The Minnesota Wild were looking for 4 wins in a row after a nice comeback win in Washington on Tuesday night but this is the toughest road trip of the season so far with every team in the thick of the playoff race and the Carolina Hurricanes would be the best team in the league if it weren’t for the unbelievable Boston Bruins (35-5-4 & 74 points) as they are 27-9-8 with 62 points.

A 12-0-1 month of December helped cement them as one of the best teams in the league. January has been a different story, though, as they’ve gone just 3-3-2. They’ll be looking for redemption after the Wild came back to tie the game late then won in Overtime exactly 2 months ago. There’s 2 O’s in Goose, ya Bunch of Jerks! 

The Wild are still figuring out how to play with everyone healthy which has only happened a handful of times so far this season. They need to have a more consistent game.

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

Defenseman
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeo
Jonas Brodin — Alex Goligoski
Jon Merrill — Calen Addison

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Matt Dumba, Mason Shaw
Injured: None

Status report 
Dumba, a defenseman, will be a healthy scratch for the first time this season.

Matt Dumba will be a healthy scratch tonight. Hockey decision, not injury. Evason: “We had a real good meeting. He knows why he’s sitting out tonight.”

Goligoski in, Fleury starts for #mnwild

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 19, 2023

Dumba says he was surprised to be scratched tonight and “it’s an organization decision.” Says he feels his game has been really good lately, but he wasn’t and they weren’t happy with his game in Washington. #mnwild

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 19, 2023

Fleury will start after Gustavsson made 34 saves in a 4-2 win at the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. … Goligoski will dress for the first time in five games.

Carolina Hurricanes

Hurricanes projected lineup

Forwards
Seth Jarvis — Sebastian Aho — Max Pacioretty
Andrei Svechnikov — Paul Stastny — Martin Necas
Jordan Martinook — Jordan Staal — Jesper Fast
Teuvo Teravainen – Jesperi Kotkaniemi — Stefan Noesen

Defenseman
Jaccob Slavin — Brent Burns
Brady Skjei — Brett Pesce
Calvin de Haan — Jalen Chatfield

Goalies
Frederik Andersen
Antti Raanta

Scratched: Derek Stepan, Dylan Coghlan
Injured: Ondrej Kase (concussion)

Status report 
Pacioretty is expected to return after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Staal will return after missing one game for personal reasons.

Game Recap

1st Period

Before you had a chance to get settled in, the Minnesota Wild got called for a penalty when Kirill Kaprizov hit Carolina F Seth Jarvis near the boards just 39 seconds in to the game. It’s a somewhat questionable call because Kirill hit him in the shoulder and he wasn’t that far from the boards.

The Wild killed it off with a solid kill and their best penalty killer, G Marc-Andre Fleury. He had to make a few saves on good scoring chances. 

He followed that with a Great Save at 13:15 on Martin Necas:

MARC ANDRE FLEURY pic.twitter.com/iDf3iN67PW

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 20, 2023

Brandon Duhaime got an interference penalty when he hit a ‘Cane in the neutral zone but you could barely see it and they didn’t show a replay. The puck was going through the neutral zone and Duhaime was trying to catch or just get a piece of it and he ran into a Hurricanes player so they deemed that Interference. Hard to argue about we couldn’t didn’t see.*
*How is it we don’t see a good replay of a penalty? Or anything for that matter? 

The Wild killed that one off, too. Better kill.

The Wild got a chance from F Matt Boldy going to the net but his momentum and a little help from former Wild D Brent Burns & D Jacob Slavin sent him into G Frederick Anderson and the goal and he got a Goalie Interference penalty for it. Boldy was shocked when the linesman told him he was the one going to the box as you could see him saying, “What?” then smiling like, “How is that on me?” Wild F Ryan Hartman disagreed with the call and let the official know then let the other official know. The 2nd official didn’t like what he said so he gave him a 10-minute misconduct. 

The Wild killed that penalty off, too. Then they got a breakaway for Boldy as the penalty expired. He tried to go 5-hole but Anderson stopped it! OHHHH!!!

