Minnesota Wild Recap at the Arizona Coyotes – February 6th, 2023

Posted on February 8, 2023 by

The Minnesota Wild had 8 days between games after beating Buffalo in a Shootout on Hockey Day Minnesota. They did practice on Sunday but hey, a week off isn’t something that happens often in a professional hockey season so hopefully they got some good rest & relaxation and watched their teammate, F Kirill Kaprizov, at the All-Star Game.

Now, it’s back to work and time to get back to playing their game on a consistent basis for the rest of the season so they can make the playoffs and see what happens with another kick at The Cup. They are currently in 3rd place in the Central Division but just 1 point ahead of the reigning champion Colorado Avalanche who are in the last Wild Card spot as the season gets back underway. The Wild do have games in hand on both Dallas (3) & Winnipeg (4) along with Edmonton (2) & Calgary (2). 

Western Conference Standings before the games on February 6th

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Wild projected lineup

Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov — Sam Steel — Mats Zuccarello
Jordan Greenway — Joel Eriksson Ek — Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno — Frederick Gaudreau — Matt Boldy
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Ryan Reaves

Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill — Calen Addison

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Alex Goligoski, Mason Shaw
Injured: None

Status report
Fleury is expected to make his fourth consecutive start.

Arizona Coyotes

Coyotes projected lineup

Forwards
Clayton Keller — Barrett Hayton — Nick Schmaltz
Lawson Crouse — Nick Bjugstad — Christian Fischer
Matias Maccelli — Jack McBain — Zack Kassian
Nick Ritchie — Travis Boyd — Jean-Sebastien Dea

Defensemen
Jakob Chychrun — Juuso Valimaki
Patrik Nemeth — J.J. Moser
Troy Stecher — Josh Brown

Goalies
Karel Vejmelka
Connor Ingram

Scratched: None
Injured: Shayne Gostisbehere (upper body), Liam O’Brien (upper body)

Status report
O’Brien, a forward who has been out since Dec. 16 (22 games), is practicing but isn’t expected to play. … The Coyotes assigned Dylan Guenther, a forward, to the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League. Guenther had six goals and nine assists in 33 games. … Dea was recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League. He has played in 33 NHL games, last playing one game with the Buffalo Sabres in 2020-21.

Game Recap

1st Period

The Wild looked like themselves early, somewhat dominating the play with some sustained time in the offensive zone with some good chances to go along with it. Brandon Duhaime drew a penalty to give the Wild the first power play.

13:57 – Penalty – Arizona – Jakob Chychrun for Holding Brandon Duhaime 

Is this where the rust starts to show? The first unit had trouble getting set up in the offensive zone with a lack of accuracy on passes that allowed the Coyotes to clear the zone.. The second unit did a little better but just 1 shot total on that powerless play. 

10:24 – Penalty – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek for Tripping

After Wild F Jordan Greenway somehow got a shot to squeak through Arizona G Karel Vejmelka, Ek was right there to knock it in the net but Jakob Chychrun swept it away before he could get his stick on it.

Then Ek was battling behind the net. He was trying to get to the puck and he backed into Chychrun’s leg to trip him with his own leg. For some reason the official in the zone didn’t see it as the official at center ice made the call.

Another good penalty kill for the Wild.

33 seconds after that kill, the Coyotes went right back on the Power Play when Jon Merrill slashed former Wild F Nick Bjugstad who got a mini-breakaway but it was a short-lived power play as Arizona F Clayton Keller as he ran into Jared Spurgeon on the way into the zone 34 seconds into the power play.

The Wild got some momentum off of 4-on-4 play and got a great scoring chance when Mats Zuccarello made a crazy turnaround backhand pass right to the tape of Kirill Kaprizov for a shot in alone but Coyotes G Karel Vejmelka made to the stop to keep the game scoreless. 

Then the Wild took another penalty when Matt Boldy took a slashing penalty in the neutral zone.

On the power play, Arizona F Matias Maccelli had the puck at the left point after a faceoff win and for some reason he decided it didn’t look good and he skated the puck out of the zone to regroup. They were on the power play. How weird is that? Wild analyst Ryan Carter made a comment about it saying, “That’s a really bizarre sequence. Maccelli leaves the zone with full possession for no reason like it’s 3-on-3 hockey but maybe they like the attack off the rush ‘cause they get a great chance.”

Good period for the Wild but it should’ve been better as too many penalties broke their momentum multiple times.

Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury had to make 14 saves to keep the game scoreless through the 1st period. The Wild only had 5 shots but most of that is the result of taking 3 penalties.

2nd Period

The Wild came out with a purpose to begin the 2nd, killed off the remainder of the penalty then had an almost 3-minute sequence in the offensive zone and were rewarded for it with a beautiful play that set up Kirill Kaprizov for a one-timer and their first lead of the game.

