Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Calgary Flames – April 28th, 2022

Posted on April 29, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Calgary Flames - April 28th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild get one last chance to beat the Calgary Flames and they surely remember how they were beaten 7-3 in Calgary & 5-1 at The X in back-to-back games at the end of February and the beginning of March.

Those games may have opened General Manager Bill Guerin’s eyes as they were, of course, before the trade deadline when the Wild acquired some physical assets to better compete physically in the playoffs.

This game had a lot of playoff intensity since just 1 point separated them in the standings with Calgary at 110 points and Minnesota at 109 points. Calgary would obviously like to above as many teams in the Western Conference as possible so they would retain home-ice advantage if they meet those teams in the playoffs.

NHL Standings before Wild vs Calgary on April 28th, 2022

The Wild still had a chance to gain home-ice advantage in the first round against the St. Louis Blues since the Blues also lost on Tuesday night.

That means the Wild need 3 points in their last two games* for their playoff series to begin at home because St. Louis holds the tiebreaker.
*St. Louis has just one game remaining against Vegas tomorrow night.

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Calgary Flames - April 28th, 2022

Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - April 28th, 2022

Game Recap

Calgary G Jacob Markstrom on Wild F Ryan Hartman after F Kirill Kaprizov made a turnaround pass to Hartman in the slot. Ryan Hartman was on his backhand and must’ve thought he had more time &/or didn’t realize Markstrom was a little out of position as he had most of the left side of the net open because instead of just throwing a backhand shot as quickly as possible, he tried to move to his forehand and that gave Markstrom just enough time to get across to make the save. OHHHH!

Hooking minor – D Jordie Benn – MN – 10:20

An aggressive Penalty Kill* from MN did a great job to kill off that power play.
*See more on the Penalty Kill in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The Wild had a much different level of compete in the first period than how they played in the 5-3 loss to Arizona on Tuesday. They outshot the Flames 10-6 as they kept getting the puck in deep, got their forecheck going and played very detailed in their defensive end giving up very little to Calgary.

2nd Period

Calgary got on the board first when Flames F Matthew Tkachuk threw a blind centering pass that got a good bounce off Brodin’s skate in front of the net and Johnny Gaudreau was there and he went to his backhand and flipped it over Wild G Cam Talbot to capitalize on it. 1-0 Flames

15:51 – Flames F Mikael Backlund tripped Wild F Tyson Jost

The Wild didn’t have much going for the majority of the power play but they finally got into the zone and got some possession time. Brodin took a slap shot from the middle of the blue line on a rolling puck and it beat Markstrom just past his outstretched leg pad off the post and in. 1-1 Tie.

In another sequence, the Wild had some good zone time in the offensive zone and Flames G Jacob Markstrom lost his stick. It ended up all the way over by the right half-wall. The Flames finally cleared the zone so Markstrom went to get his stick but the Wild got the puck and quickly sent it up to F Tyson Jost but he didn’t know Markstrom was out of the net and it sure looked like he had an opportunity to fire the puck into the net from the right side of the blue line.

8:16 – Wild D Alex Goligoski tripped Flames F Johnny Gaudreau 

Another very good kill for the Wild.

Late in the period, in the Wild’s zone, Flames F Tyler Toffoli had his stick between Wild D Alex Goligoski’s legs and eventually tripped him but there was no call.

The Flames got a call seconds later when F Mikael Backlund was battling with Wild F Jordan Greenway and Greener ended up cross-checking him into his goalie, Cam Talbot, who then reacted by taking Backlund down and Greenway got 2 minutes in the box with 10 seconds left in the period.

0:10 – Wild F Jordan Greenway – Interference

The Wild killed off the penalty, again.

Wild F Matt Boldy got in on the forecheck and forced a quick play from Flames D Erik Gudbranson.  into a turnover to Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau** and he takes a quick shot that beat Markstrom short side just above the right pad for a 2-1 Wild lead with 8:01 remaining in regulation!
**See more on Frédérick Gaudreau in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

Gaudreau got another chance seconds later on a breakaway but couldn’t cash it in. OHHHH!

The Flames pushed hard in response to going down by 1 but the Wild were still playing very good detailed defense until Flames F Elias Lindholm got the puck at the middle left of the blue line and got a shot past Wild D Jacob Middleton and he hit the upper left corner to tie the game at 2 with 2:56 left in regulation.

Both teams had some chances in the final minutes but this one went to…

Overtime

34 seconds into overtime, Calgary D Rasmus Andersson got a penalty for closing his hand on the puck as he had lost his stick and was trying to keep the puck away from Wild D Jonas Brodin behind the Calgary net.

And… with 4 forwards on the ice, the Wild make quick work of that power play as Joel Eriksson Ek won the ensuing faceoff back to Kevin Fiala. He moved to the center of the blue line and passed it to Kirill Kaprizov at the left point. They spread out with Ek in front of the goalie, Ryan Hartman to the left of the net near the goal line and Kevin Fiala at the top of the right circle. Kirill skated in towards the Flames defender then passed it to Ryan Hartman at the left side of the net. Hartman moved out towards the boards as Kirill split top and left defenders then flattened out to back up to the slot at the hashmarks. Fiala skated to the middle or a little left of the middle near the top of the left circle as Hartman sent a pass to him. Fiala faked a one-timer then passed it to Kirill for a one-timer that beat Jacob Markstrom off of his mask and in the upper right for… another… Wild… Overtime… VICTORY!!!

––––– CP –––––

Final-OT

Calgary Flames 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN: Jonas Brodin(5), Frédérick Gaudreau(14), Kirill Kaprizov(46)
CGY: Johnny Gaudreau(40), Elias Lindholm(42)

Assists
MN: Frédérick Gaudreau(30), Jordan Greenway(17); Unassisted; Kevin Fiala(52), Ryan Hartman(30)
CGY: Matthew Tkachuk(62), Nikita Zadorov(17), Nikita Zadorov(18), Johnny Gaudreau(75)

Goalies
MN: Cam Talbot – 31 Saves on 33 Shots on Goal – .939 Save% – 32nd Win
CGY: Jacob Markstrom – 22 Saves on 25 Shots on Goal – .880 Save% – 16th Loss

Game Notes

*
Wild Penalty Kill

The Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill has struggled for the majority of the season (26th in the NHL.) They brought it tonight and they brought aggression to it and it resulted in keeping the league’s 10th best power play off the score sheet for 8 minutes (4 penalties.)

We said above that this game would likely have playoff intensity and it did. Well, what happens in the playoffs, Teams & Players have to step it up to win in the postseason.

So…hopefully, this is the start of the Wild stepping up their Penalty Kill to help them win when the games get a lot more important.

**
Frédérick Gaudreau

We’ve wanted to talk about Freddy G for most of the season because we just love his game and it starts with how he competes. He battles for every puck and he has more skill than his history gives him credit for. His previous career-high in goals, assists & points is 3 goals, 8 assists and 10 points. The 8 assists & 10 points came last season when he played 19 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tonight, he had a goal & an assist to make his season totals, 14 goals, 30 assists & 44 points. He’s also a career-high +13. He also scored his 1st power-play goal & dished out his 1st power-play assists this season.

He has also turned up his production in the postseason as he has 4 goals & 2 assists in just 14 games in the postseason & 2 of those goals are game-winners.

He’s playing between Kevin Fiala & Matt Boldy and they’ve been pretty damn good since they were put together when Matt Boldy joined the Wild on January 6th:

***
OVERTIME is WILD!!!

The Wild have the most Overtime goals in the Western Conference this season and the 2nd most in the league.

Remember a couple of seasons ago when the Wild were the opposite of exciting to watch in Overtime?

Overtime was almost a sure loss back then.

Oh, how times have changed! This team has had some of the most exciting moments in the extra session.

Tonight was no different. Will we see it again tomorrow night?

Postgame

Minnesota Wild Head Coach Dean Evason’s

Postgame Press Conference begins at the 14:32

On the…

Minnesota Wild PONDcastClick the pic for the Link

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Minnesota Wild finish the regular season at home against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night at 7 pm on Bally Sports North.

They need 1 point to gain home-ice advantage against the St. Louis Blues in…

2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Logo

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Nashville Predators – April 24th, 2022

Posted on April 25, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Nashville Predators - April 24th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild get their last chance to beat the Nashville Predators. Do they do it this time?