The Wild played a pretty good period. Unfortunately, most of that was on the Penalty Kill but they were reading the play and reacting to those reads to disrupt multiple plays to keep the game scoreless through the 1st.

2nd Period

With only 6 shots on goal in the 1st period, the coaching staff likely tried to get the point across of how goals are scored in the game of hockey, SHOOT THE PUCK!

Jordan Greenway had a rush down the right side and made a pass to Goose for a one-timer that brought some Metallurgy! PING! But no goal! 

Greenway had a scoring chance right after that, too. 

13:45 – Penalty – Carolina – Jesper Fast – Hooking Wild F Kirill Kaprizov

Just a stupid penalty in the offensive zone as Jesper Fast put his stick up on Kaprizov’s hands for the hook.

The Wild put F Mats Zuccarello pretty deep in the left corner right around the bottom of the circle on the wall. They got him the puck but he was pressured so he passed to Joel Eriksson Ek just above the faceoff dot. Carolina pressured him so he passed it back to Zuccarello and he quickly went to the net and took a bad angle shot to create a rebound and the puck went off Frederik Anderson and through the crease to a waiting Kirill Kaprizov and he scored the 100th goal of his NHL career! 

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

100 for 97!!!

Just under 2 minutes later, former Wild player Brent Burns took advantage of Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury losing his stick when Ryan Hartman skated into it after he knocked a puck out of harm’s way with it.

Goal – Carolina – Brent Burns from Andrei Svechnikov 

Burns knew Fleury didn’t have a stick so he made im move to open up the 5-hole and tie the game. – Not sure why this video wouldn’t embed

Wild F Freddy Gaudreau got a High-Sticking penalty that turned into a Brady Skjei power play goal. Former Gopher D Brady Skjei eventually got the puck at the right point and he shot it through about 4 players. Fleury seemed angry that he didn’t stop it so was trying to play a tip?

3:57 – Penalty – Carolina – Jordan Staal – Tripping Jon Merrill

Battling for the puck in the offensive zone and Staal just got his stick inside Merrill’s left skate and pulled him down.

The Wild had a chance to tie the game back up on the power play. They had all 3 forwards down below the goal line battling for the puck and it squirted out around the right corner but Wild D Calen Addison was the first to it and he sent it back behind the net. Ek got to it first and tried to send it back to the other side of the zone behind the net to Kaprizov but ‘Canes D Jalen Chatfield knocked it back the other way to D Jacob Slavin. He threw it to the front of his own net to Teravainen knowing all the Wild forwards were beneath the goal line. That sent the ‘Canes on a 3-on-2 with one of the Wild’s 2 defenders being F Mats Zuccarello (left D). Jesper Fast carried it up the left side then passed to Chatfield on the right side while Teravainen stayed a little behind them. As they came to the blue line, Zuccarello was giving a very generous gap to Chatfield so he slowed up while still getting a little wider then passed to Teravainen for a catch and shoot shot that beat Fleury to the upper left.

Goal – Carolina – Teuvo Teravainen from Jalen Chatfield & Jesper Fast – Short-Handed Goal

Maybe that long stick of Zuccarello made him think he could give a bigger gap but it’s also a forward playing defense which usually doesn’t turn out well.

3-1 Carolina

3rd Period

Around 1:24 into the 3rd period, Wild F Jordan Greenway got a loose puck to start a 2-on-1 but he almost immediately sent it over to Alex Goligoski even though he was ahead of him. That forced Greenway to slow up to stay onside which allowed ‘Canes F Jesper Fast the time to catch up to Greenway and he got inside and even or ahead of him to make it very difficult to get a pass to him. Brent Burns was the defenseman and he went to Goligoski and went down to make a pass hard to complete but Goligoski sent a sauce pass over Burns but Greenway couldn’t get to it.

What would that have looked like if Greenway just skated with it so he could go or slow down but he would’ve led the 2-on-1 and Burns may have had to go to him while Jesper Fast would’ve had to skate a lot further to get to Goligoski? A scoring chance? A loose puck? A save that’s frozen so a faceoff?

