The Minnesota Wild faced the Winnipeg Jets for the first time in about 22 months, 650 days ago on January 4th, 2019 to be exact so…Happy New Year and New Season, ClutterPuckers!!! HA!

Only half of the team that played in that game so long ago are still with the team today. Luke Kunin scored the game-tying goal and Eric Staal scored the game-winning goal in OVERTIME!!! Both of those players were traded and the players they were traded for (Marcus Johansson & Nick Bonino*) left via Free Agency in July (Johansson to Seattle & Bonino to San Jose). Eric Staal is currently a free agent.
*The Wild also traded a 4th-rounder (#101) but received a 2nd (#37 – F Marat Khusnutdinov) & a 3rd (#70) which was then traded to Detroit along with pick (#132) to select D Daemon Hunt.

So… how will these two teams greet each other after 22 months? “Hey, it’s been a while, how are you?… Where’d everyone go? Who’s that in goal? What the Puck happened here?” This isn’t the same Minnesota Wild team they’re used to seeing. There’s a lot more grit and fight in this team, now!

Here’s how both teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Winnipeg Jets

Let’s see how it went…

They honored the late Tom Kurvers, their now former assistant GM, who passed away this past summer after a valiant fight against cancer, with a tribute before the game:

1st Period Recap

Matt Dumba took a cross-checking penalty just 37 seconds into the game as he hit Mark Scheifele somewhat softly. Scheifele is a lot stronger on his skates than that but it was a cross-check and the officials are calling them more this season.

The Wild killed off the penalty but maybe the Jets got some momentum from that power play as a 1:11 after the penalty & 3:48 into the game, Kyle Connor scored short side from a pretty bad angle.

The Minnesota Wild showed their resiliency on the very next shift and scored 53 seconds later when Mats Zuccarello had a loose puck come to him and shot it past Connor Hellebuyck. Assists went to Matt Dumba(2) & Kirill Kaprizov(3).

The great thing about this goal is Winnipeg had a chance to get the puck out but the Wild’s top line stayed aggressive and a D-to-D pass behind the net turned into a wraparound and Kirill Kaprizov was there to keep it in the zone then lost it to Kyle Connor but kept on him and created a loose puck that Zuccarello then sent back to the right point to Matt Dumba and he took one his Dumba Blasts that created a rebound. Jets D Nate Schmidt tipped it away from Ryan Hartman but right to Zuccarello and he one-timed it in to tie the game at 1!

Kyle Connor scored his 2nd goal of the night 3:36 later to put Winnipeg up 1 again. Minnesota Wild D Dmitry Kulikov tried to make a pass up the right boards but it was intercepted by Andrew Copp and when he tried to dump the puck back down into the corner & it deflected off of Kulikov right to Connor & he wound up and blasted it past Cam Talbot. Sometimes, that’s how the puck bounces.

Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello might be taking notes from Joel Eriksson Ek as they are starting to be pains in the butt to play against. Zuccarello didn’t like Jets D Logan Stanley’s stick between his legs after the whistle so he aggressively hit it down to which Stanley responded by pushing Zuccarello.

Later in the period, Kaprizov came up high on the 6’7, 228 lb defenseman and ended up getting a roughing minor to even up the play to 4-on-4. He may have gotten him with the elbow. Winnipeg didn’t score on their 64-second power play and when Kaprizov came out of the box, he was taken down from behind shortly thereafter by Pierre-Luc Dubois who apparently took exception to how easily he thought Kaprizov went down even though he took out both of his feet. So the Wild went back on the power play and they tied it as every Wild skater touched the puck before tying the game on the Power Play.

Kirill Kaprizov entered the offensive zone on the left & quickly passed it to Kevin Fiala on his left at the point. He quickly passed it to Jared Spurgeon at the center of the blue line and he hit Mats Zuccarello at the right faceoff dot. Zucc took a shot that deflected off a Winnipeg D-man and went wide right but Joel Eriksson Ek quickly got to the rebound behind the net & tried to just get it on net as quickly as possible and it went over Jets G Connor Hellebuyck’s right pad to tie the game at 2.

We knew Winnipeg messing with Zuccs & Kap meant they’d get reacquainted with Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno and it happened immediately after the Wild tied the game as Foligno & Winnipeg D Brendon Dillon dropped the mitts on the ensuing puck drop and Foligno got the fight going with a jump punch (or Superman punch) then finished the heavyweight bout off nicely and skated off the ice throwing his arms up to the fans then down to throw his elbow pads on the ice. He was fired up and he got his team fired up. Don’t mess with our players!

