The Minnesota Wild began a tough 4-game road trip against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. The Capitals had a rough start to the 2022-23 season going 10-11-3 (W-L-OTL) in their first 24 games. An 11-2-2 month of December got them back into the playoff picture but January has been an up-&-down affair as they’ve gone just 3-3-1 and currently sit in the 1st Wild Card spot for the Eastern Conference.
The Wild had a 3-game losing streak and, even though it included 2 road games where they got 2 points for an overtime & a shootout loss, it kept them from catching up to the teams ahead of them. It also allowed the teams below them to close the gap as they were only 1 point ahead of the 2 teams in the Wild Card spots but both of those teams are in the Pacific division so they still hold the 3rd spot in the Central while the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators are still 5 points (COL & STL) or 6 points (NSH) behind them.
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Injured:
Minnesota Wild:
None
Washington Capitals
John Carlson (head), Connor Brown (knee), Carl Hagelin (hip), Nic Dowd (lower body)
Status report
The Capitals did not hold a morning skate following a 4-3 overtime win at the New York Islanders on Monday. … Dowd will not play after he left the game against the Islanders in the first period. “He’s going to be out for a bit,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said Tuesday. “He’s still getting evaluations, but you won’t see him tonight. He’ll be (out) a little bit. There will probably be more terminology later.”
The Wild held an optional morning skate.
Game Recap
1st Period
It was a defensive, physical first period for both of these teams. The Minnesota Wild maybe figured they would have to weather a storm from the Caps as they only had 2 shots on goal until there was just 1:43 left in the period.
Unfortunately, 14 seconds later…
18:57 – Goal – Washington – Martin Fehervary
The Wild were clearly worried about/more focused on Alex Ovechkin on this play so D Martin Fehervary was allowed to go to the net without any resistance for a one-timer that beat Wild G Filip Gustavsson just over his left pad and under his catcher glove.
1-0 Capitals
Alex Ovechkin had a chance to beat the 1st period buzzer on a mini-breakaway but Gustavsson made the stop as Ovechkin didn’t appear to get a lot on a backhand shot right next to the left post.
2nd Period
The Wild may have had a tongue-lashing from head coach Dean Evason in the 1st period after just 3 shots on goal so it took just 50 seconds to tie the game on a Jared Spurgeon one-timer off a loose puck.
:50 – Goal – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon
Wild D Jake Middleton kept the puck in at the blue line when Caps F Tom Wilson couldn’t handle the pass off the boards. The puck went up in the air and Capitals D Trevor van Riemsdyk swatted it out towards the right point where Spurgeon skated into a one-timer that eluded Capitals G Charlie Lindgren as he had Jordan Greenway screening him. It was also a Knucklepuck!
1-1 Tie Game
5:05 – Goal – Washington – Dylan Strome
A little over 4 minutes later, an innocent looking rush from Washington turned into a goal when the Wild backcheckers started coasting, reaching and watching instead of skating, reading the play and covering players and their sticks.
At first, we thought Jared Spurgeon could’ve pressured Dylan Strome when he got the puck right at the beginning of the replay but he probably made the right decision not to as that could’ve created a 3-on-1. Spurgeon tried a sweeping poke check and missed. That allowed Strome to pass it over to Ovechkin so he could skate into the offensive zone. Middleton pressured him but started reaching as he got to him. That allowed Ovechkin to protect the puck and drop it to D Martin Fehervary. Dylan Strome kept skating with Wild F Ryan Hartman right behind him but coasting and watching the play. You can see Spurgeon look at Strome to see where he is then back at the puck. Strome got just enough separation from Spurgeon to get his stick on the centering pass for a great tip that went into the upper left corner and the crossbar.
What would’ve happened had Middleton used his physicality to check Ovechkin while also focusing on taking the puck away or if Ryan Hartman kept skating until he got in front of Dylan Strome or if Freddy Gaudreau doesn’t start to coast when he hit the blue line then reaches for the puck & Fehervary? We’ll never know.
Watch the replay again. It looks like the blue line is a switch that stops backchecking forwards from skating. NO SKATING AFTER THIS LINE!
2-1 Capitals
8 minutes later after a solid Wild shift from the Identity Line, the 4th line of Wild F Brandon Duhaime, Connor Dewar & Ryan Reaves sustained a forecheck for their entire shift and D Jonas Brodin got the puck just in front of the goal line in the right corner. He carried it around the perimeter of the offensive zone and when he came around to finish his lap, he shot it from the top of the circle and put it in the upper right corner for his 1st goal of the season and another…
Tie Game, 2-2!
