The Minnesota Wild responded to their 1st loss (a bad 5-2 loss at home to the Nashville Predators) with a great game in Vancouver where they scored the 1st goal for the 1st time this season then held on for a 3-2 win to get back in the Win column!
They looked to start another winning streak as they played their first game against the Seattle Kraken. They saw former teammates & Minnesota Wild players, D Carson Soucy, who was taken in the Expansion Draft, and Fs Ryan Donato & Marcus Johansson, who both signed as free agents.
The Wild got some bad news on Wednesday that Fs Mats Zuccarello & Rem Pitlick had to be placed in the NHL’s Covid-19 protocols so the Wild recalled Fs Kyle Rau, Connor Dewar & D Jon Lizotte.
#mnwild leading scorer Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick, coming off a solid Wild debut, have been placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list.
Rau, Dewar and Lizotte recalled
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 28, 2021
We also found out before the game that Ds Alex Goligoski & Dmitry Kulikov were out due to injury so D Jordie Benn made his Minnesota Wild Debut & D Jon Lizotte made his NHL Debut.
Jon Lizotte, the fourth-year pro from St. Cloud State is making his NHL debut tonight, I hear. Alex Goligoski, who skated this morning, is hurt. Dmitry Kulikov is also hurt, so Jordie Benn will make his #mnwild debut.
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 29, 2021
That’s 4 regulars out so how did the Wild do against the expansion Seattle Kraken?
It’s always interesting to see how a team plays against a brand new team in a brand new arena. The Wild did very well in Vegas in their first season as they won all 3 games against them in their inaugural season. They’ll play Seattle 3 times this season, too, with 2 of those games in Seattle.
Here’s how the teams lined up for the 1st game at Climate Pledge Arena:
Minnesota Wild
97 Kirill Kaprizov – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek -22 Kevin Fiala
18 Jordan Greenway – 38 Ryan Hartman – 17 Marcus Foligno
21 Brandon Duhaime – 7 Nico Sturm – 89 Frédérick Gaudreau
52 Connor Dewar – 49 Victor Rask – 27 Nick Bjugstad
25 Jonas Brodin – 24 Matt Dumba
8 Jordie Benn – 46 Jared Spurgeon
4 Jon Merrill – 39 Jon Lizotte
33 Cam Talbot
34 Kaapo Kähkönen
Seattle Kraken
17 Jaden Schwartz – 37 Yanni Gourde – 19 Calle Jarnkrok
72 Joonas Donskoi – 21 Alexander Wennberg – 7 Jordan Eberle
13 Brandon Tanev – 16 Jared McCann – 14 Nathan Bastian
9 Ryan Donato – 15 Riley Sheahan – 67 Morgan Geekie
5 Mark Giordano – 24 Jamie Oleksiak
6 Adam Larsson – 55 Jeremy Lauzon
4 Haydn Fleury – 29 Vince Dunn
31 Phillipp Grubauer
35 Joey Daccord
1st Period Recap
We were anxious to see Kevin Fiala play on the top line with Kaprizov and Ek.
Ryan Hartman got the Wild on the board 1st for the 2nd game in a row as he was wide open in the slot and Kirill Kaprizov found him from behind the net with a great pass.
The Wild then scored seconds later but the officials immediately waved it off because Marcus Foligno knocked it in off his skate and they viewed it as being kicked in. They reviewed it and stayed with the call of No Goal.
Seattle tied the game when a pass out front missed its mark but it went off the left half-wall and bounced right to D Haydn Fleury for a one-timer that deflected off Matt Dumba’s shin and past Cam Talbot.
The Wild responded with a great shift from the Nico Sturm line then another one from the top line but didn’t get a chance or even a shot.
It was mostly Wild early but the Kraken got their game going and then Marcus Foligno took a double-minor for high-sticking Joonas Donskoi with 5.3 seconds remaining in the 1st period.
Shots
MN: 11 | SEA: 13
Faceoffs
MN: 59.1% | SEA: 40.9%
Power Play
MN: 0-1 | SEA: 0-1
Hits
MN: 15 | SEA: 15
Blocks
MN: 4 | SEA: 4
Giveaways/Takeaways
MN: 2/1 | SEA: 1/2
2nd Period Recap
The Kraken kept dominating but the Wild killed off the double-minor penalty and were in survival mode for the majority of the 2nd period as the Seattle Kraken were just getting more confident as the game went on.
