The Minnesota Wild were looking to snap their 4-game losing streak and their 5-game losing streak to the Dallas Stars* and this is the last regular-season game so it’s now or wait until the postseason or next season.
*Look at that stupid Dallas Stars logo! Uhh… NORM GREEN STILL SUCKS!!! At least it’s not glowing in the dark! Oh No! Good Lord! You didn’t think it could get worse, did you? Well, there it is! Come On, Wild! Don’t get swept by the Dallas Stars! BRING THE CLUTTER like we know you can!
The Minnesota Wild had a secret weapon though! It was the NHL Debut for G Jesper Wallstedt, the Minnesota Wild’s top prospect & their Goalie of the future! He’s played for the Minnesota Wild’s minor-league club, the AHL’s Iowa Wild, for the past two seasons. He was just named to the AHL All-Star Classic today along with teammate F Nic Petan.
Here’s how G Jesper Wallstedt’s 2023-24 season has gone down in Iowa so far. In the AHL this season, he was 14th in Goals Against Average, 10th in Save Percentage & tied for 5th in wins with 11. Here are his game logs and totals, including what he’s done at home, on the road, in wins, in losses and how he did over a 14-game span from November 2nd to December 15th:
Do NOT make me explain it to you! It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll be alright! JESPER!!!
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Wild projected lineup
Forwards
Matt Boldy — Joel Eriksson Ek — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Marco Rossi — Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno — Frederick Gaudreau — Pat Maroon
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Adam Raska
Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Brock Faber
Alex Goligoski — Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill — Dakota Mermis
Goalies
Jesper Wallstedt
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched:
Daemon Hunt, Nic Petan
Injured:
Filip Gustavsson (lower body), Kirill Kaprizov (upper body), Vinni Lettieri (lower body), Jared Spurgeon (lower body)
Status Report
Foligno and Johansson each is a game-time decision because of illness, Wild coach John Hynes said. … Wallstedt will start and make his NHL debut.
Dallas Stars
Stars projected lineup
Forwards
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment — Matt Duchene — Tyler Seguin
Craig Smith — Radek Faksa — Sam Steel
Defensemen
Ryan Suter — Thomas Harley
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpaa
Joel Hanley — Nils Lundkvist
Goalies
Scott Wedgewood
Matt Murray
Scratched:
Ty Dellandrea, Nils Lundkvist
Injured:
Jake Oettinger (lower body), Miro Heiskanen (lower body)
Status Report
Murray was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and is expected to back up Wedgewood, who will start for the 12th time in 13 games.
Game Recap
1st Period
Did Minnesota Wild Fs Marcus Foligno & Marcus Johansson play?…
Yes for both & Nic Petan was also in the lineup so no Adam Raska.
It took 9: for the first whistle and that whistle was for a Minnesota penalty for tripping at center ice after he tried to knock the puck out of the air and missed then tried again and his stick went into the feet of a Dallas player so… another stick penalty.
Dallas had almost 2 minutes of extra-attacker time on the delayed penalty.
The Minnesota Wild killed it off and had a good response with some time in the Dallas zone.
Foligno probably should’ve shot this puck…
Dallas scored off a flip play but it was challenged for offsides and overturned.
- Should these be automatically reviewed? It wasn’t that close and the Wild had to challenge it to get it overturned. Where was the linesman? Not on that line, apparently!
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello tried a cross-ice pass on the neutral zone and it was intercepted and quickly turned into a 2-on-1 by Joe Pavelski and he just shot it past G Jesper Wallstedt!
16:45 – Goal – Dallas – Joe Pavelski – Unassisted
- Jesper Wallstedt is the 150th goaltender to be scored on by Joe Pavelski. That is 2nd to someone named Alex, who has scored on 172 goalies!
Minnesota Wild 0 | 1 Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno had a chance right after the ensuing faceoff but missed the net.
Shots were 10-5 in favor of Dallas & the Minnesota Wild didn’t have a shot for the last (?)
2nd Period
4:28 – Goal – Dallas – Matt Duchene from Ryan Suter & Nils Lundkvist
A wicked bounce came out in front of the net right to Dallas F Matt Duchene and he may have scored because he didn’t get all of it so it deflected up & over Minnesota Wild G Jesper Wallstedt.
Minnesota Wild 0 | 2 Dallas Stars
Why does the Dallas arena make the backup goalie sit in the hallway to the locker room? Is there really not enough room on the bench? That’s weird and stupid and it seems amazing that is even a problem.
