The Minnesota Wild traveled to Colorado to face the surging Colorado Avalanche who have won 9 out of their last 10 games. They still trailed the Minnesota Wild by 1 point but they also had a game in hand and the Wild have been the best team in the league since February 17th having only lost one game in regulation with a record of 15-1-4. The Wild knew if they won in their last game against the Avalanche this season that would go a long way to making that one game not matter.
This is going to be a pucking battle filled with a lot of Clutter!
Enough words. Let’s Do This…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Wild projected lineup
Forwards
Marcus Foligno — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Joel Eriksson Ek — Matt Boldy
Sam Steel — Frederick Gaudreau — Oskar Sundqvist
Mason Shaw — Connor Dewar
Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill — John Klingberg
Alex Goligoski
Goalies
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:
Calen Addison
Injured:
Kirill Kaprizov (lower body), Gustav Nyquist (shoulder), Ryan Reaves (upper body), Brandon Duhaime (illness)
Status Report
Klingberg will return after missing three games because of an upper-body injury. … Reaves and Duhaime, each a forward, is day to day. … The Wild will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Goligoski possibly playing some minutes at forward, coach Dean Evason said.
Colorado Avalanche
Avalanche projected lineup
Forwards
Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook — J.T. Compher — Evan Rodrigues
Denis Malgin — Lars Eller — Matt Nieto
Andrew Cogliano — Darren Helm — Logan O’Connor
Defensemen
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Bowen Byram
Jack Johnson — Erik Johnson
Goalies
Alexandar Georgiev
Jonas Johansson
Scratched:
Kurtis MacDermid, Brad Hunt
Injured:
Gabriel Landeskog (knee), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Josh Manson (lower body), Artturi Lehkonen (finger)
Status report
There is no timeline for a return for Manson, a forward, and Francouz, a goalie, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. … Georgiev is expected to make his 13th start in 15 games.
Game Recap
1st Period
How crazy is it that the Wild all of a sudden had to use D Alex Goligoski as a forward?
From the drop of the puck, both teams were ready for this huge game for first place in the Central Division. The pace was insane! This is playoff hockey, ‘Puckers! You have to LOVE IT!!!
3 minutes in and the Wild tipped in the puck with F Joel Eriksson Ek forechecking. The puck went around the right corner and Avalanche G Alexander Georgiev had plenty of time to take a look and either put the puck around the corner or just leave it behind his own net for his defenseman that was 5 feet away from him but he decided it was better to send it around the other corner.
Maybe he partially fanned on it but Wild F Marcus Johansson was coming around the left corner so he intercepted it and tried to feed Matt Boldy skating into the right slot but the pass was off-target. Boldy tried to catch it on his backhand but ended up just getting the heel of his stick on it and the puck went back to Wild D Matt Dumba. He passed it to Joel Eriksson Ek who was now at the right side of the net. He caught the pass with his back to the net but he knew where Johansson was so he made a backhand pass through his own legs…
*There seem to be so few good puck-handling goalies. Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
16:36 – Goal – Minnesota – Marcus Johansson from Joel Eriksson Ek & Matt Dumba
1-0 Wild
14:41 – Penalty – Minnesota – Alex Goligoski for Tripping
Wild D Alex Goligoski put his stick on the outside hip of Colorado F J.T. Compher and he fell down. They called tripping and he stumbled but was it because of what Alex Goligoski did? Pretty hard to tell especially when TNT doesn’t show a replay but it’s another stick penalty where a coach will repeat what he’s said for every stick penalty: “Don’t put your stick there!”
The Wild killed it off beautifully.
11:26 – Penalty – Colorado – Bowen Byram for Hooking Matt Boldy
Byram didn’t like the call but it’s similar to the Goligoski penalty. It looked like a penalty because his stick was up and in on Boldy’s hands.
