The Minnesota Wild welcomed the Los Angeles Kings to town for the last time this regular season and they were hoping for a few things… redemption for the two previous losses (a 5-1 home loss on Election Day & a 4-1 loss in LA a month later), getting back in the win column and putting the puck in the net more than once in a game.
The Minnesota Wild have scored 6 and allowed 15 goals in their previous 5 games. Most fans know the Wild are trying to battle through injuries to arguably their two best forwards and their best defensive defenseman in Fs Kirill Kaprizov (1.41 points/game) & Joel Eriksson Ek (0.57* pts/game) & D Jonas Brodin. We heard the other day Brodin has started skating on his own. The Wild just need to get back to playing their game and shooting the puck. Their funk with putting the puck in the net has their confidence low so they’re looking for the perfect shot or a better shot instead of just shooting as much as possible.
*Ek’s career point/game is 0.54 but he’s been a different player the last two seasons (0.81 pts/game). He scored 53 goals in those two seasons and 24 of them came on the power play. You can guess the one player who’s scored more power-play goals in that time. Only Matt Boldy & Kirill have scored more total goals in those seasons
2024-25 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
37-25-5 (W-L-OTL) (79 points)
4th in the NHL Central Division
2024-25 Los Angeles Kings Schedule and Results
36-20-9 (W-L-OTL) (81 points)
5th in the NHL Pacific Division
NHL Hockey Standings
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Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Game Recap
Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno was scratched after sustaining an upper-body injury in the morning skate. Brendan Gaunce took his spot in the lineup but was centering the 4th line and F Yakov Trenin moved up to the 3rd line.
1st Period
Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi was called for one of the weakest slashing penalties ever. It’s hard to tell if he even hit him on the replay. It was a one-handed slash…
and just like that, the officials entered the game. How big of a dent will this make? #OfficiallyBad
The Kings scored mere seconds into the power play to take a 1-0 lead and there were at least 20 “slashes” that were harder than the one called on Marco Rossi.
The Wild had a good sequence in the offensive zone but to no avail. The Kings responded with a long sequence on offense as well but the Wild kept the game at 1-0.
The Kings would’ve been up 2-0 if not for this Gus Bus save and amazing blocked shot from Minnesota Wild defenseman Jon Merrill…
If you didn’t know, it’s a blocked shot and not a save because a shot on goal is defined as:
Shots were 9 a piece at the end of the 1st period.
2nd period
The Los Angeles Kings scored early in the 2nd period but a Kings player drove the net and ran into Wild G Filip Gustafsson, knocking him out of his crease. His stick went through a buckle on his left leg pad and maybe through his skate as well so the official immediately waved off the goal for Goalie Interference.
The Kings player still raised his palms as if to say, “What am I supposed to do?” Uhh… not run into the goalie and take him out of position to make a save.
The Wild then drew a penalty after some sustained o-zone time and it took them 3 seconds to score off a Ryan Hartman tip of a Jared Spurgeon shot from the right point.
The Wild received a Too Many Wild on the Ice penalty and a Gustav Nyquist tripping penalty, but they killed both of them off.
Shots were 12-5 in favor of Los Angeles.
3rd Period
Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy was being hooked and as he tried to get loose of it, he came down over Los Angeles Kings F Anze Kopitar and broke his stick so naturally, the hooking penalty wasn’t called and Boldy was called for a slashing. If the hook is called, a whistle would’ve blown and there wouldn’t have been a slashing penalty.
On the Power Play, Kings F Phillip Danault was called for Tripping Yakov Trenin when there were 23 seconds of 4-on-4 before the Wild started a 1:37 power play. The Wild couldn’t get anything going on until there was just 20 seconds left.
Wild F Marco Rossi was tripped with 5:12 remaining in regulation and the Wild went to work on the Power Play…
The Kings pulled the goalie with about 2:45 left in reguation which is a little early for being down 1 goal but the Kings are probably pretty confiedent having won their last 5 games.
It meant the Wild had to shut them down to earn those precious points.
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Box Score
Shift Chart
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Next up:
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