The Minnesota Wild celebrated President’s Day by playing a matinee…
The Vancouver Canucks are the best team in the National Hockey League… by points. We all know it doesn’t matter who has the most points in the regular season because that team rarely wins the Cup. They have 80 points with their 37-13-6 (W-L-OTL) record. They’ve done that by only losing 2 games in a row 3 times and having the 2nd best offense & 7 best defense in the league this season.
The Wild split the first 2 games of this 3-game season series over 10 days in December, losing 2-0 in Vancouver then winning in a shootout at The X*. The Wild have to play like it’s playoff hockey every game right now because of where they are in the standings. They also can’t be happy with the way the last game finished, a 2-1 OTL to Buffalo where they allowed a late extra-man goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation then allowed the OT-GWG on a coverage mistake. With the way they’ve been playing since the All-Star break, 4-0-1, it will be fun to see how they respond.
*Game Notes, too!
2023-24 Minnesota Wild Schedule and Results
Record: 25-23-6 (56 points)
NHL Hockey Standings
6th in NHL Central Division
5 points behind St. Louis for the final playoff spot (because of tiebreakers)
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Vancouver Canucks
Status Report
Neither team skated. The Canucks and Wild are each on the first of a back-to-back.
Game Recap
1st Period
The Minnesota Wild had a good aggressive start to the game but just under 3 minutes in…
2:51 – Goal – Vancouver – Ian Cole (2) from Tyler Myers (17) & Pius Suter (8)
Vancouver Canucks D Tyler Myers interfered with Minnesota Wild F Vinni Lettieri and that gave Ian Cole all the time in the world to pick a spot to shoot. He picked the upper left corner and it might be because Wild G Filip Gustavsson was out of position trying to see around the screen. He was looking to his left and moved outside of the left goalpost. Obviously, he has to try to see the shot but it can’t take him out of position. Any goalies out there? Feel free to give your thoughts on this. Does he have to move to the other side or get low? Does he have time to do that? He barely misses making the save too.
Vancouver Canucks 1 | 0 Minnesota Wild
It doesn’t look like Tyler Myers interfered with Lettieri on purpose but that doesn’t matter. That should be called interference. Officially Bad!
4:04 – Penalty – Vancouver – Conor Garland for High-Sticking Jake Middleton
Garland saw the replay while he was in the penalty box and rolled his eyes which is funny because the coach and most fans were probably rolling their eyes thinking, “control your stick. That’s nobody’s fault but your own!”
4:04 – Penalties – Coincidental Minors – Wild F Mats Zuccarello & Vancouver D Noah Juulsen for Unsportsmanlike Conduct
The linesman went to drop the puck but didn’t. Zuccarello & Juulsen anticipated the puck hitting the ice then pushed and slashed each other so the official made them think about it for 2 minutes. That seems like a pointless call.
4:04 – Penalty – Vancouver – Elias Lindholm for Roughing Joel Eriksson Ek
Ek hit Teddy Blueger and Elias Lindholm pushed Ek. The announcer (Ryan Carter) said this game has been pretty intense from the start so the officials were trying to keep things from getting out of hand right away. This is a pretty weak call too.
The Wild had a lot of great chances but couldn’t capitalize on any of them. Their power play has been clicking at 23.6% (12th ranked) since the coaching change so hopefully, they get more chances.
Just under 7 minutes left in the 1st period, Vancouver was breaking out of the middle of their zone with Fs J.T. Miller & Pius Suter 2-on-2 with Wild D Jonas Brodin & Zach Bogosian. Miller passed it to Suter but he wasn’t ready for it so the puck went to the right boards. Wild D Jonas Brodin got to the puck but Pius Suter reached around him with his stick to poke the puck away & now it was 2-on-1. Bogosian moved over to defend Suter and went down to take away the pass as Suter was passing it. The puck hit Bogosian’s gloves then was loose so Suter tried to backhand it back in front of the net but Jonas Brodin knocked it away & off the boards but it ended up on Vancouver D Noah Juulsen’s stick. He walked the blue line then took a shot that must’ve been blocked by Kaprizov but it hit off the glass behind the net and ended up coming back on the other side of the net where J.T. Miller was there to put it in the gaping net.
