Minnesota Wild Recap at the Washington Capitals – January 17th, 2023

Posted on January 18, 2023 by

The Minnesota Wild began a tough 4-game road trip against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. The Capitals had a rough start to the 2022-23 season going 10-11-3 (W-L-OTL) in their first 24 games. An 11-2-2 month of December got them back into the playoff picture but January has been an up-&-down affair as they’ve gone just 3-3-1 and currently sit in the 1st Wild Card spot for the Eastern Conference.

The Wild had a 3-game losing streak and, even though it included 2 road games where they got 2 points for an overtime & a shootout loss, it kept them from catching up to the teams ahead of them. It also allowed the teams below them to close the gap as they were only 1 point ahead of the 2 teams in the Wild Card spots but both of those teams are in the Pacific division so they still hold the 3rd spot in the Central while the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators are still 5 points (COL & STL) or 6 points (NSH) behind them.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Injured:

Minnesota Wild:
None

Washington Capitals
John Carlson (head), Connor Brown (knee), Carl Hagelin (hip), Nic Dowd (lower body)

Status report

The Capitals did not hold a morning skate following a 4-3 overtime win at the New York Islanders on Monday. … Dowd will not play after he left the game against the Islanders in the first period. “He’s going to be out for a bit,” Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said Tuesday. “He’s still getting evaluations, but you won’t see him tonight. He’ll be (out) a little bit. There will probably be more terminology later.”

The Wild held an optional morning skate. 

Game Recap

1st Period

It was a defensive, physical first period for both of these teams. The Minnesota Wild maybe figured they would have to weather a storm from the Caps as they only had 2 shots on goal until there was just 1:43 left in the period.

Unfortunately, 14 seconds later…

18:57 – Goal – Washington – Martin Fehervary

The Wild were clearly worried about/more focused on Alex Ovechkin on this play so D Martin Fehervary was allowed to go to the net without any resistance for a one-timer that beat Wild G Filip Gustavsson just over his left pad and under his catcher glove.

1-0 Capitals

Alex Ovechkin had a chance to beat the 1st period buzzer on a mini-breakaway but Gustavsson made the stop as Ovechkin didn’t appear to get a lot on a backhand shot right next to the left post.

2nd Period

The Wild may have had a tongue-lashing from head coach Dean Evason in the 1st period after just 3 shots on goal so it took just 50 seconds to tie the game on a Jared Spurgeon one-timer off a loose puck.

:50 – Goal – Minnesota – Jared Spurgeon

Wild D Jake Middleton kept the puck in at the blue line when Caps F Tom Wilson couldn’t handle the pass off the boards. The puck went up in the air and Capitals D Trevor van Riemsdyk swatted it out towards the right point where Spurgeon skated into a one-timer that eluded Capitals G Charlie Lindgren as he had Jordan Greenway screening him. It was also a Knucklepuck! 

1-1 Tie Game

5:05 – Goal – Washington – Dylan Strome

A little over 4 minutes later, an innocent looking rush from Washington turned into a goal when the Wild backcheckers started coasting, reaching and watching instead of skating, reading the play and covering players and their sticks.

At first, we thought Jared Spurgeon could’ve pressured Dylan Strome when he got the puck right at the beginning of the replay but he probably made the right decision not to as that could’ve created a 3-on-1. Spurgeon tried a sweeping poke check and missed. That allowed Strome to pass it over to Ovechkin so he could skate into the offensive zone. Middleton pressured him but started reaching as he got to him. That allowed Ovechkin to protect the puck and drop it to D Martin Fehervary. Dylan Strome kept skating with Wild F Ryan Hartman right behind him but coasting and watching the play. You can see Spurgeon look at Strome to see where he is then back at the puck. Strome got just enough separation from Spurgeon to get his stick on the centering pass for a great tip that went into the upper left corner and the crossbar.

What would’ve happened had Middleton used his physicality to check Ovechkin while also focusing on taking the puck away or if Ryan Hartman kept skating until he got in front of Dylan Strome or if Freddy Gaudreau doesn’t start to coast when he hit the blue line then reaches for the puck & Fehervary? We’ll never know.

Watch the replay again. It looks like the blue line is a switch that stops backchecking forwards from skating. NO SKATING AFTER THIS LINE!

2-1 Capitals

8 minutes later after a solid Wild shift from the Identity Line, the 4th line of Wild F Brandon Duhaime, Connor Dewar & Ryan Reaves sustained a forecheck for their entire shift and D Jonas Brodin got the puck just in front of the goal line in the right corner. He carried it around the perimeter of the offensive zone and when he came around to finish his lap, he shot it from the top of the circle and put it in the upper right corner for his 1st goal of the season and another…

Tie Game, 2-2!

Why doesn’t Jonas Brodin score more goals?*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.  

5 minutes later, that 4th line struck again with their forecheck (4th-check?) and putting some humanity in front of the goalie. They had the cycle going and this time it was Brandon Duhaime in front of the net while Jared Spurgeon sent another slapshot that got through and went into the left side of the net about middle high to put the…

Wild up 3-2!

3rd Period

The Wild got a chance to maybe seal the win with about 4:30 minutes remaining when Marcus Foligno fed Sam Steel and sent him in alone. He faked a shot then went for a deke and tried to put it through Lindgren’s 5-hole but Charlie waited him out to keep his team within 1 goal.

Wild G Filip Gustavsson was great all night as he ended up making 34 saves on 36 shots including this one which appears to go off the back of his right pad then may have hit his other skate/leg on the way across the crease and it somehow stayed out.

WOW!

The best view of this is on the game highlights at the bottom of the recap and before the Final Score and stats.

The Wild also blocked 15 shots and played good responsible, no-panic defense for the majority of the game. It took all of that poise to keep Washington from tying the game when they pulled their goalie with 2:13 remaining in regulation.