They’ve lost 2-5 then 2-6 twice.

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

F Mats Zuccarello is out tonight after leaving Friday night’s game in the 2nd period with a lower-body injury so the Wild recalled F Joseph Cramarossa from the Iowa Wild. That means the top line will look different tonight. F Nick Bjugstad will move up to the top line while Cramarossa will slot in on a line with F Joel Eriksson Ek & F Connor Dewar.

Minnesota Wild Recall Joseph Cramarossa - April 23rd, 2022

Ek had 2 goals on Friday night without his linemates* F Jordan Greenway (Upper-Body Injury) & F Marcus Foligno (COVID-19 Protocol) so how will he do tonight?
*One was a Power Play Goal and the other came while on a shift between Fiala & Boldy so…take what you want from that.

Minnesota Wild Lineup at the Nashville Predators - April 24th, 2022

Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - April 24th, 2022

Game Recap

Minnesota Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury made a mistake playing the puck* on Friday night against the Seattle Kraken and it turned into an early 1-0 deficit. 10 seconds into this game, he almost had the same thing happen. On Friday, he was passing to Wild D Jacob Middleton toward the right corner. Tonight, he tried to play it around the left corner and it was knocked down by Predators F Yakov Trenin and Jacob Middleton intercepted the pass to the front of the net. Phew!
*See more on the topic of goalies playing the puck in the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

Former Wild F Luke Kunin got a holding penalty on the forecheck as he tried to jump around him and basically landed on him. No goal on the power play.

Wild D Jacob Middleton had his feet taken out from underneath him by former Wild player F Mikael Granlund in front of the net.

Middleton then got up to pursue Granlund and Filip Forsberg got in his way or blocked him from getting to Granlund. Is that not interference on Forsberg? Why isn’t that called?

Nashville Predators Penalty for Delay of Game – 10:12 – D Mattias Ekholm accidentally threw the puck over the glass. – Twoooooo Minutes!

A little more than halfway through the Power Play, the Minnesota Wild won the faceoff back to Alex Goligoski. He passed to Matt Boldy at the right half-wall and Boldy tried to shoot but it was partially blocked by Predators D Matt Benning. Wild F Nick Bjugstad was at the right side of the net so he was able to quickly retrieve the puck, turn and throw it at the net. Predators G David Rittich made the save but the puck kept going slowly through the crease. Predators D Mark Borowiecki was trying to clear the puck out of the crease but he didn’t get all of it and ended up putting it in his own net. DOH! 1-0 Wild.

Minnesota Wild Captain D Jared Spurgeon left the ice at 7:29, the same time when Brandon Duhaime got an interference penalty in front of the net.

Wild F Connor Dewar dove to clear the zone and the puck deflected up into Josi’s face. Dewar almost had a breakaway but decided against it for some reason.

PENALTY KILLED!!!

An after-the-whistle scrum developed after a Joel Eriksson Ek shot on net. It lasted about a minute with both teams pushing & shoving. Eeli Tolvanen pushed/face-washed Ek several times right in front of one of the officials then as it dissipated, while the official was making the call of a roughing minor for Wild F Joseph Cramarossa only, Predators F Ryan Johanssen pushes Cramarossa in the back.

The official pointed several times then just took Cramarossa. That seems impossible. Watch and see. How is there just one penalty here? What do every one of those players think about that call?**
**See more on this topic in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

Cramarossa was standing next to the goalie and Predator D Dante Fabbro shoved him. We can only assume the penalty was called when Cramarossa continued the pushing/shoving/face-washing with Eeli Tolvanen who actually grabbed him first.

It’s safe to say Wild coach Dean Evason was equally bewildered and not happy:

The Wild got a 2-on-1 on the PK with Gaudreau & Dewar and Dewar hit the post. Ohhh…

Mikael Granlund sent a saucer pass to Dante Fabbro at the front of the net. It was a tough pass in the air but Fabbro got/had the puck go off the shaft of his stick then off the right post and across the crease to a waiting Filip Forsberg to tie game with 3 seconds left in the 1st. Look at that bounce. Wow! Oh, well!

Shots after the 1st:
MN-15, NSH-9

2nd

A Connor Dewar shot resulted in a juicy rebound that came out to Joel Eriksson Ek for a shot while Wild D Jacob Middleton was sliding into the goalie after being tripped by Luke Kunin while heading to the net. It looked like F Connor Dewar ended up tapping the loose puck in the net but he must not have touched it since the goal was given to Joel Eriksson Ek. Ek’s shot actually went off of Luke Kunin then off of Roman Josi then into the net.

Predators G David Rittich got an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty for cross-checking Middleton after the play. Nashville made a challenge for Goaltender Interference but the goal was confirmed since Middleton was slid into the goaltender because he was tripped so the Wild ended up with a 5-on-3 with the Delay of Game penalty for the unsuccessful challenge and Rittich’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty.

The net came loose due to Rittich pushing it off. That came off very easy. Home-Ice advantage, there?

The Wild outshot Nashville 14 t0 0 in the first half of the 2nd period but no goal on the 5-on-3. That usually doesn’t bode well.

For some reason, Predators F Luke Kunin*** went down to one knee while forechecking as Jon Merrill got in his way and they called it interference. If he doesn’t go down, Merrill can just get in his way and let him go. That’s a tough call. Why does he go down to one knee? It was before Merrill got to him.
***See more on Luke Kunin in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The Wild won the faceoff but their clearing attempt was kept in by Forsberg with some crazy hand-eye coordination. He knocked the puck down with his stick at about shoulder height. Amazingly, we couldn’t find any video proof of this.

On the Power Play, Nashville worked a little Tic-Tac-Toe play from the left point to Forsberg just past the left faceoff dot and he made a quick short pass to Mikael Granlund for a one-timer but Granlund partially fanned on the shot so it was a changeup that Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury knocks away with his stick but it went right to Predators F Matt Duchene and he shot it over an outstretched Fleury to tie the game at 2.

A Nashville shot hit the post and the puck went under Fleury so he could freeze it and he tapped the post to say Thank You. Classic Flower.

Wild F Nicolas Deslauriers pushed/cross-checked in front of the net was called but it sure looked like a dive. What do you think?

Nashville then scored on that joke of a penalty call to take a 3-2 lead.

Matt Duchene somehow got a puck through 3 Wild players and Mikael Granlund to get to Fleury. Granlund got the rebound but Fleury stopped that, too, but the puck went out to Forsberg. He shot it past Fleury but off the far post and the puck goes off of Ryan Johanssen’s skate and settles so he can move it to his forehand and shoot it past Wild D Dmitry Kulikov to make it 3-2 Predators.

Literally a Wild scramble for the loose puck

Wild F Ryan Hartman hit with a high stick off the faceoff and both officials had their arms up. Another Wild Power Play.

The net came off again. The ice crew came out to fix it this time.

Nothing doing on the power play again.

Nashville D Alexandre Carrier had his stick up in Kirill Kaprizov’s face so twoooo minutes for a high-stick at 1:55. Stupid penalty.

On the Power Play, Kaprizov tried to get the puck to Ryan Hartman but it was knocked away. Hartman & Ek went to battle for the loose puck and it bounced out between 2 Predators but Kaprizov made a lunging dive for it and got it to Kevin Fiala all alone just above the top of the right circle. That put the Predators into scramble mode and, we can only assume, Kevin Fiala saw threw of them just staring him down so he knew there’d be someone open and he found Joel Eriksson Ek open at the left faceoff dot. Ek one-timed the puck towards the net and beat David Rittich to make it a 3-3 tie.

70 seconds later, Kevin Fiala went around a few Predators and scored on a wicked backhand with 22 seconds left in the 2nd period on the 22nd shot of the period to make it 4-3 Wild!

What can you say about this? FIALA-LA-LA-LAAAA!!!

Shots after 2 periods:
MN:37(22), NSH:18(9)

Wild F Nicolas Deslauriers was called for roughing on what clearly looked like either checking from behind or boarding at 16:40. Does it matter if they get the penalty right or just the call?

Predators F Eeli Tolvanen hooked Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau at 13:38

The Wild were doing a very good job of protecting their 1-goal lead then a Dante Fabbro shot from the left point deflected off of Connor Dewar’s stick then bounced off the ice and Marc-Andre Fleury couldn’t react fast enough to keep it out of the net so, it was Tied once again.

