The Minnesota Wild started a 4-game road trip in Edmonton against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers so it’s time to make another statement for this Minnesota Wild team as they seek their 7th win in a row!

This Wild team is just building more & more confidence as the season goes on. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night in an absolutely great game even after blowing a 3-0 lead in the 2nd period and in a 6 & a half-minute span but they played a great 3rd period and overtime and then won the game in the shootout as Mats Zuccarello & Kirill Kaprizov scored and Cam Talbot allowed just one goal in the shootout.

One thing we’ve talked about is as the Wild continues to excel, the rest of the league will know what they’ve done so they’ll start to get every team’s best game because they’ll get up to face the Wild. The Oilers are pretty much in the same boat as both clubs have a similar record.

The Oilers are 16-7-0 with 32 points in 23 games. They’re also 9-2 at home this season.

The Wild are 17-6-1 with 35 points in 24 games. They’re also 7-4-1 on the road this season.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Same Lineup as they had vs Toronto so…

Edmonton Oilers

Game Recap

The Wild came out and drew a penalty 33 seconds into the game as Nico Sturm was taken down by Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard. Nico may have surprised Bouchard with his speed so when he turned, he may have lost an edge and fell down because it looked like he tackled him.

38 seconds later, the Minnesota Wild were up 1-0 after Mats Zuccarello sent the puck to the net and it was deflected wide by Oilers G Mikko Koskinen but it just went behind the net and Joel Eriksson Ek, who was on the right side of the net, just reached for it and quickly tried to tuck it in. Koskinen stopped the first try but his skate slipped off the post or he tried to kick the puck away from the net and Ek was able to just tap the puck into the net. 1-0 WILD

The Wild were then stuck in their own zone for most of the rest of the period but they never seem to panic.* They work together and just play good, solid defense and limit the chances to the perimeter, block the shots and/or get their sticks on them. That’s been key to their whole season. Just keep playing, talking and helping each other.
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The Wild then made a simple breakout on a wraparound the left corner to the left half-wall where Jordan Greenway just used his body to block the fore-checker, D Kris Russell, from having any way to get to the puck as he just deflects it towards the middle of the ice where Joel Eriksson Ek picked it up, went around F Colton Sceviour then passed the puck to Marcus Foligno at the right boards. Foligno had a defender close to him so he pulled the puck back as he saw D Matt Dumba coming up behind him and then went to the center of the zone to get open for a pass.

Matt Dumba had plenty of time & space to survey the ice then make a quick move to find Foligno open on the left side of the slot for an easy redirect into the net.

Watch #6, Kris Russell for the Oilers, as he actually bumps into Foligno on his way to the net but just lets Foligno go as he watches the puck then watches the puck go in the net as he coasts back toward his goal. Puck-Watcher!!!**
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

2:54 into the 2nd period, Minnesota Wild D Jonas Brodin got a tripping penalty when Edmonton Oilers F Leon Draisaitl stepped on his stick. That’s sadly just part of the game. Former Minnesota Wild F Wes Walz was the analyst on last night’s broadcast on Bally Sports North and when the Oilers got the penalty in the 1st minute of the game, he said he didn’t like that call because he thought Evan Bouchard just lost an edge, meaning, we assume, that he didn’t mean to do it but intent rarely plays a role in a penalty call.

This penalty is exactly the same thing. Brodin didn’t mean to trip him but he put his stick there and it doesn’t matter how he tripped him, it’s that he tripped him.

The Wild killed the penalty.

6:34 into the 2nd period, Edmonton Oilers F Connor McDavid did what he does as he got the puck just to the right of the center of the blue line as he entered the offensive zone. He then hesitated, moved to the left and Minnesota Wild D Matt Dumba went down, assuming he was going to shoot the puck, but he held it then coasted around Dumba and shot the puck on net where G Cam Talbot made the save but the puck rebounded right back to McDavid and he kicked it back up to his stick with his right skate then skated around the net and dished the puck to Jessi Puljujarvi for a one-timer goal to get the Oilers back within 1.