Then, with just over a minute left, Washington F Niklas Backstrom got the puck behind the net and tried to quickly wrap it around the right corner to D Erik Gustafsson but instead of going around the corner, the puck hit the boards and allowed Wild F Freddy Gaudreau to swipe at the puck as Gustafsson got to it. 

He got a piece of the puck and it went off the inside of Gustafsson’s right skate and came out towards the top of the right circle and Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek got to it first and he shot it off the boards so he could skate into it for an empty net goal. Ovechkin tried to catch up to him and got a piece of him with his stick for a hook and the official put his arm up but Ek was able to put it in the net to seal the victory for the Minnesota Wild!

4-2 Wild

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Final
Minnesota Wild 4 | 2 Washington Capitals

Goals
MN: 1. Jared Spurgeon(6), 2. Jonas Brodin(1), 3. Jared Spurgeon(7), 4. Joel Eriksson Ek(15)-ENG

WSH: 1. Martin Fehervary(4), 2. Dylan Strome(9)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Unassisted, 2. Connor Dewar(7), Matt Dumba(8), 3. Connor Dewar(8), Ryan Reaves(6), 4. Freddy Gaudreau(10)

WSH: 1. Alex Ovechkin(21), Trevor van Riemsdyk(7), 2. Martin Fehervary(5), Alex Ovechkin(22)

Goalies
MN: 
Filip Gustavsson – 34 Saves on 36 Shots, .944 Save%, 11th Win

WSH: 
Charlie Lindgren – 18 Saves on 21 Shots, .857 Save%, 6th Loss

Shift Chart

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Game Notes
*
Jo Bro Can Sco Gos!

= Jonas Brodin Can Score Goals!

Who knew? 

Jonas Brodin can skate like the wind. He can handle the puck. Is he just more focused on the defensive end so he doesn’t try to score because of it? That’s definitely part of it and that includes that his partner, Matt Dumba, is usually looking for chances to go on offense so he’s protecting his defensive partner.

And that makes you wonder how his game might change with Matt Dumba in the last year of his contract. Add in that Brock Faber is also a player who tends to lean on the defensive side and he could replace Dumba in the lineup.

So could Calen Addison which might work very well, too. Bottom line, it’d be very interesting to see what Jonas Brodin does with some more offensive chances.

**
Are Wild F Jordan Greenway’s Days numbered?

The big Wild forward hasn’t developed as well as the Wild and fans have expected. He doesn’t use that size to his advantage enough. Supposedly he’s healthy but he seemed to shy away from hits in this game.

He did use that size to screen the ‘tender on the 1st goal. Does he work hard on his net-front presence so he can get more net-front presents (goals)? 

He had a rough offseason with the injury so maybe that is messing with his season?

Jordan Greenway should worry about players like Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar taking his spot* on that Identity Line with Ek & Foligno. Both of them showed well tonight, Duhaime with some toughness getting in the face of a Capital when he hit Calen Addison which ended up with a fight. He also had a screen of his own on the last goal. Connor Dewar had 2 assists for his 2nd career 2-point night.
*Every player should play like someone is taking your spot. There are always prospects coming and they are being developed and told they have to take someone else’s spot. This isn’t a day job! This is The National Hockey League!

***
Matt Boldy Article COMING VERY SOON!

This adds to the Jordan Greenway conversation as the Minnesota Wild will have some tough decisions to make in order to make everything work under the cap for the next couple of seasons when the buyout hell jumps up to $14+M.

Next up: 

On to Carolina to face the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at 6pm on Bally Sports North.

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

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

AND…as always…

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Arizona Coyotes – January 14th, 2023

Posted on January 15, 2023 by

The Minnesota Wild were on a roll having gone 15-5-0 over 20 games since an amazing comeback win vs Carolina on November 19th and then playing possibly their best game of the season in a 5-1 win vs the Tampa Bay Lightning to begin 2023 on January 4th. But… they then lost 3 in a row (1 in Overtime & 1 in a Shootout) before another nice comeback win on Thursday night against the New York Islanders. 

So… did that win get them back on track? I guess we’ll find out since they played an Arizona Coyote team who had lost 7 games in a row before facing the Wild at The X on Saturday night.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Arizona Coyotes

Status report

Ingram will make his first start since he made 30 saves in a 2-0 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 6. … Vejmelka started the previous three games. … The Coyotes will continue to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Game Recap

1st Period

18:08 – Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was tripped by Coyotes F Nick Schmaltz but there was no call. How does that get missed? Schmaltz got his stick blade behind Ek’s knee to drag him down for an awkward and pretty brutal fall.

Wild F Sam Steel sent a perfect feed to Matz Zuccarello but Zuccy couldn’t get enough of his blade on the puck to lift it up and over Ingram.

11:41 – Joel Eriksson Ek got a breakaway and deked out Arizona G Connor Ingram but Clayton Keller(?) lifted his stick as he tried to shoot it into the empty net. 

Late in the first the Coyotes got a scoring chance but Fleury shut it down then Wild F Jordan Greenway had a scoring chance and as he tried to make a move around Arizona D JJ Moser, he got his stick in Greenway’s feet to make him fall down and there was no call. 

Maybe the officials forgot they should call penalties? It doesn’t make any sense. 

2nd Period

There were 3 icings against the Minnesota Wild in the first 2:09 of the 2nd period. 