It felt like too safe of a play from Greenway and maybe he’s playing careful like skating on eggshells.

The Hurricanes kept the puck in the Wild’s zone and got a shot on net that was blocked then cleared but ‘Canes F Andrei Svechnikov got to the puck first at the left half-wall and skate toward the blue line then dropped it off to D Jalen Chatfield and he shot it right away and it snuck through Fleury as he was screened in front of the net by Martin Necas.

Goal – Carolina – Jalen Chatfield from Andrei Svechnikov

4-1 Carolina

The Wild challenged for Goaltender Interference since Martin Necas skated past Fleury and hit his goalie stick as the shot was coming in but lost so they received a Delay of Game penalty and… this was the explanation*:

Explanation: The Situation Room supported the Referees’ call on the ice that the contact between Martin Necas and Marc-Andre Fleury did not constitute goaltender interference.

*That isn’t an explanation! An explanation would “explain” why it wasn’t goaltender interference. What are the chances they gave Wild head coach Dean Evason an actual explanation? Check the Game Notes section for more on this topic including a couple explanations to Evason and Fleury.

So… that put Carolina on the power play and they scored to make it…

5-1 Carolina

Seth Jarvis got a seam pass through as Fleury was being semi-screened and he thought it was going to be a shot so he was way late even though Martin Necas had to kick the pass off his skate to his stick and quickly shoot it.

Wild F Ryan Hartman should have his stick blade in front of the puck but it looks like he’s lunging to try to take away the shot and the pass barely got by the stick of Wild D Jon Merrill but he should probably be a little more outside and closer to Necas, a player who has become a pretty big part of the ‘Canes team in terms of scoring goals and scoring power play goals.

It’s a very tall task to come back from 4 goals down on the Carolina Hurricanes but they do give up more goals in the 3rd period than any other period. 

The Wild responded around 2 minutes later when a beautiful Ryan Hartman pass sent Matt Boldy in on a breakaway. He protected the puck with his body to shield away the defender then cut across to his backhand and he sent through Andersen’s 5-hole for his 13th goal of the season and there was still 12:39 left in regulation.

Look at that pass! A quick turn and a strike to the tape of Boldy! Here’s an apple!

The Wild weren’t going to let up then ‘Canes F Andrei Svechnikov threw a brutal crosscheck on Wild F Brandon Duhaime on his neck and from behind…

Svechnikov hits Duhaime from behind. terrible. pic.twitter.com/GTk6IpAbr8

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) January 20, 2023

They called it a 5-Minute Major. Can the Wild take advantage of it?

The Wild got a lot of chances but couldn’t get any of them past Carolina G Frederick Anderson and that usually seals a team’s fate. 

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov got a cross-checking penalty but they didn’t show it. Amazing!

Too many penalties from the Wild even if some of them were questionable calls and a goaltender interference challenge that maybe changed the game. What happens if it’s 3-1 after they take the ‘Canes 4th goal away? We’ll never know just like we may never know what Goaltender Interference is.

––––– CP –––––

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Final
Minnesota Wild 2 | 5 Carolina Hurricanes 

Goals
MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(26) (#100 of his career)-PPG, 2. Matt Boldy(13)

CAR: 1. Brent Burns(7), 2. Brady Skjei(10)-PPG, 3. Teuvo Teravainen(4)-SHG, 4. Jalen Chatfield(5), 5. Martin Necas(18)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Mats Zuccarello(27), Joel Eriksson Ek(20), 2. Ryan Hartman(9), Jonas Brodin(6)

CAR: 1. Andrei Svechnikov(17), 2. Martin Necas(23), Stefan Noessen(14), 3. Jalen Chatfield(2) Jesper Fast(12), 4. Andrei Svechnikov(18), 5. Seth Jarvis(16), Brady Skjei(12)

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 24 Saves on 29 Shots, .828 Save$, 9th Loss

CAR: 
Frederik Andersen – 29 Saves on 31 Shots, .935 Save%, 8th Win

Shift Chart

Game Notes
*
Officially Bad?

Officiating isn’t easy. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about that…

Uhh… but however, should/are the officials held accountable for the calls they make &/or don’t make? 

