The Minnesota Wild looked to continue their winning ways against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto looks like a team still trying to figure out who they are this season. They are the only team to beat the Winnipeg Jets, a 6-4 win, but they allow a little over 3 goals per game (37 in 12 gp). They also score a little over 3 goals per game (38 in 12 gp). We can’t imagine the Wild taking them lightly so it should be a good game.
Toronto was also on the back end of a back-to-back where they were technically playing less than 24 hours after their previous game. They played in St. Louis at 6 pm in a game that ended at 8:25 pm then had to get on a plane for a 95-minute flight then play at 5 pm for this game. That’s weird and seems wrong especially when you’d think the NHL would want their teams to be able to play their best every night to have as much entertainment value as possible so why do this? It is legal under the CBA but should it be? Or, should it at least be amended? Idk. I guess back-to-backs are a part of the season and there’s probably not an easy way to get around it.
A 2:30 clip about it from SDPN, Steve Dangle & Chris Johnston
Next up:
The 7-3-3 (W-L-OTL) Los Angeles Kings come to visit the Wild at home on Tuesday at 7 pm on FanDuel Sports Network North!
The Minnesota Wild are finally home at the X and they faced the Tampa Bay Lightning who they beat 4-2 just 8 days ago when they came back from their first deficit of the season. Tampa Bay has won 3 straight games after that loss and you know they want some redemption for that loss.
So it’s another test for the Minnesota Wild facing a team for the 2nd time again but this isn’t the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the experienced Tampa Bay Lightning who still play to win and aren’t very far removed from the team that won consecutive Stanley Cups in 2020 & 2021 and lost in the Finals to Colorado in 2022.
Hartman will return after missing five games because of an upper-body injury. … The Wild reassigned forwards Liam Ohgren and Luke Toporowski to Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Status Report
Cernak will play after leaving during the second period of a 5-2 win at the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday after taking a hit to the head from Avalanche forward Matt Stienburg. Stienburg received a two-game suspension from the NHL Department of Player Safety for the hit.
Game Recap
1st Period
Power play goal for Tampa Bay!
Scored by Brayden Point with 00:45 remaining in the 1st period.
MN: Filip Gustavsson 26 Saves on 29 Shots; .897 Save %, 2.93 GAA*; 2nd Win TBL: Andrei Vasilevsky 35 Saves on 39 Shots; .897 Save %, 3.46 GAA*; 4th Loss
Here’s how the teams lined up for the 1st game of this in-state battle home & home series that began at Mariucci Arena:
Minnesota Gophers
Penn State Nittany Lions
Game Recap
Penn State came into the game with a perfect Penalty Kill so far this season at 23-for-23 so maybe they were trying to show it off because they took an early high-sticking penalty and their penalty kill looked very good. The Gophers had some shots but didn’t score.
Gopher D John Whipple was called for Contact to the Head at 11:59 of the 1st period and it was reviewed to see if it should be a major penalty. It didn’t look bad enough for that but… you never know with reviews. They called it a 2-minute minor for Elbowing. The Gophers killed it off.
Penn State F Reese Laubach was called for tripping with 2:49 remaining in the 1st period. The Gophers were trying to figure out how to get around the Penn State penalty kill and as the penalty expired, Gopher D Mike Koster tried to take a shot but it was blocked by Penn State F Alex Servagno. He then swatted at the puck to try to clear the zone and Laubach, who had just been released from hockey prison, was there to help. He caught the puck and threw it behind his back then used his speed to get a breakaway and he beat Gopher G Nathan Airey through the five-hole.
Goal – Penn State – Reese Laubach (4) from Alex Servagno (1)
This is a heckuva play by both Penn State players. The block was a kick block (or save) from Servagno and then the swat was contended by Mike Koster so the puck popped up in the air and Laubach caught it. Then speed killed. It’s hard to fault the defense here, besides saying they aren’t fast enough. It’s just a great block and play to get the breakaway.
Penn State Nittany Lions 1 | 0 Minnesota Gophers
The 1st period maybe wasn’t a “punch in the mouth” but the Gophers were down one as Penn State played them tough the whole period then got the late goal.