15:24 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jake Middleton for Hooking Nick Schmaltz

12:14 – Penalty – Arizona – Interference on Jordan Greenway 

11:32 – Penalty – Arizona – Jack McBain for Roughing Calen Addison 

PPG – 10:21 – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello from Kirill Kaprizov & Calen Addison

The Wild has Fs Mats Zuccarello & Kirill Kaprizov below the goal line with F Joel Eriksson Ek in front of the net and F Matt Boldy (left) & D Calen Addison (right) at the top of the circles. Kaprizov fed Ek for a great chance but Coyotes G Connor Ingram made a great save. The puck went back below the goal line and Ek retrieved it so now he was below the goal line. He quickly sent a pass to Boldy who then passed across to Addison. He held it then faked a shot before sending a pass to Kaprizov who one-timed a pass to Zuccarello at the front of the net for a tip-in to make it…

1-0 Wild

And there was still 49 seconds left in the 2nd penalty

9:29 – Goal – Minnesota – Freddy Gaudreau from Ryan Hartman

The Wild’s power play has been very good and part of that is because of how well and how quickly they retrieve the puck on missed shots or rebounds. On this goal, the loose puck was in the corner with Wild F Freddy Gaudreau chasing it. Marcus Foligno flew in to get in front of the Coyote defender to help win the puck battle. The puck eventually squirted out to Gaudreau and he sent a pass to the front & other side of the net to Ryan Hartman. Coyote D Pat Nemeth  was in panic mode so he slid to try to block what he thought was going to be a shot but Hartman patiently skated around him & the goalie to send a pass to a waiting Gaudrea and it was…

2-0 Wild

Not a power play goal but definitely a result of the power play. 

3rd Period

15:12 – Save by Fleury on a crazy bounce. The puck bounced up and hit D Jon Merrill then landed just shy of the goal line and Merrill was frantically telling his goalie to stop it before it went past the goal line. PHEW!

14:16 – Goal – Arizona – Lawson Crouse on a rebound 

The Coyotes got some momentum in the 3rd with more offensive zone time and D Jacob Chychrun was skating back up the left side and made a turnaround pass to F Jack McBain in front of the net. He had his back to the net so he just caught the pass and threw a quick backhand shot at the net. Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury made the save but the rebound went back to the left faceoff dot where Lawson Crouse quickly got to it and one-timed a shot into the net to cut the Wild lead in half.

2-1 Wild

Did the Wild not think Arizona would have a push in the 3rd period because they kind of let up and the Arizona goal kind of woke them up.

10:03 – Goal – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov and it’s on a wicked shot but Arizona challenged for offsides on the play.

As Kaprizov came across the blue line, he was poke checked and that pushed the puck on the blue line while Sam Steel went into the zone so…

NO GOAL!

So he’ll have to score number 100 again. 

Arizona kept pushing but didn’t pull their goalie until there was just 1:11 remaining in the 3rd period and they took their time out then they took their sweet time trying to get a shot on goal to have a chance at tying the goal.

Is that why this was their 8th consecutive loss?

Credit the Wild for not panicking in their own zone and playing good solid defense to not allow any shooting lanes.

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Final
Arizona Coyotes 1 | 2 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: 1. Mats Zuccarello(18), 2. Freddy Gaudreau(11)
ARI: 1. Lawson Crouse(16)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(27), Calen Addison(19), 2. Ryan Hartman(8), Sam Steel(14)
ARI: 1. Jack McBain(4), Jacob Chychrun(16)

Goalies
MN:
Marc-Andre Fleury – 27 Saves on 28 Shots, .964 Save%, 14th Win
ARI: 
Connor Ingram – 25 Saves on 27 Shots, .926 Save%, 9th Loss 

Shift Chart

Game Notes
*
Bill Guerin – “This is the business of taking someone else’s job.”

Bill Guerin Press Conference from January 14th, 2023
17 minutes, 26 seconds long


The Wild are completely healthy for the 3rd game this season. So far, F Mason Shaw & D Alex Goligoski have been the odd men out. F Brandon Duhaime has taken back his roster spot after an injury that kept him out for 18 games. 

The depth showed well. Can they get on a roll here again? They’ll need to keep playing their game and not let the opponent dictate how to play. 

**
Wild Prospects F Sammy Walker & G Jesper Wallstedt were named to the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic!

F Sammy Walker hasn’t missed a beat since being reassigned to the Iowa Wild after both recalls. He had a goal & an assist in 2 games then was recalled to the Minnesota Wild for 2 games which he scored his 1st NHL Goal then was reassigned again on New Year’s Day and he has 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in the 5 games since then to increase his point total for the season to 31 points on 15 goals and 16 assists over 28 games. That includes 7 power play goals, 2 short-handed goals and 2 game-winning goals. 

For G Jesper Wallstedt, it may have taken some time to adapt to the North American brand of hockey but it definitely looks like he is hitting his stride…

Oh… and he also did this…

Goal-ie! Goalie GOALLLLLLLLL!!!!!

***
Welcome Back, Jack?

Minnesota Wild 2018 3rd-round draft pick F Jack McBain played his former team again after Bill Guerin traded him to Arizona at the 2022 Trade Deadline* because he said he didn’t want to sign with the Minnesota Wild.
*They got a 2022 2nd-round pick for him and drafted F Hunter Haight (32 points (10g, 22a) in 35 games but 23 points (7g, 16a) in 15 games since being traded to the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League).

Most fans’ question at the time was, of course, why wouldn’t he want to join a Wild organization that appears to be going in the right direction and have what looks like a winning culture? And then to do it so he could join the Arizona Coyotes, a team that has made the playoffs once in the last 10 seasons.*
*And that season was the pandemic season when they probably wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for the “qualifying round” since they went 8-13-4 in the 25 games leading up to the shut down.

Was it because it would be easier to make the Coyotes’ roster? Would it be a better decision to be around the right players to learn the ropes of being a professional hockey player? Arizona could be the right place for him but he’ll never know what could’ve been had he joined the Wild.

The bottom line with Bill Guerin was & always will be, “If somebody doesn’t want to be here, we have no problem moving on.” See ya, Jack!

Could you ask the same question of F Sammy Walker who was a 7th-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team who has won 2 out of the last 3 Stanley Cups? 

