The Minnesota Wild had one last chance to beat the St. Louis Blues in the regular season as they’ve lost the 1st 2 games,* 4-6 in the Winter Classic & 3-4 in Overtime 8 days ago. And… this is very likely their 1st-round matchup in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs but…with these teams tied in the standings, home-ice advantage is still yet to be decided.
*Is it weird the NHL didn’t schedule 4 games between these teams? No games at The X due to the Winter Classic.

The Minnesota Wild still has a game in hand but a win today would be huge! Also, St. Louis has a tougher schedule in their last 7 games than the Wild do in their last 8. Will it matter? It doesn’t matter right now!

Let’s Drop the ClutterPuck, huh?

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Still no Jordan Greenway, Matt Dumba or Jon Merrill.

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Matt Boldy — Frederick Gaudreau — Kevin Fiala
Tyson Jost — Joel Eriksson Ek — Marcus Foligno
Brandon Duhaime — Nick Bjugstad — Nicolas Deslauriers

Jacob Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Dmitry Kulikov
Jordie Benn — Alex Goligoski

Cam Talbot
Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched: Connor Dewar
Injured: Matt Dumba (upper body), Jordan Greenway (upper body), Jon Merrill (upper body)

St. Louis Blues

Blues projected lineup

Brandon Saad — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Vladimir Tarasenko
Ivan Barbashev — Brayden Schenn — Jordan Kyrou
Alexei Toropchenko — Logan Brown — Nathan Walker

Marco Scandella — Colton Parayko
Nick Leddy — Justin Faulk
Torey Krug — Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso
Jordan Binnington

Scratched: Niko Mikkola, Calle Rosen
Injured: Tyler Bozak (lower body), Mackenzie MacEachern (upper body)

Game Recap

The goalie rotation continues for the Wild as Cam Talbot started today.

On a faceoff in the Blues zone between Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman & St. Louis Blues F Ryan O’Reilly, Hartman got his stick up high on O’Reilly and after a whistle, O’Reilly want to talk about it so they both shove each other but O’Reilly gets his stick up high on Hartman and a high-sticking penalty is called on O’Reilly and, for some reason, they even it up by giving Ryan Hartman a roughing minor.

So…that means we got some 4-on-4 hockey for a couple of minutes and the Wild just missed on a backdoor one-timer because Blues F David Perron got his stick in the way.

Wild F Tyler Jost took an elbow from Blues D Marco Scandella and he struggled to get off the ice a little bit.

A minute or so later, Blues D Nick Leddy takes down Kirill Kaprizov even though he clearly didn’t have the puck so the Wild got their first power play.

Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau centered a pass from the right corner and the seat of his pants to Marcus Foligno in front of the net for a good scoring chance. On the next faceoff, the Wild just missed a tip from a shot from the right point but the game remained scoreless.

A centering pass from Wild F Kirill Kaprizov was intercepted by Blues D Colton Parayko and he quickly passed it up to Blues F Nathan Walker for a 3-on-2 rush for St. Louis. Walker passed it to Brayden Schenn at the right boards. He took the puck into the zone where Wild D Jonas Brodin came to him so he curled towards the boards to protect the puck and found Ivan Barbashev. Nathan Walker kept skating into the zone and ended up at the right side of the net to the left of Wild G Cam Talbot.The other Wild D, Dmitry Kulikov, decided it was better to leave a player in front of the net to defend the player getting the puck but Barbashev quickly sent a pass to Walker and he turned to make a move around Talbot but Talbot stopped him and the puck was just lying there for Barbashev to fire it into the open net.

Talbot couldn’t get back to the puck because Ryan Hartman tried to take Walker out of the play. He did that but he also took his own goalie out of the play. Blues up 1-0!

Notice the 3 Wild forwards coasting.*
*See our Game Notes section for more on this topic.

The Wild had a good response and created a couple of scoring chances then drew another penalty when Nick Leddy held F Matt Boldy near the blue line after he had gotten rid of the puck and it wasn’t a slight hold.

Good push from the Wild to end the period. They outshot the Blues 14-9 but they also had 2 power plays while the Blues had none.

1st Period Summary
MN   |   STL
23 – Shot Attempts – 14
4 – Scoring Chances – 7
5:57 – Off. Zone Time – 2:05

The Wild started the 2nd like they finished the 1st, with a good push with that excellent forecheck.