That’s just a wicked deflection.

Not much happened in the final 5:40 as both teams were making sure to get the 1st point so, we had some…

OVERTIME

It was a lot more of the same in Overtime as both teams didn’t want to take much of a chance then make a mistake to give up the 2nd point.

Nashville had possession for most of the 1st couple minutes of the 5-minute overtime.

Predators F Matt Duchene got a shot that trickled through Fleury and was rolling toward the net but Fiala and Goligoski were there to keep it out of the net.

The Wild then finally got possession of the puck after Fiala was knocked down. That created a loose puck but Gaudreau made a great play with his stick to break up what could’ve sent in Tomasino all alone. Instead, it created a 2-on-1 for the Wild but they didn’t get much out of it.

Forsberg got past Hartman and looked like he had a sure chance to shoot the puck but he decided to pass it instead.

A faceoff in the Predators zone with 36 seconds left was won by Joel Eriksson Ek. Kaprizov shot a puck wide but Kulikov recovered and passed it back to Ek. He had it at the right half-wall and turned back towards the top of the right faceoff dot and Predators F Colton Sissons aggressively reached in with his stick to try to poke the puck away and a physical battle to keep possession resulted with both of them skating out towards center ice. Predators D Roman Josi thought it was a chance to maybe make a break if the puck came loose but Ek regained possession of the puck and curled back towards the offensive zone at the Wild bench. Wild D Dmitry Kulikov then turned to break towards the net. Predator F Filip Forsberg went to defend Ek as he kicked the puck up to his stick with his right skate and immediately passed the puck to the breaking Kulikov for a breakaway with 4 seconds left and…

KULIKOV!!!!

WOW!!!

What A Game!!!

Watch out on the bench! Evason gets physical during wins! Haha!

A Wild Win in Nashville - April 24th 2022

––––– CP –––––

Final
Minnesota Wild 5 | 4 Nashville Predators

Goals

MN: Nick Bjugstad(7), Joel Eriksson Ek(24, 25), Kevin Fiala(33), Dmitry Kulikov(7)
NSH: Filip Forsberg(40), Duchene(41), Ryan Johanssen(24), Dante Fabbro(3)

Assists

MN: Unassisted; Connor Dewar(4), Joseph Cramarossa(1); Kevin Fiala(51), Kirill Kaprizov(57); Matt Boldy(23); Joel Eriksson Ek(22), Kirill Kaprizov(58)
NSH: Dante Fabbro(20), Mikael Granlund(46); Mikael Granlund(47), Filip Forsberg(39); Filip Forsberg(40), Mikael Granlund(48); Matt Duchene(40), Roman Josi(70)

Goalies

MN: Marc-Andre Fleury – 21 Saves on 25 Shots on Goal – .840 Save%* – 27th Win (8th Win with the Minnesota Wild)
*4 goals and he had pretty much zero chance on every one of them!
NSH: David Rittich – 42 Saves on 47 Shots on Goal – .894 Save% – 3rd Overtime Loss

Postgame

Game Notes

*
Goalies Playing the Puck

Very few goalies play the puck well and it’s hard to think it doesn’t drive coaches and defensemen absolutely nuts. Usually, they stop the puck behind their net. Then send it around the other corner anyway and about 1% of the time it isn’t a turnover. It is truly mind-boggling that more goalies don’t understand to just make a simple play to a teammate.

Do they practice this, like, at all?

Marc-Andre Fleury actually makes good plays most of the time but that’s twice in two games where he had a brain fart to give up a goal (vs Seattle) and almost give up a goal 10 seconds into this game.

**
What if NHL Players were Mic’d up?

NASCAR has an app that allows you to listen to uncensored audio of the drivers and their crews. Uncensored! Just think of that.

Now, think about that in an NHL game? How fun would it be to listen to the chirping between the teams and the officials?

Maybe we’d understand these calls and the plays that are made during a game.

And…we wouldn’t have to listen to the play-by-play announcers if we didn’t want to and, if you know the game of hockey, you don’t need play-by-play. Just the sounds of the game of hockey would be pretty awesome to listen to.

Do you agree? Let us know!

***
Luke Kunin – A Former Top Wild Prospect

Luke Kunin & a ‘20 4th-round pick(D Adam Wilsby) was traded for C Nick Bonino, a ‘20 2nd-round pick(F Marat Khusnadinov) & a ‘20 3rd-round pick(traded to DET w/a ‘20 5th-round pick to draft D Daemon Hunt) on October 7th, the 2nd day of the 2020 NHL Draft.

This was one of the first moves Bill Guerin made to acquire some leadership and change the culture of the Minnesota Wild to a winning culture.

“It’s about f***ing winning!” 

This sure looks like a good trade right now as Luke Kunin is a 4th-line grinder for the Nashville Predators and the Wild have achieved a winning culture that has resulted in their greatest season* in franchise history.
*Greatest regular season, at least. We’ll see about the postseason very soon.

At the time, though, you had to wonder if this was a good trade because Luke Kunin was drafted 15th overall as a goal-scorer and a leadership-typer player who had the potential to be named captain of a team. He hasn’t developed into that, yet. Or, maybe, a better way to say it is he hasn’t been given a chance to develop into that, yet.

He’s a restricted free agent after this season and he’ll likely have to take a short-term prove-it deal with Nashville but he should maybe request a trade to a team like Arizona or Seattle to get a chance to get back to begin a goal-scorer. He has a great shot and he likes to shoot but he’s sadly having to change his game to become a role player.

Would any team take a chance on him to put him in their top-6 and on their power play? It remains to be seen and there probably aren’t many teams willing to take that chance.

Only time will tell but we feel like things have sadly gone awry for Luke Kunin. He’s still just 24-years old!

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

A 3-game homestand to end the regular season beginning with the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday at 7 pm on Bally Sports North Extra which is actually The CW so maybe everyone can watch this game. We’ll have to check for you.

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Vancouver Canucks – April 21st, 2022

Posted on April 22, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Vancouver Canucks - April 21st, 2022

The Minnesota Wild were looking for 3-in-a-row against the Vancouver Canucks last night, against any opponent and over the Canucks for the season series. The Wild beat the Canucks 3-2 in Vancouver in the 6th game of the season then beat them 3 days shy of a month ago in Overtime at The X.

This is a HUGE game. The Vancouver Canucks were pushing for a playoff spot. They were 4 points back of the Dallas Stars and they also had just 5 games remaining in the regular season.

The game was important to the Wild, too. Even though they had already clinched a spot in The Stanley Cup Dance, home-ice advantage over their likely opponent, the St. Louis Blues, was still attainable.

This game was also the return of former Minnesota Wild head coach, the one & only Bruce Boudreau. “BRUCE, THERE IT IS!”

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

D Jon Merrill makes his return & he’s reunited with his defensive partner, D Dmitry Kulikov.

F Jordan Greenway & D Matt Dumba skated on their own & with the team in the morning but still aren’t ready to return to action.

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Vancouver Canucks - April 21st, 2022

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver Canucks Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - April 21st, 2022

Game Recap

The Wild had a lot of energy wary but Vancouver weathered that storm and got to their game.

With 1:18 remaining in the 1st period, Vancouver Canucks F Matthew Highmore took an interference penalty when he chopped across Kaprizov’s stick. He hit his skate which made him fall down. Kaprizov had already passed the puck so a trademark interference call but Highmore doesn’t understand the call. You can see him saying, “I didn’t do anything.” & “I don’t effin’ get it.”

On the ensuing faceoff, Wild F Kirill Kaprizov got his stick up high trying to get around Canucks F Brad Richardson and accidentally put his stick across Richardson’s face for a high-sticking penalty that drew blood for a double-minor that bled into the 2nd period, too. That pun was intended.

4:53 into the 2nd period, Wild F Kevin Fiala started a breakout in his own zone with a pass to Matt Boldy going up the right boards. He got the puck back just outside the middle of the blue line. With Canucks D Tyler Myers closing on him as the puck got to him, he just tipped it a little bit to keep it going past him to Frédérick Gaudreau. Tyler Myers was calling for offsides* as he turned to chase the puck. D Jacob Middleton drove the net and that left Kevin Fiala wide open for a one-timer for his 31st goal of the season and a 1-0 Wild lead.
*Or maybe his teammates to help out! HEY! It’s a 3-on-1!

