It’s Hockey Day Minnesota. The Minnesota Wild love to play on Hockey Day as they are 13-2-1 (13-1-1 at The X) on this day and that includes a 12-in-a-row streak that is still alive. On this Hockey Day Minnesota, it was the Buffalo Sabres in town. The Wild surely remember losing to Buffalo in Overtime back on January 7th so some revenge is in order while also being a huge game because there are 2 big points available.The Sabres were trying to extend a winning streak to 6 games and the last 3 games of that winning streak were against Central Division opponents Dallas, St. Louis & Winnipeg so the Wild might thank them before they drop the puck and try to end their streak.
The Wild were outside of a playoff spot on Wednesday then they beat Philadelphia on Thursday night to get back in a playoff spot then fell out again on Friday night when they were idle so… these are big games and making it into tbe playoffs will be a battle the rest of the way.
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Status report
Hartman returns after being a healthy scratch for a 3-2 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. … Fleury will make his third straight start. … Wild coach Dean Evason said there is a player who will be a game-time decision but would not name him.
Buffalo Sabres
Status report
Cozens, a center, did not join the Sabres’ morning skate Saturday until 15 minutes in and skated on his own, not participating in rushes; his status for the game was not confirmed by Buffalo coach Don Granato, who said all lineup decisions will be game-time.
Game Recap
1st Period
17:38 – Goal – Buffalo – Jack Quinn – Unassisted
1-0 Buffalo
This isn’t how you want to start a game if you’re the Wild. After winning the faceoff, Wild D Jake Middleton took the puck behind the net but he’s pressured right away so he threw the puck off the left boards to try to get the puck to Wild F Brandon Duhaime but he was probably higher in the zone than he needed to be. This allowed Buffalo F Jack Quinn to intercept the clear attempt. He then skated down towards the right corner and was pressured by Wild F Connor Dewar so he curled back to skate towards the blue line, protecting the puck on his backhand the whole way while being pursued by Dewar. As he got to the blue line, Dewar tried to reach the puck but when he did he stopped skating so when he missed on his attempt to get the puck off of Quinn’s stick, Quinn was able to get some space as he turned towards the net. Wild F Ryan Reaves made an attempt to get the puck with a swing of his stick but he also missed. Jack Quinn got to the slot and shot with a quick release that beat Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury over his right pad to put Buffalo up early.
We would guess that Wild F Brandon Duhaime thought Middleton was going to throw that puck off the glass to try to clear the zone and that’s why he went so close to the blue line. Middleton probably would’ve liked to throw the puck off the glass so it had a chance to clear the zone. Connor Dewar probably should’ve been more physical to try to knock Quinn off the puck rather than knock the puck off of Quinn’s stick but he should’ve definitely kept skating rather than take a chance on getting the puck by reaching it with his stick. That’s a hope play, a play that has a slim chance of working & is hard to recover from if it doesn’t work.
16:36 – Penalty – Buffalo – Jacob Bryson for High-Sticking Jared Spurgeon
16:25 – Goal – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek from Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello on the Power Play
1-1 Tie
The Wild won the faceoff and Matt Boldy ended up with it. He sent it back to Calen Addison at the left point but got it back and took a shot from the top of the left circle. It was saved and the rebound went off Mats Zuccarello’s skate. When Zuccy tried to get it to his stick, he was tripped up by Buffalo G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and the puck went behind & to the other side of the net. Kirill Kaprizov got to it quickly and made a turnaround pass to Joel Eriksson Ek at the front of the net and he put it in the empty net.
9:48 – Penalty – Minnesota – Connor Dewar for High-Sticking Jeff Skinner
7:57 – Penalty – Buffalo – Rasmus Dahlin for Hooking Mason Shaw
The Wild created some good chances but the Sabres were collapsing to the net very well to block shots and clear rebounds.
3:36 – Penalty – Buffalo – Tage Thompson for Hooking Joel Eriksson Ek
The Wild were able to move the puck but there wasn’t much room to get shots through to the net.
2nd Period
14:29 – Penalty – Buffalo – Alex Tuch for Tripping Freddy Gaudreau
Again, the Buffalo Sabres had a good kill not giving the Minnesota Wild much of a chance to get a good shot or scoring chance then, as the penalty expired, the Sabres hit a post then forced Fleury to make a very good save to keep the game tied.