Why doesn’t Jonas Brodin score more goals?*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
5 minutes later, that 4th line struck again with their forecheck (4th-check?) and putting some humanity in front of the goalie. They had the cycle going and this time it was Brandon Duhaime in front of the net while Jared Spurgeon sent another slapshot that got through and went into the left side of the net about middle high to put the…
Wild up 3-2!
3rd Period
The Wild got a chance to maybe seal the win with about 4:30 minutes remaining when Marcus Foligno fed Sam Steel and sent him in alone. He faked a shot then went for a deke and tried to put it through Lindgren’s 5-hole but Charlie waited him out to keep his team within 1 goal.
Wild G Filip Gustavsson was great all night as he ended up making 34 saves on 36 shots including this one which appears to go off the back of his right pad then may have hit his other skate/leg on the way across the crease and it somehow stayed out.
WOW!
The best view of this is on the game highlights at the bottom of the recap and before the Final Score and stats.
The Wild also blocked 15 shots and played good responsible, no-panic defense for the majority of the game. It took all of that poise to keep Washington from tying the game when they pulled their goalie with 2:13 remaining in regulation.
Then, with just over a minute left, Washington F Niklas Backstrom got the puck behind the net and tried to quickly wrap it around the right corner to D Erik Gustafsson but instead of going around the corner, the puck hit the boards and allowed Wild F Freddy Gaudreau to swipe at the puck as Gustafsson got to it.
He got a piece of the puck and it went off the inside of Gustafsson’s right skate and came out towards the top of the right circle and Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek got to it first and he shot it off the boards so he could skate into it for an empty net goal. Ovechkin tried to catch up to him and got a piece of him with his stick for a hook and the official put his arm up but Ek was able to put it in the net to seal the victory for the Minnesota Wild!
4-2 Wild
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Final
Minnesota Wild 4 | 2 Washington Capitals
Goals
MN: 1. Jared Spurgeon(6), 2. Jonas Brodin(1), 3. Jared Spurgeon(7), 4. Joel Eriksson Ek(15)-ENG
WSH: 1. Martin Fehervary(4), 2. Dylan Strome(9)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal
Assists
MN: 1. Unassisted, 2. Connor Dewar(7), Matt Dumba(8), 3. Connor Dewar(8), Ryan Reaves(6), 4. Freddy Gaudreau(10)
WSH: 1. Alex Ovechkin(21), Trevor van Riemsdyk(7), 2. Martin Fehervary(5), Alex Ovechkin(22)
Goalies
MN:
Filip Gustavsson – 34 Saves on 36 Shots, .944 Save%, 11th Win
WSH:
Charlie Lindgren – 18 Saves on 21 Shots, .857 Save%, 6th Loss
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Game Notes
*
Jo Bro Can Sco Gos!
= Jonas Brodin Can Score Goals!
Who knew?
Jonas Brodin can skate like the wind. He can handle the puck. Is he just more focused on the defensive end so he doesn’t try to score because of it? That’s definitely part of it and that includes that his partner, Matt Dumba, is usually looking for chances to go on offense so he’s protecting his defensive partner.
And that makes you wonder how his game might change with Matt Dumba in the last year of his contract. Add in that Brock Faber is also a player who tends to lean on the defensive side and he could replace Dumba in the lineup.
So could Calen Addison which might work very well, too. Bottom line, it’d be very interesting to see what Jonas Brodin does with some more offensive chances.
**
Are Wild F Jordan Greenway’s Days numbered?
The big Wild forward hasn’t developed as well as the Wild and fans have expected. He doesn’t use that size to his advantage enough. Supposedly he’s healthy but he seemed to shy away from hits in this game.
He did use that size to screen the ‘tender on the 1st goal. Does he work hard on his net-front presence so he can get more net-front presents (goals)?
He had a rough offseason with the injury so maybe that is messing with his season?
Jordan Greenway should worry about players like Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar taking his spot* on that Identity Line with Ek & Foligno. Both of them showed well tonight, Duhaime with some toughness getting in the face of a Capital when he hit Calen Addison which ended up with a fight. He also had a screen of his own on the last goal. Connor Dewar had 2 assists for his 2nd career 2-point night.
*Every player should play like someone is taking your spot. There are always prospects coming and they are being developed and told they have to take someone else’s spot. This isn’t a day job! This is The National Hockey League!
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Matt Boldy Article COMING VERY SOON!
This adds to the Jordan Greenway conversation as the Minnesota Wild will have some tough decisions to make in order to make everything work under the cap for the next couple of seasons when the buyout hell jumps up to $14+M.
Next up:
On to Carolina to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at 6pm on Bally Sports North.
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