Seattle then took the lead on a wraparound when D Haydn Fleury scored his 2nd goal of the game as he took a shot from a bad angle and the rebound came right back into him as he was skating toward the net so he just went around the net for a nice wraparound goal for his 2nd goal of the game.*
*Haydn Fleury has 7 career goals in the NHL in 183 games.
The Wild started to get their game back then Connor Dewar took a tripping penalty in the offensive zone with 3:00 remaining so back to the kill they went.
We expected the Wild to come out for the 3rd with a lot more energy and a much higher compete level. The Wild had 8 of the first 10 shots in the game so they had only 7 of the next 35 shots.
2nd Period Totals
(1st Period Stats)
Shots
MN: 16 (11) | SEA: 30 (13)
Faceoffs
MN: 50% | SEA: 50%
Power Play
MN: 0-1 | SEA: 0-4
Hits
MN: 29 (15) | SEA: 25 (15)
Blocks
MN: 8 (4) | SEA: 6 (4)
Giveaways/Takeaways
MN: 5/3 (2/1) | SEA: 2/2 (1/2)
3rd Period Recap
Did the Minnesota Wild show up for the 3rd period? This team has been known for their response for a while now so…
They started off the period very well then had to kill off a boarding penalty when Jon Lizotte sent Morgan Geekie into the boards but the Wild got right back to their game and drew an interference penalty and the Power Play created a couple of great chances but Grubauer made to great saves. Seattle got a clear and the Wild changed units but didn’t get much out of the 2nd unit as they couldn’t set up to get any zone time.
Then Seattle D Jermey Lauzon threw Hartman into the boards but no penalty was called even after the after-whistle scrum as Marcus Foligno let his frustration be known.
7:57 left in regulation at that point.
The Wild were pinned in their own zone but they eventually got out of it and got another good shift & scoring chance but Grubauer was still up to the task.
6+ & the shots were 13-4 Wild in the period & it felt like the Minnesota Wild were going to tie it up at some point.
5:02 left in regulation…
Greenway took a hard hit from Mark Giordano and struggled to get off the ice.
Net empty at 1:47. Matt Dumba had to make a block/save to keep it at one goal but eventually, Brandon Tanev scored to put Seattle up 3-1 with just a minute remaining in the game.
Time Out – Minnesota
A Full-Ice Empty-Net goal with 7.9 seconds remaining ended it for sure.
The Wild gave it a heckuva effort in the 3rd but it’s hard to make up for 30+ minutes of bad hockey.
Final Totals
Shots
MN: 31 | SEA: 38
Faceoffs
MN: 54.5% | SEA: 45.5%
Power Play
MN: 0-2 | SEA: 0-4
Hits
MN: 43 | SEA: 40
Blocks
MN: 11 | SEA: 10
Giveaways/Takeaways
MN: 5/5 | SEA: 2/2
Game Notes
*The Wild responded in the 3rd like we’d expect them to but it just wasn’t enough. There are going to be games where a team doesn’t play well and has to battle their way out of it. They did that tonight but just could never get the big goal they needed.
**Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot suffered his 1st loss of the season even though he stopped 34-of-36 shots against him. He’s been amazing for the Wild this season. As he has in most of the Wild’s games, he made a number of great saves to keep his team in the game. He also had very little chance on either goal but that is the life of a goalie.
***The Wild didn’t look as good as they usually do. Is part of that because they had 4 players out? Yes, but, we’re sure the Wild expect any players called up from Iowa to seamlessly move into their lineup because it’s the same system they run down there. It wasn’t as smooth as they’d like it to be but 2 of those players were also making their NHL Debuts and it is a step up from the American Hockey League so it might take a little bit to figure out how to play in the best hockey league in the world.
Next up:
The Minnesota Wild head to Colorado to end this 3-game road trip as the Avalanche have maybe righted their game with a 4-3 win in St. Louis tonight.
We, of course, expect the Wild to come out very ready to play on Saturday night in Colorado. The big question is who will & who won’t be in the lineup since the Wild have 2 injured players and 2 players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. Will they lose more players? Will they get back any of those players?
––––– CP –––––
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