Minnesota Wild Head Coach Dean Evason considered challenging the play for Goaltender Interference but likely decided against it since nobody in this world really seems to know exactly what goaltender interference is and if the officials decided it was a good goal, it would’ve put Edmonton on the power play. Probably a good decision.

You could also argue that maybe Jessi Puljujarvi interfered with D Jonas Brodin as the Oilers entered the zone. The Wild were doing a little puck-watching** on this play, too.
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

With 6:46 remaining in the 2nd period, Oilers D Evan Bouchard got a tripping penalty. After the whistle, he looked at the official and gave him the palms up, shakin’ his head reaction like he didn’t think it was a penalty. The replay showed he lost the puck and swung his stick around and hit Rask in the skates, which made him trip and fall. That Is Tripping! Just get in the box and watch the replay yourself then tell the official what you think which, in this case, would mean nothing since, hopefully, he’d realize he did it. Jury? GUILTY! TWOOOO MINUTES!

Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot made a great save on a shorthanded 2-on-1 at 6:02. Brodin took away the pass by executing the defensive slide to force Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to shoot the puck and allow his goaltender to focus on the shot and the shot alone.

Jordan Greenway fell down in the neutral zone on the power play so Marcus Foligno took a hooking penalty to avoid the breakaway. That’s what you call a good penalty.***
***Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The Wild killed it off to stay ahead 2-1.

Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime hit the post at 40 seconds. PING!

Wes Walz said, “Using his dipsy-doodle ability” describing Mats Zuccarello making a defensive play then going around an Oilers defender. How rare is the dipsy-doodle ability? Do we all have some kind of dipsy-doodle ability?

We should probably start counting the Big Saves Cam Talbot makes per game. Is there a stat for that? If yes, what is it? If no, why the puck not? He made another “Big Save” on Oilers D Darnell Nurse at 15:12.

GOALLLLLLLL!!! 

Victor Rask from Jonas Brodin & Mats Zuccarello to put the Wild up 3-1 at the 14:27 mark of the 3rd period! HUGE!!! It doesn’t get much easier than catch a pass & shoot the puck into the empty net!

This is some great puck movement by the Wild but it’s also allowed to happen because the entire Oilers team is watching the puck for the entire play. It starts with a bad pass from Oilers F Zach Hyman as he’s entering the offensive zone at the middle of the blue line. He sees McDavid at the right of the blue line but he’s standing still and Hyman must’ve made a bad pass because it was 6 feet past him and bounced off the boards where Wild D Dmitry Kulikov just grabbed it & threw it up the boards to Mats Zuccarello.

Meanwhile, Hyman made a weak effort on a pokecheck then kept skating and looked back. Maybe he was hoping McDavid blocked that pass?

Now watch as the Oilers just follow the puck and allow the offense to pass the puck around them.

It’s almost like tennis or when the bugs see the bug-zapper in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life.

“No! Harry, No! Don’t Look at the Light!…

I can’t help it! It’s soooo beautiful! AHHHHH!!!”

Another BIG SAVE from Cam Talbot at 13:03 as Leon Draisaitl skated past Ryan Hartman but Talbs was there and ready for it! How many is that now?

Jordan Greenway slashed Evan Bouchard after he hooked him up high at 9:26. That’s a dumb retaliation penalty that could hurt even more if it allows the Oilers to get within 1 goal again. He yelled at the official, asking where the call was on the first one. Don’t get suckered into a penalty, Jordo!

KULIKOVVVVVVV!!!!! A Breakaway! A Deke! A 4-1 LEAD with 5:03 left in the 3rd period!!! That finished them off.

The Minnesota Wild added a Lil’ Russian to that last goal as Kirill Kaprizov made the nice lil’ tip pass to spring his fellow Russian, Dmitry Kulikov, for the breakaway and then Dmitry put a Lil’ Russian move on the goalie! That was nice, huh?

Victor Rask reversed the play and Jordie Benn hit Kaprizov then hit just made a little deflection to extend his scoring streak to 6 games.