Off an offensive zone faceoff, it appeared the Blues won the faceoff as it was drawn back towards the goal line but it actually popped up in the air and Wild F Mats Zuccarello was the first to it as it dropped back down to the ice. It bounced over Blues D Marco Scandella’s(#6) stick allowing Zuccy to get his stick on it. Blues F David Perron(#57) tried to kick it away but it went towards Blues D Colton Parayko(#55) and Wild F Kirill Kaprizov. Kap tried to put it on net but it went off of Parayko’s stick then off Perron’s other skate and ended up going right to Wild F Ryan Hartman. He tried to wait for the puck to settle then he just planted it in the upper right corner to tie the game at 1 just 1:41 into the 2nd period. 1-1 Tie!

1:43 later, St. Louis regained their 1-goal lead when Blues F Vladimir Tarasenko beats Kevin Fiala to the loose puck off the faceoff and they are off to the races. Kulkov deflects the puck away from Pavel Buchnevich but then he has to go to defend Colton Parayko while Jonas Brodin continues to defend Buchnevich and nobody covers Tarasenko, that guy who’s scored 30+ goals in 6 of his 10 seasons, until it’s too late. This is brought to you by Oops, I Crapped My Pants! because that’s what they said when they saw the puck going to Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kaprizov got a breakaway but Blues D Colton Parayko caught him and forced him to protect the puck which lessened his chance of scoring but the puck was very close to going in. It was stuck under Blues G Ville Husso’s right pad just above his ankle and it was close enough for the officials to look at it but they still said it wasn’t a goal.

Wild D Jacob Middleton was called for interference as he didn’t let Ryan O’Reilly get by him once the puck had gone by. 17 seconds into the power play, Blues F Pavel Buchnevich dumped the puck in from the left point but follow-through hit Wild F Joel-Eriksson Ek in the face. The officials got together and decided it wasn’t a penalty because it was a follow-through of a shot.

They quoted Dean Evason during the power play, saying the Wild’s biggest problem on the penalty kill has been clearing the zone when they have the chance and right on queue, that’s what happens and it bites them as a cross-ice pass from the right point to the left side of the net goes for a one-timer from David Perron and beats Talbot as the power play ended to put St. Louis up 3-1.

Even on this play, you can see Kevin Fiala doesn’t know where David Perron is because his stick is defending a pass to nobody.

A quick flip from the Blues’ defensive blue line from D Marco Scandella went to Ryan O’Reilly. Brandon Saad drove the net and Ryan O’Reilly fed him for a quick breakaway and Saad beat Talbot through the five-hole. 4-1 St. Louis.

The Wild were doing way too much reacting to the play instead of reading the play which just kept allowing the Blues to beat them to pucks and make plays. How can 2 players beat 3 players? Watch all Wild players here, D-men, Dmitry Kulikov, Jonas Brodin & F Tyson Jost. Byt the time they see what’s happening, it’s too late.

The Wild responded again with some good play, a mini-breakaway from Nick Bjugstad and he fed Nicolas Deslauriers who took a one-timer that Husso saved and he also just got his left pad on the rebound.

Wild F Kevin Fiala got his stick up high on Nick Leddy for a double-minor for high-sticking. On to the PK again for the Wild.

Pavel Buchnevich hit Wild F Tyler Jost with a big check in the middle of the ice on the power play. It’s a good hit. It’s unnecessary, though. The Wild didn’t like it so Deslauriers goes after Buchnevich but everyone else joined in. It resulted in a 2-man advantage for St. Louis as Deslauriers got 2 for roughing Barbashev & 2 for roughing Buchnevich while Barbashev was the only one to go for the Blues, also 2 minutes for roughing.

A big 3rd was needed for the Wild, especially since the Blues were 28-0-0 when having a 3-goal lead at any part of the game. This was kindly shared on the broadcast. Do the Wild know about it or, more to the point, care about it? They likely don’t know the exact stat but they know very good teams don’t give up leads easily and St. Louis is a very good team.