On the power play, Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was standing on the blue line as the Wild tried to enter the Colorado zone and Avalanche F Andrew Cogliano backed into Ek and fell over when he ran into Ek so…
10:48 – Penalty – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek for Interference
TNT analyst Ed Olczck said what most Wild fans (& Dean Evason) were thinking, “That ice is as much Eriksson Ek’s as it is Cogliano’s.” Then they asked TNT’s Rules Analyst Brad Meier and he said, “Eriksson Ek knows exactly what he was doing. Even though he’s stationary, he gets set there and he eliminates that guy from coming back into the zone.”
We’ll have to look up the rule because you could say Cogliano knows exactly what he’s doing, too. He can skate into Ek on purpose and fall down so is he saying Ek has to try to avoid him?
10:23 – Penalty – Colorado – Lars Eller for High-Sticking Freddy Gaudreau
Eller made a sweeping poke-check attempt and his stick slid up Gaudreau’s stick and hit him in the face. Twoooo minutes! Sit Down!
The Wild had a great scoring chance when Marcus Johansson passed it back to Mats Zuccarello for a quick shot and Colorado G Alexander Georgiev made the save. The rebound bounced out to Avs F J.T. Compher & D Jack Johnson and they quickly sent the puck out of the zone off the far boards knowing D Bowen Byram’s penalty was expiring so he’d be coming out of the penalty box for a breakaway.
9:17 – Goal – Colorado – Bowen Byram from J.T. Compher & G Alexander Georgiev
So, the goalie got an assist for making the save and giving up a rebound? Okay. They apparently took the assist away from Georgiev and gave it to Jack Johnson which might be even more questionable since he may not have even touched the puck.
*What is this, the MNJHL? Inside joke.
1-1 Tie
6:35 – Wild F Ryan Hartman went through 2 Avs then hit the far post! (1:33 of the highlight video at the bottom of the recap) OHHH!!!
John Klingberg threw a backhand shot at the net from the left faceoff dot and it hit Sam Steel & Avs D Samuel Girard then dropped down to the ice. Sam Steel saw it and got his right skate to it so he could kick it to his stick and, with his back to the net, he just shot a high backhand and it went in the upper right corner.
3:58 – Goal – Minnesota – Sam Steel from John Klingberg
Colorado D Samuel Girard was defending space with Sam Steel behind him so he missed the tiny puck then lost the battle with the a-lot-bigger-than-a-puck man. He had good position on him then thought it was better to keep watching the puck and be worried about Wild D John Klingberg who was being defended by his teammate. It’s actually a great play by Klingberg just to throw the puck at the net. It’s really a harmless backhand** until it hit Girard and he had to try to find the puck where Sam Steel saw the puck the whole time.
**#UnleashTheBackhand! Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
2-1 Wild
The shots were even at the end of the first period with 11 each.
The score was not even!
2nd Period
11:04 – Penalty – Minnesota – Oskar Sundqvist for Boarding Valeri Nichuskin
Avalanche F Valeri Nichuskin was playing the puck from beside the Wild net and Wild F Oskar Sundqvist checked him and he went into the boards awkwardly. His leg hit the ice before he hit the boards. How much of that, if any, should be on the player being hit?
Seconds into the Power Play, wild D Jonas Brodin blocked a shot from Nathan MacKinnon and the puck bounced out towards the blue line where both Wild F Freddy Gaudreau & Avalanche D Cale Makar went for it and Gaudreau swept at the puck to get enough of it so he could chip it past Makar and he was off to the races…
10:50 – Goal (SHG) – Minnesota – Freddy Gaudreau from Jonas Brodin
Makar seemed hesitant to go 100% at the puck and that may have been the difference between this becoming a breakaway or not. Maybe he thought it would get to him quicker since it was a bouncing puck and that split second made the difference.
3-1 Wild
The Wild then finished killing the penalty.
8:09 – Penalty – Colorado – Logan O’Connor for Tripping Matt Boldy
Avalanche D Samuel Girard got a breakaway off a bad change by the Wild but Wild G Filip Gustavsson made the initial save and the save on the rebound.
The shot totals at the end of the 2nd period was 26-24 in favor of the Colorado Avalanche.