The Sabres had about a 2:30 sequence of offensive zone time save for a couple of clears by the Wild but eventually all of that zone time paid off…
10:10 – Goal – Buffalo – Zemgus Girgensons from Kyle Okposo & Peyton Krebs
2-1 Buffalo
Buffalo F Peyton Krebs threw the puck in the zone and retrieved it then created some space so he could make a backhand pass in front of the net to F Kyle Okposo who quickly passed it to Zemgus Girgensons for an easy shot into a gaping net.
Joel Eriksson Ek was defending the passing lane to Girgensons while behind the net but he was puck-watching and didn’t notice Girgensons going back to the left side of the net. Calen Addison was too far away from Okposo to get to his stick when he received the pass and Jordan Greenway was basically a spectator for the majority of the play.
Don’t react to the play! React to your read of the play because reacting to the actual play will make you late every time.
7:21 – Goal – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon from Freddy Gaudreau & Jake Middleton
2-2 Tie
Minnesota Wild F Freddy Guadreau carried the puck up the left side out of his own zone and into the offensive then passed it back to Matt Boldy for a shot that may have been partially blocked but it ended up going behind the net. Wild F Jordan Greenway got to it first and sent it back to Jake Middleton at the right point. Freddy Gaudreau kept skating around the net and came around the right circle for a pass and he saw his captain Jared Spurgeon breaking to the net so he fed him for a one-timer into the open net! BOOM!
Watch every Sabres player just watch the puck throughout the entirety of the play. That is the definition of puck-watching and they all watched the puck go into their own net!
In the last 3 minutes of the 2nd period, the Wild got 2 one-timers off the stick of Kirill Kaprizov (& from Zuccy) then a backhand from Jared Spurgeon and just a ton of offensive pressure.
Buffalo then got some momentum in the waning seconds and Rasmus Dahlin got a piece of a rebound and it went in the net as the buzzer sounded to end the 2nd period.
It was called a goal on the ice. It was quickly reviewed and…
NO GOAL!!!
3rd Period
Wild F Matt Boldy made a speed rush for a scoring chance. Wheely Boldy, that was!
Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury had to come up with a couple of great saves against Sabres F Tage Thompson and his incredible reach on a backhand from both sides of the net as he made the first save then had to get across to the other side of the net to stop the wraparound attempt.
A relatively innocent play turned into a crazy sequence as Casey Mittelstadt was just given the chance to shoot then had to make a couple of saves and get some help from Jared Spurgeon with a blocked shot to keep the game tied with 4:37 left in regulation.
OVERTIME!!!
Both teams had some good chances but nobody came very close to scoring.
SHOOTOUT!!!
Wild F Zuccarello… deke… GOAL!
Buffalo F Tage Thompson… fake to a shot that went over Fleury’s right pad… GOAL!
Wild F Kirill Kaprizov… move to backhand… off the crossbar then off the goalie…
GOAL!
Buffalo F Jack Quinn… shot… SAVE BY FLEURY!!!
Wild F Freddy Gaudreau… wide right… puck-handling… move to the backhand… and…
SHELF, GAME, 2 POINTS…
& Off to the All-Star Break!!!
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Final-SO
Buffalo Sabres 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild
Goals
MN: 1. Joel Eriksson Ek(18)-PPG, 2. Jared Spurgeon(9)
BUF: 1. Jack Quinn(8), 2. Zemgus Girgensons(5)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal
Assists
MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(32), Mats Zuccarello(29), 2. Freddy Gaudreau(11), Jake Middleton(5)
BUF: 1. Unassisted, 2. Kyle Okposo(13), Peyton Krebs(7)
Goalies
MN:
Marc-Andre Fleury – 29 Saves on 31 Shots, .935 Save%, 16th Win
BUF:
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 33 Saves on 35 Shots, .943 Save%, 2nd Overtime/Shootout Loss
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Next up:
The All-Star Break which will have Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov showing NHL fans his incredible skills once again…
The Florida Panthers will host the 2023 Honda NHL® All-Star Weekend, from Feb. 3-4, including the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, on Friday, Feb. 3 at 6:00 p.m. CT on ESPN and the 2023 Honda NHL® All-Star Game on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. CT on ABC and ESPN+.
The 2023 Honda NHL® All-Star Game will once again consist of a three-game tournament, played in a 3-on-3 format, featuring four teams – one for each NHL division. Each team will be made up of 11 players from the respective division: six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.
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