Summary after the 2nd
MN   |   STL
40 – Shot Attempts – 36
11 – Scoring Chances -18
0/2 – Power Play – 0/2

So…the Wild have to kill off the penalty to begin the 3rd. Check ✅

Then…they need to score early to get them back within 2 goals and get that Wild feeling again. Check ✅

The Wild know how good they are at even strength and they’ve already had a good forecheck going in this game.

They kept it going and a Ryan Hartman pass attempt to Kirill Kaprizov to the backdoor went off of former Wild D Marco Scandella to make it 4-2. The announcers thought the goal that deflected off of Scandella’s stick was the record-breaker for Kirill Kaprizov. They of course realized it was Hartman’s goal when they saw the replay.

They had to keep pushing hard to get the Blues off of their game. Check ✅

92 seconds after getting the game within 2, they made it a 1-goal game on a one-timer from Frédérick Gaudreau from Kevin Fiala and Matt Boldy and there was still more than 15 minutes left in regulation:

Look at the Blues chasing the puck or puck-watching as we like to call it.

They needed G Cam Talbot to make some big saves to keep them in it. Check ✅

CAM TALBOT GRAND LARCENY

(what a ridiculous feed from Robert Thomas btw) pic.twitter.com/FRdNKP7oH4

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 16, 2022

Cam made a big save on Jordan Kyrou on a wide-open shot to his left but he got his glove on it to send it into the other net above the glass.

They’d need to stay the course no matter what else happens during the game. Check ✅

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov & Blues D Torey Krug got in a shoving match so they were told to sit for 2 minutes to think about what they did as the game went to some 4-on-4 play.

While 4-on-4 & in the Wild’s zone, Blues D Colton Parayko was skating in on the right side and made a drop pass at the half-wall to F Robert Thomas and he sent a pass across the ice to the left point but there was nobody there as Vladimir Tarasenko went for a change. Pavel Buchnevich replaced him, picked up the loose puck and skated into the zone just outside the faceoff do and he took a shot as he came up to Wild D Jacob Middleton hoping the defenseman would create a bit of a screen.* The shot went off Talbot’s glove then his shoulder then the crossbar and in to put the Blues up by 2 goals once again.
*Check our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this.

That didn’t stop the Wild. They just kept battling like they have all season.

The Wild kept pushing and drew a holding penalty on Blues F Ryan O’Reilly as he tackled or put some kind of wrestling move on Jacob Middleton to keep him from the puck. O’Reilly smashed his stick against the glass as he entered the penalty box.

Ryan O’Reilly with one of the loudest off-camera stick slams after taking a penalty that sounded like a gunshot pic.twitter.com/UbZJmxJPfr

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 16, 2022

With seconds remaining on the power play, Ryan Hartman had the puck at the left point. He had Frédérick Gaudreau going to the net to set up a screen and Marcus Foligno heading to the net with nobody near him in the slot so Hartman took a slapshot that Blues G Ville Husso caught but it came out of his glove and right to Foligno’s backhand. He quickly went to his forehand and put it home for a 1-goal game once again!

58 seconds later, Blues D Colton Parayko had the puck behind his own net. Wild F Mats Zuccarello was in on the forecheck but slowly as Parayko was taking his time. Marco Scandella was in front of him to the left of his own net. Kaprizov was covering Robert Thomas. For some reason, Parayko was dead set on passing to Scandella with a short sauce pass over Zuccarello’s stick but Zuccy got his stick on it and quickly made a centering pass to a wide-open Kirill Kaprizov in the slot and he one-timed it past Blues G Ville Husso for a 5-5 game AND…

That’s Kirill Kaprizov’s 43rd Goal of the Season breaking the record for most goals by a Wild player in a single season!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

The Wild kept their foot on the gas as they would’ve loved to have stolen both points but, despite some more chances, this one went to…

OVERTIME!!!

8 days ago, the Wild allowed the Blues to tie the game with 2 goals in the 3rd and force overtime. On the game-tying goal, Wild D Jordie Benn tried to get to Brayden Schenn to make a physical play on him but Scheen was too fast. He got by him, went to the net and went around Talbot to tie the game.

Then, in overtime, the Wild made another defensive mistake by trying to switch on a rush. It didn’t work as Alex Goligoski thought switching was the best way to stop the rush but Frédérick Gaudreau thought they should stick with man-to-man. That left Robert Thomas open for the one-timer that won the game in Overtime.