You could but he reportedly became a free agent because Tampa didn’t offer him a contract.

Former Wild F Matt Cullen had his #9 Jersey Retired at St. Cloud State

CONGRATS, Matt!!!

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Next up: 

The Wild head out on a tough 4-game road trip that starts in Washington against the Capitals at 6pm on Tuesday night on Bally Sports North. They’ll then go to Carolina to face the ‘Canes on Thursday night then head to Florida to play the Panthers on Saturday then Tampa Bay on Tuesday, January 24th!

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 Tampa Bay Lightning – January 4th, 2023

Posted on January 7, 2023 by

The Minnesota Wild took on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night. The Wild were looking for their 2nd straight win while the Lightning were looking for their 5th straight win. Unfortunately for Tampa Bay, G Andrei Vasilevskiy, their stalwart in the crease, was out due to illness so backup G Brian Elliot made his 2nd consecutive start. The Wild players and coaching staff know the Tampa Bay Lightning are still one of the elite teams in the National Hockey League.

The Wild, of course, are looking to become one of the elite teams in the NHL and it appears they are on their way. A pretty convincing 5-2 win at the St. Louis Blues on New Year’s Eve made the Wild 14-5-0 (W-L-OTL) over their last 19 games, the same exact record over that span as the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Status report

Eriksson Ek missed practice on Tuesday with a maintenance day but is expected to play. 

Tampa Bay Lightning

Status report

The Lightning did not skate. They are on the second half of a back to back, coming off a 4-1 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

Game Recap

1st Period

Former St. Cloud State Huskie F Nick Perbix played his 1st game as an NHLer in Minnesota for Tampa Bay and they had him in the starting lineup.

Lightning F Brayden Point had speed thru the neutral zone and received a great pass in stride from Nikita Kucherov to create a breakaway but Filip Gustavsson stopped him!

Wild F Sam Steel got a great chance off of a Mats Zuccarello pass for a deflection attempt in front of the net but he didn’t get a lot on it so it went right into the goalie’s chest.

Mats Zuccarello had trouble controlling the puck to keep it in the offensive zone but he still somehow kept control of it (keeping 3 Bolts from taking it from him) then he found Kaprizov in the slot but Kirill tried to get around a defender then fanned on the shot before shooting it off Elliot. The Wild retrieved it and Dumba had a chance to shoot but he chose to try to pass it and it ended up being a turnover.

Kaprizov had the puck by his own bench and Brandon Hagel hit him with a pretty good body check. The puck then got to Hagel so Kaprizov threw a body check on him. Hagel then tapped him with his stick so Mats Zuccarello pushed him and Hagel pushed him back. Haha Don’t touch Kap unless you’re ready to have Zuccy in your face!

Wild F Jordan Greenway got a minor for an after the whistle scrum! Ughh! Why just take one in an after the whistle scrum? Is/are the official/s trying to set a tone for the after the whistle scrums to try to stop them from happening. Good luck. Take both! They’d likely say that Greenway continued or restarted the scrum with a face wash but it looked like someone was still messing with one of his teammates so he went back at them then was pushed from another player, too. 

The Minnesota Wild scored when D Calen Addison purposely shot the puck wide of the net so it  came back in front of the net/goal line so Joel Eriksson Ek could get to it. He tried to make a backhand to forehand move but missed it so it went in front of the net and off of Nick Perbix’ skate and in! OUCH! (One of us playing for the 1st time against his hometown team.) 

1-0 Wild

Tampa Bay F Steven Stamkos got his stick in Jake Middleton’s skates and was called for tripping.

Matt Boldy had the puck in the left slot and faked a shot then passed to Kirill Kaprizov for a tip-in/deflection that went in on the ice to the right corner.

2-0 Wild

2 minutes & 18 seconds later the Wild scored again when D Calen Addison created some space by himself and blasted a slapper to the upper left corner with Boldy in front to screen G Brian Elliot. 

3-0 Wild

Zuccarello hit the left post, the crossbar and the right post on the power play! That’s hard to do!

A Ryan Hartman hook took away a scoring chance then he pushed Tampa Bay F Brandon Hagel to send him awkwardly towards the boards but he turned and avoided any terrible contact but that didn’t stop his teammate Anthony Cirelli from going after Hartman and he drilled him after the whistle was blown. The officials gave them both 2 minutes but an extra 2 to Hartman for Roughing for punching Cirelli while he’s laying on top of him. 

And they scored on the power play to make it 3-1 Wild as Nikita Kucherov made a zone entry look as easy as possible then got the puck back at the right half wall when Wild F Marcus Foligno pressured Victor Hedman at the blue line. Kucherov was being pressured so he passed it to Brandon Hagel under Middleton’s stick in the right slot. Hagel was skating forward so Steel left Brayden Point to pressure him which left Point open for a one-timer that beat Gustavsson to the upper right corner. That all took about 7 seconds.

Aggressiveness on the penalty kill can be a good thing. The Lightning were ready for it but it wasn’t done very well by the Wild. They let 3 passes go through them with each one creating a domino effect of another Wild player pursuing the puck. The pass to Kucherov went off the wall so maybe Middleton saw that and thought it’d be a tough play but Kuch made it look easy and Middleton should’ve backed off as there really isn’t a scoring threat at that point. Hagel was the only available option for a pass. Steel should notice that Hagel is a left-handed shot and not leave Point open in the slot for a one-timer. I’m sure any goalie would rather have a bad angle backhand shot that he’s set up for then a one-timer he has to move and adjust to.

You could add having better stick placement on the puck to defend the pass.

But… 1:58 later, Wild F Sam Steel scored off his shin to make it a 3-goal lead again! 

4-1 Wild! 

That’s a big goal for Sam Steel because it established a career-high in goals in a season for him with 7. He has scored 6 goals in all 4 of his previous seasons with the Anaheim Ducks.*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.  