Another 2 points for this Wild team! We’ll see you on Thursday night, ‘Puckers!!!

Game Notes

*Every team will get trapped in their defensive zone at some point in pretty much every game. For the most part, every team also panics at some point during these situations and either takes a penalty or allows a goal.

The Wild almost always stay poised in these situations and keep executing defensively by doing their job individually and supporting each other as a team and they’re getting better at it. Their focus is better in the bigger games.

There was an interview during the pregame show with Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman because he’s been one of the best players in the league so far this season. It’s a great interview but the part we liked the most was when Anthony LaPanta asked him,

“It feels like there’s something special inside this room. Part of it is the guys’ willingness to move around & play wherever and nobody seems to be complaining… but there’s also just something when teams find ways to score and win as many times late in games like you guys have…you don’t see that very often… and from the outside, it feels like there’s something cooking in there. Do you feel that?”

Anthony LaPanta

“100%! We’re a very confident group. We believe in here. Obviously, it’s been great to the season for us. There’s still a lot of games left but, the group we have, how tight we are, how accountable everyone is… There’s no blaming going on.

I’ve been on teams where a goal’s scored and a guy’s like, ‘Well. I had my guy. It wasn’t my fault.’

Everyone’s accountable but that’s just part of being a good team, helping each other out in all situations and they’re definitely a special group and we’re just trying to continue this progress.”

Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman

**Puck-Watching yet again! What do we mean by “Puck-Watching?”

We want to make sure everyone knows since you have to watch the puck a lot of the time in the game of hockey. We mean just watching the puck and not paying much, if any, attention to the player you should be defending. We put screenshots in our examples so you can understand them better. You have to know where the puck is but you can’t just stare at it and follow it because you’ll watch it go into your own net. Put the player you’re defending between you & the puck so you can follow both at the same time.

AND…don’t just be within reach of the player, be within reach of his stick so you can make a play on it instead of the puck. The player & his stick is a much larger target than that tiny, vulcanized rubber biscuit. If you have to decide between following the puck or the player, follow the player and his eyes because he/she is watching the puck.

A back-checking forward should have their head on a swivel, trying to find someone to cover. Most of the time, the offensive players trailing the play are the most dangerous because they can survey the scene and find the open ice and, also because the back-checking forward is staring down the puck but they’re not reading the play. They’re going to try to react to the play but the play &/or the puck moves too fast to be able to react to it and make a play on it.

Look at the Victor Rask goal above. Connor McDavid might be the fastest player in the entire league but he’s not fast enough to react when Rask passes it out to Jonas Brodin, who was trailing the play. Then Brodin used his speed to draw the defense and found Rask open for the easy catch-and-shoot goal.

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Back to McDavid but now on the offensive side when the Wild were watching the puck. We can’t imagine how difficult it is to defend Connor McDavid. He has incredible speed where he might be faster with the puck than he is without the puck if you can even imagine that. Then add his incredible hands and vision so…uhh…get in his way, if you can, then hope for the best?

Do you think McDavid knows when every defender is just watching the puck, making it even easier for him to put up points? Man, we’d love to hear any/every team’s plan of how to stop Connor McDavid. You can add Nathan McKinnon and virtually every superstar in the league for that matter.

***There aren’t really any good penalties!

If you’re taking a penalty to try to save a goal, that means someone made a mistake or something else happened, like a player falling down. Sometimes you can’t prevent that because things happen and ice is slippery.

We call some of them good penalties, like this one, because it prevented a breakaway that may have tied the game. You’d much rather kill a 2-minute minor than give up a breakaway because you can still kill the penalty. There’s not much you can do when a player gets a breakaway. You can have the best goalie in the world but you never want to put them in that situation to have to make a game-saving play.

And…look. They killed it off so it worked.

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

The Wild will not head to San Jose to take on the Sharks on Thursday night at 9:30pm on Bally Sports North as they go for 8 In A Row!!!

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AND…as always…