The Minnesota Wild got another good chance and Brock Faber hit the crossbar.
Leaving the Dallas zone beside Dallas F Jason Robertson, Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy tried to get to the other side of Robertson and he maybe fell but Jason Robertson’s left glove hit him in the face. The official called penalties on both players, Interference on Matt Boldy & Embellishment on Jason Robertson.
Minnesota Wild D Dakota Mermis is hooked in the neutral zone by Dallas F Mason Marchment but there’s no call then Dallas went the other way when Mermis’ shot missed the net and the puck is sent to Marchment for a 2-on-1 and for some reason Wild D Alex Goligoski goes to Marchment so all he has to do is pass it to F Roope Hintz and it’s 3-0.
Minnesota Wild 0 | 3 Dallas Stars
Is that a penalty? Dakota Mermis may grab Marchment’s stick but the stick is still there so is the official saying him holding the stick is canceling out the hook? Or should they just call both? How often have Minnesota Wild fans seen a stick in the midsection called even if it’s barely there? What about the call in the Finland vs USA game in the World Juniors? Does every official not make that call or just some of them? If it’s just some of them, that’s a problem. Each official should know what each penalty is and call it accordingly. They shouldn’t have different ideas of what each penalty is. Hooking is not an “up to the discretion of the official” penalty.
This is exactly why officials should have to do a postgame press conference! “Why didn’t you call that a hooking penalty in the 2nd period?” It’d be nice to hear why wouldn’t it?
The frustration is building on the Wild as Brock Faber snapped his stick on the boards after the 3rd goal!
Brock Faber got a Delay of Game penalty after trying to clear the defensive zone.
3rd Period
Down 3 going into the 3rd period, how will the Minnesota Wild play in the 3rd. Who’s going to get something going for them? Throw a big hit? Start a fight? Get the forecheck going? Score a goal, maybe?
4:22 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy from Brock Faber & Joel Eriksson Ek
Brock Faber got the puck at the right side of the blue line and walked towards the middle and threw the puck at the net and may have gone off of Matt Boldy’s rear end! Hey, they don’t ask how! They ask how many & that’s Matt Boldy’s 14th goal of the season!
Minnesota Wild 1 | 3 Dallas Stars
Get the Mo-mentum and Let’s Go, Boys!!!
Rossi off the post a couple of minutes later! OHHH!!! We have LIFE, ‘PUCKERS!!!
2 minutes or so later, that life was quieted when the Minnesota Wild were too aggressive and Jason Robertson had the puck on a 2-on-1 and wired it past Wallstedt for another 3-goal lead!
81 seconds later, 5-1 Dallas.
Dallas then got a Delay of Game penalty then a tripping penalty so the Minnesota Wild had a 5-on-3 and they scored on a backdoor feed to Ryan Hartman from Mats Zuccarello to make it 5-2!
Broadcast analyst & former NHL goalie Darren Pang was talking about his first game in the NHL which was against the Minnesota North Stars. He allowed a goal on the first shot to D Curt Giles and said Steve Payne scored twice in a 4-1 loss. He was playing for the Chicago Blackhawks. The goal by the Blackhawks was scored by another NHL analyst, Eddie Olczyk. That game was on February 22nd, 1985. The Minnesota goalie was Don Beaupre. The other North Stars goal was by Bo Berglund who I don’t remember. The assists were from D Gordie Roberts & Fs Dennis Maruk, Dirk Graham, Dino Ciccarelli, Bo Berglund, Brian Bellows & Keith Acton.
Goals from Tyler Seguin & Sam Steel made it 7-2 and the Minnesota Wild were once again embarrassed by a Dallas Stars team!
That was ugly like the other 2 games against Dallas. The Minnesota Wild would probably like to play them again this season only because that would mean they made the playoffs.
It was pretty much complete domination by Dallas. The Wild played better in the 3rd and had 14 shots but they left their young goalie out to dry for most of those goals.
The big question is how will they respond when they take the ice again at home against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night!
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Final
We applaud you if you read this far & give you a standing ovation if you watched the high… lowlights! That’s Bringing the Clutter! Hopefully, you liked the intro because the rest of it was pretty sad! We could give you a 30-day pass to The Athletic if you want it. Email us at ClutterPuck@gmail.com!
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