The Minnesota Wild retired a jersey number for just the 2nd time but it was the first time they’ve done it for a player as they raised the number 9 of long-time player & CapFinn F Mikko Koivu to the rafters on Sunday evening. It was a nice ceremony for Mikko that you should try to find & watch if you didn’t see it.
Here’s a link to the ceremony in its entirety, all 38:13 of it:
And, no, the names of Hnat Domenichelli & Alexandre Daigle are not on the jersey in much smaller stitching. They were the only other players to ever wear that jersey number for the Minnesota Wild. Do you remember either of them?
Who wore number 9? – Minnesota Wild Sweater Numbers from Hockey-Reference.com
The Minnesota Wild then turned their focus to the Nashville Predators and they were looking to start a 9*-game homestand with a win. In their only game against them so far this season, the Nashville Predators handed the Minnesota Wild their first home loss of the season so they will likely have a little more motivation for this one. Mr. Koivu being in the building doesn’t hurt, either.
*Fittingly, 9 games is the longest homestand the Minnesota Wild has had in its 21-year existence.
“Can we still use the 9?…Yes?…Are you sure? I don’t need to feel the Mikko Koivu ‘exploding shoulder’ if you’re wrong!”
Like Mikko said,
“There is only one State of Hockey
and you guys really are the best.”
Now, let’s go take it to the Nashville Predators.
Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Nashville Predators
Game Recap
The Wild started their 4th line then backed it up with The Identity Line of Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek & Marcus Foligno and it didn’t take long for them to muck it up with a little extra push towards the net after a Foligno shot.
Welcome to the Central Division and the Minnesota Wild getting back to their “identity”* with the line that brings it every night.
*If you don’t know what the Wild’s “identity” is, it’s having an aggressive forecheck, being physical to cause quick plays that lead to turnovers and competing on every puck and every possession.
Or…Hunt pucks and hunt any opponents in your way of the puck! Yeah. I like that better!
Wild F Jordan Greenway gave Roman Josi an extra shove in the neutral zone then took a shove back from Preds F Colton Sissons and Marcus Foligno stepped in to see what all the ruckus was about and Luke Kunin was coming off the bench and apparently didn’t like what was being said so he jumped right into it and quickly dropped the mitts with his former teammate. He found out just as quickly that he’s not really in Foligno’s weight class (Kunin: 6’0, 195; Foligno: 6’3, 228) as Foligno ended up shoving him to the ice after getting at least one good punch in.
Nashville then picks up a slashing penalty as Ryan Johansen was heading to the bench. It wasn’t on the video feed and no replay was shown. That’s nice, huh?
The Wild didn’t get much out of the power play then Nashville scored shortly afterward on a Filip Forsberg tip in front of the net. It was their first shot on goal of the game 8:24 into the 1st.
4:39 later, Wild F Kevin Fiala came up the right side with speed to get past the trap then curled towards the boards at the right half-wall and fed Frédérick Gaudreau for a shot on net from just in front and inside the right faceoff dot. F Matt Boldy had come up the left side then skated toward the center of the zone to maybe be a screen for the shot but kept skating stopped just before the goal line. The rebound came right out to him and he went upper right on the short side to tie the game at 1 with his 12th goal of the season.
The Wild then got an interference penalty when D Jon Merrill ran into Predators F Tanner Jeannot who went down pretty easy as he was trying to stop in front of the net and that, my friends, is a pretty weak call.
The Wild killed it off.
In the waning seconds of the 1st period, Matt Boldy almost put the Wild up a goal but his shot only hit the post. The horn never sounded but the clock stopped at 3.9 seconds remaining and eventually, the official called the period over because he had never blown the whistle, either.
The Wild outshot Nashville 9-5 in the first 20 minutes.
8:44 into the 2nd period, after Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen made a couple of great saves, Predators D Roman Josi scored to put the Predators up 1 with a backhand that may have fooled Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen as it went under his catching glove.
Just shy of 2:30 later, the Big Rig, Wild F Jordan Greenway, came up the right side of the ice with enough speed to get past the defenseman and he moved the puck to his forehand and took a quick shot that beat Nashville G David Rittich to his blocker side to tie the game at 2!
50 seconds later, the Predators get their 1-goal lead back on a rebound that was left for an easy backhand shot into a gaping net from Philip Tomasino. DOH!!!