3rd Period
14:12 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jake Middleton for Hooking Devon Toews
Wild D Jake Middleton was in on the forecheck as he thought he might be able to get around Colorado D Devon Toews. He tried to lift his stick from behind him and it looked like Toews felt it under his arm so he grabbed it by closing his arm on it. Middleton had one hand on his stick and was trying to get his stick loose so he could play the puck but Toews kept holding it until he got turned around and fell down. How they don’t see that being 2 minutes for each player is pretty amazing.
The Wild killed off another Power Play.
Colorado kept getting chances but Wild G Filip Gustavsson was stopping everything and/or getting some help from his defense or the posts. Colorado F Mikko Rantanen, the career-high 48 goals on the season, was getting most of those chances but was stoned by Gus on one then probably took some paint off the crossbar on another.
With 6:30 minutes to go in regulation, Colorado had an offensive rush that looked like nothing but the Wild gave them too much time & space and the backchecking forwards lost coverage and watched the puck so J.T. Compher was able to find Girard trailing the play and both Wild F Sam Steel went to him while Freddy Gaudreau was trying to find who he should defend. Girard passed the puck over to Devon Toews which forced Wild D Jonas Brodin to cover him and that left Lars Eller open in front of the net…
6:19 – Goal – Colorado – Lars Eller from Samuel Girard & Devon Toews
If Matt Dumba is quick-to-defend either Avs F Evan Rodriguez in the neutral zone or J.T. Compher, that whole play might’ve been broken up from the start. Some puck-watching from the Wild forwards didn’t help either.
3-1 Wild
With about 5:30 minutes to go in regulation, Wild F Ryan Hartman was changing but dropped his stick when he left the ice so he stepped back out and bent down to pick up his stick and the puck hit him. The play was stopped which made you think it was going to be a Too Many Men on the Ice penalty but the officials got together after whistling the play dead and said there was No Penalty for Too Many Men on the Ice. It was called an “Inadvertent Play.” How ‘bout that?
5:19 – No Penalty for Too Many Men on the Ice against the Wild
0:51.3 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon for Delay of Game Puck Out of Play
The puck hit the boards and went out of play but apparently nobody saw that so the Avalanche got a power play with less than a minute to go in regulation. Will the league change this to being reviewable any time soon?
Will having a power play help the Wild because they can ice the puck to kill time and/or shoot at the empty net?
A shot from the middle of the point was tipped and went off the inside of Filip Gustavsson’s left arm and rebounded out to the slot where Wild F Freddy “The Stick” Gaudreau quickly shot it down the ice and it was center cut like a beautiful putt to seal the victory!
So… uhh… yes!
0:33 – Goal (SHG) – Minnesota – Freddy Gaudreau – Unassisted
And that’s a 3-point lead in the Central Division, ‘Puck Fans!!!
Wow! What a game!!!
HUGE WIN for the Wild!
The Colorado Avalanche outshot the Wild 19-4 in the 3rd period (44-29 overall) which would lead some to think they dominated that period but there’s something to be said about the Wild’s defense & poise in their own zone.
They don’t panic. They just continue to defend with great sticks and great reactions to rebounds to clear pucks or get their sticks to pucks to keep the opponent from getting better or more scoring chances.
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Final
Minnesota Wild 4 | 2 Colorado Avalanche
Goals
MN: 1. Marcus Johansson(16), 2. Sam Steel(9), 3. Freddy Gaudreau(15)-SHG, 4. Freddy Gaudreau(16)-SHG
COL: 1. Bowen Byram(10), 2. Lars Eller(10)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal
Assists
MN: 1. Joel Eriksson Ek(36), Matt Dumba(10), 2. John Klingberg(20), Ryan Hartman(20), 3. Jonas Brodin(11)-SHG, 4. Unassisted-SHG
COL: 1. J.T. Compher(33), Jack Johnson(6), 2. Devon Toews(34), Samuel Girard(27)
Goalies
MN:
Filip Gustavsson
42 Saves on44 Shots, .955 Save% – 20th Win
COL:
Alexander Georgiev
25 Saves on 28 Shots, .893 Save% – 16th Loss
Game Notes
*
Goalies Playing Turning Over the Puck
Goalies seem to have a lot of trouble deciding what to do when they stop the puck behind their net. What do they usually do? They stop it then send it around where it was already going in the first place. And what usually happens when they throw it around the corner? It goes to the other team. Oops.