Kaprizov tried to go between his legs for a shot and he hit the left corner post & crossbar! OHHHH!!!

Controversy-Mason Shaw cleared the zone and the puck went out of play but none of the officials saw if it went directly out so they couldn’t call it. They showed the replay and the puck actually hit the boards right after Shaw hit it. It’s really low off the boards and might even be off the kickplate (yellow part). 

Dumba blocked a shot late off the top of his right foot then Gustavsson appeared to wince after catching a shot to get a whistle and he came out of the game after Kaprizov scored an empty net goal to make it 5-1. 

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Final
Tampa Bay Lightning 1 | 5 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: 

1. Joel Eriksson Ek(13), 2. Kirill Kaprizov(21)-PPG, 3. Calen Addison(3), 4. Sam Steel(7), 5. Kirill Kaprizov(22)-ENG

TBL: 

1. Brayden Point(22)

*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 

1. Calen Addison(15), Marcus Folgino(9), 2. Matt Boldy(16), Calen Addison(16), 3. Ryan Hartman(6), Matt Boldy(17), 4. Jared Spurgeon(14), 5. Unassisted

TBL: 

1. Brandon Hagel(16), Nikita Kucherov(41)

Goalies
MN: 
Jonas Gustavsson – 34 Saves on 35 Shots, .971 Save%, 9th Win – 57:52 TOI*
Marc-Andre Fleury – 0 Saves on 0 Shots – 2:03 TOI
*Gus had left the ice late in the 3rd period. He caught a shot to get a whistle and cringed like he was in pain while bending over so Fleury came in for the remainder of the game. Turns out he had stomach issues and had to relieve that pain. Tampa didn’t register another shot on goal for the remaining 2:03 of the game.

TBL:
Brian Elliot – 28 Saves on 32 Shots, .875 Save%, 3rd Loss

Shift Chart

Game Notes

*
Kirill Kaprizov vs Nikita Kucherov

Does the head coach think this, too? Or is he not a fan of this kind of a pass? Or is Kirill one of the few he’ll allow to do those “cute” plays?

We wonder how much Kirill Kaprizov talks to his fellow Russians. We assume he talks to Alex Ovechkin as much as possible since he’s said he is his idol but Nikita Kucherov is one of the best players of his generation, too.

What advice do they give him on his play and his career? What shortcuts can they help him with to become a Stanley Cup Champion as we would assume that is the only thing he cares about?

**
Flip Filip?

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin traded backup G Kaapo Kahkonen (with a ‘22 5th-round pick) to San Jose 9+ months ago for D Jacob Middleton. Would he do the same thing with current backup G Jonas Gustavsson? He’s been on fire this season

Guerin also acquired Marc-Andre Fleury last season so he had 2 number 1 goalies. He wouldn’t necessarily have that this time but he could also acquire a backup at the deadline.

It would all come down to what Guerin thinks the Wild needs come the March 3rd NHL Trade Deadline and if he thinks Filip can be a number 1 goalie and/or how much time he feels G Jesper Wallstedt needs to develop into their number 1 goalie.

We’ll have to revisit this topic as the Trade Deadline gets closer.

Next up: 

Saturday, January 7th at the Buffalo Sabres at 6pm on Bally Sports North. 

The Sabres seem like a new team with on fire-forward Tage Thompson who, at the time this is being written, has 30 goals and 55 points in 36 games. He had 38 goals & 68 points in 78 games last season. He’s also on the last year of a 3-year/$4.2M bridge contract* which could’ve had him looking for a huge payday. We’ll talk about that come Saturday, though.
*A Bridge Contract is often signed to get a player to the end of Restricted Free Agency as kind of a “prove it” deal to see what a player can do after his 3-year entry-level contract ends.

He was traded by the St. Louis Blues on July 1st, 2018.

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Thanks for Reading!!! 

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

AND…as always…

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Ottawa Senators – December 18th, 2022

Posted on December 21, 2022 by

The Minnesota Wild activated F Ryan Hartman from the injured list and he played his first game since October 30th. They reassigned F Sammy Walker to the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild to make room for the Hart Man. We assumed Ryan Hartman would just put in the same spot in the lineup that Sammy Walker was in, on the right wing with left wing Matt Boldy & center Freddy Gaudreau but we’ll see.

The Wild were looking to extend their winning streak to 5 against the Ottawa Senators but Ottawa were looking to do the same thing as they had also won 4 straight.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

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Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Scratched: Alex Goligoski
Injured: Brandon Duhaime (upper body)

Status report

Hartman will play his first game since Oct. 30 after missing the past 21 because of an upper-body injury.

Play with Hart, Man!

Ottawa Senators

Scratched: Dillon Heatherington, Jacob Lucchini
Injured: Josh Norris (shoulder), Artem Zub (jaw), Mathieu Joseph (lower body), Tim Stutzle (shoulder)

Just a few Senators on the mend. 

Game Recap

Happy Holiday, ClutterPuckers!!!

Reavo Claus & his elf Kiriss Kapringle
12:13 – A big save from Wild G Filip Gustavsson (Gus) & 30 seconds later…

Kappa Klaus!!!

Goal – Minnesota Wild – Kirill Kaprizov(19) from Mats Zuccarello(22) & Sam Steel(6)

The Ottawa Senators were guilty of puckwatching here. Ottawa D Nick Holden checked to see where Kirill Kaprizov was when Sam Steel dropped the puck back to Mats Zuccarello. Holden then checked the location of the puck. Kirill Kaprizov stopped quickly to have some more space between him & Holden to be open for a shot. Holden took a 2nd peak at Kaprizov but that was at almost the exact same time the puck was being sent to him so he was late getting there and he made a weak attempt to block the shot by not going down to his knees to take away the low shot. Get down and block a shot for your goalie. 