16:21 – Goal – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov from Zuccarello & Addison

A turnover in the neutral zone allowed Kaprizov to carry the puck into the right side of the Coyotes zone. He dropped the puck to D Calen Addison as Arizona D Patrik Nemeth got within reach of him. Addison then found Mats Zuccarello at the left slot. Nemeth left Kirill because F Sam Steel went to the net and was open at the right of the goal crease. That left Kaprizov open for the one-timer and he’s going to score more often than not on that kind of a scoring chance.

1-0 Wild

11:01 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Tripping Patrik Nemeth

Hartman reached and he was going for the puck as Arizona D Patrik Nemeth was leaving his own zone. Just control your stick. Know where it is and where it’s going to go whenever you do anything with it. Put an Airtag on it so you can track it!

10:34 – Goal – Arizona – Power Play – Jakob Chychrun from Barrett Hayton & Clayton Keller

Clayton Keller carried the puck to the blue line and Wild D Jared Spurgeon made a sweeping poke check attempt so Keller just passed it to Barrett Hayton going up the left side. He carried it down to the bottom of the left circle and Wild F Freddy Gaudreau was puck-watching instead of looking for someone to cover so Jakob Chychrun was wide open in the slot and he roofed it to tie the game.

1-1 Tie

14 seconds later, Wild D Calen Addison accidentally sent the puck into the stands to put the Coyotes back on the power play.

10:20 – Penalty – Minnesota – Calen Addison- Delay of Game 

This one was killed off and the Wild could’ve had a Boldy breakaway but Middleton didn’t know if he could make the pass so he waited until he got out of his own zone. 

The Wild then responded well with some great pressure but couldn’t regain the lead.

3rd Period

18:20 – Goal – Minnesota – Jonas Brodin from Joel Eriksson Ek & Ryan Hartman

The forecheck created a turnover as Chychrun passed to Velimaki in front of his own net and Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was there to force a turnover. The loose puck went to Ryan Hartman who passed it right away to Ek in the right slot for a one-timer that went high off the right post and Arizona G Karel Vejmelka may not have known where it went. The puck ended up at the left half-wall where Jonas Brodin shot immediately and it got through both the Arizona player in front of Vejmelka and Vejmelka to put the Wild back in front…

2-1 Wild

10:25 – Goal – Arizona – Jakob Chychrun from Matias Maccelli & Juuso Valimaki

Off a faceoff win, the Coyotes executed a play and the Wild were just watching the puck so Matias Maccelli was open on the right boards. Chychrun went way to the left point and was wide open and Mats Zuccarello didn’t have enough time to react to get to him to try to block the shot and he beat him under the glove arm, or the 7-hole, to tie the game. That’s called puck-watching or puck-focused and it’s not good!

2-2 Tie

10:03 – Penalty – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello – High-Sticking Jakob Chychrun 

9:08 – Penalty – Arizona – Jakob Chychrun for High-Sticking Joel Eriksson Ek

The WIld ended up with a 1:03 power play but at the end of it, Zuccarello was the last one back on the offensive blue line and he went for the loose puck instead of playing defense which allowed former Wild 2018 3rd-round draft pick to get a breakaway and he beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a high backhand to put the Coyotes in front for the first time.

6:47 – Goal – Arizona – Jack McBain from Christian Fischer & Patrik Nemeth

The Wild got a power play with 2:34 left in regulation when Nick Ritchie took a holding penalty on Jonas Brodin.

The Wild had their chances but just couldn’t capitalize on any of them to tie the game and this ended up being a pretty costly loss of 2 points as they head to Dallas to face the division-leading Stars on Wednesday night on national TV.

––––– CP –––––

Final
Minnesota Wild 2 | 3 Arizona Coyotes 

Goals
MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(28), 2. Jonas Brodin(2) 
ARI: 1. Jakob Chychrun(6)-PPG, 2. Jakob Chychrun(7), 3. Jack McBain(7)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Mats Zuccarello(30), Calen Addison(22), 2. Joel Eriksson Ek(23), Ryan Hartman(10)
ARI: 1. Barrett Hayton(11), Clayton Keller(24), 2. Matias Maccelli(20), Juuso Valimaki(11), 3. Christian Fischer(10), Patrik Nemeth(4)

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 33 Saves on 36 Shots, .917 Save%, 11th Loss

ARI: 
Karel Vejmelka – 33 Saves on 35 Shots, .943 Save%, 14th Win

Shift Chart

Game Notes
*
Penalties

Players can’t stop taking that little hack &/or reaching when they get close to an opponent with the puck.

NHL players are just so used to giving that little hack and reaching. The only way that makes sense to fix it is to practice not doing it. The Ryan Hartman penalty was a hack at the puck while he was basically standing still that ended up hitting Nemeth in the skates but he was also reaching and it was as Nemeth was coming out of the defensive zone so not a place where you want to reach and be a little out of control with your stick.

Just skate and keep skating to defend. Don’t Reach! Don’t make a long, sweeping prayer of a poke-check to see if you get a piece of the puck.

Be in control of your stick!

Jakob Chychrun Traded?