Fiala Scores his 31st to put the Wild up 1-0 in the 2nd period - April 21st, 2022

Is this the cover of the Vancouver Film Session, tomorrow?

The Canucks responded 37 seconds later as the Wild did a little puck-chasing of their own which left Canucks F Elias Pettersson open for a one-timer in the slot off a feed from Conor Garland that looks like a blind pass. He knew where Pettersson was going to be but it looks like he passed it while looking at the puck. 1-1 Tie

See what Wild Head Coach thinks about this goal 21 seconds in. Not happy.

99 seconds later, the Minnesota Wild regained their 1-goal lead on Captain D Jared Spurgeon’s 10th goal of the season as he hit the upper right corner while Canucks G Thatcher Demko was being screened by Kevin Fiala and his own defenseman Tyler Myers.

Spurgeon then mishandled a puck just inside his own blue line and Vancouver F Matthew Highmore picked up the loose puck, went in alone and scored 2:12 later over Wild G Cam Talbot’s blocker and the was Tied once again.

After no goals in the 1st period, we had 4 goals in 4 minutes & 29 seconds. That’s how gray hair happens.

Just shy of 7 minutes later, Canucks F Conor Garland got the puck at the right boards which forced Wild D Jonas Brodin to pursue him. Pettersson had a step on Wild D Dmitry Kulikov and drove the net. Garland was able to get a shot off but it went off of Brodin’s stick which may have helped create a rebound that Pettersson put into the net. It’s hard to tell what happened here other than the Wild having some bad coverage through the neutral zone with Matt Boldy in the middle then coasting on the backcheck as was within reach of Garland but really made no difference in the play.

Coasting is never a good sign for a backchecker.

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov and Canucks D Luke Schenn had a “shift-long battle” and the next time Schenn was on the ice, Wild F Nicolas Deslauriers was sent out on the ice. They “talked” before the faceoff. Vancouver won the faceoff back to Schenn. Deslauriers forechecked him, threw a body check and the gloves hit the ice. It wasn’t much of a fight as they were in close for most of it but Schenn got some uppercuts in then they separated a little and Deslauriers got a couple of good ones in before the linesmen stepped in.


Deslaureiers screamed “LET’S GOOOO!!!” as he left the ice.

The Wild tied the game 95 seconds later as Kirill Kaprizov left the puck for Mats Zuccarello to pick up and he took a shot that went off then under Vancouver G Thatcher Demko’s catcher glove, the 7-hole, and it was a 3-3 Game! 

Did Conor Garland screen his goaltender? Hard to tell.

So…a HUGE 3rd period will start to decide the fate of Vancouver’s season & where the Wild begin the playoffs.***
***See more on this topic in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The reigning NHL 2nd Star of the Week, Wild F Kevin Fiala, would likely have something to say about how this game was going to end.

Just shy of 3 minutes into the 3rd period, the Canucks got a Too Many Canucks on the Ice penalty as they had 6 players on the ice for quite a while. The Wild couldn’t make them pay on the Power Play, though.

With 11:45 remaining, Canucks D Tyler Myers got his stick up high on Kevin Fiala. There was a whistle but it didn’t come from either of the officials so confusion was happening as to why there was a whistle and why there wasn’t a penalty being called. The linesmen and the officials gathered and the penalty was called to the dismay of Bruce Boudreau and Tyler Myers. Again, though, the Wild didn’t capitalize on the Power Play.

With 9:51 remaining, Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau had the puck at the right half-wall and took a shot that went into the chest of Canucks G Thatcher Demko. Wild F Ryan Hartman saw the loose puck so he took a couple hacks at it while Demko was trying to corral it. The whistle blew and Canucks D Oliver Ekman-Larsson shoved Hartman for touching his goalie so they both got matching roughing penalties. Hartman either let go of his stick or could no longer hold on to it as it was stuck with Demko. The Vancouver goalie tossed it into the corner.

7:53 left in regulation: Kevin Fiala had the puck at the top of the right circle and was skating back toward the blue line. He passed it to Jonas Brodin at the left half-wall. Brodin surveyed the ice then gave it back to Fiala as he was coming around the left point. He then took the puck around the Vancouver net. Former Wild, now Canucks D Brad Hunt pursued him while the rest of the Canucks watched him. Fiala came around the other side of the net and shot it short side past Demko for a 4-3 Wild lead. Hunt tried to get a piece of his shot. It’s hard to tell if he did and if that had an effect on the shot.

The Wild had their forecheck working and Mats Zuccarello had 2 Canucks defending him in the left corner. Ryan Hartman retrieved the puck and headed towards the net then fed Kirill Kaprizov for a quick low shot that beat Thatcher Demko under his right pad with 1:55 remaining in regulation.

Tiny Zuccarello beat 2 Canucks in a battle on the wall.

A 2-goal lead meant the Canuckleheads pretty much had to pull their goalie ASAP to get an advantage to have any chance in this game and in their battle to make the playoffs.

The goalie was pulled at 1:40. The Wild got an empty-netter 27 seconds later to make it 6-3 and that was the game!

––––– CP –––––

Final
Vancouver Canucks 3 | 6 Minnesota Wild 

Goals

MN: Kevin Fiala(31), Jared Spurgeon(10), Mats Zuccarello(23), Kevin Fiala(32), Kirill Kaprizov(44), Ryan Hartman(32)
VAN: Elias Pettersson(30), Matthew Highmore(5), Elias Pettersson(31)

Assists

MN: Frédérick Gaudreau(28), Matt Boldy(21); Brandon Duhaime(11), Jacob Middleton(9); Kirill Kaprizov(52), Jon Merrill(15); Jonas Brodin(25), Frédérick Gaudreau(29); Ryan Hartman(29), Mats Zuccarello(54); Kirill Kaprizov(53), Mats Zuccarello(55)
VAN: Conor Garland(28), Brock Boeser(23); Unassisted; Conor Garland(29), Travis Dermott(5)

Goalies

MN: Cam Talbot – 21 Saves on 24 Shots on Goal – .875 Save% – 31st Win – 200th Career NHL Victory

VAN: Thatcher Demko – 26 Saves on 31 Shots on Goal – .839 Save% – 21st Loss

Game Notes

*
When is a penalty actually a penalty and when is it not a penalty?

Minnesota Wild D Jonas Brodin was hooked as he came around his own net and it made him fall down and the Vancouver player let go of his stick as it remained in Brodin’s midsection but there was no call. I believe it was during 4-on-4 play so…how does that work?

They can’t call everything but it’s strange there was no call there. How is that not called? Is it because it didn’t really change the play? Brodin was still able to pass the puck where he wanted to pass it.

Do the coaches get an explanation for it?

What if the officials had to do a postgame press conference to answer questions about how their calls/no-calls? How interesting would that be? How long would those press conferences last?

No More Questions!

**
Do former coaches talk with the GMs that fired them when they return with another team?

Bruce Boudreau wasn’t a happy camper when Minnesota Wild General Manager fired him on Valentine’s Day in the year 2020. He returned to face the Wild for the first time last night so is everything okay, now? Do they talk to each other? Does Bruce understand now why Bill did what he did, especially since the Wild have been very good since then?

We would think yes and Bruce is a guy who loves hockey and he also loved Minnesota so maybe he also would like to keep his options open for a return in another capacity once he feels he doesn’t want to coach anymore because it’s still hockey so we assume it doesn’t feel like a job to do what they do.

Also, it might be another way to get his name on The Cup.

“Ok, Google*, whose names go on the Stanley Cup?”
*Siri gave me the wrong answer.

This is what Google found:

Ok, Google, Whose Names Go on the Stanley Cup?

Google also gave us this pretty sweet article about the history of the Stanley Cup:

The Ultimate Stanley Cup

This is why you read the Game Notes!

The Ultimate Stanley Cup - ESPN

***
The Mathematic Battle for the Playoffs

At the beginning of the broadcast, Bally Sports North sideline reporter Kevin Gorg said the Vancouver Canucks probably have to run the table to make it into the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Later in the broadcast, Anthony LaPanta said something similar. We originally had “could” decide the fate of Vancouver’s season but changed it to “will start to” because there is still a chance. We don’t know about you but we’ve always gone the way of mathematics to decide when to give up on our team’s chances of making the playoffs because you never know what can happen in sports.

