Minnesota Wild Recap at the Los Angeles Kings – November 8th, 2022

Posted on November 9, 2022 by
Minnesota Wild Recap at the Los Angeles Kings - November 8th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild started a 3-game road trip against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night and they were looking for some revenge against LA after losing 7-6 in their 2nd game of the season. They also hadn’t played for 4 days since a 4-0 shutout loss at home against Seattle.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild
at
Los Angeles Kings

The Wild called up Fs Adam Beckman & Joseph Cramarossa from the Iowa Wild. They also activated F Jordan Greenway off injured reserve. Adam Beckman was scratched, Fs Marcus Foligno & Brandon Duhaime were out with Upper Body Injuries (UBI). F Ryan Hartman is on injured reserve.(IR-UBI). Hartman & Duhaime did not accompany the team on the trip.

Minnesota Wild at Los Angeles Kings Lineups - November 8th, 2022

Game Recap

1st Period

This Wild started the game pretty slow then Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello took 2 penalties in the span of 2:51. The Wild killed off both of them, though. The Kings outshot them 10-3 in the 1st. Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury made some great saves to keep the game scoreless.

2nd Period

Wild F Marco Rossi had a great chance off the forecheck but he partially fanned on the shot for what could’ve been his 1st NHL goal. DOH!

The Kings scored but it was immediately waved off as it came off a high tip in front of the net. A quick review confirmed the call.

The Wild found their game after the slow start in the first period and were putting on pressure. They were outshooting the Kings 5-3 halfway through the middle frame.

Kings F Anze Kopitar got in on a partial breakaway but Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury waited him out and made the save then he had to scramble to get back to the net to be ready as the puck was still in the zone.

A scrum happened after the eventual whistle and Wild D Matt Dumba threw an uppercut that the official saw so he went to the box for roughing for the 3rd Kings Power Play.

The Wild killed it off and went back to work.

Then Wild F Kirill Kaprizov was in a battle with Kings D Drew Doughty and he cross-checked/high-sticked him to put the Kings on another power play. The officials called it a match penalty and went to review the call to either confirm it or lower it to a minor/double minor. The broadcast went to a commercial. ESPN+, ladies and gentleman.

Back from commercial and they were still reviewing the play and they decided it was a Match penalty for Intent to Injure so that’s 5 minutes and a game. That’s not intent to injure & if it is, there would be a lot more match penalties called. Kirill is turning around to cross-check him and clips him in the face. How is that intent to injure?

He doesn’t even get him with his stick. He got him with his glove.

Doughty was hammering Kirill before he took the penalty but they just let all of that go which is part of the reason why Kirill reacted the way he did. That doesn’t make it okay but if the officials aren’t going to call anything, what should he do? Kirill gets hacked in every game and they don’t call most of it.

Well, this makes for an interesting rest of this game, huh?

FYI: A high-stick penalty can apparently only be a minor, double-minor or a match penalty. They reviewed it and still called it a match penalty even though he doesn’t even get him with his stick. Why don’t they see that?*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

Rule 60.1: High-Sticking

The Minnesota Wild killed off the entire 5 minutes then drew a penalty when Kings F Brendan Lemieux took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. He reacted to Wild F Mason Shaw throwing a body check on Kings D Alexander Edler but the camera was not on him. No matter what he did, that’s a stupid penalty.

3rd Period

The Minnesota Wild started the period on the power play but without Kirill Kaprizov. Fredérick Gaudreau took his place on the 1st power play unit. They didn’t score.

With just over 6 minutes remaining in regulation, the Kings dumped the puck in down the left boards with a tip at the red line. Wild D Jonas Brodin sent it around the right corner where Jordan Greenway tried to stop it then clear the zone but Kings D Drew Doughty was on him as soon as the puck got to him and he ended up stopping the clear and sending the puck back down the right boards to Kings F Anze Kopitar. Kings F Gabriel Vilardi was skating into the zone looking to get open. Kopitar turned to protect the puck when it came back down to him and he made pretty much made a blind pass to the slot knowing Vilardi was going to that spot and Vilardi one-timed it through the 5-hole of Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury.

That’s a heckuva pass, huh?

1-0 Los Angeles

With a goal on a turnover, the only thing to really say is that Jordan Greenway needs to make the play on the boards. Are any of his teammates telling him “Man On” to let him know Doughty is coming?