How frustrating is that for a defenseman? Just make the simple play or leave it for the defenseman to take it. In the play on the first goal above, Alexander Georgiev never looked to the other side of the ice which is where he ended up sending the puck and he had a teammate 5 feet from him so he could’ve easily just left the puck there and quickly gone back to the front of the net but…
Are the defenseman talking to their goalies to help them make the right or simple play? It’s amazing how much easier talking to your teammates makes the game. Do it and do it as much as possible, telling them where you are, if they have time or not and what to do with the puck. It can be a huge help in avoiding turnovers and bad plays all over the ice.
**
Unleash the Backhand!
If you ever coach kids in hockey, especially shooting, and say you want them to work on their backhand shots, 9 times out of 10 you will hear groans because they don’t like their backhand shots. That’s because they never work on them or they’ve been told by coaches not to use their backhands. They’d rather work on their slapshots which is usually a less useful shot than the backhand.
Unleash Your Backhand!
Get it out of storage, remove the dust and USE IT!
Use the backhand shot! Work on it to make it a weapon like Sidney Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk and many other NHL players. It’s a hard shot for goalies to read to begin with so if you make it a weapon, it’ll be that much harder to stop for those goalies who are trying to keep you off the scoreboard.
Having a very good backhand can also help your entire game because now you can go either way when handling the puck and most defenders will try to make you go to your backhand. If you have a good backhand, you can use it to make passes and clear the zone rather than trying to go to your forehand which can take that extra 2-3 seconds and give the defense time to get to you or the goalie more time to get in a better position to make a save!
***
“Would you say Milan Hejduk was an underrated player?”
NHL on TNT analyst Ed Olczyk asked this question to between-the-benches analyst Keith Jones and Jones said he absolutely was underrated.
Former Colorado Avalanche F Milan Hejduk played 1,020 games with the Colorado Avalanche from 1998 to 2013. Add another 112 games to that from the postseason. He scored 375 goals (805 points) with 14o of them coming on the power play (285 points). He had 20 or more goals in 11 of his 14 seasons with an average of 31 goals in those 11 seasons (26 in his 14 seasons). He won the Maurice Richard Trophy for the leagues’ top goal scorer with 50 goals in the 2002-3 season and his 375 career goals is tied for 126th for most in the history of the NHL.
He was a 4th-round pick in 1994 who kept playing in the Czech Republic until he made the jump across the pond to the US and stepped right into the Avalanche lineup and never looked back. He finished 3rd in the Calder Trophy for the league’s best rookie* after his first season (14g, 34a – 4ppg, 11ppp). He then scored 36 goals in his 2nd season and on he went scoring goals for the Colorado Avalanche.
*His teammate (linemate, too?) Chris Drury won.
The only time he would’ve been “underrated” is that first season but that’s even seems like a stretch since he was on the power play since he was a goal-scorer.
Wild fans surely remember him being a sniper for those 14 years. Hejduk… Hedge Duck? More like Hey, Duke scored again!
Postgame
“You Can’t Have Passengers” Head Coach Jared Bednar Explains Why Avalanche Couldn’t Stop The Wild
Wild Head Coach Dean Evason Postgame
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Next up:
The Wild will head to Las Vegas and not play those Vegas Golden Knights until Saturday night at 9pm CST on Bally Sports North.
So Vegas Nights before Vegas Knights? That could be trouble for other Wild teams but not the 2022-23 Wild who are leading the Central Division and surely remember that 5-1 loss that triggered the postgame closed-door meeting & the 17-2-5 run they are currently on that put them in first place.
This should be another great game!
Thanks for Reading!!!
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AND…as always…