The Gophers came out with a purpose to begin the 2nd period and it didn’t take long to see results from it. After a turnover in the neutral zone by Penn State, the Gophers missed on a pass in the offensive zone but they forechecked hard to get the puck back and F Brody Lamb tried to pass to F Erik Påhlsson in front of the net. He missed it but F Jimmy Snuggerud saw the loose puck and got to it and shot it as quickly as possible and tied the game up just 1:36 into the 2nd period.
Goal – Minnesota – Jimmy Snuggerud (2) from Brody Lamb (4) & Erik Påhlsson (2)
Defensively, make a better play in the neutral zone and know where you want to go with the puck before you get to it. The neutral zone play was a hope play as the player thought he could get it to his forward but it didn’t work because the Gopher player was in the position to disrupt that play.
Offensively, Gopher G Erik Påhlsson skated hard to get to the Penn State defenseman to force him to make a quick decision and quick play. This is what you want from your team because when a player has to make a play faster than they want to, that’s when mistakes happen. Speed can work for you in many ways.
Penn State Nittany Lions 1 | 1 Minnesota Gophers
Gopher F was going to the boards as the puck was coming to him and Penn State F Matt DiMarsico was coming in to check him and Kurth’s jersey numbers are facing him which means you better use some kind of caution if you’re going to hit him and DiMarsico didn’t so…
5-minute Major & Game Ejection for Checking from Behind
Penn State took an Inteference penalty with just 13 seconds remaining in the 5-minute major penalty but their Penalty Kill was doing its job as they killed off 7 minutes of power play time for the Gophers.
Make that 9 minutes after killing off a Too Many Men on the Ice penalty.
Then they took a hooking penalty as if they were trying to see how many different penalties can we get called for without repeating one. “Let’s see. We have high-sticking, tripping, boarding, Too Many Men… what else is there? Oh… Hooking! We don’t have a hooking penalty yet!” And it was former Wild F Jimmy Dowd’s kid, Jimmy Dowd, Jr. who took that one.
This time the Gophers made them pay and scored the first Power Play Goal against Penn State with a tip from Jimmy Snuggerud in front of the net that put the Gophers up 2-1.
Minnesota – Jimmy Snuggerud (3) from Sam Rinzel (5) & Matthew Wood (10)
Penn State Nittany Lions 1 | 2 Minnesota Gophers
The Gophers knew a big push was coming in the 3rd period from Penn State because that’s who they are but also because it’s the B1G Ten Conference so they had to play good defense in order to secure their 1st conference win of the season.
They were doing a good job and it came to the point of Penn State pulling their goalie. Gopher F Connor Kurth was still forechecking hard and he forced a turnover that deflected to F Jimmy Clark and he shot it immediately since the net was empty. Penn State D Simon Mack tried to stop it with his stick but it deflected off of it and went into the net.
Weirdly, Penn State didn’t have much of a sense of urgency in their end with an empty net. Why are you trying to block a shot with your stick? Get down and block a shot! And why not try to get to the puck to keep a shot from happening? It’s easy to second guess but it’s like they didn’t know their net was empty.
MN: Jimmy Snuggerud (2, 3); Jimmy Clark (2) PS: Reese Laubach (4)
Assists
MN: Brody Lamb (4), Erik Påhlsson (2); Sam Rinzel (5), Matthew Wood (10); Connor Kurth (7) PS: Alex Servagno (1)
Goalies:
MN: Nathan Airey: 20 Saves on 21 Shots; .952 Save %; 2.00 GAA; 4th Win PS: Arsenii Sergeev: 29 Saves on 31 Shots; .935 Save %; 1.83 GAA; 2nd Loss
Game Notes
So… we did get to see how the Gophers would respond after a tough 1st period. Their one loss came in overtime so the only response you could maybe look at is how they played their next game, a 7-5 victory over in-state rival University of Minnesota-Duluth. That score doesn’t really tell the whole story though. They led 4-0 after the 1st period of that game then led 5-1 after the 2nd but were outscored 4-2 in the 3rd. So… another chance to respond after a bad 3rd or, at the very least, a lesson to keep playing your game because this is Division-1 College Hockey and teams aren’t going to stop playing.