Is it possible the league doesn’t want the penalties shown in highlights or replays as much as possible to keep the fans off the officials? 

We will assume the officials review all of their calls with the director/s of officiating as we also assume they want to get every call right and they don’t want to be “in the game” for any game meaning having any impact on the outcome of a game for a bad, non, or missed call.

One of the most annoying things about the rules is there are several penalties that are left up to the discretion of each official instead of a distinct explanation of what qualifies as breaking those rules so it’s called one way instead of many different ways.

One of, if not, the biggest one is Goaltender Interference. It’s a mystery what it is and/or what it isn’t. We can see what looks like obvious goalie interference but it comes back as not goaltender interference after a review.

Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason challenged for Goalie Interference on Carolina’s 4th goal and the goal stood as they said “the contact between Martin Necas and Marc-Andre Fleury did not constitute goaltender interference.”

In Evason’s postgame press conference, he was asked if the officials gave him an explanation and he said they told him, “it was coincidental in the white paint.” He followed saying, “I don’t understand because we watched him skate through the blue paint and take his stick out and he’s got no chance of making a save.” 

The question on the Goalie Interference starts at the 40-second mark.

Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury said the same thing in his interview (1:35):

“He took my stick away, right, so I was all open. He shot one blocker side and my blocker was away from me, ya know…. They said it was not on purpose which I don’t quite understand. They said my stick was a little bit outside the blue…”

And… It’s still a mystery!

**
NHL Coverage in 2022-23? Why isn’t it better?

What could they do better?

IT IS THE YEAR 2023!!!

Do we not have the technology capable of providing stellar coverage for sports? Is it because hockey isn’t one of the big sports? Would it be bigger if it was covered better? Maybe we’ll find out one day…and, hopefully, soon.

Why aren’t there enough cameras to get multiple angles on every play, goal, penalty, etc…? Not enough money to do that? 

How many fans would pay to listen to the players instead of the broadcasters? The chirping, the talking on the ice between teammates that would show how much talking to your teammates helps them out by telling them they have “time,” a “man on,” to “reverse” the play, and on & on…

It should be a good thing that the National Hockey League is on ESPN & TNT. They’re two of the top sports networks in the world but we sometimes have to watch games on a streaming service.

Is the future of television really going to streaming? The best coverage should be the national televised broadcasts and it is clearly not. It is and can be good and even very good from time to time but it should be Great, All of the Time, especially if it’s on a streaming service that costs $9.99/month. 

Now, $9.99 doesn’t seem like that much but I wonder how many NHL fans are watching anything else on ESPN+ which would mean they’re paying that much to watch the occasional game their team is on the streaming service. That in turn means they are probably paying for another service to watch their team’s other games or they aren’t able to watch them at all.

The user interface is TERRIBLE. ESPN+ isn’t even a separate site. It’s attached to the ESPN website so you have to find the Ice Hockey page then find NHL then search through the games to find the one you want to watch. There aren’t pages for each team. You can hover over your profile icon and you’ll find your teams there if you’ve set that up from ESPN but when you click your team, it sends you to the ESPN page so then you have to either click the schedule tab and ohh, there it is! If you maximize the page, you can hover over the ESPN+ logo to find NHL. You can search your team to get the top results.

Why doesn’t the home page have a a drop-down list for each sport featuring each team so you can just move your mouse then click your team? It’s like they put zero effort into making ESPN+ so should it be ESPN-?

This is NOT the Clutter we are talking about! That’s Pucked Up!

Why isn’t this a webpage: “espnplus.com/nhl/teams/wild”? Bookmark it! Click it when you want to watch the Wild! Now that would be some beautiful Clutter! GET IT DONE, Commish! It Is Not That Difficult!

“Can we do that?.. Hell, yeah! We can do that…”

NSFW as there is some profanity in this short clip from The Internship:

“On the line!” Haha. Sorry. Had to add that!

‘Puck DROPPED!

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

At the Florida Panthers on Saturday at 5pm on Bally Sports North.

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram or Exchange-agram? Haha, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…