The Minnesota Wild faced the Mighty Toronto Maple Leafs last night and the Leafs have been on a roll as they’ve won 5 in a row just like the Wild. These are two of the best teams in the league right now. You can say that’s by record alone and we’re just over a quarter into the season so there’s a long way to go but it’s not like the Wild have had a weak or easy schedule or a lot more home games than road games. They’re leading the Central Division because they are playing very good hockey.
The Leafs are, too, but it’s almost expected that they’ll do well in the regular season, now. They have a ton of talent and G Jack “Soup” Campbell is leading the league with a 1.72 Goals Against Average (GAA) & a .936 Save Percentage (Save%). The Leafs problems have been in the playoffs.*
*Check the Game Notes at the end of the article.
The Wild are starting G Cam Talbot who had the last 2 games off but he’s been playing very well overall with a 2.?? GAA & a .9?? Save% and also lately, 3-0 with a 2.?? GAA & a .9?? Save%.
We still want to know…
Why isn’t it Maple Leaves?
Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
F Frédérick Gaudreau (Covid-19 Protocols) & D Jared Spurgeon (Lower-Body Injury) are still out.
Toronto Maple Leafs
No F Mitch Marner after he collided with D Jake Muzzin during practice yesterday.
Game Recap
In the pregame, Minnesota Wild broadcaster & former F Ryan Carter said he saw a Wild team that was looking to make a statement rather than see how they compare to an elite team like the Leafs. To us, that means the Wild will take their game to them rather than see how things go for the first 5-10 minutes of the game.
Right off the opening faceoff, which turned into a loose puck that trickled into the Toronto zone, the Wild got to their aggressive forecheck and got a scoring chance off a Kirill Kaprizov shot on goal.
The Wild took a high-sticking penalty to put the Maple Leafs on the power play but the Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill was stellar and gave Toronto pretty much nothing as they killed it off then went back to work at 5-on-5.
The Wild were good in all zones for the period and had the better of the chances. It also got more physical as the period moved along and, eventually, tempers flared after Minnesota Wild F Jordan Greenway threw a powerful body check on Toronto Maple Leafs superstar F Auston Matthews. Toronto Fs ? & ? took exception to Greenway’s check and let him know and Toronto F Wayne Simmonds got in on it so Wild F Marcus Foligno went at him, too.
They dropped the mitts and were alternating haymakers that either missed barely or connected barely. It was hard to tell but toughness has never really been a huge part of Toronto’s game or roster while the Wild have shown the whole season and really since Bill Guerin & Dean Evason took over that they were going to compete their butts off until the final buzzer in every game.
Then, late in the period, the Wild once again got a chance off the forecheck and Joel Eriksson Ek sent a pass to set up Wild D Matt Dumba for a one-time blast from the right point. It was a low shot that ended up going off Toronto G Jack Campbell and then off the far post & rebounded out to the front of the net and Jordan Greenway was there for an easy shot into a yawning net to double his goal total on the season to 2! 1-0 WILD
We always say,
“If you’re wondering which way to go…
Go The Green Way!
The Minnesota Wild outshot the Leafs 9-6 in the first and took just 1 penalty that they killed off rather easily. Did they build on that in the 2nd period?
The Wild took a 2-0 lead on the Power Play when F Mats Zuccarello attempted a hard pass to Ryan Hartman in front of the net for a tip-in but the pass missed Hartman’s stick but hit former Minnesota Gopher D Justin Holl’s (0.6!) skate and into the net. 2-0 WILD
Then Marcus Foligno took advantage of the puck deflecting off the official & fired a quick shot that beat Toronto G Jack Campbell for a 3-0 lead & it seemed like this could turn ugly but…
These are the Toronto Maple Leafs and, well, the Wild kept taking penalties. It still may have taken some puck luck to get them going as the Wild were playing very good hockey.
Right after Wild G Cam Talbot made a spectacular save to stop William Nylander on the doorstep by stretching out his left leg just enough to keep the shutout alive, the Leafs get a crazy goal when a puck goes into the right corner (Talbot’s left) & Toronto F Jason Spezza beat Wild D Jordie Benn to the puck but he just threw it to the front of the net and it deflected off of Benn’s left skate then went off the back of G Cam Talbot’s head & went in the net to get the Leafs on the board. WOW! 3-1 Wild
The Maple Leafs kept the momentum & drew a power play when Jordie Benn roughed John Tavares from behind and Jason Spezza got his 2nd goal of the night when Auston Matthews set him up for a one-timer that squeaked through Wild G Cam Talbot.
The Maple Leafs kept pushing and drew another power play on a hook of F Wayne Simmonds and it took just 40 seconds for Auston Matthews to tie the game on a sweet pass that allowed him to just deflect the puck into the open net with 50 seconds remaining in the 2nd period so in just 6:23 of game time, a 3-goal lead vanished.
“Stop taking penalties!”, right? Well, the penalties were drawn because the Leafs were pushing hard after scoring so they weren’t terrible penalties other than maybe not defending well or watching the puck then having to hook a player because they were out of position.
