ClutterPuck

The Minnesota Wild were back home for the road to home back-to-back as they started a 7-game homestand with their first game against the Vegas Golden Knights, a team who started their season with 13 wins in their first 15 games which included a 10-game winning streak. Since that winning streak, they’ve gone 17-16-4 and are 2-5-2 in their last 9 games.

The Minnesota Wild fell to the 2nd Wild Card spot after their loss to Dallas last night and because they are just 6-6-2 since the calendar turned to 2023. They have the same number of points as Colorado and actually have 2 more regulation wins (RW) but they have played one more game then their division opponents.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

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Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Status report

The Wild did not hold a morning skate Thursday following a 4-1 loss at the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. … Brodin, a defenseman, is questionable after not playing Wednesday.

Vegas Golden Knights

Status report

Thompson is expected to make his fifth start in seven games.

Game Recap

1st Period

Typical beginning of a game between teams that have yet to face each this season as they both were feeling out the game and not being too aggressive.

The Vegas Golden Knights got a fortuitous bounce off the shin of Wild D Calen Addison on a shot that beat G Marc-Andre Fleury.

12:53 – Goal – Vegas – Nicolas Roy

That’s just a bad bounce against the Wild but that seems to be how things are going for the Wild lately so they have to battle through it.

1-0 Vegas

The Wild only had 1 shot on goal (on 6 attempts) through the first 13:37 of the 1st period but they finished the period with 7 shots on goal (on 16 attempts) as they got a lot better as the period went on.

2nd Period

2:41 – Goal – Vegas – Alex Pietrangelo

Marcus Foligno received a pass in the neutral zone and he tried to make a one-time pass back into his own zone that was intercepted and then Vegas went to work and eventually the puck got back to Vegas D Alex Pietrangelo and he took a shot that deflected off someone (Greenway? Ek?)  and went in for another goal against a Wild goalie that they can do very little about.

2-0 Vegas

27 seconds later*, the Wild had an almost immediate chance to make it a 1-goal game again as a Vegas shot from the right point went wide around the left corner where Matt Boldy was able to get it to Jared Spurgeon and the Wild broke out of their zone with speed with D Jake Middleton on his left and Sam Steel on his right. He passed it to Middleton quickly as he had a lot of room on that side. Middleton decided to shoot with Spurgeon driving to the net. Thompson made the save but left a rebound and Spurgeon had it on his backhand but sent it wide left but that’s where Middleton was so he tried to quickly stuff it into the net. Thompson made the stop with his extended right pad then someone was able to cover the loose puck for a whistle.
*See it on the Game Highlights video at the end of the recap at the 2:26 mark.

For some reason, Wild F Sam Steel slowed down instead of also driving to the net so he got there too late. Who knows if he could’ve had an effect on the play or not?

They got another shot/chance right after that then drew a penalty.

4:24 – Penalty – Vegas – Chandler Stephenson – Holding

13 seconds later… it was a 1-goal game yet again.

4:37 – Goal – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov from Joel Eriksson Ek & Matt Boldy

A Matt Boldy shot created a rebound. Joel Eriksson Ek had two whacks at it then the puck trickled out to Kirill Kaprizov and It… Was… Buried by that beautiful Lil’ Russian!

2-1 Vegas

The Wild got right back to it with more pressure, shots and scoring chances.

9:50 – Great Save – Minnesota – Marc-Andre Fleury on a Vegas 2-on-1

Fleury got across and made the save with his left pad then was able to get to the loose puck and freeze it as a scrum formed around him and a Vegas player (Carrier?) was bent over near him with one hand on the ice like he might fall and he put his other hand on Fleury’s helmet then appeared to pat him on his head but then he lost his balance so it turned to him pushing Fleury’s head into the ice which, of course, didn’t sit well with any Wild player but Brandon Duhaime was the closest to Carrier to he pulled him off of his goalie and Carrier to a healthy whack at Duhaime’s skates. That got Wild D Jake Middleton heated and then everyone grabbed someone. 

Penalties to Wild F Ryan Reaves & D Jake Middleton & Vegas F William Carrier & D Nicolas Hague – Coincidental Minors for Roughing

9:13 – Goal – Vegas – Paul Cotter from Jack Eichel

Wild D Alex Goligoski pinched as the puck came around the left side but Jonathan Marchessault won the puck battle and made a pass to Jack Eichel to send him out of the zone and on a 2-on-1 or maybe a 2-on-1 and a half because Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek back-checked and was catching Eichel but he did what happens so often for backcheckers. He stopped skating to try to reach the puck. Eichel protected the puck and was able to keep possession and send the puck back to the front of the net to F Paul Cotter who was open because Wild D Matt Dumba was watching the puck then when the puck came his way, instead of going for the puck, he went for Cotter’s stick and didn’t get enough of it so Cotter was able to tap it into mostly empty net because Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury had come out thinking Eichel was going to shoot.

