Can the Minnesota Wild start a winning streak in Edmonton? To Carson Soucy & Jared Spurgeon (natives of Alberta, Canada)…ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME?
Two Minnesota Wild players were going home to Alberta to play tonight’s game, D Carson Soucy & D Jared Spurgeon, and they had HUGE games proving they might be TOO GOOD FOR THEIR HOME!
The Minnesota Wild came back from 3 1-goal deficits before a huge 3rd period.
The Edmonton Oilers top line was wreaking havoc on the Wild in the first 2 periods. F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored 50 seconds into the game off an Oilers rush. Wild D Jonas Brodin actually appeared to take the puck but it was taken right back and passed to an open Nugent-Hopkins who beat Stalock by shooting through Matt Dumba.
Kevin Fiala made a nice play in front of the net to move the puck from his forehand to his backhand to get a wide-open net for his 16th goal of the season to tie the game at 1.
Nugent-Hopkins scored again when he was found wide-open driving to the net and it looked like the backchecker lost track of his man and/or was late getting back.
D Carson Soucy was found driving up the left side of the zone by Mats Zuccarello for an open shot that he wristed in for his 7th goal of the season. Unfortunately, he left the game with an upper-body injury. Luke Kunin did as well so the Wild had to battle through being short 2 players.
Leon Draisaitl scored on a pass from the goal line when the puck went off of Jordan Greenway’s skate and deflected back and into the net. It was a wicked deflection as Greenway was near the faceoff dot and skating towards the half-wall so it deflected like 10-15 feet backward but, bounces are part of the game, good & bad.
The Wild didn’t let that stop them as they tied it up again just 2:54 later on Jared Spurgeon’s slapper from the right dot that went far side past Oilers G Mikko Koskinen.
That’s Wild Alberta natives 2, the team from Alberta 3 if you’re keeping track.
So, a HUGE 3rd period began with the game knotted at 3 goals each. The Wild got an early power play and got some great scoring chances but couldn’t capitalize on them but they were playing a solid game and adjusting to the Oilers top line & that Draisaitl (#29 – 97 points (35 G, 62 A)) guy, blocking a lot of shots and getting good goaltending from G Alex Stalock.
They were also shooting the puck. Something Coach Dean Evason asked them to do. They finished with 39 shots on goal and a great example of getting pucks to the net was the Wild’s 4th goal and Jared Spurgeon’s 2nd of the game. Ryan Suter brought the puck in on the right side and quickly passed it off to Zach Parise then continued into the zone to give Zach a passing option. Zach had to curl back towards the boards to protect the puck and then backhanded it into the corner to Suter. Jared took advantage of the space on the left side of the zone and Suter found him but passed it in front of him forcing Spurgeon to go to his backhand and he just threw the puck at the net and it went off of Oilers D Adam Larsson’s stick and into the net for a 4-3 Wild lead! See….Get Pucks to the Net, boys!!!
The Wild got another power play with 8:20 left and had some chances to double their lead but didn’t so the Oilers had 6+ minutes to tie the game then Spurgeon put his stick into the skates of Oilers F Caleb Jones and ended up tripping him with 3:49 left in regulation.
The Wild’s Penalty Kill has been much improved in the last handful of games because they are doing the things they need to do to kill said penalties. Most of that is blocking shots but it’s also working together and communicating. As the power play wound down, the puck was passed back to the point but Spurgeon came out of the box fast to break up the play and the loose puck went to Eric Staal who fed Spurgeon for the easy empty-net goal for his 1st Career Hat Trick and only the Wild’s 2nd Hat Trick from a Defenseman.
So…for the record! That’s Wild Alberta natives 4, Team from Alberta 3! Soucy 1 & Spurgeon doing a trick with a hat! It was a treat seeing that trick!
What a huge win! This team doesn’t give up and the 3 days off has served them well as the Coach has stressed accountability and communication.
Next up: St. Louis Blues at the X on Sunday at 6:30pm on the NHL on NBC Sports.