Most likely and you’d expect sooner rather than later but he is still just 24-years-old and he won’t be a free agent until after the 2024-25 season with a $4.6M cap hit so some team looking for a top-pair defenseman is going to go get him, right?

The question is what will they have to give up to get him? Matt Dumba, a prospect and at least a 1st-rounder, right? Yeah. We can’t imagine Billy G doing that but we’d assume he asked about the price. They are No. 1 in 2023 NHL prospect pool rankings according to The Athletic so maybe it’s not that crazy of a thought.
So… who will it be? Toronto in their annual trade deadline giveaway? New York Rangers? Our sleeper is Buffalo.

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

At the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars:

The Wild still have 3 games in hand but they are now 10 points back so this was a costly loss against a very beatable team and it just makes Wednesday night’s game a lot bigger.

Thankfully, this team has responded well to losses and bad losses but they’ve had too many bad losses for a team that’s in the thick of the playoff race.

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Buffalo Sabres – January 28th, 2023 – Hockey Day MN 2023

Posted on January 29, 2023 by

It’s Hockey Day Minnesota. The Minnesota Wild love to play on Hockey Day as they are 13-2-1 (13-1-1 at The X) on this day and that includes a 12-in-a-row streak that is still alive. On this Hockey Day Minnesota, it was the Buffalo Sabres in town. The Wild surely remember losing to Buffalo in Overtime back on January 7th so some revenge is in order while also being a huge game because there are 2 big points available.The Sabres were trying to extend a winning streak to 6 games and the last 3 games of that winning streak were against Central Division opponents Dallas, St. Louis & Winnipeg so the Wild might thank them before they drop the puck and try to end their streak.

The Wild were outside of a playoff spot on Wednesday then they beat Philadelphia on Thursday night to get back in a playoff spot then fell out again on Friday night when they were idle so… these are big games and making it into tbe playoffs will be a battle the rest of the way.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Status report

Hartman returns after being a healthy scratch for a 3-2 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. … Fleury will make his third straight start. … Wild coach Dean Evason said there is a player who will be a game-time decision but would not name him.

Buffalo Sabres

Status report

Cozens, a center, did not join the Sabres’ morning skate Saturday until 15 minutes in and skated on his own, not participating in rushes; his status for the game was not confirmed by Buffalo coach Don Granato, who said all lineup decisions will be game-time.

Game Recap

1st Period

17:38 – Goal – Buffalo – Jack Quinn – Unassisted

 1-0 Buffalo

This isn’t how you want to start a game if you’re the Wild. After winning the faceoff, Wild D Jake Middleton took the puck behind the net but he’s pressured right away so he threw the puck off the left boards to try to get the puck to Wild F Brandon Duhaime but he was probably higher in the zone than he needed to be. This allowed Buffalo F Jack Quinn to intercept the clear attempt. He then skated down towards the right corner and was pressured by Wild F Connor Dewar so he curled back to skate towards the blue line, protecting the puck on his backhand the whole way while being pursued by Dewar. As he got to the blue line, Dewar tried to reach the puck but when he did he stopped skating so when he missed on his attempt to get the puck off of Quinn’s stick, Quinn was able to get some space as he turned towards the net. Wild F Ryan Reaves made an attempt to get the puck with a swing of his stick but he also missed. Jack Quinn got to the slot and shot with a quick release that beat Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury over his right pad to put Buffalo up early.

We would guess that Wild F Brandon Duhaime thought Middleton was going to throw that puck off the glass to try to clear the zone and that’s why he went so close to the blue line. Middleton probably would’ve liked to throw the puck off the glass so it had a chance to clear the zone. Connor Dewar  probably should’ve been more physical to try to knock Quinn off the puck rather than knock the puck off of Quinn’s stick but he should’ve definitely kept skating rather than take a chance on getting the puck by reaching it with his stick. That’s a hope play, a play that has a slim chance of working & is hard to recover from if it doesn’t work.

16:36 – Penalty – Buffalo – Jacob Bryson for High-Sticking Jared Spurgeon

16:25 – Goal – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek from Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello on the Power Play

 1-1 Tie

The Wild won the faceoff and Matt Boldy ended up with it. He sent it back to Calen Addison at the left point but got it back and took a shot from the top of the left circle. It was saved and the rebound went off Mats Zuccarello’s skate. When Zuccy tried to get it to his stick, he was tripped up by Buffalo G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and the puck went behind & to the other side of the net. Kirill Kaprizov got to it quickly and made a turnaround pass to Joel Eriksson Ek at the front of the net and he put it in the empty net.

9:48 – Penalty – Minnesota – Connor Dewar for High-Sticking Jeff Skinner

7:57 – Penalty – Buffalo – Rasmus Dahlin for Hooking Mason Shaw

The Wild created some good chances but the Sabres were collapsing to the net very well to block shots and clear rebounds.

3:36 – Penalty – Buffalo – Tage Thompson for Hooking Joel Eriksson Ek

The Wild were able to move the puck but there wasn’t much room to get shots through to the net.