2-2 after 1. The Wild outshot them 13-11 in the first.

2nd Period Recap

Ryan Hartman took a slashing penalty in the offensive zone and Winnipeg capitalized on the Power Play when D Josh Morrissey had some space in the slot and his shot went off the shaft of Kulikov’s stick to deflect past Talbot to and put the Jets back up by 1 goal at 3-2.

Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime laid a big hit on Jets D Josh Morrissey as he was coming to clear the zone. ****Game Notes

After another Ryan Hartman penalty (hooking), Brodin made a nice play off a deflection of a Hartman pass to almost put the Wild up 1 at the end of the period but Hellebuyck made a great save with his outstretched left pad/skate. Hartman jammed at it a couple seconds later as the puck was under Hellebuyck but the officials immediately waved it off. They looked at it and that no-goal call stood.

3rd Period Recap

Frédérick Gaudreau caught a pass from Kevin Fiala and threw it down in front of him so he could take a quick shot and he hit the crossbar early in the 3rd. 

Minnesota Wild F Nick Bjugstad took a delay of game penalty at the 2:43 mark. We’ve always hated this penalty. It’s relatively impossible to measure intent but a lot of the time, these penalties happened as a result of a puck on edge and the players are just trying to clear the zone and the puck happens to go out of play. Maybe they should raise the glass to the same height as the glass that’s on the ends of the ice to help with this.

The Jets took advantage and got their 4th 1-goal lead of the game off the stick of Pierre-Luc Dubois(2). Wild G Cam Talbot may have been screened by D Jared Spurgeon, at least enough to not see the puck until it was too late.

Do they make another response? A big Dumba blast and Hellebuyck doesn’t appear sure he has it so Hartman takes a whack to knock it loose but the whistle had already blown.

F Andrew Copp put the Jets up 2 with 13:23 to go in regulation and the Wild were down 2 for the first time this season.

A nice Jets breakout created a 2-on-1 as they just made a quick passing play and Alex Goligoski had no chance to get back so it was up to Spurgeon to try to defend it and Andrew Copp just shot it and went bar down to the upper left. Jordan Greenway may have been too aggressive on that play, too. Foligno & Hartman were already low so he should’ve probably backed off.

Kaprizov took a hooking penalty. It was another stick infraction. This time, Kaprizov was behind Copp & he caught up to him and tried to lift his stick but he also stopped moving his feet.* The Wild’s Penalty Kill gave them momentum as they allowed very little offense to Winnipeg.
*Why stop when you get within reach of a player? Keep skating so you can reach the puck and/or get even with the player so you can push him off the puck.

Another penalty after the whistle after Zuccarello’s shot and Dumba driving the net and Minnesota-native D Neal Pionk got 2 minutes for slashing. Did the Wild Power Play get them back in this game with 6:26 remaining in regulation?

YES….IT DID!!! FOLIGNO GOT DIRTY after a loose puck was won back by Dumba and he hit Hartman who passed across to Gaudreau and he waited, faked a shot then teed up Alex Goligoski for a blast that was saved but Foligno was on the doorstep and he outbattled Josh Morrissey to get to the rebound and get the Wild back within 1 with 4:58 left!

The Wild took their Time Out with 2:47 remaining and they pulled their goalie. A turnover cost them as Mark Scheifele got the empty-netter and they may have tried to get too perfect of a chance rather than shoot the puck and make something happen. The officials looked at the play for some reason. Kyle Connor appears to be offside on the far side of the ice. WOW!!!

NO GOAL!!! Conner didn’t even try to drag his leg. He obviously must’ve thought it was going to be an easy empty-net goal. Details, people! DETAILS!!! Mark Scheifele received the pass in front of him and for some reason pulled the puck back to his forehand side.

At the sight of the replay, the Wild fans at the Xcel Energy Center start cheering and many fans had started to file out of the arena right after the goal was scored so…when it was called NO GOAL, they all started coming back to their seats. NEVER LEAVE EARLY, people!!!

For some reason, we can’t find any video of this play anywhere. That doesn’t make sense as we saw it on TV!

74 seconds left in regulation! How…uhh…Wild would this be?

THEY SCORED!!! A loose puck went off of Mats Zuccarello’s right leg. The puck bounced up and Eriksson Ek swatted down at it & hit it down with the shaft of his stick and it went in between Connor Hellebuyck’s legs to tie the game with 59 seconds remaining.

Oh, boy! Free Point and now…FREE HOCKEY as we’ll go to 3-on-3!!!