They beat UMD 5-1 the next night. Consider that a pretty good response. What we believe Bob Motzko meant is they’ve had it pretty easy from an offensive point of view and that won’t always be the case.
A lesson I need to remember every season is that in college hockey, there are a lot of changes from season to season so it’s always a new team and each season, every team has players who are either new to college hockey or new to your team so there’s a learning process that takes time.
Coach Motzko’s Comments
“I liked how we responded tonight,” Minnesota head coachBob Motzko said. “In the first period, (Penn State) had all the energy and they were beating us to pucks as we were kind of standing around. I didn’t like our first period. Our game kept getting better and I thought we had a terrific third period.”
Stars of the Game
Next up: Same Puck Teams: Penn State vs Gophers Same Puck Place: 3M at Mariucci Arena Same Puck Time: 7:00 pm Same Puck Channel: Fox9+
The Minnesota Wild ended their 7-game road trip with a game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. The Pittsburgh Penguins just finished a 4-game road trip through Canada and they lost all 4 games and 5 in a row overall. Did the Wild make it 6 in a row?
This game was the Minnesota Wild against the Pittsburgh Penguins but the spotlight was shining very brightly on Wild & former Penguins G Marc-André Fleury since Pittsburgh is where he began his NHL career 21 years ago after he was selected with the #1 overall pick in the 2003 NHL Draft by the Penguins and this was very likely the last time he would play in Pittsburgh.* *Unless… somehow the Minnesota Wild & Pittsburgh Penguins meet in The Stanley Cup Finals! Unlikely? Yes. Possible. Yes.
He helped them win 3 Stanley Cups over 13 seasons but G Matt Murray had taken over the #1 goalie role in Pittsburgh so Marc-André Fleury was exposed in the expansion draft for the Vegas Golden Knights to select. That was largely due to his $5.75M Salary/Cap Hit which is a lot for a backup goalie.* This showed what kind of player Marc-André Fleury was because he came within 2 wins of winning the Stanley Cup (3 in a row) but Vegas lost to the Washington Capitals and some Ovechkin guy.
That season, he finished 5th in voting for the Vezina Trophy for the League’s Best Goalie. His numbers were better or equal to the winner but he played fewer games. He won the Vezina 4 seasons later along with the Jennings Trophy.
That’s on the ice! Off the ice, he’s known as a great teammate and maybe the greatest prankster in the league over his 21 seasons. Ask Brandon Duhaime or just look for the videos celebrating his final game in Pittsburgh.
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
––––– CP –––––
Here’s how the teams lined up:
Game Recap
1st Period
The Minnesota Wild took consecutive penalties halfway into the 1st period and Pittsburgh took advantage of the 2nd power play to go up 1-0.
8:24 – Goal – PPG – Pittsburgh – Valtteri Puustinen (1) from Matt Grzelcyk (5) & Sidney Crosby (7)
Minnesota Wild 0 | 1 Pittsburgh Penguins
Just shy of 4 minutes later, Pittsburgh scored again and the state of Pennsylvania hasn’t been good to the Minnesota Wild so far. Hopefully, it improves… SOON!
MN: Marc-André Fleury 26 Saves on 29 Shots; .897 Save %, 2.93 GAA*; 2nd Win PIT: Joel Blomqvist 35 Saves on 39 Shots; .897 Save %, 3.46 GAA*; 4th Loss
*Goals Against Average
Shift Chart
––––– CP –––––
Next up:
The Minnesota Wild return home after the best road trip in franchise history. They’ll take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, November 1st at 7 pm on FanDuel Sports Network North.
The Minnesota Wild face a test in their game against the Philadelphia Flyers. A tough test? Yes… because Philly is the 2nd worst teams (by record) in the National Hockey League right now so the test is if the Wild can stick to their game and not play down to their opponent. In the NHL, any team can beat any other team at any time. Hopefully, the Wild will keep playing as well as they have been playing as they look to extend their winning streak to 5 in Philadelphia.
