minnesota 3
Montreal 2
| PER | TEAM | GOAL | # | ASSIST | ASSIST |
| 1st | MIN | Sergey Edeshko (PP) | 19 | Vincent Pfister | Mark Minx |
| 1st | MIN | Sergey Edeshko | 20 | Larry O'Donley | Tom O'Lenahan |
| 1st | MIN | Vincent Pfister | 13 | Dennis Bigham | Andrey Mezenov |
| 2nd | MTL | Dave Wright (PP) | 24 | Jiri Bohm | Al Ladd |
| 3rd | MTL | Dave Wright | 25 | Andrew Rickford | Lorenzo Bocci |
| TEAM | GOALIE | SA | GA |
| MTL | Mike Blackshear | 19 | 3 |
| MIN | Jake Wooten | 44 | 2 |
Around the league............
The Montreal Canadiens have extended RW
Rob Lynch to a 2 year, $1.3 M deal. The 28 year old Lynch has 1 goal and 4 points in 48 games this season. In 195 career NHL games, Lynch has 15 goals, 38 points, 40 PIMs and a -31 rating. Montreal signed Lynch as a free agent on July 4th, 1981.
The Montreal Canadiens have acquired C
Donald Ley via waivers from the Florida Panthers. The 30 year old Ley has 1 goal and 2 points in 29 games this season. He was acquired to add some depth at the forward position. In 178 career NHL games, Ley has 15 goals and 36 points with 20 PIMs and a -12 rating. Ley was demoted to the AHL.
The Montreal Canadiens have announced that they have activated LD
Yegor Berestnev from the IR today. The 28 year old has not played since January 21st. Montreal has demoted LD Martin Beran to the AHL, he had 2 assists in 3 games with Montreal.
The Montreal Canadiens have announced they have extended LD
Marc-Andre Berube to a 3 year, $8.6 M deal. The 33 year old Berube has 2 goals and 14 points in 48 games this season. In 184 career NHL games, Berube has 11 goals, 56 points, 105 PIMs and a +8 rating.
Pittsburgh Penguins RW
Travis Chambers had a goal in a 2-1 win over the Flyers. The 33 year old Chambers now has 23 goals and 67 points in 58 games. The 1981 All-Star has played with the Red Wings and Penguins, he has 136 career NHL games with 51 goals, 130 points, 77 PIMs and a +27 rating.