2nd Period

14:29 – Penalty – Buffalo – Alex Tuch for Tripping Freddy Gaudreau

Again, the Buffalo Sabres had a good kill not giving the Minnesota Wild much of a chance to get a good shot or scoring chance then, as the penalty expired, the Sabres hit a post then forced Fleury to make a very good save to keep the game tied.

The Sabres had about a 2:30 sequence of offensive zone time save for a couple of clears by the Wild but eventually all of that zone time paid off…

10:10 – Goal – Buffalo – Zemgus Girgensons from Kyle Okposo & Peyton Krebs

 2-1 Buffalo

Buffalo F Peyton Krebs threw the puck in the zone and retrieved it then created some space so he could make a backhand pass in front of the net to F Kyle Okposo who quickly passed it to Zemgus Girgensons for an easy shot into a gaping net.

Joel Eriksson Ek was defending the passing lane to Girgensons while behind the net but he was puck-watching and didn’t notice Girgensons going back to the left side of the net. Calen Addison was too far away from Okposo to get to his stick when he received the pass and Jordan Greenway was basically a spectator for the majority of the play. 

Don’t react to the play! React to your read of the play because reacting to the actual play will make you late every time.

7:21 – Goal – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon from Freddy Gaudreau & Jake Middleton

 2-2 Tie

Minnesota Wild F Freddy Guadreau carried the puck up the left side out of his own zone and into the offensive then passed it back to Matt Boldy for a shot that may have been partially blocked but it ended up going behind the net. Wild F Jordan Greenway got to it first and sent it back to Jake Middleton at the right point. Freddy Gaudreau kept skating around the net and came around the right circle for a pass and he saw his captain Jared Spurgeon breaking to the net so he fed him for a one-timer into the open net! BOOM!

Watch every Sabres player just watch the puck throughout the entirety of the play. That is the definition of puck-watching and they all watched the puck go into their own net!

In the last 3 minutes of the 2nd period, the Wild got 2 one-timers off the stick of Kirill Kaprizov (& from Zuccy) then a backhand from Jared Spurgeon and just a ton of offensive pressure.

Buffalo then got some momentum in the waning seconds and Rasmus Dahlin got a piece of a rebound and it went in the net as the buzzer sounded to end the 2nd period.

It was called a goal on the ice. It was quickly reviewed and…

the clock hit zero before the puck went in the net…

NO GOAL!!!

3rd Period

Wild F Matt Boldy made a speed rush for a scoring chance. Wheely Boldy, that was!

Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury had to come up with a couple of great saves against Sabres F Tage Thompson and his incredible reach on a backhand from both sides of the net as he made the first save then had to get across to the other side of the net to stop the wraparound attempt.

A relatively innocent play turned into a crazy sequence as Casey Mittelstadt was just given the chance to shoot then had to make a couple of saves and get some help from Jared Spurgeon with a blocked shot to keep the game tied with 4:37 left in regulation.

OVERTIME!!!

Both teams had some good chances but nobody came very close to scoring.

SHOOTOUT!!!

Wild F Zuccarello… deke… GOAL!

Buffalo F Tage Thompson… fake to a shot that went over Fleury’s right pad… GOAL!

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov… move to backhand… off the crossbar then off the goalie…

GOAL!

Buffalo F Jack Quinn… shot… SAVE BY FLEURY!!!

Wild F Freddy Gaudreau… wide right… puck-handling… move to the backhand… and…

SHELF, GAME, 2 POINTS…

& Off to the All-Star Break!!!

––––– CP –––––

Final-SO
Buffalo Sabres 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: 1. Joel Eriksson Ek(18)-PPG, 2. Jared Spurgeon(9) 
BUF: 1. Jack Quinn(8), 2. Zemgus Girgensons(5)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(32), Mats Zuccarello(29), 2. Freddy Gaudreau(11), Jake Middleton(5)
BUF: 1. Unassisted, 2. Kyle Okposo(13), Peyton Krebs(7)

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 29 Saves on 31 Shots, .935 Save%, 16th Win
BUF:
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen – 33 Saves on 35 Shots, .943 Save%, 2nd Overtime/Shootout Loss

Shift Chart

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The All-Star Break which will have Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov showing NHL fans his incredible skills once again…

The Florida Panthers will host the 2023 Honda NHL® All-Star Weekend, from Feb. 3-4, including the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook, on Friday, Feb. 3 at 6:00 p.m. CT on ESPN and the 2023 Honda NHL® All-Star Game on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. CT on ABC and ESPN+.

The 2023 Honda NHL® All-Star Game will once again consist of a three-game tournament, played in a 3-on-3 format, featuring four teams – one for each NHL division. Each team will be made up of 11 players from the respective division: six forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.

Check out the teams and the lines put together by 4 NHL Staff writers to see what they could be and who is on each division team!