13:22 – Goal – Vancouver – J.T. Miller (25) from Noah Juulsen (5)
2 shots. 2 goals. That’s not good!
Vancouver Canucks 2 | 0 Minnesota Wild
The Wild kept competing hard though. They were controlling the game but Vancouver took advantage of their chances.
With less than a minute to go in the 1st, Kirill Kaprizov was breaking out of the defensive zone and passed it to Matt Boldy who had a step on Vancouver D Filip Hronek but not enough to get a good shot so being on the left side of the net, Boldy must’ve seen Ek driving to the net so he curled back to his left to protect the puck & sent a pass to the front of the net that went off Joel Eriksson Ek’s skate & in the net for his 26th goal of the season and the Wild cut the lead in half. Late Goals are MONEY!
19:10 – Goal – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek (26) from Matt Boldy (22) & Kirill Kaprizov (32)
Vancouver Canucks 2 | 1 Minnesota Wild
Huge goal to hopefully give the Wild some momentum to begin the 2nd period.
2nd Period
47 seconds into the 2nd, Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was called for Tripping after a Matt Boldy pass attempt deflected off of a stick for a turnover and Ek was battling for a loose puck and stuck his leg out as he was getting up.
The Wild killed the penalty but Vancouver was dominating the 2nd period and eventually, F Elias Pettersson got open in the slot and buried his 29th goal of the season
5:37 – Goal – Vancouver – Elias Pettersson (29) from Nils Hoglander (8) & Elias Lindholm (25)
The Wild got caught puck-watching on this one. Both Wild D Jonas Brodin & Brock Faber read the play to react but they weren’t close enough to Pettersson to make a difference on that play.
Vancouver Canucks 3 | 1 Minnesota Wild
8:23 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Interference on Phillip Di Giuseppe
Just a dumb penalty for Ryan Hartman. With the Wild trying to enter the offensive zone, Hartman put his stick on Di Giuseppe to give Kaprizov a lane into the zone. If he just stands there, maybe he’s fine. Of course, the officials didn’t call an interference penalty on the first goal of the game so… did Hartman think these officials called that play differently? Who knows?
Joel Eriksson Ek had a great chance for a short-handed goal but Casey DeSmith made the save.
J.T. Miller then took advantage of a screen that was very similar to their 1st goal as Wild G Filip Gustavsson was trying to see the play and Miller shot the puck to the other side and he wasn’t able to get over in time to make the save.
9:24 – Goal (PPG) – Vancouver – J.T. Miller (26) from Quinn Hughes (55) & Brock Boeser (25)
Vancouver Canucks 4 | 1 Minnesota Wild
96 seconds later, the Minnesota Wild took advantage of a bad change by the Vancouver Canucks defenseman. Wild F Mats Zuccarello went for a change & Matt Boldy came on to the ice behind him. Vancouver had dumped the puck in on the left side. Wild D Jon Merrill either knew about Boldy coming off the bench and the Canucks D changing or Joel Eriksson Ek was telling him &/or yelling at him to move the puck to him fast so he could make a pass off the boards and send Matt Boldy on a breakaway or maybe he was singing that Kelly Clarkson song to:
“make a wish, take a chance, make a change And breakaway…”
Boldy likes that last bit about making a change and breaking away! He went upper right as Vancouver G Casey DeSmith was going down… OOPS!
11:00 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy (20) from Joel Eriksson Ek (21) & Jon Merrill (4)
Vancouver Canucks 4 | 2 Minnesota Wild
Right back in this one. Now they just have to keep the Canucks from scoring more goals…
3:30 later, Vancouver F Pius Suter fed a pass to J.T. Miller in the neutral zone. The pass was a little off target which was enough to get Wild D Zach Bogosian to make a reaching pokecheck at it but when he missed, that gave J.T. Miller a step on him & he was able to go around him on the right side. He’s a left-handed shot so he sent the puck under Bogosian’s outstretched stick to take a quick shot to the upper right corner and Vancouver had their 3-goal lead back.