We love when people say, “a team has never made the playoffs after [Insert whatever reason here]!” but the thing is… everything that has happened had at one time “never happened before!” EVERYTHING!!!

So…never give up on your team regardless of their chances. We’ll all be doing that once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin as the regular season records go by the wayside and every team is 0-0 with an equal chance to…

Raise the Stanley Cup!

Postgame

Head Coach Dean Evason’s Postgame Press Conference:

Some Wild fun if you didn’t see it…

This team has fun! We LOVE IT!!!

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Seattle Kraken make their first appearance ever at the Xcel Energy Center tonight at 7pm!

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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

Minnesota Wild Recap at the St. Louis Blues – April 16th, 2022

Posted on April 16, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap at the St. Louis Blues - April 16th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild had one last chance to beat the St. Louis Blues in the regular season as they’ve lost the 1st 2 games,* 4-6 in the Winter Classic & 3-4 in Overtime 8 days ago. And… this is very likely their 1st-round matchup in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs but…with these teams tied in the standings, home-ice advantage is still yet to be decided.
*Is it weird the NHL didn’t schedule 4 games between these teams? No games at The X due to the Winter Classic.

2022 NHL Hockey Standings before the games of April 16th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild still has a game in hand but a win today would be huge! Also, St. Louis has a tougher schedule in their last 7 games than the Wild do in their last 8. Will it matter? It doesn’t matter right now!

Let’s Drop the ClutterPuck, huh?

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Still no Jordan Greenway, Matt Dumba or Jon Merrill.

Wild projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Matt Boldy — Frederick Gaudreau — Kevin Fiala
Tyson Jost — Joel Eriksson Ek — Marcus Foligno
Brandon Duhaime — Nick Bjugstad — Nicolas Deslauriers

Jacob Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Dmitry Kulikov
Jordie Benn — Alex Goligoski

Cam Talbot
Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched: Connor Dewar
Injured: Matt Dumba (upper body), Jordan Greenway (upper body), Jon Merrill (upper body)

St. Louis Blues

Blues projected lineup

Brandon Saad — Ryan O’Reilly — David Perron
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Vladimir Tarasenko
Ivan Barbashev — Brayden Schenn — Jordan Kyrou
Alexei Toropchenko — Logan Brown — Nathan Walker

Marco Scandella — Colton Parayko
Nick Leddy — Justin Faulk
Torey Krug — Robert Bortuzzo

Ville Husso
Jordan Binnington

Scratched: Niko Mikkola, Calle Rosen
Injured: Tyler Bozak (lower body), Mackenzie MacEachern (upper body)

Game Recap

The goalie rotation continues for the Wild as Cam Talbot started today.

On a faceoff in the Blues zone between Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman & St. Louis Blues F Ryan O’Reilly, Hartman got his stick up high on O’Reilly and after a whistle, O’Reilly want to talk about it so they both shove each other but O’Reilly gets his stick up high on Hartman and a high-sticking penalty is called on O’Reilly and, for some reason, they even it up by giving Ryan Hartman a roughing minor.

So…that means we got some 4-on-4 hockey for a couple of minutes and the Wild just missed on a backdoor one-timer because Blues F David Perron got his stick in the way.

Wild F Tyler Jost took an elbow from Blues D Marco Scandella and he struggled to get off the ice a little bit.

A minute or so later, Blues D Nick Leddy takes down Kirill Kaprizov even though he clearly didn’t have the puck so the Wild got their first power play.

Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau centered a pass from the right corner and the seat of his pants to Marcus Foligno in front of the net for a good scoring chance. On the next faceoff, the Wild just missed a tip from a shot from the right point but the game remained scoreless.

A centering pass from Wild F Kirill Kaprizov was intercepted by Blues D Colton Parayko and he quickly passed it up to Blues F Nathan Walker for a 3-on-2 rush for St. Louis. Walker passed it to Brayden Schenn at the right boards. He took the puck into the zone where Wild D Jonas Brodin came to him so he curled towards the boards to protect the puck and found Ivan Barbashev. Nathan Walker kept skating into the zone and ended up at the right side of the net to the left of Wild G Cam Talbot.The other Wild D, Dmitry Kulikov, decided it was better to leave a player in front of the net to defend the player getting the puck but Barbashev quickly sent a pass to Walker and he turned to make a move around Talbot but Talbot stopped him and the puck was just lying there for Barbashev to fire it into the open net.

Talbot couldn’t get back to the puck because Ryan Hartman tried to take Walker out of the play. He did that but he also took his own goalie out of the play. Blues up 1-0!

Notice the 3 Wild forwards coasting.*
*See our Game Notes section for more on this topic.

The Wild had a good response and created a couple of scoring chances then drew another penalty when Nick Leddy held F Matt Boldy near the blue line after he had gotten rid of the puck and it wasn’t a slight hold.

Good push from the Wild to end the period. They outshot the Blues 14-9 but they also had 2 power plays while the Blues had none.

1st Period Summary
MN   |   STL
23 – Shot Attempts – 14
4 – Scoring Chances – 7
5:57 – Off. Zone Time – 2:05

The Wild started the 2nd like they finished the 1st, with a good push with that excellent forecheck.

Off an offensive zone faceoff, it appeared the Blues won the faceoff as it was drawn back towards the goal line but it actually popped up in the air and Wild F Mats Zuccarello was the first to it as it dropped back down to the ice. It bounced over Blues D Marco Scandella’s(#6) stick allowing Zuccy to get his stick on it. Blues F David Perron(#57) tried to kick it away but it went towards Blues D Colton Parayko(#55) and Wild F Kirill Kaprizov. Kap tried to put it on net but it went off of Parayko’s stick then off Perron’s other skate and ended up going right to Wild F Ryan Hartman. He tried to wait for the puck to settle then he just planted it in the upper right corner to tie the game at 1 just 1:41 into the 2nd period. 1-1 Tie!

1:43 later, St. Louis regained their 1-goal lead when Blues F Vladimir Tarasenko beats Kevin Fiala to the loose puck off the faceoff and they are off to the races. Kulkov deflects the puck away from Pavel Buchnevich but then he has to go to defend Colton Parayko while Jonas Brodin continues to defend Buchnevich and nobody covers Tarasenko, that guy who’s scored 30+ goals in 6 of his 10 seasons, until it’s too late. This is brought to you by Oops, I Crapped My Pants! because that’s what they said when they saw the puck going to Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kaprizov got a breakaway but Blues D Colton Parayko caught him and forced him to protect the puck which lessened his chance of scoring but the puck was very close to going in. It was stuck under Blues G Ville Husso’s right pad just above his ankle and it was close enough for the officials to look at it but they still said it wasn’t a goal.

Wild D Jacob Middleton was called for interference as he didn’t let Ryan O’Reilly get by him once the puck had gone by. 17 seconds into the power play, Blues F Pavel Buchnevich dumped the puck in from the left point but follow-through hit Wild F Joel-Eriksson Ek in the face. The officials got together and decided it wasn’t a penalty because it was a follow-through of a shot.

Rule 60 - High-Sticking - Follow-Through of a Shooting Motion - 2021-22 NHL Rulebook

They quoted Dean Evason during the power play, saying the Wild’s biggest problem on the penalty kill has been clearing the zone when they have the chance and right on queue, that’s what happens and it bites them as a cross-ice pass from the right point to the left side of the net goes for a one-timer from David Perron and beats Talbot as the power play ended to put St. Louis up 3-1.

Even on this play, you can see Kevin Fiala doesn’t know where David Perron is because his stick is defending a pass to nobody.

A quick flip from the Blues’ defensive blue line from D Marco Scandella went to Ryan O’Reilly. Brandon Saad drove the net and Ryan O’Reilly fed him for a quick breakaway and Saad beat Talbot through the five-hole. 4-1 St. Louis.

The Wild were doing way too much reacting to the play instead of reading the play which just kept allowing the Blues to beat them to pucks and make plays. How can 2 players beat 3 players? Watch all Wild players here, D-men, Dmitry Kulikov, Jonas Brodin & F Tyson Jost. Byt the time they see what’s happening, it’s too late.