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Game Notes vs the Philadelphia Flyers – January 26th, 2023

Posted on January 27, 2023 by

Game Notes
*
Toeing the Line of the Pest “Role”

F Ryan Hartman can and has been a very effective player for the Minnesota Wild. You can just look at last season when he had career highs in goal, assists, shots, shot % and pretty much across the board. Part of that is because he played a lot of last season with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello but there is no reason he can’t get back to that kind of production. He’s a great player with an excellent shot and great vision.

He started this season playing on that top line but because the Wild struggled out of the gate, they made a change and he was put on the Identity Line with Marcus Foligno & Joel Eriksson Ek when they tried F Tyson Jost on the top line. He then ended up missing a month and a half due to an injury. He had just 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) in 9 games at that time. He returned on December 18th and he started to produce more with 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists) in 8 games through the OTL in Buffalo. He was also a +5 in plus/minus and did not register a minus game in those 8 games.

The Wild were 22-13-3 (W-L-OTL) at that point then… in the next 8 games starting with the January 8th home game against St. Louis, a 3-0 loss, they went 3-4-1. In those games, Ryan Hartman had just 2 assists and was a -7 and only 2 of those games he wasn’t a minus in the plus/minus column.

One of Ryan Hartman’s career-high stats from last season was also Penalty Minutes when he had 95 in 82 games so just over 1 penalty minute per game (1.16 or 1:09). This season he had 47 minutes in 25 games so just under 2 penalty minutes per game (1.88 or 1:53). That’s a big jump and, obviously, that has been a pretty big problem so far this season. It’s not that he’s taking penalties. It’s the penalties he’s taking. He’s taken a lot of penalties because his emotions got the best of him.

We can say the officials made bad calls but the rules haven’t changed much, if at all, from 2021-22 to 2022-23 to give him any slack for it.

He knows it and has said it in multiple postgame or other interviews. They don’t want him to change his game. His role is that of a pest, a player who can get under the skin of the opponent with his physical play and his…uhh.. vocabulary. He just has to be in control of it and not let the opponent goad him into a retaliatory situation. The officials have been known to call the retaliation as a penalty the majority of the time. That’s not going to change.

Being a pest is knowing exactly what you’re doing the whole time and knowing how to use it to help your team by either getting them off their game because they become concerned about what you’re doing or by making them retaliate to what you’re doing.

You could call it… 

Pest Control. 

“Pest Control, this is The Clutter speaking. Are your Pests out of control?” 

**
The Wild Identity

The Wild have talent and they can win some games because of that talent but their identity and why they win most games is because of how hard they compete and that starts with number 97. He battles all game long and wins probably 97% of those battles.

You cannot win consistently on talent alone. (Right, Herb?) Talent is “look what I can do.” Compete Level is how hard I do it, how bad I want it and how much I hate to lose!

“I hate losing more than I even wanna win.”

That’s why Compete Level is the first thing scouts look for when they’re evaluating players. If how hard a player competes is a question, there’s no reason to find out the answer.

Look at how hard the Colorado Avalanche competed to win the 2022 Stanley Cup and they had A LOT of talent. They figured out how hard they needed to compete over the 2-3 or more seasons when their season ended without anything to show for it and, NO, no team celebrates a Division or Conference Championship! They don’t get together 10, 20, or 25 years later to say, “Hey, remember when we won the division 10 years ago?”

This is why the coaches and front office of the Wild said everyone, including themselves, needed to be more accountable this season. That is how you take the next step. You don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again and hope you do better. You work on your game, your skills and look at any opportunity to get better physically and mentally.

How much will that play into how this 2022-23 Minnesota Wild season ends?

Could that 3-game losing streak end up being a turning point for this season?

If the Wild play the way they know they can play and compete the way they know they have to compete, the sky is the limit!

We’ve probably said this many times but there’s a saying about talent and working hard:

“Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard!”

That’s a great statement, right? But it’s incomplete because it looks at talent and working hard as single things that oppose each other like you can’t have both so complete the statement with:

“If You Combine Talent and Hard Work, You Can Become Unbeatable!” 

***
Do you like the Stadium Series Jerseys?

They’re not bad.

What about the All-Star Jerseys?

Meh! They look nice but those colors are…Not Good!

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Philadelphia Flyers – January 26th, 2023

Posted on January 26, 2023 by

The Minnesota Wild tried to get back on track at home after a 1-3 road trip as they faced the Philadelphia Flyers for the 1st time this season. The Flyers started their season going 7-3-2 in their first 12 games but they then lost 10 consecutive games gaining just 3 points on 2 overtime losses & 1 shootout loss. Since that time, they’ve 13-11-3 but that includes going 9-4-1 in their last 14 games. 

The Wild played a great game in Tampa Bay on Tuesday but got nothing for it so they’re sure to be in a foul mood and ready to battle for a big win especially since the red hot Colorado Avalanche have knocked them out of a playoff spot for the time being.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Scratched: Alex Goligoski, Ryan Hartman
Injured: None

Status report

Fleury will start consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 29-31. … Hartman, a forward, will be a healthy scratch for the first time this season…

Dean Evason before the game vs the Flyers.

