The Minnesota Wild turned 7 into 8 on Thursday night in San Jose as they beat the Sharks 5-2 to extend their winning streak to 8 games. That score is a little misleading because it looks like the Wild may have had a somewhat easy game but it was far from it. They led 3-0 going into the 3rd period but San Jose made it a 1-goal game with 6:34 to go and the Wild ended up scoring 2 empty-net goals that sealed the victory.
You can Read the Recap here! The Game Notes are about Kevin Fiala, the Wild’s defensive responsibility & how they rarely, if ever, panic during a game and Jonathan Dahlen.
We also added some other Hockey Notes about Anaheim Ducks’ F Trevor Zegras’ lacrosse-style assist from behind the net.
The Wild took on the Los Angeles Kings tonight. The Kings are a tough team to read. They started the season 1-5-1. They then went on a 7-game winning streak but followed that by going 3-5-3 since including 2 overtime losses and 1 shootout loss. The wins were a 4-2 win vs the Senators, a 5-1 win in Edmonton against the Oilers and a 4-0 win in their last game on Thursday night at home against the Dallas Stars. The previous game was a 4-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks after they made a coaching change to former Minnesota Wild coach, Bruce Boudreau.
They’ve scored 68 goals & allowed 67 goals in their 25 games so far this season. In their 7-game winning streak, they scored 24 goals and allowed 13 goals but in their last 11 games, they’ve scored 28 goals and allowed 33 goals.
The Kings Gameday Report was written by none other than Minnesota’s own Jack Jablonski.
The Wild, on the other hand, has scored 101 goals and allowed 74 goals in their 26 games so far this season and they’ve gone pointless in 2 consecutive games just once when they lost 2 straight in regulation at the end of October, both 4-1 losses at Seattle & Colorado. They also lost 2 straight in the 2 games in Florida right before this current winning streak but gained a point by forcing overtime and lost in a shootout in Tampa Bay.
During the streak, they’ve scored 37 goals and allowed 15.
The Minnesota Wild have brought a pretty consistent game for the majority of the season so far while the Kings have not for whatever reason.
Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
D Matt Dumba was back in the lineup after missing Thursday night’s game for being under the weather (non-Covid) but D Jonas Brodin was out due to an upper-body injury.
Kaapo got the start in net.
18 Jordan Greenway – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek – Marcus Foligno
97 Kirill Kaprizov – 38 Ryan Hartman – 36 Mats Zuccarello
21 Brandon Duhaime – 49 Victor Rask – 22 Kevin Fiala
58 Mason Shaw – 7 Nico Sturm- 27 Nick Bjugstad
47 Alex Goligoski – 46 Jared Spurgeon
4 Jon Merrill – 24 Matt Dumba
8 Jordie Benn – 29 Dmitry Kulikov
34 Kaapo Kähkönen
33 Cam Talbot
Los Angeles Kings
Game Recap
Brandon Duhaime threw a big hit on Alexander Edler around 3 minutes into the game and Edler was down for quite a while and he needed help coming off the ice as he wasn’t putting any weight on his left leg.
Did that leg bend underneath him as he was hit?
On the ensuing faceoff, Kirill Kaprizov held Drew Doughty to send the Kings to the Power Play. That’s kind of a weak call but it’s more about having his stick in the position he had where Kirill was behind Doughty but had his stick in front of him keeping him from moving his stick.
The Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill did its job, though. The Wild get a lot done in the defensive zone by just having great sticks.*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article!
Jordan Greenway hasn’t been a minus player even one night in the last 13 games and he’s a +13 in that stretch according to Wild Play-by-Play man, Anthony LaPanta. He also had 33 hits in that span which is 2.54 hits per game.
Drew Doughty said earlier this season that he thought Kirill Kaprizov might be a little overpaid.**
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article!
The Wild had 2 players collide (Spurgeon & Greenway) that turned into a 3-on-1 for Los Angeles and Joel Eriksson Ek took a slashing penalty to deny the Kings a good scoring chance.
The Wild PK did its job once again and Jared Spurgeon made a big play to keep the game scoreless as he took away a cross-ice pass as he pulled some laydown defense.