The Wild responded again with some good play, a mini-breakaway from Nick Bjugstad and he fed Nicolas Deslauriers who took a one-timer that Husso saved and he also just got his left pad on the rebound.

Wild F Kevin Fiala got his stick up high on Nick Leddy for a double-minor for high-sticking. On to the PK again for the Wild.

Pavel Buchnevich hit Wild F Tyler Jost with a big check in the middle of the ice on the power play. It’s a good hit. It’s unnecessary, though. The Wild didn’t like it so Deslauriers goes after Buchnevich but everyone else joined in. It resulted in a 2-man advantage for St. Louis as Deslauriers got 2 for roughing Barbashev & 2 for roughing Buchnevich while Barbashev was the only one to go for the Blues, also 2 minutes for roughing.

A big 3rd was needed for the Wild, especially since the Blues were 28-0-0 when having a 3-goal lead at any part of the game. This was kindly shared on the broadcast. Do the Wild know about it or, more to the point, care about it? They likely don’t know the exact stat but they know very good teams don’t give up leads easily and St. Louis is a very good team.

Summary after the 2nd
MN   |   STL
40 – Shot Attempts – 36
11 – Scoring Chances -18
0/2 – Power Play – 0/2

So…the Wild have to kill off the penalty to begin the 3rd. Check ✅

Then…they need to score early to get them back within 2 goals and get that Wild feeling again. Check ✅

The Wild know how good they are at even strength and they’ve already had a good forecheck going in this game.

They kept it going and a Ryan Hartman pass attempt to Kirill Kaprizov to the backdoor went off of former Wild D Marco Scandella to make it 4-2. The announcers thought the goal that deflected off of Scandella’s stick was the record-breaker for Kirill Kaprizov. They of course realized it was Hartman’s goal when they saw the replay.

They had to keep pushing hard to get the Blues off of their game. Check ✅

92 seconds after getting the game within 2, they made it a 1-goal game on a one-timer from Frédérick Gaudreau from Kevin Fiala and Matt Boldy and there was still more than 15 minutes left in regulation:


Look at the Blues chasing the puck or puck-watching as we like to call it.

They needed G Cam Talbot to make some big saves to keep them in it. Check ✅

Cam made a big save on Jordan Kyrou on a wide-open shot to his left but he got his glove on it to send it into the other net above the glass.

They’d need to stay the course no matter what else happens during the game. Check ✅

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov & Blues D Torey Krug got in a shoving match so they were told to sit for 2 minutes to think about what they did as the game went to some 4-on-4 play.

While 4-on-4 & in the Wild’s zone, Blues D Colton Parayko was skating in on the right side and made a drop pass at the half-wall to F Robert Thomas and he sent a pass across the ice to the left point but there was nobody there as Vladimir Tarasenko went for a change. Pavel Buchnevich replaced him, picked up the loose puck and skated into the zone just outside the faceoff do and he took a shot as he came up to Wild D Jacob Middleton hoping the defenseman would create a bit of a screen.* The shot went off Talbot’s glove then his shoulder then the crossbar and in to put the Blues up by 2 goals once again.
*Check our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this.

That didn’t stop the Wild. They just kept battling like they have all season.

The Wild kept pushing and drew a holding penalty on Blues F Ryan O’Reilly as he tackled or put some kind of wrestling move on Jacob Middleton to keep him from the puck. O’Reilly smashed his stick against the glass as he entered the penalty box.

With seconds remaining on the power play, Ryan Hartman had the puck at the left point. He had Frédérick Gaudreau going to the net to set up a screen and Marcus Foligno heading to the net with nobody near him in the slot so Hartman took a slapshot that Blues G Ville Husso caught but it came out of his glove and right to Foligno’s backhand. He quickly went to his forehand and put it home for a 1-goal game once again!

58 seconds later, Blues D Colton Parayko had the puck behind his own net. Wild F Mats Zuccarello was in on the forecheck but slowly as Parayko was taking his time. Marco Scandella was in front of him to the left of his own net. Kaprizov was covering Robert Thomas. For some reason, Parayko was dead set on passing to Scandella with a short sauce pass over Zuccarello’s stick but Zuccy got his stick on it and quickly made a centering pass to a wide-open Kirill Kaprizov in the slot and he one-timed it past Blues G Ville Husso for a 5-5 game AND…

That’s Kirill Kaprizov’s 43rd Goal of the Season breaking the record for most goals by a Wild player in a single season!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Kirill Kaprizov breaks the Wild record for most goals in a single season - April 16th, 2022

The Wild kept their foot on the gas as they would’ve loved to have stolen both points but, despite some more chances, this one went to…

OVERTIME!!!

8 days ago, the Wild allowed the Blues to tie the game with 2 goals in the 3rd and force overtime. On the game-tying goal, Wild D Jordie Benn tried to get to Brayden Schenn to make a physical play on him but Scheen was too fast. He got by him, went to the net and went around Talbot to tie the game.

Then, in overtime, the Wild made another defensive mistake by trying to switch on a rush. It didn’t work as Alex Goligoski thought switching was the best way to stop the rush but Frédérick Gaudreau thought they should stick with man-to-man. That left Robert Thomas open for the one-timer that won the game in Overtime.

Today, it was both miscommunication and a puck-watching/chasing the puck problem.

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov made a change while close to his bench but, as soon as he did, Blues F Pavel Buchnevich took off to make it a 3-on-2 rush and Kevin Fiala had to try to get back as quickly as possible. Buchnevich didn’t end up getting a shot off as Ek defended him pretty well and Cam Talbot was in a good position so he didn’t even shoot. He tried a wraparound that didn’t work but the puck went out to the slot. Wild D Joans Brodin left Justin Faulk to cover Buchnevich. This forced Kevin Fiala to cover Faulk and that left Brayden Schenn open, shot, goal, game! DOH!

––––– CP –––––

Final
Minnesota Wild 5 | 6 St. Louis Blues 

Goals

MN: Ryan Hartman(30), Ryan Hartman(31), Frédérick Gaudreau(13), Marcus Foligno(22), Kirill Kaprizov(43)
STL: Ivan Barbashev(24), Vladimir Tarasenko(32), David Perron(26), Brandon Saad(22), Pavel Buchnevich(27), Brayden Schenn(22)

Assists

MN: Kirill Kaprizov(50)*; Mats Zuccarello(51)**, Alex Goligoski(28); Kevin Fiala(41), Matt Boldy(19); Ryan Hartman(28), Jonas Brodin(24); Zuccarello(52)***
*Tied Zuccarello & Pierre Marc-Bouchard(2008-9) for most assists in a single season,
**Then Zuccarello passed them both to sit alone at 51,
***And then he added another on Kap’s 43rd which seems fitting, doesn’t it?
STL: Nathan Walker(2), Brayden Schenn(32); Colton Parayko(25), Pavel Buchnevich(40); Brayden Schenn(33), Torey Krug(31); Ryan O’Reilly(32), Marco Scandella(11); Robert Thomas(54), Colton Parayko(26); Pavel Buchnevich(41), Justin Faulk(28)

Goalies

MN: Cam Talbot – 24 Saves on 30 Shots – .800 Save% – 3rd Overtime Loss
STL: Ville Husso – 31 Saves on 36 Shots – .861 Save% –  24th Win

Game Notes
*
Learn How to Backcheck!

As a forward, knowing how to backcheck and play the game defensively can take you a long way. Every team has problems chasing the puck and playing the defensive game. That’s “every team” in the NHL. We’ve shown it time & time again. It’s pretty sad.

Why does it happen? Is it fatigue? They don’t like playing defense? It doesn’t show up in the stats? Other than +/- and nobody cares about that anymore if they ever did.

Well, how many Stanley Cups or championships at any level were won by a team who didn’t play defense.

The Wild actually to a very good job on this but it still creeps into their game every now and then. Do coaches need to preach it more? Constantly?

Coaches (&/or fans), let us know what you think in the comments and…for Pete’s sake… (who is Pete?)

Bring The Clutter!!!

**
That Shot Needs to be Blocked!

Pavel Buchnevich should never be able to get a shot off in this situation. He’s the only one in the zone. Jacob Middleton has been very good for the Wild but I bet he’d even say he can’t let that shot get through him and he needs to get his stick in front of it and/or take Buchnevich’s space away so he can’t make the shot.