If Joel Eriksson Ek keeps skating, he may be able to cut Eichel off from the net or maybe be physical to knock him off the puck.

3-1 Vegas

About 2 minutes later, Vegas had a chance at a breakaway but Wild D Matt Dumba got in the way of the pass. The puck cleared the zone and Alex Goligoski had it and sent a lazy backhand pass back to Kirill Kaprizov probably in the hopes to give him a chance to head back to the offensive zone but Vegas F Reilly Smith got his stick on the pass to get a breakaway. Goligoski got to him, stopped skating and slashed him and the official called a penalty shot…

Penalty Shot – Vegas – Goal – Reilly Smith

Fleury thought he made the save but it squeaked through to make it…

4-1 Vegas

20 seconds after that…

6:47 – Goal – Vegas – Jack Eichel

Jake Middleton pinched to try to get to the puck on the left boards but he didn’t get there in time or maybe he hesitated with the way the last few games have gone for the Wild and their pinching choices but if you’re going, you gotta go and go hard to get there and make a difference in that battle. Vegas F Jonathan Marchessault may have felt/heard him coming so he tried to create some space then sent the puck off the boards into the neutral where Jack Eichel was able to skate into it and head up the right side. Jared Spurgeon tried to get over to him but he snapped a shot to the far upper corner and just that quick, it was…

5-1 Vegas

And Fleury snapped his stick on his left post as the frustration for the Wild continued.

Penalty – Vegas – William Karlsson – High-Sticking Ryan Hartman

3 goals against in a 2:26 span changed a 2-1 game to a 5-1 game and the Wild have yet to come back from a multi-goal deficit this season after doing it more than any team in the league in 2021-22.

3rd Period

The Wild came with ideas of a comeback and had a glorious chance to get that started but somehow they didn’t get the puck in the net and the play was whistled dead due to Vegas G Logan Thompson being injured.

That’s how things are going for the Wild right now. Logan Thompson had to be helped off the ice. We hope he will be alright but that sure doesn’t look good.

The rest of the 3rd was more of the same Wild struggles to score at even strength so the 3rd ended how it began… with a score of 5-1 Vegas.

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Final
Vegas Golden Knights 5 | 1 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(29)-PPG
VGK: 1. Nicolas Roy(10), 2. Alex Pietrangelo(7), 3. Paul Cotter(9), 4. Reilly Smith(19)-Penalty Shot, 5. Jack Eichel(16)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Joel Eriksson Ek(24), Matt Boldy(21)
VGK: 1. Keegan Kolesar(7), Brett Howden(3), 2. Unassisted, 3. Jack Eichel(20), Jonathan Marchessault(18), 4. Unassisted(Penalty Shot), 5. Jonathan Marchessault(19), Zach Whitecloud(6)

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 18 Saves on 23 Shots, .783 Save%, 12th Loss
Filip Gustavsson – 8 Saves on 8 Shots, 1.000 Save%
VGK:
Logan Thompson – 23 Saves on 24 Shots, .948 Save% – Left due to Injury Early in the 3rd, 20th Win
Adin Hill – Saves on Shots, 1.000 Save%

Shift Chart

Game Notes
*
Getting Back to the Basics to Find Success…

and then building off of that success.

Maybe “basics” isn’t the right term but the solution is usually finding a little success and slowly building off of that. So… win a puck battle then another one then win a shift then win a solid 2 minutes then 5 minutes then 10 then a period then another period then a game.

When teams struggle, you tend to get players trying to do too much to try to fix the struggle when everyone really just needs to do their jobs and trust the rest of the team to do the same.

**
Can the Minnesota Wild’s Culture fix it?

The Wild have built what appears to be an incredible culture that allows players to reach &/or exceed their potential. We saw it with their incredible 2021-22 season when so many players had career years. 

They really enjoy each other but the success has been halted for some reason. They seemed to have righted the ship when they beat Carolina on November 19th, the Goal-igoski game, and went 18-6-2 in the next 26 games to get them into the thick of the playoff battle. 

They are now 2-6-0 since then. 

So… back to the culture… and…

***
Back to their Identity

The Wild doesn’t have enough talent to lean on that alone and win. They have to outwork their opponents so these struggles aren’t about who they’re playing. It’s about who they are.

Look at how that 4th line just battles and makes things happen. They are all about quick reads, physicality and they don’t let up!

Get back to the forecheck by getting pucks deep then forcing turnovers. Even the Identity Line seems to have forgotten who they are and how they create and find success. They forecheck the H-E-🏒🏒 out of the opponent to force them into mistakes. They are in their face and physical as soon as the puck hits the ice to start the game.

Will we see a different team on Saturday night?*
*Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting!

Postgame

Evason Postgame

Fleury Postgame

Goligoski Postgame

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