Kirill knew he was there so he kept the shot low to get it through and Ottawa G Anton Forsberg actually got a piece of it.

Ottawa F Mark Kastelic (#47) was a big spectator on this goal. Alex DeBrincat helped force Sam Steel to get rid of the puck then he skated away from it and was actually not facing the puck like he was going to go change. Wow!*

*We broke down this goal further in a Film Session – COMING SOON!

1-0 Wild!

Almost the same exact thing happened at the start of the 2nd period…

Gus made a couple of great saves then Kirill got a scoring chance. The rebound went to Sam Steel at the left of the net and he passed it across to Zuccarello for a pretty easy goal and

the Wild are up 2-0!

Senators D Thomas Chabot sent a stretch pass to Alex DeBrincat at the Wild’s blue line but Wild D Jonas Brodin was on him quickly so DeBrincat tried to make a “cute” backhand pass to linemate Drake Batherson that became a turnover because the pass was off the mark. Wild D Jared Spurgeon quickly sent the puck up to Sam Steel and he saw Kirill Kaprizov on the outside Chabot so he put a pass off the right boards so Kirill could skate into it and get past Chabot for a scoring chance. Chabot caught up to Kirill to force him to make a quicker shot but he still got it off and forced G Anton Forsberg to make a save off his right pad which created a juicy rebound that came right to a driving Sam Steel but he passed up the shot to give Mats Zuccarello an easy shot at a gaping net.

That’s some lazy play by the Ottawa forwards. They’re on the back end of a back-to-back. How much slack do you give for that, though?

*With the assist on the 2nd goal, Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov now has 200 points in his career and he did it in just 167 games, the fewest of any Wild player in the history of the franchise and the 4th fewest among active players and, as you see below, 6 games fewer than some player named Connor McDavid.

CONGRATS, KIRILL!!! We can’t wait for the next 200 points!!!

Questionable Delay of Game penalty on Dumba for running into the net and knocking it off its moorings but the Wild killed it off against a scorching Ottawa Power Play (9 for their last 22 over their last 4 games).

Shortly afterwards, Kirill fed Spurgeon and he went upper right on the backhand. Otherwise known as Backhand Shelf!

3-0 Wild!

Another turnover at the offensive blue line turns into a goal for the Wild. It’s hard to believe the Senators have won 4 in a row with this kind of lazy play and bad decisions. More often than not, simple math should make your decision on if you should be aggressive or just dump it in. 

Before Shane Pinto gets to the puck, it’s already 2-on-4 then he had trouble handling it and his teammate thought he was going to send it deep then Pinto was knocked down. For some reason, Ottawa F Rourke Chartier is still aggressive even though his team doesn’t have control of the puck and are still outnumbered so Sam Steel just chips the puck over the blue line and it’s 2-on-2 with Kirill Kaprizov & the puck going down center ice with Marcus Foligno on his left and Jared Spurgeon sees the chance to make it an odd-rush so he flies up the right side past the defense. Kaprizov took the puck to the side on his forehand and the defender (Travis Hamonic) tried to make a quick stop to close the gap on Kirill but Kirill was still able to get the puck between his legs to Spurgeon and he made a quick deke the a quicker little backhand to the upper right for his 3rd goal of the season.

It took until 5 minutes into the 3rd period but Ottawa finally got on the board with a tipped shot from F Mark Kastelic. Tipped shots have to be a nightmare for goalies. They can’t play a tip and it can be tipped up, down or to either side. Ughh!

3-1 Wild

The Wild had held Ottawa to just 12 shots on goal through the 1st 2 periods while 20 shots themselves but Ottawa definitely brought an aggressive push in the 3rd period. 

On their 24th shot, they had an extra attacker and that definitely helped them when Spurgeon blocked a shot but didn’t know it was at his feet so Drake Batherson got to it and took a shot that G Filip Gustavsson saved but gave up a rebound and Brady Tkachuk was there to pass it to his right to Claude Giroux for an easy shot into an empty net and the Senators were within 1 with 1:40 remaining in regulation.

3-2 Wild

A minute later, Drake Batherson had the puck behind the Wild net and sent it around the corner to Alex DeBrincat and he tried to fake like he was going to play it but he let it go and Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek read the play, took the puck away then chipped it past the pinching defenseman. Claude Giroux was easily going to get to the puck before Sam Steel and he probably could’ve played it and skated behind his net to reset and make one final push to tie the game with 30 seconds left but he tried to quickly & blindly send it off the far boards and out of the zone. Wild F Freddy Gaudreau kept the puck in the zone. Shane Pinto was going hard to get to Gaudreau but lost an edge when he tried to stop when Freddy cut back to open ice. Freddy then fired a shot into the upper center of the net to put the Wild up 2 goals again.

4-2 Wild & a 5-Game Winning Streak!

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Final
Ottawa Senators 2 | 4 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: 

  1. Kirill Kaprizov(19), 2. Mats Zuccarello(14), 3. Jared Spurgeon(3), 4. Freddy Gaudreau(8)

OTT: 

  1. Mark Kastelic(3), 2. Claude Giroux(14)

*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 

  1. Mats Zuccarello(22), Sam Steel(6), 2. Sam Steel(7), Kirill Kaprizov(22), 3. Kirill Kaprizov(23), Marcus Foligno(7), 4. Unassisted

OTT: 

  1. Travis Hamonic(3), Parker Kelly(3), 2. Brady Tkachuk(23), Drake Batherson(19)

Goalies
MN: 
Filip Gustavsson – 26 Saves on 28 Shots on Goal, .929 Save%, 7th Win (6 straight wins, too)

OTT: 
Anton Forsberg – 19 Saves on 22 Shots on Goal, .864 Save%, 8th Loss

Shift Chart

Game Notes
*
Why didn’t the Senators start former Wild G Cam Talbot? 