As the penalty expired, Joel Eriksson Ek got a break and took the puck up the right side of the Kings offensive zone and had a step on Drew Doughty and Doughty’s stick tripped him up but there was no call even though Drew Doughty looked back at the official to see if it was going to be called.
Kaapo had to make a big save with 5:30 to go in the 1st as a loose puck came out to a Kings player for a quick one-timer.
Kaapo then got a Delay of Game penalty when he tried to wrap the puck around the left corner and accidentally sent it out of play…apparently. The officials didn’t call it right away. They discussed it and then called the penalty.
The Wild killed off its 3rd penalty of the period but the Kings got a great scoring chance right after the penalty expired but Kaapo made another great save by coming out to cut the angle down.
The Wild then put a lot of pressure on as the period came to an end and Kirill Kaprizov actually put the puck in the net but it was after the buzzer.
Shots were 13-8 LA.
2:45 into the 2nd period, the Los Angeles Kings took an interference penalty when Drew Doughty impeded Brandon Duhaime after he dumped the puck in. Oops!
The Kings killed it off then got their own power play after Alex Goligoski had to take a slashing penalty on a Kings scoring chance.
The Wild killed off the penalty but were stuck in their zone for most of the 2 minutes then even more (3:45 total, maybe) as Dmitry Kulikov broke his stick on an attempted clear but the Wild stayed composed and got out of it.
Somehow the officials missed an obvious tripping penalty at center ice as Kirill Kaprizov was tripped by Phillip Danault and you could hear “Holy %#@&!” being yelled immediately afterward.
Here’s Kaprizov blatantly tripped, no penalty pic.twitter.com/gqgXfbUSdJ
— Josh – mnwx64 (@joshmnwx64) December 12, 2021
Doughty then took another interference penalty as he cross-checked Kevin Fiala in front of the net.
The Wild got a big play on the Power Play when Kevin Fiala sent a pass to Matt Dumba after the faceoff and Dumba one-timed a slapshot from around the center of the blue line. Marcus Foligno got his stick on it in front of the net for the tip-in for his 12th goal of the season.
Jordan Greenway won the faceoff with some help from Kevin Fiala who went in to retrieve the puck as it sat there and he just fed Dumba for a Blast at the net and Foligno had worked to get position in front of the net.
The Kings took just 78 seconds to respond and get the game tied once again as Phillip Danault got his own rebound after Kaapo Kähkönen made the initial save.
Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty tried to send a shot to the net but it deflected off of Wild D Jon Merrill and went right to Phillip Danault and he immediately shot it and somehow Kaapo Kähkönen made the first save but the rebound went back to Danault for another try and he got it through the five-hole.
Shots were 12-8 LA in the 2nd period.
55 seconds into the 3rd period, Wild F Nico Sturm made a move on a 2-on-1 but didn’t get the backhand up high enough to beat Kings G Jonathan Quick but Quick wasn’t sure where the puck was so Mason Shaw did a little digging which never sits well with a goalie or the opposing players.
The Kings then get some good pressure and Matt Dumba tried to clear the zone and got a Delay of Game penalty but the Wild’s PK stood strong and killed off yet another penalty.
The Wild then got a great scoring chance on a Kirill Kaprizov slapper that Quick caught with his glove.
Kaprizov made a great pass to Ryan Hartman from beneath the goal line and Hartman had a couple of chances but Jonathan Quick was up to the task again.
Then on a wraparound from the left of the zone by Los Angeles F Trevor Moore, Kings F Brendan Lemieux beat Nick Bjugstad to the puck & sent it behind the net to Carl Grundstrom. Trevor Moore cut to the center of the ice then cut towards the net at about the top of the right faceoff circle to be a passing option and he got a nice quick shot off that Kaapo Kähkönen saved and the rebound came out about 3-4 feet in front of him and it was in Matt Dumba’s feet. Wild D Jon Merrill tried to clear it to the corner but was blocked from doing so by Dumba’s feet and Grundstrom drove his stick through Dumba’s feet to push the puck out and Brendan Lemieux was there waiting for it and he shot it into the net for a 2-1 Kings lead.