Today, it was both miscommunication and a puck-watching/chasing the puck problem.

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov made a change while close to his bench but, as soon as he did, Blues F Pavel Buchnevich took off to make it a 3-on-2 rush and Kevin Fiala had to try to get back as quickly as possible. Buchnevich didn’t end up getting a shot off as Ek defended him pretty well and Cam Talbot was in a good position so he didn’t even shoot. He tried a wraparound that didn’t work but the puck went out to the slot. Wild D Joans Brodin left Justin Faulk to cover Buchnevich. This forced Kevin Fiala to cover Faulk and that left Brayden Schenn open, shot, goal, game! DOH!

––––– CP –––––

Final
Minnesota Wild 5 | 6 St. Louis Blues 

Goals

MN: Ryan Hartman(30), Ryan Hartman(31), Frédérick Gaudreau(13), Marcus Foligno(22), Kirill Kaprizov(43)
STL: Ivan Barbashev(24), Vladimir Tarasenko(32), David Perron(26), Brandon Saad(22), Pavel Buchnevich(27), Brayden Schenn(22)

Assists

MN: Kirill Kaprizov(50)*; Mats Zuccarello(51)**, Alex Goligoski(28); Kevin Fiala(41), Matt Boldy(19); Ryan Hartman(28), Jonas Brodin(24); Zuccarello(52)***
*Tied Zuccarello & Pierre Marc-Bouchard(2008-9) for most assists in a single season,
**Then Zuccarello passed them both to sit alone at 51,
***And then he added another on Kap’s 43rd which seems fitting, doesn’t it?
STL: Nathan Walker(2), Brayden Schenn(32); Colton Parayko(25), Pavel Buchnevich(40); Brayden Schenn(33), Torey Krug(31); Ryan O’Reilly(32), Marco Scandella(11); Robert Thomas(54), Colton Parayko(26); Pavel Buchnevich(41), Justin Faulk(28)

Goalies

MN: Cam Talbot – 24 Saves on 30 Shots – .800 Save% – 3rd Overtime Loss
STL: Ville Husso – 31 Saves on 36 Shots – .861 Save% –  24th Win

Game Notes
*
Learn How to Backcheck!

As a forward, knowing how to backcheck and play the game defensively can take you a long way. Every team has problems chasing the puck and playing the defensive game. That’s “every team” in the NHL. We’ve shown it time & time again. It’s pretty sad.

Why does it happen? Is it fatigue? They don’t like playing defense? It doesn’t show up in the stats? Other than +/- and nobody cares about that anymore if they ever did.

Well, how many Stanley Cups or championships at any level were won by a team who didn’t play defense.

The Wild actually to a very good job on this but it still creeps into their game every now and then. Do coaches need to preach it more? Constantly?

Coaches (&/or fans), let us know what you think in the comments and…for Pete’s sake… (who is Pete?)

Bring The Clutter!!!

**
That Shot Needs to be Blocked!

Pavel Buchnevich should never be able to get a shot off in this situation. He’s the only one in the zone. Jacob Middleton has been very good for the Wild but I bet he’d even say he can’t let that shot get through him and he needs to get his stick in front of it and/or take Buchnevich’s space away so he can’t make the shot.

Teams and coaches all have different philosophies on this part of the game but they all want shots blocked because it frustrates teams and gets into their heads to force them to make another move or try to get closer to the net or get what they think will be a better shot.

In our opinion, the best way to get to a great goalie is to shoot more and quicker than to shoot less and wait for what you think will be a better shot.

***
RIP Mike Bossy

Mike Bossy averaged 0.76 goals per game in his career. He had a career shooting % on 21.2! He scored 51 or more goals in all but one of his 10 seasons in his career which was cut short by a back injury. He won the Calder trophy*, won 3 Lady Bing trophies** (finished top 5 in all but 1 season), won a Conn Smythe trophy and was an All-Star in every season he played.
*Rookie of the Year & **Player who “exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”

He was the 1st player ever to score 60 goals in 3 consecutive seasons.

Postgame

Always interesting to hear what the coach has to say:

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

vs the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night at 5 pm at The X!

The Wild will try to redeem themselves from an early season home loss to San Jose.

See you then, ‘Puckers!

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…