He had started 4 straight over the last 8 days including a 6-3 win over Detroit the night before this game and very rarely does a team go with the same goal for back-to-back games.

It seems strange that they wouldn’t put their backup goalie in for the game against a struggling Detroit team that was 3-5-2 in their last 10 instead of the second game of a back-to-back against a team that was 8-2 over their last 10 games especially when their number 1 goalie was a former Wild goalie that left under somewhat weird circumstances.

  • “The division games take precedent over the personal rivalry,” Talbot said. “I told them whatever decision they made, I understand. But they knew I wanted to play Minnesota.” – The Athletic – Joe Smith

**
AND… apparently Cam Talbot “never wanted to leave” Minnesota.

Cam Talbot was traded after his agent spouted that Wild GM Bill Guerin had “a lot to think about” after re-signing G Marc-Andre Fleury to a 2-year/$7M deal. 

Billy responded saying, 

A few days later Cam Talbot was traded to Ottawa for current Wild backup G Filip Gustavsson as Guerin had a change of heart because he didn’t want any unnecessary drama in his locker room and especially with his goaltending duo.

An article from The Athletic MN (author Joe Smith) that came out on Saturday has Cam Talbot saying he never wanted to leave Minnesota. He also said he wanted to sign an extension with the Wild and eventually retire in the Twin Cities. 

Is that where the disconnect happened? Wild GM Bill Guerin maybe didn’t want to sign him to an extension or a multi-year extension given that has Fleury signed for 2 years and they believe their future #1 goalie, Jesper Wallstedt, is already in the AHL playing his first season as a pro and his first season in North America. Bill Guerin has said often they don’t want to rush their prospects. They have to win a spot and force their way onto the NHL roster.

Talbot was caught off guard by the “drama” comments from Bill Guerin thinking it was more about drama from him but it was probably more about the drama of the situation knowing that he wasn’t happy* with being the 2nd fiddle in the playoffs because of Fleury’s playoff success. 
*Was the “drama” about Cam Talbot’s agent? or his wife who wasn’t happy with coach Dean Evason saying it was an “easy decision” to go with Marc-Andre Fleury in the playoffs. He meant both goalies made it easy on him by understanding the decision.

***
Is Sam Steel a #1 Center?

We’ll have to get into this more soon but the above tweet says a lot about what Sam Steel has done since becoming the Wild’s #1 center.

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Next up: 

The Wild go out on the road for 2 games in Cali at the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night at 9pm on Bally Sports North Plus and Thursday night at the San Jose Sharks at 9:30pm on Bally Sports North before their 4-day holiday break.

Thanks for Reading!!! 

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

AND…as always…

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Edmonton Oilers – December 12th, 2022

Posted on December 13, 2022 by

Everyone should be starting to feel like Old 97s fans since this is the 3rd time Connor McDavid & the Edmonton Oilers & Kirill Kaprizov & the Minnesota Wild have faced each other in the last 12 days. And, after tonight, they won’t play each other until next season. How weird is that?

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

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Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Scratched: Andrej Sustr, Alex Goligoski*, Nic Petan
Injured: Ryan Hartman (upper body), Brandon Duhaime (upper body)
*2nd consecutive healthy scratch for Alex Goligoski*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

Status report

Hartman skated with the team for the first time since being injured Oct. 30. There is still no timeline for return. … Edmonton plays its first of a back to back. … Campbell will start in Nashville on Tuesday.

Edmonton Oilers

Scratched: Ryan Murray, Tyler Benson, Brad Malone
Injured: Evander Kane (wrist), Warren Foegele (undisclosed), Ryan McLeod (undisclosed)

Game Recap

Let’s see if the Minnesota Wild can repeat the dominant game they had the 1st time they played 12 days ago.

1st Period

Edmonton tried to get Connor McDavid & Leon Draisaitl away from the Wild’s identity (or GREEF) line since they shut them down in the Wild’s 5-3 win back on December 1st by splitting them up to start the game but went back to their original lines pretty quickly.

Spurgeon went for a hook of Draisaitl after he put the puck around him so Jared had hooked him to stop a scoring chance. Unfortunately, it looked like Draisaitl wasn’t going to be able to keep the puck on his stick but Spurgeon thought he was going in alone on his goaltender so he did what he had to do to stop that from being a problem. Will the Oilers make them pay for that on the Power Play?

No! The Minnesota Wild’s Penalty Kill was aggressive and gave the Oilers very little in that 2 minutes.

The Wild got back to work and had a great scoring chance but then gave up a great scoring chance to Edmonton but Marc-Andre Fleury was there to make a big save…

Kirill Kaprizov was taken down as he took the puck back and spun around to protect is and Ty Barrie was pinching in from the point but didn’t get there fast enough and tried to defend Kaprizov with his stick and put it between his legs or in his skates for a tripping penalty.

Tic-Tac-GOAL on the Power Play & it only took 7 seconds!

1-0 Wild

6:48 – Penalty – Minnesota Wild – F Mason Shaw for Cross-Checking F Klim Kostin – very questionable call there as Shaw hit Kostin with his right (top) hand on his hip and he went down very easily for some reason.

Goal – Edmonton Oilers – PPG – Zach Hyman(10) from Ty Barrie(15) & Connor McDavid(30)

Hyman scores on the power play on a loose puck after he tipped the shot from the middle of the blue line from Oilers D Ty Barrie.

1-1 Tie

The Wild challenged for Goaltender Interference 

Coach’s Challenge: EDM @ MIN – 14:01 of the First Period

and…

Goaltender Interference?

The officials said there was No Goaltender Interference so…

The Oilers went right back on the Power Play. 

Wouldn’t it be really nice to know what Goaltender Interference is or isn’t? Does the league or the officials even know? 

The Wild killed it off.

Sammy Walker impressed with his speed then his hands and made Oilers D Philip Broberg look slow & bad.