The Wild were guilty of some puck-watching here as that’s how Trevor Moore got a great shot off and ultimately how Lemieux was open as well.
That’s too many guys staring at the puck while the offense just skates around getting open.
Kirill Kaprizov tried to carry the puck into the net to tie the game:
Better angle on Kaprizov Michigan attempt pic.twitter.com/7yb6gzUG1c
— Minnesota Wild Clips (@MNWildClips) December 12, 2021
Then Zuccarello found Hartman open right after the play above but Hartman fanned on the shot. OHHH!!!
With the Wild pushing, the Kings got a breakaway but Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen stoned Andreas Athanasiou as he just waited him out and gave him nothing to shoot at after he faked a shot.
The Minnesota Wild pulled their goalie with about 1:45 remaining in regulation and they were really patient trying to find an opening for a shot but the puck got past them a couple of times to clear the zone then finally with about 15 seconds left, Kirill Kaprizov shot it and the rebound was right there as Mats Zuccarello was on the right of the net but he ended up sending it through the crease and it amazingly misses Kings D Matt Roy or it barely went off of him. Alex Goligoski got his stick on it but it went beneath the goal line and Zuccarello just sent it right back in front of the net and Ryan Hartman just missed it then Ek had it but didn’t get much on it and it ended up hitting Jonathan Quick’s goalie stick and rolling around it so he could freeze the puck!
WOW! They had 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 chances in a matter of seconds, there!
The faceoff then came out of the zone because the officials said the Wild defenseman/defensemen came in from the blueline into the scrum.
2021-22 NHL Rulebook – Rule 76.2 – Face-Off Location
With just 8.7 seconds remaining, the Wild won the face-off back to Zuccarello at the left point by the red line and he quickly sent it across the ice to Kaprizov who made a quick between his legs pass to Jared Spurgeon and Jared sent a shot or a pass (?) that went about 3 yards wide and the Kings wrapped it around the far boards to clear the zone and the winning streak was snapped. OHHH!!!
Was Jared Spurgeon trying to get a tip from Kaprizov with where he sent the puck, there? Kaprizov waved his stick at it. A tip may have been the plan and the best way to try to score with so little time left.
Maybe not the greatest game from the Wild last night but they battled and Minnesota Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen made save after save in this game and had no chance on either of the goals against the Wild.
Game Notes
*Great Sticks of the Minnesota Wild!
Great sticks as in the defensive placement of their sticks to break up plays or make it more difficult to make a play because their sticks are in the way. The Minnesota Wild have made so many great defensive plays just by having great sticks.
Former Wild player D Ryan Suter was great at just putting the blade of his stick in front of the puck when an opposing forward had it on his stick.
**Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty says, “I was going to say overpaid after only 45 games but…” then the video cuts to another player.
***The Minnesota Wild will get every team’s A-Game from here on out.
This is something the Minnesota Wild will have to get used to and actually have done very well with so far this season.
In our game preview above, we said the Kings were a tough team to read because they’ve been inconsistent. We honestly think the Wild don’t worry too much about that, though. They make their game plan and try to execute it as well as possible. We find it hard to believe they’d care what a team has done up to the game they are playing them because it doesn’t really matter.
We do think they weren’t as aggressive as we’ve usually seen them. They were waiting too long at the end of the game to find the perfect play to tie the game. In the games where they came back, they just kept shooting and trying to make plays off of those shots.
In this streak, they were ahead for 99% of the entire streak. They also scored 4.625 goals per game and scored under 4 goals just once. Did that change their game a little bit and make them a little less aggressive? Or is it partly because teams have an idea of what to expect from them and know how to defend it?
Postgame
The coach wasn’t too happy with the officiating but he was happy with his team’s effort overall.
Next up:
They’ll head to Vegas for a rematch with the Vegas Golden Knights tonight at 8pm on Bally Sports North.
They lost 3-2 back on November 11th so they should be raring to go for this one. Not only did they lose to the Knights earlier this season but they also lost to them in the playoffs and they’re coming off a loss so we’re excited to see how they respond in this game!!!
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