The Minnesota Wild tried to extend their winning streak to 3 which would also end the Vancouver Canucks 4-game winning streak, a streak that began when they beat the Wild on December 7th. The Wild dominated the majority of the 1st period of that game but didn’t score a goal then allowed the Canuckleheads to score late so they got back to their game and won 2-0.
Did the Minnesota Wild redeem themselves from that December 7th loss & get back to .500?
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Status Report
Spurgeon will be a game-time decision; the defenseman skated on his own but did not practice with the Wild on Friday. … Gustavsson made 35 saves in a 3-2 shootout win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Vancouver Canucks
Status Report
Demko made 36 saves in a 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Game Recap
1st Period
The Minnesota Wild gave up a glorious chance in the first minute to Vancouver Canucks F J.T. Miller and he decided to try to pass it instead of taking the shot. The pass didn’t get all the way through to Elias Pettersson so they didn’t even get a shot on goal.
Just shy of 3 minutes in, Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime had the puck behind the net, went around the left side and took a bad-angle shot that snuck through Canucks G Casey DeSmith and landed in the crease but Canucks D Filip Hronek was there to grab it and start breaking out of the zone. OHHHH!!! So close!
The Minnesota Wild did the same thing J.T. Miller did earlier when D Jake Middleton had a point-blank shot but tried to pass it to Joel Eriksson Ek but it didn’t connect either.*
*SHOOT THE PUCK! Is it good they’re looking for their teammates? Yes! Is it good they’re giving up a great scoring chance to a pass that might not get through and result in no chance at all? NO! Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
18:05 – Goal – Minnesota – Frederick Gaudreau (2) from Marcus Foligno (8) & Pat Maroon (9)
On a breakout, Vancouver F J.T. Miller was backing up in the neutral zone and read the pass from Wild D Zach Bogosian but he only got a piece of it so it still got through to Wild F Pat (It was…) Maroon on the left boards at the blue line. He brought the puck in the zone and passed it across the ice to Marcus Foligno while Freddy Gaudreau skated to the front of the net. Foligno one-timed a pass to Gaudreau and Freddy tipped it past G Casey DeSmith for a 1-0 Wild lead.
Vancouver Canucks 0 | 1 Minnesota Wild
The Vancouver Canucks were watching the puck the whole time, every one of them. Brock Boeser was coasting back with his stick in both hands. J.T. Miller thought he was going to get the loose puck so he was going the wrong way. Nils Hoglander was watching the puck while keeping an eye on Zach Bogosian. D Filip Hronek had to go to defend Maroon and D Quinn Hughes moved toward the center of the zone & Gaudreau which left Foligno open on the right boards. He made an effort to break up the cross-ice pass but missed which allowed Foligno to feed Gaudreau. That’s terrible defense compounded by a lack of effort from the forwards and a lack of communication from everyone. It allowed what appeared to be a nothing play to turn into a goal.
First of all, coasting with your stick in both hands is never a good sign. You’re waiting for a play to happen and reacting to it. That makes it extremely difficult to defend because that little vulcanized piece of rubber can move very fast. Second, an offensive player should never be allowed to skate to the front of the net without someone covering him. It’s a 3-on-2 once the puck got past J.T. Miller so Boeser should see Hronek going to Maroon and get to Gaudreau. Quinn Hughes should’ve told his backchecking forwards where to go either verbally or by pointing with his stick or glove.
That should make for a fun film session tomorrow! It looked like they were going through the motions of a drill or their system. Geez! That’s ugly!
Remember the saying about watching the puck? “If you’re watching the puck, you will watch it go into your net!”
READ THE PLAY!!! REACT TO WHAT YOU READ!!!
Wild G Filip Gustavsson had to make a big save on Boeser in the waning moments of the 1st period to keep his team up 1-0!
2nd Period
An odd-man rush resulted after Wild Fs Brandon Duhaime & Ryan Hartman were too aggressive on a lost faceoff in the Vancouver zone.
3:50 – Goal – Vancouver – Teddy Blueger (3) from Dakota Joshua (5) & Conor Garland (9)
Duhaime got back but only got within reach of goalscorer Teddy Blueger’s stick so he couldn’t defend the play well enough as he was still behind Blueger when the pass got to the front of the net.
Minnesota Wild Rookie D Daemon Hunt didn’t get his stick in front of the puck to disrupt the centering pass. That’s a huge defensive detail to learn. Force that player to get the puck through you.
The Wild had a great response on the ensuing shift with 2 great scoring chances from Daemon Hunt & Marcus Johansson.
The Wild took 3 penalties & Vancouver took 1 but both team’s penalty kills & their goalie were up to the task each time.
3rd Period
Neither team was giving up much for time & space in this game so this one headed to…
OVERTIME!
Not a lot of chances allowed in the OT either so… to the…
SHOOTOUT!
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello went first. He’s known to go five-hole a lot and he usually comes in and tries to wait out the goalie then snaps a quick wrister. You have to assume all teams know this which makes it even more impressive when he’s able to score on it.
He indeed did go five-hole as he snuck a shot past the heel side of Casey DeSmith’s stick.
Vancouver Canucks F Andrei Kuzmenko missed the net on his shot attempt.
Matt Boldy tried to go to the 6-hole above the right pad and under the right armpit of DeSmith but it hit his blocker. DeSmith appeared to go down before the shot.
J.T. Miller tried to deke out Gus to no avail as Gus waited him out and gave him pretty much zero chance of scoring on that attempt.
Kirill came in fast and tried to go to his backhand with a quick move but he sent it over the net.
Elias Pettersson came in with some speed and tried to shoot blocker side but Gus the Bus stopped that attempt too and the Wild won and are now back to being .500 for the first time since October 24th.
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Final
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Game Notes for this game are in a separate article!
Next up:
The Minnesota Wild will try to get above .500 when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins to start a 2-game road trip on Monday night at 6pm on Bally Sports North!
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