Philadelphia Flyers

Status report
Hart will make his ninth start in 12 games.

Game Recap

Goal – Philadelphia – Noah Cates

The Wild couldn’t get the puck out and it eventually got back to the right point and Noah Cates (one of us from Stillwater) planted himself in front of the net for a tip and the puck may have just hit him  and then barely got over the goal line but it don’t matter how fast they cross the line.

1-0 Flyers

The Wild responded well to the goal as they had sustained offensive zone time but may have not registered a shot as the Flyers are one of the best shot-blocking teams in the National Hockey League then…

There were 3 fights in a span of 16 seconds:

Ryan Reaves vs Nicolas Deslauriers

Mason Shaw vs Wade Allison

Marcus Foligno vs Zach McEwen

3:44 – Dumba poke-checked as he tried to exit the defensive zone but Fleury says NO to keep the game at 1-0 Flyers!

2nd Period

2:45 into the 2nd period and we got another fight when Brandon Duhaime threw down with Patrick Brown. Duhaime had the better fight in that round.

Then…the Wild get the game tied when Matt Boldy scored his 15th goal of the season off a quick pass from Marcus Foligno from beneath the goal line. The pass was deflected by the defender but Boldy had the presence of mind, skill & ability to kick the puck up to his stick and beat Flyers G Carter Hart to tie the game at 1!

3:39 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy from Marcus Foligno & Jared Spurgeon

Wild F Freddy Gaudreau brought the puck back towards the blue line from the right half-wall then gave it to Jared Spurgeon to go back down towards the right half-wall. He then passed it down to Marcus Foligno below the goal line and he one-timed a pass to Matt Boldy who was going to the net. Flyers D Cam York laid his stick down to intercept the pass but when York lifted his stick to try to get it out of harm’s way, Matt Boldy used his right skate to kick the puck up to his stick for a quick shot to the left side of the net and a…

1-1 Tie!

Sam Steel used his speed to get past the Philly defense and get in alone on Hart but either lost an edge &/or had some help to go down and slide into Flyers G Carter Hart.

11:26 – Penalty – Minnesota – Calen Addison for Hooking

Wild D Calen Addison lifted the stick of Flyers F Kevin Hayes in front of the net but he kept lifting his stick and it turned into a hooking penalty.

The Wild Penalty Kill did it’s job killing off the penalty with the help of  Marc-Andre Fleury and his favorite teammate, the posts.

8:35 – Penalty – Kirill Kaprizov – Interference on Nick Seeler

Kaprizov was in position and turned to face the puck but it looked like a pick play to the official so the Wild went back on the Penalty Kill trying to keep the game tied.

They did kill it and then went back to work. Kirill set up Spurgeon for a tip in front then Boldy got a scoring chance but Carter Hart made a great save.

Then Freddy Gaudreau made a great play to get around ? then exercised some patience to get around Carter Hart then tried to sneak the puck back in behind Hart. OHHHH!!!

2:53 – Penalty – Philadelphia – Patrick Brown – Slashing

The Wild were creating chances and drew a penalty. Will they do anything with the Power Play?

Only chances again but good movement and they headed to the 3rd period with the game still tied at 1!

Shots(Total): PHI: 11(21) | 9(16) MN

3rd Period

18:07 – Penalty – Minnesota – Sam Steel – Hooking Patrick Brown

The Flyers got a good chance by going to the net with the puck but Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury and Wild F Connor Dewar kept the puck out of the net. After the whistle, Dewar was pushing a Flyer out of the crease and Flyers D Scott Laughton came in and punched/face-palmed Dewar and the officials gave him a 2-minute minor for roughing.

16:51 – Penalty – Philadelphia – Scott Laughton – Roughing Connor Dewar

15:12 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy from Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello on the Power Play

On the Power Play, Matt Boldy passed the puck to Wild D Calen Addison at the left of the middle of the blue line. Addison passed to Mats Zuccarello at the top of the right circle. Boldy was at the top of the left circle then broke for the net when he saw Flyers F Travis Konecny wasn’t paying enough attention to where he was then Zuccarello passed to Kirill Kaprizov at the right of the net just in front of the goal line. Kaprizov caught and passed the puck in one motion to Boldy in front of the net for a tip in for his 2nd goal of the game and the Wild led…

2-1 Wild!

A Philly shot on goal was saved by Fleury but the puck was loose and Travis Konecny threw a big hit to make Jon Merrill fall into Fleury and both Joel Eriksson Ek & Marcus Foligno went after him behind the net so everyone got in the scrum and Flyers D Travis Sanheim literally jumped on Jon Merrill.

7:49 – Penalties – Philadelphia – Travis Konecny for Interference on Jon Merrill & Roughing Marcus Foligno

7:49 – Penalty – Minnesota – Marcus Foligno for Roughing Travis Konecny

That resulted in coincidental minors to Travis Konecny and Marcus Foligno for Roughing which gave the Minnesota Wild a Power Play.

