Blackburn blanks Wild in Jackets opener

Columbus, OH

Dan Blackburn was ready to begin the year.......his enthusiasm was noticeable. Blackburn turned away all 29 Wild shots he faced and Brad Boyes netted his first goal as a Jacket to notch the game winner. Bryan Smolinski added a second goal, unassisted, in the first period and the rest of the game was just a skate a round.

Raffi Torres logged a whopping 26 minutes in the win and had some post game comments, " It's impressive what we have going here, we went out there and played a great physical game...we worked hard all week on strategy and playing real physical defense. It's nice when the whistles aren't going and you get the job done."

The Jackets Oliver Setzinger took 14 minutes in penalties, showing a real mean streak.

Michal Sykora led the way for Minnesota with 6 shots on net.