The Minnesota Wild struggled defensively in the opening minutes. The two wings were too deep in the zone. That allowed Philly to get the puck back & across to the right point for a shot. Wild G Filip Gustavsson made the save but he didn’t control it well. Philly F Sean Couturier pounced on the juicy rebound to give the Flyers an early 1-goal lead.
Philadelphia goal!
Scored by Sean Couturier with 18:42 remaining in the 1st period.
Assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Konecny.
18:42 – Goal – Philadelphia – Sean Couturier (1) from (1) & (2)
Does Kirill Kaprizov hinder Gustavsson’s view of the shot in his attempt to block the shot? Does it deflect off of him? It’s hard to tell. On the replay, it doesn’t look like Kaprizov affected the shot or Gustavsson’s ability to see it. He didn’t control the puck very well and made the save in the middle of his pads so he should’ve been able to absorb it into his pads and freeze it.
Minnesota Wild 0 | 1 Philadelphia Flyers
2:33 later, the Wild thought they forced a turnover in the neutral zone but the puck went right to Flyers rookie F Matvei Michkov. He easily skated with the puck into the offensive zone and the Wild failed to pick up D Nick Seeler trailing the play so he had a point blank shot and he fired it past Gustavsson and under 5 minutes into the game the Wild trailed by 2 goals.
Philadelphia goal!
Scored by Nick Seeler with 16:09 remaining in the 1st period.
16:09 – Goal – Philadelphia – Nick Seeler (1) from (3) & (5)
Minnesota Wild 0 | 2 Philadelphia Flyers
2nd Period
There was an early tripping penalty in the neutral zone from Philadelphia Flyers F Scott Laughton that put the Minnesota Wild on the Power Play. During the power play, another penalty was called when Garnet Hathaway hit Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek in the face with a forearm that certainly looks like a dirty play.
2:24 – Goal – Philadelphia – Rasmus Ristolainen (1) from Sean Couturier (3) & Travis Konecny (5)
Minnesota Wild 5 | 6 Philadelphia Flyers
Zuccarello tripped to the ice on a chop by Hathaway. White hot, Zuccarello goes after Laughton to negate the power play….Then Hathaway naturally grabs Eriksson Ek and gives his face the business…In the end, Zuccarello nullified a needed PP down a goal
1:00 – Goal – ENG – Philadelphia – Sean Couturier (3) from Noah Cates (1) & Travis Sanheim (1)
Minnesota Wild 5 | 7 Philadelphia Flyers
Foligno says “it’s bullshit” refs took Zuccarello to box late in third without an extra Flyer and negated power play. Also said Hathaway’s antics with Eriksson Ek all game is “what he has to do to stay relevant in this league.”
The Wild responded and had a chance to win but they should learn from having a bad start (1st early game this season) and learn that every team will bring their best against a team that’s rolling.
MN: Brock Faber (1), Marcus Foligno (2), Joel Eriksson Ek (4)-PPG, Marcus Foligno (2), Jake Middleton (2) PHI: Sean Couturier (1), Nick Seeler (1), Matvei Michkov (4), Travis Konecny (4)-PPG, Sean Couturier (2), Rasmus Ristolainen (1), Sean Couturier (3)-ENG
Assists
MN: Kirill Kaprizov (10), Joel Eriksson Ek (2); Declan Chisholm (1); Kirill Kaprizov (11), Matt Boldy (7)-PPG, Zach Bogosian (2), Jonas Brodin (5); Unassisted PHI: Rasmus Ristolainen (1), Travis Konecny (2); Travis Konency (3), Matvei Michkov (5); Sean Couturier (2), Owen Tippett (3); Morgan Frost (4), Owen Tippett (4)-PPG; Travis Konecny (4), Nick Seeler (1); Sean Couturier (3), Travis Konecny (5); Noah Cates (1), Travis Sanheim (1)-ENG
Goalies
MN: Filip Gustavsson 16 Saves on 22 Sots; .727 Save %, 2.17 GAA*; 1st Loss PHI: Samuel Ersson 21 Saves on 26 Shots; .808 Save %, 3.56 GAA*; 2nd Win