Boldy had a chance at another hatty but shot the puck off the heel of his stick to send it out of play!  It may have gone off the post & the crossbar. OHHHH!!!

A fan actually threw their hat on the ice. Oops!

The Flyers killed off the penalty and had 5:49 left in regulation to get the game tied.

1:28 – Goal – Philadelphia – Tony DeAngelo from Kevin Hayes & Ivan Provorov

With just over 1:30 remaining in the regulation, the Flyers pulled Carter Hart for the extra attacker. As that extra attacker (Kevin Hayes) reached the offensive zone, he received the puck from Ivan Provorov at the left point. Wild F Jordan Greenway was pointing to Hayes with his stick with 4 of the 5 Wild skaters on the ice bunched together in front of the net. The player Greenway should be worried about was the eventual goal-scorer. That was Flyers D Tony DeAngelo and he slapped his stick on the ice to call for the puck then caught the pass and shot the puck to the upper right corner off of & over Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury’s left shoulder.

The Flyers also pushed hard in the waning moments of the 3rd but this one went to…

OVERTIME!!!

Fleury made a HUGE save as the Flyers got a 3-on-1 after both Freddy Gaudreau & Matt Boldy went down in the Flyers zone.

Addisson then gave Mats Zuccarello the puck in the defensive zone and he went up the ice with speed, put the puck between the legs of Flyers F Travis Konecny to get in alone on Carter Hart and he faked going to his forehand then put a quick little forehand over Hart’s left pad as he was sliding to his right!

ZUUUUUUCCYYYYY!!!!!

What a Game and what a battle from both teams!!!

––––– CP –––––

Final-OT
Philadelphia Flyers 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: 1. Matt Boldy(15), 2. Matt Boldy(16)-PPG, 3. Mats Zuccarello(19)
PHI: 1. Noah Cates(7), 2. Tony DeAngelo(8)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Marcus Foligno(), Jared Spurgeon(), 2. Kirill Kaprizov(), Mats Zuccarello, 3. Calen Addison(21), Matt Boldy(20)
PHI: 1. Rasmus Ristolainen(5), 2. Kevin Hayes(30), Ivan Provorov(16)

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 28 Saves on 30 Shots, .930 Save%, 15th Win
PHI:
Carter Hart – 20 Saves on 23 Shots, .870 Save%, 15th Loss 

Shift Chart

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Wild will look to make it 2 in a row against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday on 

Hockey Day Minnesota!!!

8pm on Bally Sports North!

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Tampa Bay Lightning – January 24th, 2023

Posted on January 26, 2023 by

The Minnesota Wild tried to salvage a 4-game road trip by beating the mighty Tampa Bay Lightning who they beat 5-1 on January 4th at home in one of their best games of the season. The Lightning are a lot better in their home building, though. They are a lot better team at home with a current record of 17-4-1, the 3rd best record in the league and that includes a 9-game winning streak at home, too. 

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Wild projected lineup

Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov — Sam Steel — Mats Zuccarello
Matt Boldy — Frederick Gaudreau — Ryan Hartman
Marcus Foligno — Joel Eriksson Ek — Jordan Greenway
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Ryan Reaves

Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill — Calen Addison

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Alex Goligoski, Mason Shaw
Injured: None

Status report
Dumba will return after being a healthy scratch the past two games. … Fleury and Gustavsson will alternate starts for the 10th straight game. … 

Tampa Bay Lightning

Lightning projected lineup

Forwards
Brandon Hagel — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Anthony Cirelli — Steven Stamkos — Alex Killorn
Ross Colton — Nicholas Paul — Pat Maroon
Vladislav Namestnikov — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Corey Perry

Defensemen
Victor Hedman — Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev — Nick Perbix
Ian Cole — Erik Cernak

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Brian Elliott

Scratched: Haydn Fleury, Cal Foote
Injured: Rudolfs Balcers (upper body)

Status report
Maroon missed practice Monday with an undisclosed injury but is expected to play. … Perbix is expected to return after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … Vasilevskiy will make his eighth start in nine games.

Game Recap

1st Period

10:57 – Tampa Bay Chance – Lightning F Alex Killorn got a shot on net as he was falling down then got the rebound as well but Wild F Kirill Kaprizov may have kept it out of the net as it squeaked through near the left post. (

9:33 – Fight – Wild D Jake Middleton vs Tampa Bay F Nocholas Paul – Middleton had a very good fight. 

8:02 – Penalty – Tampa Bay – Hooking – Steven Stamkos hooking Matt Dumba

7:43 – Penalty – Minnesota – Holding – Joel Eriksson Ek 

Questionable to say the least. 

0:11.6 – Penalty – Tampa Bay – Anthony Cirelli – Hooking on Kaprizov 

Shots were 11-8 Tampa Bay after the 1st period.

2nd Period

Short-Handed Chance and Fleury came out aggressively for the poke-check on Lightning F Brandon Hagel to break it up.