You could add that Jonas Brodin may have been able to send the puck back down the left boards from where it came or maybe even just grabbed it and used his skating ability to evade the oncoming forechecker. We’ll assume he was being told to wrap it. Jordan Greenway was playing his 2nd game and he only played 6 shifts in his 1st game on October 20th.

The Wild pushed hard and had a lot of sustained time in the offensive zone but the Kings were clogging up the crease making it hard to get shots through. They took their time out with 1:47 left.

The Wild were creating chances during the final 1:47 and probably should’ve drawn at least one penalty but the officials didn’t call any of them and they couldn’t get one past Jonathan Quick so they’ve been shut out for 2 straight games after the 4-0 loss to Seattle at home.

Marc-Andre Fleury was a stud in goal but the Wild couldn’t help him out with any offense.

––––– CP –––––

Final
Los Angeles Kings 1 | 0 Minnesota Wild 

Goals
MN:
None

LAK:
1. Gabriel Vilardi(10)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN:
None

LAK:
1. Anze Kopitar(11), Drew Doughty(6)

Goalies
MN:
Marc-Andre Fleury – 29 Saves on 30 Shots, .967 Save%, 3rd Loss 

LAK:
Jonathan Quick – 21 Saves on 21 Shots, 1.000 Save%, 5th Win, 1st Shutout

Game Notes

*
Official Review comes back with the Same Call!

If you watch the video of the Kirill Kaprizov penalty, he hits Drew Doughty with his glove. The official called it a match penalty on the ice. They have to make the match penalty call on the original call because that’s the only way they can review the call. They can’t review a minor penalty and raise it to a major/match penalty. 

They reviewed the call. They can change the call down to a minor penalty or confirm the call and… they confirmed the call. That’s Amazing! Are they not looking at it close enough? If he doesn’t hit him with his stick there, can it really be considered “intent to injure?” It’s hard to believe that being possible since players throw punches a lot of the time and it’s called roughing instead of fighting. Isn’t a punch an “intent to injure?” Or were they just roughhousing like buddies?

Are Drew Doughty & Kirill Kaprizov buddies? Hmmm… it would appear the clear answer is No but it could be like a boxing match where during the actual competition, they are both just competing to win and afterward it’s hugs and congratulations. Maybe? Yeah. Probably not.

Watch it again HERE

**
Adam Beckman to make Wild Season Debut vs Anaheim

The Minnesota Wild forward prospect started his 2nd full professional season with 3 straight scoreless games in the AHL with the Iowa Wild then he scored 3 goals and added 3 assists in the next 5 games. He was also a -3 in those first 3 games but improved to a +5 in those next 5 games.

Rumor has it he’ll be in the lineup against the Ducks but we shall see.

***
Wild F Brandon Duhaime placed on Injured Reserve

“The Minnesota Wild have placed Brandon Duhaime on injured reserve, according to CapFriendly.” He missed the Wild’s last game with an upper-body injury and did not accompany them on their current road trip.

“Duhaime was injured in a November 1 win against the Montreal Canadiens. With his IR placement retroactive to that date, he is technically eligible to be activated at any time.”

We haven’t heard about the seriousness of any of these injuries other than reporters/broadcasters saying Ryan Hartman & Brandon Duhaime won’t be back anytime soon.

Marcus Foligno may play on Wednesday in Anaheim &/or Friday in Seattle.

Postgame

Minnesota Wild Head Coach Dean Evason talks to the media after the game in Los Angeles.

Other NHL Notes

Evander Kane took a skate across his wrist for a scary injury. Credit him for realizing it, putting his glove over it and getting to the bench as quickly as possible. Hopefully he’s alright.

https://twitter.com/BradyTrett/status/1590158541830385664?s=20&t=NAP9-TtxnSVgcnbgdmj3oQ

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Ducks of Anaheim tomorrow night, Wednesday, November 9th, on TNT at 9pm!