1st period shots

EdmontonMinnesota
96

2nd Period

Ty Barrie once again tripped Kirill Kaprizov by trying to defend him by getting his stick through him to the puck. This time it was in the corner and he tried to put his stick in front of him* then get physical with him & maybe pin him to the boards but he’s quickly finding out that Kaprizov is very strong on his skates and will win a ton of puck battles. 
*Defend with your feet, not your stick! – Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.  

No dice on that power play but the Wild went back on the power play just a couple of minutes later because Oilers D Philip Broberg held Jonas Brodin.

Wild F Marcus Foligno had the puck at the left half-wall at the end of the power play so he just took a shot to try to create something and it was blocked/deflected by Nurse and came back to Matt Dumba who shot it quickly to beat Oilers G Stuart Skinner.

Coach’s Challenge: EDM @ MIN – 7:46 of the Second Period

Dumba’s pass entering the zone to Foligno went parallel on the blue line which put Freddy Gaudreau offsides so…

NO GOAL!!!

Boldy makes a great play/move/pass to Freddy Gaudreau who went upstairs to beat Skinner and put the Wild up 2-1

GOAL – Minnesota Wild – Freddy Gaudreau(5) from Matt Boldy(10)

What a play with some slick hands to make that play from Matt Boldy!

2-1 Wild

Sammy Walker showed some quickness in the o-zone!

Wider angle

2nd period shots (total)

EdmontonMinnesota
6(15)16(22)

3rd period

Marc-Andre Fleury denies Darnell Nurse on a 2-on-1!

“you make $9m and don’t do shit” – Minnesota Wild F Jordan Greenway chirping Oilers D Darnell Nurse.

Minnesota Wild captain D Jared Spurgeon with some great stick work late.

A Wild ending to the game!

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Final
Edmonton Oilers 1 | 2 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN:

1. Matt Boldy(11)-PPG, 2. Freddy Gaudreau(5)

EDM:
1. Zach Hyman(10)-PPG

*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 
1. Kirill Kaprizov(18), Mats Zuccarello(20), 2. Matt Boldy(10), not Sammy Walker*
*It would’ve been his 1st NHL point & it was announced but the league took it away. It was the right call. Walker stopped the puck with his skate and Connor McDavid sent the puck into the neutral zone to Matt Boldy.

EDM:
1. Ty Barrie(15), Connor McDavid(30) 

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury – 20 Saves on 21 Shots, .952 Save%, 10th Win*

*

Flower climbing the record books!

EDM:
Stuart Skinner – 28 Saves on 30 Shots, .933 Save%, 7th Loss 

 Shift Chart

Game Notes

*
Defend with your feet, not your stick!

Edmonton Oilers D Ty Barrie tried to defend Kirill Kaprizov with his stick twice and failed and then took Kaprizov down for 2 penalties.

On the first penalty, he tried to pinch on a puck coming up the side boards but Kirill got to it first and saw Ty there so he moved his body to protect the puck while he spun around to go to the open ice. Barrie put his stick along the boards then when he realized he wasn’t going to get to the puck, he moved it towards the puck and it went between Kirill’s skates, tripping him. The Wild scored 7 seconds of game time later!

On the second penalty, Kirill was in the right corner and Barrie was behind him so he tried to put his stick around him to either reach the puck or to maybe get some leverage on Kirill but he found out that Kirill knows how to win battles and when he went to escape and go behind the net, yep, Barrie’s stick was in Kirill’s skates/legs and he tripped him again. If he doesn’t put his stick there to begin with, he can use it later and he can still skate with Kirill instead of being in an awkward position with his stick wrapped around the player. 

It’s not hard to believe Kirill saw &/or felt the opponent’s stick there and went that way to draw the penalty, too.

Defending with your feet means to move your feet and skate to stay with the player you’re defending if they have or don’t have the puck. Too often players think they’re okay if they’re within reach of the player they’re covering until it’s too late and being within reach isn’t enough so they either have to take a penalty or pray their goalie makes a huge play. Praying* is never a good way to play defense. It is a God way, though! HA! 

*Pray before & after the game or maybe even on the bench!

Just shadow your stick with the puck or the player’s stick but be close enough to take their stick away or to get the puck first.

Of course this isn’t easy but if you keep in mind to keep skating all the time, you will be able to defend better.

Why do you think coaches are always saying, “Move Your Feet!”?

**
Alex Goligoski or Calen Addison?

It seems the Wild like Calen Addison more than Alex Goligoski.

Is that because of what Calen Addison provides on the power play? Calen Addison quarterbacks the Minnesota Wild’s 1st power play unit and he has 11 power play assists (& power play points) while Alex Goligoski has zero.

Their power play time on ice & power play time on ice per game played are equally lopsided…

100 minutes & 22 seconds total Power Play Time on Ice & 3:43/game for Calen compared to 6 minutes & 26 seconds/game for Goose.

Calen Addison was just a healthy scratch 2 games before because the Wild coaches wanted him to know that he has to play better defense so he can help his team by staying in the lineup. Alex Goligoski is capable of playing decent defense. He’s also been a power play quarterback before so do the Wild just not see that in him anymore or do they just like Addison & Spurgeon better?

Maybe a bit of both with the majority of it being the latter.

***
Sammy Walker showing well…

A lot of people didn’t think Sammy Walker was going to do well in professional hockey and they sure didn’t expect him to make his NHL Debut in December of his first professional season but give Sammy credit as he has obviously worked very hard and played very well to earn his opportunities so far this season.

He scored double-digit goals & assists in every one of his 4 seasons with the Minnesota Gophers and it took him just 20 games to do that in The AHL (6 PPGs, too) as he was opening the eyes of everyone. 

Postgame

Sammy Walker on being on the ice with Connor McDavid…

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Next up: 

The Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday at 6:30pm at The X 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 Prospects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment