The Minnesota Wild have had a pretty weird (Wild?) schedule to begin the 2021-22 season, haven’t they? They opened with back-to-back games on the road then had 2 days before their Home Opener then 3 days before back-to-back home games. They then alternated days off & game days on a 3-game road trip to Vancouver, Seattle & Colorado. Then 2 days off, a home game, 3 days off before tonight’s game in Pittsburgh which is their first road-home back-to-back of the season. And…we didn’t even mention that they were one of the last teams to start their season so you could count the first 3 days of the season as days off, too.
That’s 16 of the first 25 days of the season off & 8 of the first 11. See? Weird! Or am I just being weird? What do you think?
🏒–– CP ––🏒
Wild Transactions
The Wild got D Alex Goligoski back after he missed 3 games with an upper-body injury so D Calen Addison, who played very well while he was up with the big club, was sent down to the Iowa Wild of the AHL. So, some of you might ask, if he’s playing well, why send him down?
Well, Head Coach Dean Evason addressed that very question in his practice update from Friday from the Wild Warmup:
1:27 in to hear Dean talk about them sending Addison down to Iowa
We couldn’t find lineups for this game at PPG Paints Arena.
Minnesota Wild
Pittsburgh Penguins
1st Period Recap
Kirill Kaprizov got the scoring underway just shy of 10 minutes into the 1st with an easy goal off a rebound.
Go to the net! Goals are scored there!
The Penguins then scored 2 goals in 2:31 late in the 1st off the stick of Kasperi Kapanen (& assisted by former Minnesota Wild F Jason Zucker). So…apparently, they were playing Good Kap, Bad Kap!
2nd Period Recap
13:34 into the 2nd, MN native, F Jake Guentzel wired a wrister to the upper right corner for his 3rd goal of the season to put the Pens up 3-1.
But Minnesota Captain Jared Spurgeon got the Wild back within 1 with a Great Tip on the Power Play for his 2nd of the season.
The 2nd period would end with the score 3-2 so the Wild would have to mount a comeback in the 3rd.
3rd Period Recap
Kasperi Kapanen got the #HatTrick 🎩 8:45 into the 3rd when his shot went off the crossbar then hit Wild D Alex Goligoski and went in to put the Penguins up 4-2!
7:56 later, Wild Captain D Jared Spurgeon rang one off the right post for his 2nd of the night (3rd of the season) to get his team within a goal.
And the Wild just kept working. With 10 seconds left, Ryan Hartman threw the puck on net but it deflected wide & went behind the net. Nico Sturm, Marcus Foligno & Adam Beckman went to work & Beckman came out with the puck & sent it to Matt Dumba below the faceoff dot on the left side (Penguins G Tristan Jarry’s right) & Dumba had to reach for it to catch the pass so he could just quickly send it on net with 3.6 seconds remaining…
But it was blocked by Bryan Rust! It deflected right to Ryan Hartman’s stick and he shot it into the mostly empty net…for…the…BUZZER BEATER with 2.2 SECONDS LEFT!!!! YESSSSSS!!!
OVERTIME
…had its fair share of chances but both goalies were up to the task. Wild G Cam Talbot stopped 2 breakaways late so this one went to a Shootout!
Jake Guentzel scored immediately in the 1st round then…
Frédérick Gaudreau ❌
Kris Letang ❌
Kevin Fiala🚨
Bryan Rust🚨
Kirill Kaprizov🚨
Kasperi Kapanen❌
Nick Bjugstad🚨
WOW!!! What a Game! What a Comeback!
Should you ever leave a game early? Should you ever stop watching a game?
Well, we don’t think so but that is up to you, of course.
With this 2021-22 #MNWild team, we highly recommend staying & watching until the game is completely over! AND…they’ve completely left the ice along with the officials. Make sure the refs are not in the penalty box talking to Toronto about a play, too.
The Minnesota Wild do not give up, though. The #ClutterPuckers know this because, well, we’ve told them, but also because, of the Wild’s 6 wins before last night’s game, 5 of them were of the comeback* variety!
*Don’t Call It A Comeback! They were on the ice 🧊 the whole time!
Game Notes
*The Minnesota Wild scored the first goal of the game but still needed a crazy comeback. It’s pretty crazy (or Wild, we guess) that they’ve won all but 1 of their games in comeback fashion
We are just 10 games into the season and it’s great that they can keep battling and make these comebacks but you’d have to think it’s not a great recipe for consistent success, right?
Get a lead, hold that lead, get 2 points is the basic recipe. These gourmet, multiple-ingredient, crazy recipes are hard to keep making every night but, man, it’s fun to watch, huh?
**Cam Talbot is now 7-2 with a 2.85 Goals Against Average (GAA) & a .904 Save %. The record is great. The stats aren’t but stats are misleading and one thing that Minnesota Wild fans may not be used to seeing is a goalie get stronger as the game goes on.
We’ve seen goalies give up soft goals way too many times and that goal would end up being the difference or it would get in the goalie’s head and ruin the rest of the game. Cam Talbot might get better after a bad goal, or a goal that he feels he should’ve stopped. One thing we’ve seen him do so far this season on almost an every game basis is making HUGE saves that may be best described as game-saving saves, saves that make the broadcasters say, “Remember that Save!”
He did it last night by making 2 saves on breakaways in Overtime.
You win games by getting those big saves that keep you in the game. Cam has done that A LOT since signing with the Minnesota Wild on October 9th, 2020. Is this Cam on? Probably, especially if it’s on the ice!
–Side note: Backup G Kaapo Kähkönen has played just one game (October 24th – L to Nashville). That is due to the early Wild schedule having so many off days as noted in our opening above.
***One of the things that might go unnoticed is how the young prospects are looking comfortable and playing their roles well. It’s extremely difficult to have success if you’re uncomfortable, nervous &/or tentative while trying to play the game. Connor Dewar & Kyle Rau looked the part tonight.
Will we see Mats Zuccarello &/or Rem Pitlick return tonight? If yes, will it be a seamless return where they get right back to their game, playing with confidence, or will it take a few shifts or more to remove the rust from not playing a game in 10 days?
Full Highlights
🏒–– CP ––🏒
Next Up:
The Minnesota Wild face another former player in F Zach Parise as he makes his 1st appearance since being bought out* as the New York Islanders come to town for a Sunday night tilt at 🕖 at #TheX!
*There is another former Wild player also coming back to town who is somewhat important to us, the One & Only Cal Clutterbuck, our namesake! We still miss you, Cal!
AND…if you haven’t seen it, yet, Edmonton Oilers F Connor McDavid may have scored the #GoalOfTheYear last night!!! WOW!!!
This is just God playing NHL22, right?
🏒–– CP ––🏒
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AND…as always…