14:30 – Goal – Vancouver – J.T. Miller (27) from Pius Suter (9)
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 2 Minnesota Wild
and yes, that’s a Hat Trick for J.T. Miller:
Conor Garland blocked a Joel Eriksson Ek shot and he had to be helped off the ice. He put his right leg down and the puck most likely hit him on the kneecap or close to it. It’s pretty amazing this doesn’t happen more often.
17:57 – Penalty – Vancouver – Nikita Zadorov for Holding Brandon Duhaime
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 3 Minnesota Wild
18:48 – Penalty – Vancouver – Teddy Blueger for High-Sticking Matt Boldy
So the Wild will have 1:09 of a 5-on-3 power play & they took the time out to get their best players on the ice. Getting a goal before the end of the period would give them some belief in a comeback and they’ve been creating scoring chances all game long.
Zuccarello tried to get a pass through to Kirill Kaprizov and it went off of Vancouver D Ian Cole’s skate and the skate of G Casey DeSmith and they still have 1:21 remaining on the power play.
19:27 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello (10) from Kirill Kaprizov (33) & Joel Eriksson Ek 22)
The Wild got another chance as Brock Faber got through the defense & he sent it back toward the slot & Vancouver F Elias Pettersson hooked Wild F Mats Zuccarello which made him miss the pass but Kirill Kaprizov shot it after that but the net was being knocked off its moorings. The puck wound up in the goal but it went wide as the net was coming off the moorings then went under the net to appear to be a goal. We couldn’t find any footage of this on Twitter but it is shown at the 3:41 mark of the highlight video below.
19:51 – Penalty – Vancouver – Elias Pettersson for Hooking Mats Zuccarello
They’ll have 48 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play when the 3rd period begins.
3rd Period
Minnesota Wild coach John Hynes had Marc-Andre Fleury start the 3rd period after Filip Gustavsson allowed 5 goals on 16 shots.
Ek won the opening faceoff and the Wild were able to set up and start moving the puck around with Ek in front of the net. Mats Zuccarello sent a hard pass at the blade of his stick for a tip-in and just 29 seconds into the 3rd period…
0:29 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek (27) from Mats Zuccarello (32) & Ryan Hartman (13)
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 4 Minnesota Wild
19 seconds later, Vancouver Canucks F J.T. Miller tried to clear the zone off the glass but accidentally put it over the glass for a Delay of Game penalty and the Wild had another 5-on-3 power play for the 4th time in this game. This time they had 1:04 of a 2-man advantage.
They won the ensuing faceoff and eventually, Matt Boldy took a one-timer from the left slot and the rebound was loose and in a mass of humanity for about 13 seconds before it finally came out to Matt Boldy at the left faceoff dot. He passed it to Mats Zuccarello in the a lot and he made a one-timer pass to Kirill Kaprizov at the bottom of the right faceoff circle for a one-timer and…
This…
Game…
Was…
TIED!!!
1:23 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov (21) from Mats Zuccarello (33) & Matt Boldy (23)
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 5 Minnesota Wild
WOW! This is CRAZY!!!
The Canucks wanted to challenge for goalie interference but didn’t want to risk giving the Wild another 5-on-3 power play if the challenge didn’t go their way.
So the Wild still had 1:25 left of power play time from the J.T. Miller penalty so Brock Faber came up center ice with the puck and he passed it to Joel Eriksson Ek. He carried it into the zone on the right boards and chipped it past the Canucks defender so Faber could get to it and wrap it around to the left side where Zuccarello let it go to Kirill Kaprizov at the left point. Ek went to the front of the net then went to the left slot to set up for a one-timer. Kaprizov sent the puck back down to Zuccarello and he caught it and immediately passed it to Ek for that one-timer and BOOM! The Wild took a 1-goal lead with their 3rd goal just 1:44 seconds into the 3rd period!
1:23 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek (28) from Mats Zuccarello (34) & Kirill Kaprizov (34)
“Hey, do you wanna see me do a trick with a hat?…
Uhh… what does that mean?”
Do you ever wonder why it’s called a Hat Trick? That’s what Google is for! 🤣
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 6 Minnesota Wild
That also meant there was 18:16 remaining in the game and a 1-goal lead didn’t seem safe in this game.