Teams and coaches all have different philosophies on this part of the game but they all want shots blocked because it frustrates teams and gets into their heads to force them to make another move or try to get closer to the net or get what they think will be a better shot.

In our opinion, the best way to get to a great goalie is to shoot more and quicker than to shoot less and wait for what you think will be a better shot.

***
RIP Mike Bossy

Mike Bossy averaged 0.76 goals per game in his career. He had a career shooting % on 21.2! He scored 51 or more goals in all but one of his 10 seasons in his career which was cut short by a back injury. He won the Calder trophy*, won 3 Lady Bing trophies** (finished top 5 in all but 1 season), won a Conn Smythe trophy and was an All-Star in every season he played.
*Rookie of the Year & **Player who “exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability”

He was the 1st player ever to score 60 goals in 3 consecutive seasons.

Postgame

 

Always interesting to hear what the coach has to say:

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

vs the San Jose Sharks tomorrow night at 5 pm at The X!

The Wild will try to redeem themselves from an early season home loss to San Jose.

See you then, ‘Puckers!

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Colorado Avalanche – March 27th, 2022

Posted on March 29, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Colorado Avalanche - March 27th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild were probably looking very forward to playing the Colorado Avalanche today for multiple reasons. The Avalanche are arguably the best team in the National Hockey League right now as they have both the most points in the league with 97 and winning % (.746%) through 65 games. The Minnesota Wild are 11th in points (82) & 10th in winning % (.651) but they have at least 1 game in hand on everyone above them right now.

NHL Hockey Standings before the games on March 27th, 2022

The Wild are on a roll and there’s no better way to see how good of a team you have than to play the best.

And, last but not least, the Colorado Avalanche are a division rival who has beaten them in both games they’ve played them this season, one at home & one in Colorado, so they’d love to get 2 points against them.

It’s going to be a physical, hard-fought game. That’s pretty much a given.

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

 

Minnesota Wild

Maybe the Wild are rotating 3 defensemen as tonight, D Alex Goligoski was scratched and Dmitry Kulikov and Jon Merrill were the 3rd defensive pair.

Cam Talbot was back in the cage looking for his 7th consecutive victory and 8th consecutive victory in games he started.

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Colorado Avalanche - March 27th, 2022

Other than that, there are no changes to the lineup.

Colorado Avalanche

Colorado Avalanche Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - March 27th, 2022

Game Recap

Oh, boy! This is going to be fun! 

Let’s Drop The ClutterPuck!!!

This is playoff hockey! 2 division rivals just battling it out for points. You have to love this kind of hockey.

Wild had a lot of pressure early and it was very clear this was going to be a very physical game from the start.

Avalanche G Darcy Kuemper made a save and didn’t know where the puck was and awkwardly turned away from the puck just over 5 minutes in.

Wild G Cam Talbot is still hot 🥵 and very sharp early. Sprawling save at 12:08.

Wild F Jordan Greenway was called for roughing at 9:03. Questionable to say the least. Colorado D Jack Johnson fell down in front of Greenway so he fell on him and when he got up, he pushed on his head and his helmet came off. The official 20 feet from the play didn’t raise his arm but appears to be the one who blew the whistle. It doesn’t make any sense when the official right next to the play makes a call but the one out in the neutral zone much further away does make the call.

The Wild killed off the penalty as their aggressive PK is working. It was 8 for 9 over the last 4 games. Aggressiveness = confidence!*
*See more on this topic in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

Colorado D Cale Makar for roughing Hartman as his stick was stuck under Hartman making if difficult for him to lift it up which may have caused him to be off-balance and push Hartman’s head into the ice.

Twooooooo Minutes!

Wild D Matt Dumba was hauled down on the PP but no call.**
**See more on this topic in our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

End of 1 – 0-0, Shots: MN: 8 ,COL: 14

Joel Eriksson Ek checked Alex Newhook and dislodged the glass in the COL O-Zone.

The Wild were collapsing to their own net on loose pucks. The defensive zone details have improved since that terrible 14-game run between February 14th & March 16th when they went 4-9-1.

Wild F Kevin Fiala drew a holding penalty when Colorado F J. T. Compher grabbed Fiala on the shoulder as he was trying to create in the right corner.

With 34 seconds remaining on the Power Play, a loose puck caused some chaos that led to Colorado chasing the puck. Wild F Mats Zuccarello faked a shot then made an inaccurate one-time pass to Jared Spurgeon so he had to go back to get the puck on his backhand while facing his own net near the right boards and the blue line. Former Wild player F Nico Sturm saw this as an opportunity to be aggressive but Spurgeon was able to turn and send the puck back to the left point. Zuccarello had vacated the point so the puck went all the way to the left boards but Zuccarello was easily the first one to it but Avs F Logan O’Connor chased him for some reason. Zuccarello sent the puck down to Ryan Hartman in the left corner and he caught the puck while turning to protect it as he could see Avs D Devon Toews coming. Hartman then skated beneath the goal line and saw F Kirill Kaprizov open on the other side of the net. He thought better of trying to send a pass to him through the front of the net so he skated behind the net until he got far off enough to get a pass to Kaprizov who planted it in the upper right corner to put the Wild up 1-0!

Now watch this again and look at the Avalanche players just staring down the puck and not moving to defend anyone.

End of 2: Wild up 1-0, 2nd Period Shots: MN: 6, COL: 14

Wild F Jordan Greenway ran into Colorado D Cale Makar at the blue line as he’s trying to stay onsides and the official calls Greenway for Interference Tripping. That Is A Joke of a Call! Should Greenway be more aware of the situation? Maybe but it’s difficult to know what the opposing player is going to do.

Minnesota Wild Forward Jordan Greenway - This is my Shocked Face - vs COL - 3-27-2022

Greenway – This is my Shocked Face!

The Wild killed off another penalty and for the 2nd time, Jordan Greenway got a breakaway as he came out of the box. The puck was on edge so he likely didn’t get what he wanted from that shot and Kuemper made the save.

Spurgeon just couldn’t get enough of a Zuccarello pass right in front of the net around the 16:20 mark to put the Wild up by 2. So close!

Wild D Matt Dumba delivered a big hit on Mikko Rantanen as he came into the Wild’s zone with his head down and Nathan MacKinnon didn’t like the hit so they dropped the mitts. Not much of a fight but that’s how intense this game was.

You won’t see Dumba fight very often but maybe he took the opportunity to get MacKinnon off the ice for 5 minutes.

  • Not sure MacKinnon is the guy you want doing that for your club, either. He’s their best player and changes the game so much when he’s on the ice.

During a commercial break, Wild captain D Jared Spurgeon & D Jacob Middleton gave Dumba some props on the hit and the fight.

Colorado executed a play off the faceoff for a Nazem Kadri one-timer and the game was tied at 1 with 13:39 remaining in regulation. Kadri won the faceoff back to the left point to D Devon Toews. At the faceoff, Andre Burakovsky was the left wing and J.T. Compher was the right wing. After the faceoff was won, Burakovsky & Compher switch positions with Compher just skating behind Kadri but Burakovsky just skated straight through the dot and sets a pick Wild C Tyson Jost so he can’t get out to the point. When that happened, Kadri just released and backed up to the top of the left circle. Devon Toews kind of faked like he was going to walk the blue line toward the center or try to get a shot off then passed it down the left boards to J.T. Compher and he one-timed a pass to Kadri who took a one-timer that beat Wild G Cam Talbot to the far side to tie the game at 1.

Colorado executed a pick play to tie the game.

Wild Response?

Yes, and Colorado D Erik Johnson took a dumb penalty when he hit Jonas Brodin without the puck to put the Wild on the PP.

Colorado got a 2-on-0 breakaway and it turned into on 1-on-0 then a 1-on-NO as Cam Talbot made the save on Logan O’Connor. Why they didn’t try to take advantage of a 2-on-0 there is mind-boggling.

  • Why isn’t that a hooking penalty that makes Hartman fall down and creates the scoring chance?
  • The already-on-a-power-play non-call, again?

Wild D Jacob Middleton & Avs F Mikko Rantanen were battling throughout a sequence and the official ended up calling Middleton for a cross-check. Rantanen went down pretty easy, there. The Avalanche score 2 seconds later on a shot from Rantanen.  2-1 Colorado with 9:57 remaining in regulation.