The Wild got another power play when D Dmitry Kulikov was tripped in the offensive zone and the Predators probably had the next scoring chance when F Yakov Trenin came in alone but Kaapo was up to the task to keep the Wild within a goal.
With 12 seconds left in the period, the Wild got a penalty for slashing when D Jared Spurgeon chopped down on Preds F Mikael Granlund’s stick and it ended up breaking so the penalty was called. If the stick doesn’t break, is it still called? We’ll never know.
Nashville outshot the Wild 13-11 in the 2nd.
The Predators then scored 65 seconds into the 3rd period on a Roman Josi point shot that Kaapo Kähkönen couldn’t find as it just got by big Jordan Greenway and it was now a 2-goal lead for Nashville.
The Wild had a great chance on the power play but Roman Josi blocked a shot that would’ve likely gone into an empty net after a cross-ice pass to Kevin Fiala.
A minute or so later, Kirill Kaprizov has a chance for a one-timer taken away by what for sure looked like a slash to his hands that made him lose his stick but there was no call. No replay, either. We got a game summary after the commercial, though. That’s useful.
Just shy of 7 minutes left in regulation, Nashville got a 2-on-1 with Mikael Granlund on the right with the puck and F Eeli Tolvanen on the left against Wild D Jared Spurgeon, who was leaning to the left to allow Granlund to shoot as he (& most Wild fans) figured his former teammate would try to make a pass and that he did but Spurgeon went down to try to make that as difficult as possible then he turned and swung at the pass and got the puck just before Tolvanen could get his stick on it.
You know the Wild were going to battle until the end but Nashville was shutting them down for the majority of the game by clogging up the middle and in front of the net and blocking as many shots as possible.
The goalie was pulled with 3:09 remaining and the Predators made it 5-2 just 51 seconds later. Forsberg celebrates that might achievement.
Goalie pulled again at 1:34. Predators F Nick Cousins left the defensive zone and got a puck flipped to him so he could score an empty-net goal. Strange to see a guy do that, maybe?
Nashville has only lost 1 of 25 games (& 1 of 13 on the road) when leading after 2 periods and you can see why. They just shut it down.
If you’re wondering, the Wild are very similar:
Anyway, 6-2 was the final as the Wild are having a problem beating their Central Division opponents from Nashville. They won’t see them again until April 5th & April 24th in Nashville. We’ll see if they have anything for them, then.
Final Score
Nashville Predators 6 | Minnesota Wild 2
Goals:
MN: Matt Boldy(12), Jordan Greenway(5)
NSH: Filip Forsberg(30,31-ENG), Romas Josi(16,17), Philip Tomasino(9), Nick Cousins(7-ENG)
Assists:
MN: Frédérick Gaudreau(19), Kevin Fiala(34); Marcus Foligno(13)
NSH: Dante Fabbro(17), Matt Duchene(27); Philip Tomasino(14), Nick Cousins(8); Nick Cousins(9), Michael McCarron(6); Mikael Granlund(35), Filip Forsberg(23); Matt Duchene(28), Roman Josi(48); Michael McCarron(7), Roman Josi(49)
Goalies:
MN: Kaapo Kähkönen – 19 saves on 23 shots on goal – .826%
NSH: David Rittich – 26 saves on 28 shots on goal – .929%
Game Notes
Well, that’s not the outcome or game you’d expect after a team honors one of their greatest players. It makes us wonder what the record is for all teams after a ceremony. It does kind of change the routine of the players and the opponent really doesn’t take part in the ceremony depending on what it is. Former Minnesota Wild players Fs Mikael Granlund and Luke Kunin were on the Predators bench to watch today, though.
🏒–– CP ––🏒
Nashville lost 7-4 vs St. Louis yesterday afternoon so you knew they were going to come out determined but the Wild knew that, too. That makes everyone think they weren’t ready but it’s something else because this is something that happens to every team just like the slump the Wild just went through and maybe still have completely escaped.
We’ll have to wait for Wednesday night when they face the mighty Boston Bruins to see how they respond.
Postgame
Nothing posted so far…
🏒–– CP ––🏒
Next up:
Boston Bruins at home on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm and it’s a nationally televised game so it’s on TNT and we’ll have to listen to a national narrative of people that don’t know the Minnesota Wild.
🏒–– CP ––🏒
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