A little under 3:30 minutes later, Wild F Vinni Lettieri dumped the puck down the left side. Wild F Marco Rossi got in on the forecheck to force Quinn Hughes to either make a quick play with the puck or let it go. He let it go and Wild F Jake Lucchini picked it up, curled around the right corner and threw it at the net where Marco Rossi had gone to screen the goalie or just be there and the puck went off his right skate and into the net!
4:48 – Goal – Minnesota – Marco Rossi (15) from Jake Lucchini (1) & Vinni Lettieri (4)
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 7 Minnesota Wild
24 seconds later…
Vancouver D Noah Juulsen tried to make a pass to the neutral zone but it was intercepted by Joel Eriksson Ek and he quickly passed it to Kaprizov on the right side. Kaprizov made a move through the back of his legs to get around Hughes and sent the puck to the front of the net trying to get it to Ek but it was broken up by Juulsen. Ek didn’t give up on the play so Juulsen’s pass was broken up by Ek &/or Boldy and Boldy wound up with it and had a step on Juulsen to get to the net. Juulsen kept bothering him with his stick so Boldy tried a wraparound. Canucks D Quinn Hughes covered Ek in front of the net but nobody covered Kaprizov as he was going to the net. Boldy’s wraparound ended up going right to Kaprizov for a one-timer and now an 8-5 lead! WHAT?
5:12 – Goal – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov (22) from Matt Boldy (24)
*No assist for Ek there? But Suter got an assist on the 2nd goal?
Vancouver Canucks 5 | 8 Minnesota Wild
Wild announcer Anthony LaPanta was so excited he forgot how to count as he screamed,
“SIX GOALS IN 5:12!!! It’s 8-5 MINNESOTA!!!”
After the replay, he still said 6 goals but it was 5-3 at the start of the period so… yeah! 😂 We’ll give him some slack as it was PANDEMONIUM for most of those 5 minutes.
It was 5 goals in 5:12 but it was 6 goals in 5:45 going back to the Wild goal with 33 seconds left in the 2nd period.
Canucks F J.T. Miller won a battle for the puck on the right half-wall and passed the puck to Nikita Zadorov at the left point and he skated in a took a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Fleury to the right side as he was trying to see around a screen.
8:26 – Goal – Vancouver – Nikita Zadorov (3) from J.T. Miller (47) & Pius Suter (10)
Vancouver Canucks 6 | 8 Minnesota Wild
Wild D Jake Middleton took a tripping penalty when he was battling for position in front of the net with Brock Boeser and when he got it loose, it came down and got in the feet of Tyler Myers for a tripping penalty.
The Wild killed it off and Vancouver pulled their goalie with 2:20 remaining in regulation and it took them just 12 seconds to score to get within 1 goal.
The Wild won the faceoff but with the extra man, Vancouver had 3 on 2 and won the puck battle beneath the goal line and sent it back to Filip Hronek at the right point. He went D-to-D to his defensive partner D Quinn Hughes and he made a shot-pass to the blade of Brock Boeser’s stick in front of the net for a deflection into the net.
2:08 – Goal – Vancouver – Brock Boeser (31) from Quinn Hughes (56) & Filip Hronek (38)
Vancouver Canucks 7 | 8 Minnesota Wild
Oh, boy! The Canucks will still have to pull their goalie but that was too easy.
With a little over a minute to go, the Canucks dumped the puck into the right corner and Jonas Brodin had time to shoot it all the way down the ice to put the Wild up by 2 again.
Vancouver Canucks 7 | 9 Minnesota Wild
Then with 14 seconds remaining, the Wild cleared their zone and Kirill Kaprizov intercepted the pass and took a shot at the empty net for a hat trick and….
OPA!!!
Vancouver Canucks 7 | 10 Minnesota Wild
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Final
Shift Chart
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Postgame
Hynes postgame vs VAN 2/19 | Minnesota Wild
Kaprizov postgame vs VAN 2/19 | Minnesota Wild
Eriksson Ek postgame vs VAN 2/19
Boldy postgame vs VAN 2/19 | Minnesota Wild
Hartman postgame vs VAN 2/19 | Minnesota Wild
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Next up:
The Wild head to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Tuesday night at 7 pm on Bally Sports North!
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