OVERTIME

With new life in OVERTIME, the Wild had all the momentum in Overtime but the teams traded chances and both goalies came up with some big saves. Then Kirill Kaprizov drew a hooking penalty on Josh Morrissey and looked like he had a great chance to end it but Kyle Connor lifted his stick and ended up knocking him down and Kaprizov went hard and awkwardly into the boards. No second penalty for tripping.

So…it was 4-on-3 with Ek, Fiala, Kaprizov & Spurgeon against Lowry, Stanley & Dylan Dimelo. The puck went into the left corner off a deflected pass and Fiala tried to send it back to Spurgeon at the point but it went off Lowry’s stick & it developed into a 2-on-1 with Lowry on the right & Stanley on the left. Lowry fed Stanley a great pass but Cam Talbot got across to make the save then covered but pushed it out to Spurgeon & he fed it to Kaprizov to go up the right side with Ek on the far side and Fiala trailing. As Kaprizov hit the top of the right circle, he passed to Fiala who immediately returned it to Kaprizov but it forced Dimelo to honor Fiala and opened up the backdoor pass to Joel Eriksson Ek for the Game-Winning Goal and his First… Career… HAT TRICK!!!

WOW!!! WHAT A GAME!!!

See the Extended Highlights Below!!!

Extended Game Highlights

Stars of the Game
1st Star
Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek

3 goals for his 1st career Hat Trick, +2, 7 shots, 19-25 from the faceoff dot (career-high)

2nd Star
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello

2 Goals, 2 Assists, +2, 4 shots, showing the value of line & team chemistry

3rd Star
Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov

3 assists, 3 shots, +2, physicality & just competing his butt off

Honorable Mentions:
Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno

Fighting (Superman Punch) to get his team fired up; the 4th goal; Bringing the Clutter like he always does

Minnesota Wild Video Coaches Jonas Plumb and T.J. Jindra

Making the call down to Assistant Coach Brett McLean to challenge offsides on Winnipeg’s eventually overturned Empty-Net Goal*

Evason credited Jonas Plumb and T.J. Jindra in video room for challenge: “Neither one of them will take any credit. But it was a great call. They were ready to drop the puck too when they called down to (Brett McLean). Mac was just screaming for the refs to get their attention.”

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 20, 2021

*Thanks to Kyle Connor for his laziness, not paying enough attention to stay onside. #OOPS! Thanks for those 2 points!

Game Notes

*This team plays for each other and protects each other. After Kaprizov got his roughing penalty in the first period on big Jets D Logan Stanley (6’7, 228 lbs if you forgot), Stanley cross-checked him and who stepped in front of him, 5’8, 182-lb Mats Zuccarello then, of course, big Marcus Foligno fought Brendon Dillon, who had hit Kaprizov earlier.
-And this might be what the Jets are missing, team chemistry &/or toughness. That’s hard to tell when a team is struggling, though.

**Too many penalties for the Wild. Their Penalty Kill is very good but that doesn’t mean they should keep testing it with dumb penalties. Be aware of where you’re placing your stick &/or keep skating so you can reach the puck instead of the opponent’s stick.

***The first time I heard Paul Stastny’s name was as regulation expired to send this one into OVERTIME!!! Geez! That’s pretty crazy. He had 19:51 of ice time and he also had an assist on Winnipeg’s 3rd goal (Morrissey). He’s now 35 years old so is this obviously his last season or is this just part of the funk Winnipeg is in right now?

****Duhaime was the final player to make the Wild’s roster. We were in favor of Kyle Rau because we think he deserves a chance to get some steady playing time in the NHL but we also didn’t know what kind of player Brandon Duhaime was. As we’re learning about him, it’s easy to see why the Wild made the choice for Duhaime. He’s everything you want in a grinder type of player. He has speed, size and an extremely high compete level. And…if you know why this page is called ClutterPuck, you know that we love his physicality. Clutter Bringer!

*****Not a great game for Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot but he came up with some big saves that definitely helped his team. We know he’s not satisfied with this game and we’re sure he’ll be motivated to be better the next time out.

Postgame

If you’re into the Postgame. This is a little different than most games so we’ll link all the postgame interviews; Ek & Foligno, Head Coach Dean Evason & Goligoski & Zuccarello.

Next Up:

We have to wait until Saturday night for the Minnesota Wild to play again as they’ll take on the Anaheim Ducks at home at 5pm on Bally Sports North.

Hopefully, you can catch it and we’ll actually post a recap soon after the end of the game.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and Always…