17:00 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jonas Brodin for Tripping Kucherov

16:17 – Goal – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek 

Breakaway by way of his speed and Joel Eriksson Ek deked out Tampa Bay G Andrei Vasilevskiy for the first goal of the game.

1-0 Wild

Both Wild D Jared Spurgeon & Jake Middleton won a battle to get the puck to Joel Eriksson Ek for the breakawy.

Fleury then had to & did make 2 or 3 amazing saves on the PK!!!

12:21 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Goaltender Interference 

He was just going to the net and ran into the goalie. 

10:16 – Goal – Tampa Bay – Corey Perry as the Power Play 

A one-timer from the point was tipped in by Lightning F Corey Perry in front of the net. It looked like it may have been off of a high-stick. Evason thought about challenging that or maybe if the play was offsides but decided not to. 

1-1 Tie

9:03 – Penalty – Tampa Bay – Mikhael Sergachev for Tripping Jordan Greenway

Tampa Bay F Brandon Hagel then said something to the official because he was somewhat hauled down in the neutral zone seconds earlier but there was no call and the official obviously didn’t like what he said because he gave him a 10-Minute Misconduct so he could think about it. 

8:18 – Goal – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov on a rebound

2-1 Wild

Kap was just in the right place at the right time for the rebound and he didn’t miss it.

7:08 – Penalty – Tampa Bay – Victor Hedman for Interference on Ryan Hartman 

He pushed him into the net to take the net off the moorings. He then hit Hartman again after the whistle while he was on the ice but they didn’t give him an extra 2 for roughing for some reason.

Good power play with a lot of zone time and a couple of good scoring chances but still 2-1.

Tampa Bay responded with a good shift and drew a penalty after Wild players collided to create a scoring chance. 

3:46 – Penalty – MInnesota – Freddy Gaudreau for Hooking with one hand and he barely got him. 

1:55 – Goal – Tampa Bay – Corey Perry – Tipped Shot – PPG

2-2 Tie

Same thing as the 1st Tampa goal. There’s not much Marc-Andre Fleury can do about tipped shots. The defense has to take sticks away &/or use physicality to move them out from in front of the net. That’s not easy to do and even more difficult while trying to kill a penalty.

13:25 – The Wild had a good 2+ minute sequence with a couple great scoring chances and Tampa finally got it out of their zone and created a great scoring chance of their own but Marc-Andre Fleury used his glove to say NO!

5:38 – Goal – Tampa Bay – Steven Stamkos on a very fortuitous bounce off of Ryan Hartman and into the net.

3-2 Lightning

Tampa had a 3-on-3 (maybe 4) with D Mikhail Sergachev going up the right side and he tried to pass the puck to Steven Stamkos in the slot but Wild F Matt Boldy deflected it away. Unfortunately, it went into Jared Spurgeon’s skates and was able to kick it wide but Stamkos kept skating so he got to it and tried to bank it off Fleury. Spurgeon had his stick blade in the way but he was reaching so his blade was a ramp for the puck so it went up and ended up hitting Wild F Ryan Hartman up high and went into the net.

Geez! That’s a tough way to lose the lead. We’ll see if the Wild can respond and get this game tied again.

4:53 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Hooking in the neutral zone 

The Wild killed it off and they went back to work right away as Kaprizov fed Spurgeon for a one-timer but Vasilevskiy made the save. 

2:31 remained & Dean Evason pulled Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury to get an extra guy to try to get the game tied.

2:09 – Boldy was hauled down on the right boards but no call. It almost turned into a sure empty-net goal but the officials said the puck hit a player on the Tampa Bay bench. Again, why isn’t that called?

The Wild got some great chances but Vasilevskiy was up to the task and Kucherov scored an empty-netter to seal it with 16.4 seconds left. 

That means that goal on a crazy bounce ended up being the difference.

The Minnesota Wild played a great game but took too many penalties and paid for it. We’ll see if they can adjust that part of their game through the rest of the season’s remaining 36 games.

––––– CP –––––

Final
Minnesota Wild 2 | 4 Tampa Bay Lightning  

Goals
MN: 1. Joel Eriksson Ek(17)-SHG, 2. Kirill Kaprizov(27)-PPG
TBL: 1. Corey Perry(7), 2. Corey Perry(8)-PPG, 3. Steven Stamkos(24), Nikita Kucherov(19)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Jake Middleton(5), 2. Joel Eriksson Ek(22), Matt Boldy(19)
TBL: 1. Ross Colton(10), Mikhail Sergachev(26), 2. Ross Colton(11), Alex Killorn(20), 3. Mikhail Sergachev(27), Nikita Kucherov(49), 4. Brandon Hagel(22)-ENG

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 35 Saves on 38 Shots, .921 Save%, 10th Loss
TBL:
Andrei Vasilevskiy – 33 Saves on 35 Shots, .943 Save%, 21st Win 

Shift Chart

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Philadelphia Flyers at The X at 7pm on ESPN+/Hulu on Thursday night!

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment