The Minnesota Wild get their last chance to beat the Nashville Predators. Do they do it this time?
They’ve lost 2-5 then 2-6 twice.
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
F Mats Zuccarello is out tonight after leaving Friday night’s game in the 2nd period with a lower-body injury so the Wild recalled F Joseph Cramarossa from the Iowa Wild. That means the top line will look different tonight. F Nick Bjugstad will move up to the top line while Cramarossa will slot in on a line with F Joel Eriksson Ek & F Connor Dewar.
Ek had 2 goals on Friday night without his linemates* F Jordan Greenway (Upper-Body Injury) & F Marcus Foligno (COVID-19 Protocol) so how will he do tonight?
*One was a Power Play Goal and the other came while on a shift between Fiala & Boldy so…take what you want from that.
Nashville Predators
Game Recap
Minnesota Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury made a mistake playing the puck* on Friday night against the Seattle Kraken and it turned into an early 1-0 deficit. 10 seconds into this game, he almost had the same thing happen. On Friday, he was passing to Wild D Jacob Middleton toward the right corner. Tonight, he tried to play it around the left corner and it was knocked down by Predators F Yakov Trenin and Jacob Middleton intercepted the pass to the front of the net. Phew!
*See more on the topic of goalies playing the puck in the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.
Former Wild F Luke Kunin got a holding penalty on the forecheck as he tried to jump around him and basically landed on him. No goal on the power play.
Wild D Jacob Middleton had his feet taken out from underneath him by former Wild player F Mikael Granlund in front of the net.
WATCH OUT pic.twitter.com/MBg1nLiN2D
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) April 25, 2022
Middleton then got up to pursue Granlund and Filip Forsberg got in his way or blocked him from getting to Granlund. Is that not interference on Forsberg? Why isn’t that called?
Nashville Predators Penalty for Delay of Game – 10:12 – D Mattias Ekholm accidentally threw the puck over the glass. – Twoooooo Minutes!
A little more than halfway through the Power Play, the Minnesota Wild won the faceoff back to Alex Goligoski. He passed to Matt Boldy at the right half-wall and Boldy tried to shoot but it was partially blocked by Predators D Matt Benning. Wild F Nick Bjugstad was at the right side of the net so he was able to quickly retrieve the puck, turn and throw it at the net. Predators G David Rittich made the save but the puck kept going slowly through the crease. Predators D Mark Borowiecki was trying to clear the puck out of the crease but he didn’t get all of it and ended up putting it in his own net. DOH! 1-0 Wild.
Minnesota Wild Captain D Jared Spurgeon left the ice at 7:29, the same time when Brandon Duhaime got an interference penalty in front of the net.
Jared Spurgeon down the tunnel. Not great! pic.twitter.com/FAUFhC3vUI
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 25, 2022
Wild F Connor Dewar dove to clear the zone and the puck deflected up into Josi’s face. Dewar almost had a breakaway but decided against it for some reason.
PENALTY KILLED!!!
An after-the-whistle scrum developed after a Joel Eriksson Ek shot on net. It lasted about a minute with both teams pushing & shoving. Eeli Tolvanen pushed/face-washed Ek several times right in front of one of the officials then as it dissipated, while the official was making the call of a roughing minor for Wild F Joseph Cramarossa only, Predators F Ryan Johanssen pushes Cramarossa in the back.
The official pointed several times then just took Cramarossa. That seems impossible. Watch and see. How is there just one penalty here? What do every one of those players think about that call?**
**See more on this topic in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.
I have no clue how Cramarossa gets the only penalty here pic.twitter.com/qF28101fEi
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 25, 2022
Cramarossa was standing next to the goalie and Predator D Dante Fabbro shoved him. We can only assume the penalty was called when Cramarossa continued the pushing/shoving/face-washing with Eeli Tolvanen who actually grabbed him first.
It’s safe to say Wild coach Dean Evason was equally bewildered and not happy:
Dean Evason just went full banana sandwich on the referee (I assume it was the ref?) pic.twitter.com/UMdechwhiE
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 25, 2022
The Wild got a 2-on-1 on the PK with Gaudreau & Dewar and Dewar hit the post. Ohhh…
Mikael Granlund sent a saucer pass to Dante Fabbro at the front of the net. It was a tough pass in the air but Fabbro got/had the puck go off the shaft of his stick then off the right post and across the crease to a waiting Filip Forsberg to tie game with 3 seconds left in the 1st. Look at that bounce. Wow! Oh, well!
Shots after the 1st:
MN-15, NSH-9
2nd
A Connor Dewar shot resulted in a juicy rebound that came out to Joel Eriksson Ek for a shot while Wild D Jacob Middleton was sliding into the goalie after being tripped by Luke Kunin while heading to the net. It looked like F Connor Dewar ended up tapping the loose puck in the net but he must not have touched it since the goal was given to Joel Eriksson Ek. Ek’s shot actually went off of Luke Kunin then off of Roman Josi then into the net.
Predators G David Rittich got an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty for cross-checking Middleton after the play. Nashville made a challenge for Goaltender Interference but the goal was confirmed since Middleton was slid into the goaltender because he was tripped so the Wild ended up with a 5-on-3 with the Delay of Game penalty for the unsuccessful challenge and Rittich’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty.
The net came loose due to Rittich pushing it off. That came off very easy. Home-Ice advantage, there?
The Wild outshot Nashville 14 t0 0 in the first half of the 2nd period but no goal on the 5-on-3. That usually doesn’t bode well.
For some reason, Predators F Luke Kunin*** went down to one knee while forechecking as Jon Merrill got in his way and they called it interference. If he doesn’t go down, Merrill can just get in his way and let him go. That’s a tough call. Why does he go down to one knee? It was before Merrill got to him.
***See more on Luke Kunin in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.
The Wild won the faceoff but their clearing attempt was kept in by Forsberg with some crazy hand-eye coordination. He knocked the puck down with his stick at about shoulder height. Amazingly, we couldn’t find any video proof of this.
On the Power Play, Nashville worked a little Tic-Tac-Toe play from the left point to Forsberg just past the left faceoff dot and he made a quick short pass to Mikael Granlund for a one-timer but Granlund partially fanned on the shot so it was a changeup that Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury knocks away with his stick but it went right to Predators F Matt Duchene and he shot it over an outstretched Fleury to tie the game at 2.
A Nashville shot hit the post and the puck went under Fleury so he could freeze it and he tapped the post to say Thank You. Classic Flower.
Wild F Nicolas Deslauriers pushed/cross-checked in front of the net was called but it sure looked like a dive. What do you think?
Deslauriers goes off for a fairly soft cross-check that was definitely drawn easily. pic.twitter.com/FuUIliZg7o
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) April 25, 2022
Nashville then scored on that joke of a penalty call to take a 3-2 lead.
Matt Duchene somehow got a puck through 3 Wild players and Mikael Granlund to get to Fleury. Granlund got the rebound but Fleury stopped that, too, but the puck went out to Forsberg. He shot it past Fleury but off the far post and the puck goes off of Ryan Johanssen’s skate and settles so he can move it to his forehand and shoot it past Wild D Dmitry Kulikov to make it 3-2 Predators.
Literally a Wild scramble for the loose puck
Wild F Ryan Hartman hit with a high stick off the faceoff and both officials had their arms up. Another Wild Power Play.
The net came off again. The ice crew came out to fix it this time.
Nothing doing on the power play again.
Nashville D Alexandre Carrier had his stick up in Kirill Kaprizov’s face so twoooo minutes for a high-stick at 1:55. Stupid penalty.
On the Power Play, Kaprizov tried to get the puck to Ryan Hartman but it was knocked away. Hartman & Ek went to battle for the loose puck and it bounced out between 2 Predators but Kaprizov made a lunging dive for it and got it to Kevin Fiala all alone just above the top of the right circle. That put the Predators into scramble mode and, we can only assume, Kevin Fiala saw threw of them just staring him down so he knew there’d be someone open and he found Joel Eriksson Ek open at the left faceoff dot. Ek one-timed the puck towards the net and beat David Rittich to make it a 3-3 tie.
70 seconds later, Kevin Fiala went around a few Predators and scored on a wicked backhand with 22 seconds left in the 2nd period on the 22nd shot of the period to make it 4-3 Wild!
What can you say about this? FIALA-LA-LA-LAAAA!!!
Shots after 2 periods:
MN:37(22), NSH:18(9)
Wild F Nicolas Deslauriers was called for roughing on what clearly looked like either checking from behind or boarding at 16:40. Does it matter if they get the penalty right or just the call?
Predators F Eeli Tolvanen hooked Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau at 13:38
The Wild were doing a very good job of protecting their 1-goal lead then a Dante Fabbro shot from the left point deflected off of Connor Dewar’s stick then bounced off the ice and Marc-Andre Fleury couldn’t react fast enough to keep it out of the net so, it was Tied once again.
That’s just a wicked deflection.
Not much happened in the final 5:40 as both teams were making sure to get the 1st point so, we had some…
OVERTIME
It was a lot more of the same in Overtime as both teams didn’t want to take much of a chance then make a mistake to give up the 2nd point.
Nashville had possession for most of the 1st couple minutes of the 5-minute overtime.
Predators F Matt Duchene got a shot that trickled through Fleury and was rolling toward the net but Fiala and Goligoski were there to keep it out of the net.
The Wild then finally got possession of the puck after Fiala was knocked down. That created a loose puck but Gaudreau made a great play with his stick to break up what could’ve sent in Tomasino all alone. Instead, it created a 2-on-1 for the Wild but they didn’t get much out of it.
Forsberg got past Hartman and looked like he had a sure chance to shoot the puck but he decided to pass it instead.
A faceoff in the Predators zone with 36 seconds left was won by Joel Eriksson Ek. Kaprizov shot a puck wide but Kulikov recovered and passed it back to Ek. He had it at the right half-wall and turned back towards the top of the right faceoff dot and Predators F Colton Sissons aggressively reached in with his stick to try to poke the puck away and a physical battle to keep possession resulted with both of them skating out towards center ice. Predators D Roman Josi thought it was a chance to maybe make a break if the puck came loose but Ek regained possession of the puck and curled back towards the offensive zone at the Wild bench. Wild D Dmitry Kulikov then turned to break towards the net. Predator F Filip Forsberg went to defend Ek as he kicked the puck up to his stick with his right skate and immediately passed the puck to the breaking Kulikov for a breakaway with 4 seconds left and…
KULIKOV!!!!
WOW!!!
What A Game!!!
Watch out on the bench! Evason gets physical during wins! Haha!
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Final
Minnesota Wild 5 | 4 Nashville Predators
Goals
MN: Nick Bjugstad(7), Joel Eriksson Ek(24, 25), Kevin Fiala(33), Dmitry Kulikov(7)
NSH: Filip Forsberg(40), Duchene(41), Ryan Johanssen(24), Dante Fabbro(3)
Assists
MN: Unassisted; Connor Dewar(4), Joseph Cramarossa(1); Kevin Fiala(51), Kirill Kaprizov(57); Matt Boldy(23); Joel Eriksson Ek(22), Kirill Kaprizov(58)
NSH: Dante Fabbro(20), Mikael Granlund(46); Mikael Granlund(47), Filip Forsberg(39); Filip Forsberg(40), Mikael Granlund(48); Matt Duchene(40), Roman Josi(70)
Goalies
MN: Marc-Andre Fleury – 21 Saves on 25 Shots on Goal – .840 Save%* – 27th Win (8th Win with the Minnesota Wild)
*4 goals and he had pretty much zero chance on every one of them!
NSH: David Rittich – 42 Saves on 47 Shots on Goal – .894 Save% – 3rd Overtime Loss
Postgame
Game Notes
*
Goalies Playing the Puck
Very few goalies play the puck well and it’s hard to think it doesn’t drive coaches and defensemen absolutely nuts. Usually, they stop the puck behind their net. Then send it around the other corner anyway and about 1% of the time it isn’t a turnover. It is truly mind-boggling that more goalies don’t understand to just make a simple play to a teammate.
Do they practice this, like, at all?
Marc-Andre Fleury actually makes good plays most of the time but that’s twice in two games where he had a brain fart to give up a goal (vs Seattle) and almost give up a goal 10 seconds into this game.
**
What if NHL Players were Mic’d up?
NASCAR has an app that allows you to listen to uncensored audio of the drivers and their crews. Uncensored! Just think of that.
Now, think about that in an NHL game? How fun would it be to listen to the chirping between the teams and the officials?
Maybe we’d understand these calls and the plays that are made during a game.
And…we wouldn’t have to listen to the play-by-play announcers if we didn’t want to and, if you know the game of hockey, you don’t need play-by-play. Just the sounds of the game of hockey would be pretty awesome to listen to.
Do you agree? Let us know!
***
Luke Kunin – A Former Top Wild Prospect
Luke Kunin & a ‘20 4th-round pick(D Adam Wilsby) was traded for C Nick Bonino, a ‘20 2nd-round pick(F Marat Khusnadinov) & a ‘20 3rd-round pick(traded to DET w/a ‘20 5th-round pick to draft D Daemon Hunt) on October 7th, the 2nd day of the 2020 NHL Draft.
This was one of the first moves Bill Guerin made to acquire some leadership and change the culture of the Minnesota Wild to a winning culture.
“It’s about f***ing winning!”
This sure looks like a good trade right now as Luke Kunin is a 4th-line grinder for the Nashville Predators and the Wild have achieved a winning culture that has resulted in their greatest season* in franchise history.
*Greatest regular season, at least. We’ll see about the postseason very soon.
At the time, though, you had to wonder if this was a good trade because Luke Kunin was drafted 15th overall as a goal-scorer and a leadership-typer player who had the potential to be named captain of a team. He hasn’t developed into that, yet. Or, maybe, a better way to say it is he hasn’t been given a chance to develop into that, yet.
He’s a restricted free agent after this season and he’ll likely have to take a short-term prove-it deal with Nashville but he should maybe request a trade to a team like Arizona or Seattle to get a chance to get back to begin a goal-scorer. He has a great shot and he likes to shoot but he’s sadly having to change his game to become a role player.
Would any team take a chance on him to put him in their top-6 and on their power play? It remains to be seen and there probably aren’t many teams willing to take that chance.
Only time will tell but we feel like things have sadly gone awry for Luke Kunin. He’s still just 24-years old!
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Next up:
A 3-game homestand to end the regular season beginning with the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday at 7 pm on Bally Sports North Extra which is actually The CW so maybe everyone can watch this game. We’ll have to check for you.
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