Either way. The Wild had to forget about it and get back to their game if they wanted to win this game.
They were outshot 20-7 in the 2nd.
Just under 5 minutes into the 3rd period, Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek drew 2 penalties in 12 seconds that put the Wild on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:48 seconds. They didn’t score. That’s usually not good.**
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.
The Wild didn’t hang their heads as they kept putting on the pressure with their forecheck and just playing very well all around.
Fiala was flying around and getting chance after chance but still couldn’t get those floodgates to budge. It’s coming, though, ‘Puckers! It’s Coming!!!
The crowd was going nuts trying to urge their team to a win.
The Wild’s best chance may have come with just 22 seconds to go as Marcus Foligno was given a pass to skate into at the left faceoff dot and he cut towards the net and went through the crease and took out Maple Leafs G Jack Campbell. No penalty was called.
Right after that, Dmitry Kulikov took the puck up the middle and took a shot on net and got to the rebound but fanned on the shot attempt as the regulation-buzzer rang to send this one to… OVERTIME!!!
The Wild outshot the Leafs 22-11 in the 3rd.
Overtime brought what NHL Overtime brings, back & forth chances and a ton of excitement.
Fiala skated from the red line in and passed the Toronto defender to get a chance but he only had one hand on his stick so Campbell poked the puck away.
Kaprizov had a shot from the right inside hashmark and shot it wide.
Brodin had a turnaround chance in front of the net that was saved but the rebound went to Ek and he tried to go around Campbell but the puck slid off his stick.
Brodin then broke up a 2-on-1 that turned into a 2-on-2 because Fiala skated hard on the backcheck to even out the play. The officials called Brodin for a slash with 58.2 seconds remaining in OT and Spezza went to the locker room to get his hand/wrist looked at.
The Maple Leafs won the ensuing faceoff but Kulikov was on fire as he broke up a play with a great stick then, after corralling a dump in, skating behind the net & feeding Eriksson Ek to break out of the zone, turned on the speed to give Ek an option but Ek shot it & it went out of play.
The Maple Leafs got a one-timer to Nylander but it was a tough, rolling, bouncing puck so he didn’t get much on it and this one had to be decided in a shootout.
Wild F Mats Zuccarello started off the shootout & he faked out Campbell and was able to make a move and score on the first attempt.
Maple Leafs F Ondrej Kase missed.
Wild F Kevin Fiala missed.
Maple Leafs F Auston Matthews used speed, quick hands and a nasty backhand shelf shot to even the shootout at one.
Wild F Kirill Kaprizov then put his team back up by 1 on a move we’ve seen before as he moved to the left then turned back towards the center of the ice and sent an easy flip shot just over Campbell.
So..it was up to Nylander to keep the shootout going…
He tried to fake a shot then make a quick move & shoot over Talbot’s pad and…
SAVE BY TALBOT and a WILD WIN!!!
Game Notes
*The Toronto Maple Leafs have been very good in the regular season for a few years now. They were featured on Amazon Prime’s sports documentary series, All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, for the 2020-21 season. We highly recommend it as it follows them throughout the whole season over 5 episodes averaging around 48 minutes long.
Remember, due to Covid-19, the divisions were realigned for the 2020-21 season and the teams only played the other teams in their division. Canada was not allowing international travel so all 7 teams based in Canada just played each other throughout the 56-game regular season.
That’s the Leafs, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Montreal Canadians, the Ottawa Senators, the Vancouver Canucks & the Winnipeg Jets and the Maple Leafs won that division.
The thing we found kind of strange is, even though the Maple Leafs won the North (Canadian) Division, the vibe we got from the series was they had a bad season. They had 77 points which was good for 6th in the league.
We get it. The season is all about what you do in the postseason but to show a team that won a tough division the way they did seemed a little silly. Are the playoff struggles in their heads? They were up 3-1 & allowed the Montreal Canadians to come all the way back & beat them to win the series. Two of those 3 losses were in Toronto & games 5 & 6 went to Overtime.
There might not be a more frustrated fan base in the league since they haven’t won a playoff series since…2004 when they won in the 1st round but lost in the 2nd round.
That hump they’re trying to get over might be a mountain, now!
**Not scoring on an extended 5-on-3 power play or a 5-minute Major power play tends to haunt the offensive team as a team can’t get a much better chance to take control of or get back in a game.
We don’t know if there’s a stat for it but it just sounds bad, right? For two reasons: You didn’t score and are probably frustrated because of it AND the opponent got some momentum from killing it off.
Ahh…but this isn’t just any hockey team.
This Is The 2021-22 Minnesota Wild!
They don’t care about your historical stats & beliefs on how games are supposed to be won or lost.
You want proof! They won this game in a shootout to get the 2nd point! That point proves our…uhh…point! YEAH! That’s the Ticket!
🏒–– CP ––🏒
Next Up
The Wild start a 4-game road trip in Edmonton against the Oilers before heading west to play the San Jose Sharks, the Los Angeles Kings and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Tonight’s game is at 8pm on Bally Sports North.
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AND…as always…