Neither Avs F Nazem Kadri nor Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek won the faceoff but Ek got his stick on it to send it slightly back toward Foligno but he & Burakovsky were battling for position. Kadri swung his stick at it in an attempt to either pass it back to Rantanen or just to create a loose puck and it deflected off of Burakovsky’s right skate out to a wide open Rantanen for a shot that he put off the crossbar and into the upper right corner to put the Avs up 2-1.

Burakovsky (or his right skate) got an assist on that play, too.

Well, this is a predicament, isn’t it? Will the Wild get the response they need this time? Now they need a bigger response since they have to tie the game then find a way to win it but…

They’ve done it before this season and even did it against the Avs in Colorado back on January 17th after they went up by one goal with 3:32 remaining in regulation. The Wild (Kaprizov) scored 41 seconds later to tie it up. Did the same thing happen here?

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov had the puck in the offensive zone. He skated across the blue line to the right half-wall and passed to Matt Dumba at the right point. Dumba went around an Avs player but was closed off on getting to the net and had to cut towards the right boards and send it down to around the right corner beneath the goal line on the right side of the net to Mats Zuccarello. Before Zuccy got to the puck, he surveyed the ice to see what his options were then he got to the puck facing the boards and faked like he was going to go to his left then went to the right to gain some time on Avs F Mikko Rantanen who was on him quickly. Zuccy evaded a check then skated around the right corner towards the right half-wall. Rantanen lost an edge and fell down which allowed Zuccy some time so he curled toward the center of the zone and tried to make a pass to Ryan Hartman in the left slot but Avs D Devon Toews was in front of Hartman to intercept the pass. Hartman got enough of his stick on the puck to pry it loose and the puck went back to Zuccarello and now, Hartman was open at the left side of the net but knowing he might not be open for very long, Zuccarello lunged at the puck to get the pass off as quickly as possible and it got to Ryan Hartman as Darcy Kuemper was trying to make a poke check and This Game was Tied once again! 2-2! 

They did it, again! It wasn’t as quick in this game at 4:30 later but who cares!

The Wild took the momentum of the tying goal and had a couple scoring chances that darn near put them in the lead and both had Kirill Kaprizov’s hands all over them. He won a puck battle beneath the goal line with Rantanen (?) and fed Matt Dumba as he was going to the net and his shot hit Colorado G Darcy Kuemper in the right armpit/pec/chest/whatever then Colorado D Erik Johnson cross-checked his former teammate, F Tyson Jost into the boards with 26 seconds left in regulation to put the Wild on the Power Play.

That’s when Kap almost ended it with seconds remaining in regulation as he took a quick shot from the left half-wall that deflected off Colorado D Josh Manson’s stick and hit the crossbar before the clock struck zero for…

OVERTIME!!!

That meant the Wild would start the extra session with a 4-on-3 power play and they put out 4 forwards: Joel Eriksson Ek, Kevin Fiala, Mats Zuccarello & Kirill Kaprizov.

Ek won the opening faceoff back into his own defensive zone where Mats Zuccarello got it and started up ice. He sent a pass to Kaprizov at the left boards on the red line. Kap skated into the zone the curled back towards the boards to avoid Colorado D Devon Toews, who stepped up to close the gap on him, and F J.T. Compher, who was closing in on him from behind. Kap was able to keep the puck from Compher and passed it to Joel Eriksson Ek in the middle of the ice and he immediately dropped a pass to Zuccarello who sent a quick one-timed pass to Kevin Fiala just in front of the right faceoff dot for a one-timer that Fiala blasted past Darcy Kuemper for another Overtime Victory for the Wild!

Kind of crazy for the Avalanche to be so aggressive on a penalty kill in Overtime and Kuemper seemed to calmly try to get over to get to the Fiala shot and he was a split second too late.

That’s 6 In A Row!!!

The Wild kept Cale Makar (+1) & Nathan MacKinnon (-1) off the scoresheet. How often has that happened?

Final Score

Colorado Avalanche 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals:

MN: Kirill Kaprizov(36), Ryan Hartman(27), Kevin Fiala(22)
COL: Nazem Kadri(26), Mikko Rantanen(33)

Assists:

MN: Ryan Hartman(23), Mats Zuccarello(46); Mats Zuccarello(47), Matt Dumba(19); Mats Zuccarello(48), Joel Eriksson Ek(16)
COL: J.T. Compher(10), Devon Toews(35); Andre Burakovsky(29), Nazem Kadri(55)

Goalies:

MN: Cam Talbot: Saves on Shots on Goal, .%, 7th straight win, 8th straight starts with a win
COL: Darcy Kuemper: 26 Saves on 29 Shots on Goal, .897%

Game Notes

*Confidence – The Mental Game

Confidence is such a game-changer. A player or team with confidence doesn’t think about what they’re doing on the ice. They just play and let the game come to them. The opposite of that is hesitating and thinking about what you should do. NHL hockey is way too fast to think about what you should do at any time. This is why we point out when players or teams are puck-watching or chasing the puck because that means they’re worried about making mistakes so they give themselves more room or more time to make a play and that usually doesn’t work.

In terms of a penalty kill, confidence isn’t sitting back & hoping you kill a penalty. It’s killing the penalty by taking away time & space and knowing when you can be aggressive.

If you look at the play the Colorado players made in Overtime on a 4-on-3, when both J.T. Compher & Devon Toews went to Kaprizov as he entered the zone with the puck, that was a hope play in our opinion. They already had one less player on the ice so sending 2 players to the player with the puck then leaves one defender out to dry as he tries to defend 3 players. That didn’t work out well, did it?

Fatigue may play a role in bad decisions, too, but Overtime had just begun so nobody should’ve been tired at this point of that shift.

**”Give us the Call, you’re the Referee”

What’s more dangerous? Trying to get in the head of a referee or a goalie? What is going on in there? I kid! I kid!

Seriously, though, how many calls aren’t made because a team is already on a Power Play? Is it like a call in overtime, it has to be blatant for a call to be made?

Are the officials told to call games this way?

How different would players play if these calls were made? They’d have to adjust to it. It’d be interesting to see how that would change games, wouldn’t it?

Just some interesting questions about officiating. Not necessarily criticizing because officiating is far from easy.

***More Depth?

How do you judge depth? Lines? Players? Stats of players? Advanced stats?

Think of what the Wild did at the TD, they got tougher and all of those acquired players immediately bought in to what they are doing because all but one of them went from a team who’s likely not going to the playoffs to a team that is going All-In to win the Cup!

Tyson Jost may have been in a better situation to win the Cup with the Avalanche but he was also excited to get a change of scenery and more of a chance to produce than being on a relatively normal 4th line checking role he had with Colorado.

  • Jost had his best game with the Wild against the Avs, too. Coincidence? Hard to say because while he was playing his former team, this was also his 6th game and he’s likely getting more & more comfortable and the Wild are giving him more opportunities to produce.
    • The Wild obviously believed in his talent or they wouldn’t have made the trade but he also produced more when he began his NHL became more of a regular in the Avalanche lineup (23 goals & 48 points including 9 PP goals & 13 PP points) in his 1st 2 seasons as a pro from 2017-2019.

****Other Notes or Thoughts – Hmm… 🤔

  • Goalie Highlights – Does anyone do just goalie highlights? Seems like that’d be very useful to show how well goalies played over the course of a game rather than just the random highlights shown in the recap packages.
  • The weird world of enforcers… – Nicolas Deslauriers stretches in warmups right at the red line and he’s looking for Colorado D Kurtis MacDermid to set a tone for the night.
  • Has Wild F Matt Boldy hit an NHL wall? – 0 points in 6 straight games and 1 point in the last 8 games after scoring 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in his first 25 games. Maybe he likes having 12 points & 12 assists since he wears the number 12? Doubtful. Most likely the league adjusting to him a little so maybe his confidence is down a little bit and he has to adjust back to get back to who he is.
  • A nickname for the Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman & Mats Zuccarello line?  – kHz Line? Kaprizov, Hartman, zuccarello? Kilohertz?

KiloHertZ

“a unit of frequency”

kilohertz definition

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Minnesota Wild will play the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night at 7 pm on Bally Sports North.

Be There and Bring the Clutter!!!

Thanks for reading!!! Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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