Ever since not getting picked up off waivers (more on that in a bit), Earl has made the most of his limited ice time. Two goals in two games has been drawing some raves from west of the St. Croix. This is especially notable considering that he's getting less than nine minutes of ice time (he got less than 7:00 against Detroit), and also considering that he's mostly playing on the fourth line. Not easy to score a goal when you spend most of the game paired with Andrew Ebbett and Derek "Good Lord, That Man Was Sired By A Moose" Boogaard. It definately seems like he's starting to find a groove that he was unable to get in Toronto. What once seemed like a career AHLer is finding ways to be a serviceable third and fourth liner.
In either case, he's getting some very favorable press in St. Paul. Wild beat writer Michael Russo had this to say:
And, 29 GM's should get fired today. These 29 men could have had Robbie Earl for jack squat Wednesday when he was on waivers. In the two games since, the former Wisconsin Badger's got two goals -- and now five in 15. I'm no math genius, but that puts him on pace for 27.33333333333333333 goals over an 82-game season.
He also brought speed, physicality and a helped draw a double minor from Derek Dorsett. The Wild's 9-0-1 the past 10 games Earl's in the lineup, and 10-3-2 overall when he plays. He's a difference maker!!!
Good work, Robbie!
Jamie McBain:
A nice little write-up on McB that I found on NHL.com.
Adam Burish:
Stumbled accross this NHL.com video linked on UrineSoakedHellholeNow.com of Adam Burish discussing, among other things, his timetable for returning to the Blackhawks. You can sense the restlessness, and there's something about that that seems like vintage Burish to me:
Dany Heatley and Joe Pavelski continue to set the world on fire in San Jose. I don't need links or stats. It's just a fact.
Bernd Bruckler:
This is a poorly translated link ("is Andre Lakos some time no longer in the squad by a tractor." Zuh???), but evidently Bernd's been battling an ACL injury, although Torpedo is still in the playoff hunt in the KHL. Speedy recovery, Bernd!
Brian Elliott:
One of the greatest Badger goalies of all time had one of the greatest weeks of his professional career last week, winning four games in four starts- a streak that included a stretch of three games in four days. It was enough to earn the NHL First Star of the week last week.
He was lights out with a .957 SV%, 1.26 GAA and allowing only 5 goals. I caught the end of an interview with Els on Hockey Central, and so far I haven't seen it on Versus.com or on Youtube. I'll keep an eye out for it, but in the meantime, here's a WTF save Elliott made against Marian Hossa after the puck took a WTF bounce off the endboards:
Posts
