The Minnesota Wild surely haven’t forgotten their last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a 3-2 shootout loss where the Jackets tied the game with 32 seconds remaining in regulation but one of the storylines was Columbus G Elvis Merzlikens talking some trash and even getting into a little scrum with Wild F Jordan Greenway.

Merzlikens stopped Wild F Mats Zuccarello in the first round of the shootout and said something to him afterward that made the usually stoic Zuccarello look back in shock that a goalie would talk trash.

The big storyline for today’s game was newly acquired G Marc-Andre Fleury making his first start for his new team, the Minnesota Wild.

Did the Wild change 4 to 5?

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Are the Wild alternating defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and Jon Merrill after the acquisition of D Jacob Middleton? Merrill played on Thursday night with Kulikov scratched and that’s the only difference in tonight’s lineup.

Well, other than the Minnesota Wild debut of G Marc-Andre Fleury, of course. That’s somewhat significant.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Game Recap

The Wild had great energy as they came out but these young teams at the bottom of the standings are almost tougher games to play because it’s not a big game in terms of competition but it is a big game for the Wild as they need to keep the pedal on the medal to improve, or just stay, in their current 2nd place position in the Central Division.

The Minnesota Wild got an early penalty just 27 seconds into the game when F Mats Zuccarello tripped Gustov Nyquist but the Wild killed off that power play in very nice fashion as they continue to improve in that very important area.

Columbus D Cole Sillinger then took a terrible penalty as he grabbed Wild F Matt Boldy’s jersey to get called for holding to put the Wild on the Power Play for the 1st time and the Wild made it count this time.

Jared Spurgeon took a shot from the right point that wound up behind the net and Joel Eriksson Ek was the first to it to the right of the net behind the goal line. Mats Zuccarello also went behind the net to the left to give Ek an option for a pass. Zuccarello saw his buddy Kirill Kaprizov* at the right side of the net and fed him for a one-timer from a tough angle to put the Wild up 1-0.
*See the Game Notes section at the bottom of this article for more on this topic.

At the end of the 1st period, Columbus D Vladislav Gavrikov tripped Wild F Kevin Fiala in somewhat of a slew foot action and Fiala was none too happy about it. The officials gave Gavrikov a tripping penalty that would put the Wild on the Power Play to start the 2nd period.

On the power play, Sean Kuraly broke up a play while shorthanded that sent the puck up the right side of the ice into the Wild’s defensive zone. Kuraly was the first to that puck with Wild D Jared Spurgeon coming back to try to break up a scoring chance. Spurgeon got alongside him but Kuraly had a half-step on him and tried to get to the net and ended up running into G Marc-Andre Fleury taking his feet out from underneath him and knocking the goal off its moorings. Another Blue Jackets player was coming in on the play and sent the puck into the net but the official immediately called the goal off since Fleury was taken out on the play.

Jared Spurgeon jumped on Kuraly to tell him it’s not okay to run into his goalie.

Boarding penalty from Columbus F Oliver Bjorkstrand for boarding Marcus Foligno. Jordan Greenway immediately grabbed Bjorkstrand in response to the hit on his Wild teammate. Somehow the official evens up the call by giving Greenway 2 minutes for roughing.

We were treated to 4-on-4 and the Wild had the puck for the majority of it but they don’t seem to want to shoot the puck* so they didn’t get much of a scoring chance throughout the whole 2 minutes.
**See the Game Notes section at the bottom of this article for more on this topic.

Columbus was checking Kirill Kaprizov hard all game long and it was maybe getting to him as he & Columbus D Gabriel Carlsson got coincidental minors for slashing that ended up with another 2 minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.

This time, though, the Columbus Blue Jackets had the better of the play and winded up taking a 2-1 lead on a Jakub Voracek wrister that may have been helped by a screen to beat Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury.

Columbus outshot the Wild in the 2nd period, 13-9.

The Wild dominated the first 12:15 of the 3rd period but couldn’t get one past Blue Jackets G Elvis Merzlikens then Wild D Alex Goligoski got a high-sticking penalty behind his own net to put Columbus on the power play for just the 2nd time.

Can the Wild come up huge on the PK to keep this game at just a 1-goal deficit?

Yes! They killed it off rather easily, to be honest. Now, did they get back to work to get the game tied?

They pulled Fleury with about 2 & a half minutes left in regulation… and this is what the Wild d0. They play 6-on-5 better than any team in the National Hockey League.

After head coach Dean Evason took a timeout to rest his top players in order to keep them on the ice, the Wild won the faceoff with 1:10 left as Joel Eriksson Ek pulled it back to Jared Spurgeon and he sent it to Jonas Brodin at the left point. They went to D-to-D* then back again to Brodin and he sent it to Kirill Kaprizov at the left half-wall. Joel Eriksson Ek went to the net to provide a screen of Columbus G Elvis Merzlikens. Kap skated in a little past the top of the faceoff circle and shot it and it doesn’t look like Elvis saw it at all as it went into the net to tie the game at 2 with 1:03 remaining in regulation.
*Defense to Defensive

They continued to push in the final 63 seconds but this one went to OVERTIME, securing at least 1 important point.

OVERTIME

Columbus F Partick Laine got a break down the left side after a Wild rush but Marc-Andre Fleury made a huge save to keep the game alive.

Wild D Jared Spurgeon then got a chance up the right side but Merzlikins made the save, too.

The puck somehow got back into the Wild’s defensive zone with Frédérick Gaudreau with the puck and Kevin Fiala going up the left side and Spurgeon up the right. Fiala & Spurgeon crossed behind Gaudreau and Freddy dropped the puck to Spurgeon. He took the puck into the offensive zone as Fiala had curled at the blue line to skate behind Spurgeon who then dropped the puck back to Fiala then skated to the net. For some reason, both Blue Jacket defenders went to Fiala which left Spurgeon open to come in alone on Merzlikins and he faked to his forehand then went backhand and put it off the post but it then went off of Merzlikins back and into the net for the extra point and another exciting, Wild Win!!!

AND…Elvis Has Left the Building…With A LOSS!!! Bye-Bye, Elvis and…

Thank You! Thank You Very Much!!!

Final Score
Columbus Blue Jackets 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals:

MN: Kirill Kaprizov(34,35), Jared Spurgeon(6)
CBJ: Jake “Mister” Bean(5), Jakub Voracek(5)

Assists:

MN: Mats Zuccarello(45),Ek(15); Jonas Brodin(21), Kevin Fiala(36); Kevin Fiala(37), Frédérick Gaudreau(20)
CBJ: Jack Roslovic(20),Dean Kukan(7); Vladislav Gavrikov(24),Patrick Laine(24)

Goalies:

MN: Marc-Andre Fleury: 23 Saves on 25 SOG, .920%
CBJ

Next up: 

Right back at it tomorrow night against the Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche at 5 pm on Bally Sports North Extra (formerly Plus).

Cam Talbot is supposed to get the call in the cage as he’ll look for a personal 7th consecutive victory in net while his Minnesota Wild will look to extend their winning streak to 6.

This should be a heckuva game.

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AND…as always…