–––––CP–––––

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

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Seattle Kraken – November 3rd, 2022

Posted on November 4, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Seattle Kraken - November 3rd, 2022

The Minnesota Wild lost another player to injury in their last game when F Brandon Duhaime left with an upper-body injury and didn’t return. It sounds like this injury didn’t look good either. That makes 4 forwards out for the Wild now as Ryan Hartman, Marcus Foligno & Jordan Greenway were already out with upper-body injuries. Hartman was placed on Injured Reserve (IR) yesterday. Jordan Greenway has skated for 3 straight days but he’s reportedly not playing in the Wild next game on Tuesday in Los Angeles. More on this later but that means roster & lineup adjustments and the Wild went with 11 forwards & 7 defensemen in the game.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Out: 17, 18, 21 & 38
So the Wild went with 11 forwards & 7 defensemen…

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Seattle Kraken - November 3rd, 2022

Seattle Kraken

Seattle Kraken Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - November 3rd, 2022

Game Recap

1st Period

The Seattle Kraken had their forecheck working well for most of the period but there weren’t a lot of great chances with just 10 shots on goal total between both teams, Seattle 6, Minnesota 4.

The Wild covered well so they didn’t give up much as they weathered the storm of the Kraken while they were trying to figure them & their new line mates out .

They did get a late power play and generated some shots but nothing very close to a scoring chance.

2nd Period

The Wild had the better of the play to begin the 2nd period but 5 minutes in the Seattle Kraken got on the board first on a tipped shot that eluded Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury.

GOAL – Seattle – Morgan Geekie from Daniel Sprong & Ryan Donato

As you can see in the replay, there isn’t a great view of this goal which is somewhat unfathomable in this day & age. A shot from the right half-wall was tipped in front by Seattle F Morgan Geekie and it was a pretty incredible tip.* Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury had to rely on puck luck to stop this from going in. That obviously didn’t happen but there are some things that could have (or should have) changed the play.
*So incredible that not one TV camera in the arena caught it clearly. OOPS! Can we get a partial refund on our bill for that?

First off, the Wild were all focused on the puck and the play was really 4-on-5 since Seattle D Vince Dunn isn’t really part of the play and actually backed out of the zone for a few seconds. Wild F Mason Shaw (#58) saw the puck get wrapped around the boards from the left half-wall. He tried to be the first one to it but he saw/felt Kraken D Adam Larsson coming from his right so he initiated a battle for the loose puck by trying to check him (with both hands on his stick) which allowed the puck to get through to Daniel Sprong to take the quick shot that ended up being the primary assist on the goal. Shaw could have had his stick on the ice to get a piece of the puck while still trying to prevent Larsson from getting to it before him with a body check.*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek lost his player (Sprong) because he was watching the puck but he saw him skate past him. He kind of let him go thinking his teammate was going to get the puck then reacted when the puck went through to Sprong and wasn’t there in time to make a play on the shot.

Wild D Jared Spurgeon could’ve tried to block the shot or gone for Geekie’s stick instead of trying to push him out of the way. The biggest problem though was everyone reacting to the puck and the play instead of reading the play and reacting to what they read.

1-0 Seattle 

Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi was tripped by Andrei Burakovsky to put them on the Power Play for the 1st time at 13:28.

Kirill Kaprizov took a one-timer off a cross-ice pass from Matt Boldy but he didn’t get all of it and the puck fluttered into Seattle G Martin Jones glove so… flutterpuck. HA!

Marco Rossi tried to hammer a one-timer, too. You can see he’s getting more comfortable and starting to play better. Wild F Mason Shaw who saw most if not all of Marco Rossi’s 1st season for Iowa last season said after Rossi scored his first point (an assist) vs Montreal that he expected the flood gates to open soon!

Wild F Sam Steel beat out an icing but then he, Connor Dewar & Steven Fogarty went for a change while Seattle went up the ice on a 4-on-2 rush. That’s just a lazy Minnesota Wild change on the backcheck that can’t happen. If you can’t backcheck then you shouldn’t be out there. This is why you change when you can, not when you have no choice because you’re too tired. At least Fogarty took his player out of the play by tying him up on the boards. Unfortunately, he had his stick down to take away the pass but it still got through.

Wild D Jon Merrill should’ve tried to take away the pass that made the play instead of trying to take away the shot. Let the goalie stop the shot. Every goalie would rather face a shot then have to try to get across their crease to stop a one-timer.

2-0 Seattle

Kaprizov got a hooking penalty for what looked like a lift of the stick.

Wild F Connor Dewar outraced a clear on the Penalty Kill and created a scoring chance for Mason Shaw but he couldn’t corral the puck to get a shot off from his backhand.

Not too long later, it appeared the Kraken scored off a puck that deflected in the air and when it came down, Kraken F Wennberg tried to hit it in with the back of his head so it was called no goal but it was then reviewed and overturned as it actually went off of his back.

Fleury didn’t know where the puck was as he was being screened when it deflected off of Matt Dumba’s stick.  There’s not much to say about this goal but just talking to your teammates telling them it’s up in the air or Fleury asking where it is. You can see both Sam Steel & Jake Middleton saw it but their first reaction was to try to get in a position to block the net or try to push Wennberg out of the way.

3-0 Seattle

The Wild got a scoring chance when Ek flipped the puck in on Seattle G Martin Jones and got to the rebound first but he couldn’t get the puck past him.

Matt Boldy followed with a pass across but Mason Shaw wasn’t where Boldy thought he was so the puck just went to open ice

A 3-goal deficit seemed to have woken up the Wild. They started shooting quicker & more often and bringing some urgency to their game.

They had a great surge in the last few minutes but the period ended with them still down by 3!

3rd Period

Wild fans have seen this team comeback many times so they believe it can happen but were they able to do it against a very good Seattle team that could turn their focus to the defensive end even more with that 3-goal cushion?

They started the period with Matt Boldy centering Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello and you knew those 3 were going to get a lot of ice time since they had 4 days until their next game.

Wild D Calen Addison took a shot from the right point about 1:30 into the 3rd and it hit the shaft of Seattle G Martin Jones’ stick and that’s how it was going for the Wild in this game.

The officials must’ve put their whistles away for the period. Kirill Kaprizov was dumped in the corner of the offensive zone and also skated in and the Seattle defender’s stick hit the front of his left skate making him trip and fall down but… no calls. Kirill chirped/asked the official about it after the next whistle. It’d be nice to hear that conversation for any explanation of why that’s not called.

Wennberg added another one on a tip in front of the net that went off his stick this time. It was a low shot and he tipped it up into the upper right corner as he outmuscled Calen Addison to get his stick to the ice.

Not a great game for the Minnesota Wild but they competed hard and 3 of the 4 goals were on crazy or incredible tip-ins with the other one coming on an odd-man rush so none of them are on G Marc-Andre Fleury but a loss is a loss and the team won’t like it.

We’ll see how they respond in 4 days in Los Angeles as they will be looking for some revenge/redemption after the Kings won at The X 7-6 in their 2nd game of the season.

––––– CP –––––

Final
Minnesota Wild 0 | 4 Seattle Kraken

Goals
MN: None
SEA: 1. Morgan Geekie(4) 2. Jamie Oleksiak(3) 3. Alex Wennberg(2) 4. Alex Wennberg(3)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: None
SEA: 1. Daniel Sprong(4), Ryan Donato(2) 2. Yanni Gourde(3), Justin Schulz(5) 3. Daniel Sprong(5), Oliver Bjorkstrand(6) 4. Will Borgen(2), Andrei Burakovsky(7)

Goalies
MN: Marc-Andre Fleury – 19 Saves on 23 Shots, .826 Save%, 5-2-1 (W-L-OTL)
SEA: Martin Jones – 22 Saves on 22 Shots, 1.000 Save%, 1st Shutout of the season, 5-3-1 (W-L-OTL)

––––– CP –––––

Game Notes

*
Where Is The Puck! It’s the Most Important Thing on the Ice!
And…It’s Vulcanized!

The puck is the MVP of every game because nobody would watch if there wasn’t a puck on the ice. “Uhhh… what should we do? Herbies? SLAP!”

So many players make plays with their sticks in the air whether it’s in a play like the first goal allowed last night, on the forecheck or while going in for a body check. It won’t matter how good of a body check is thrown if the puck gets by and it turns into an odd-man rush. There won’t be a “Good check, though!” uttered. That’s not good Clutter!

Who knows what happens if Mason Shaw stops that puck? The Wild may have gained possession and cleared the zone and they may have continued to play well in that 2nd period but the puck did get through and it ended up in the net.

There was a similar play in the playoffs last season that allowed David Perron to score an empty-net goal to seal a win in Game 4.

**
Be More Boldy!

Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy has shown immense talent and he should be an elite player for the Wild for many years. His vision is elite but there were several times where he could’ve shot the puck instead of looking for the pass.

Last night’s game felt like a log of players were trying to do more than they needed to do instead of playing within the system and using their teammates and playing together.

Maybe part of that was due to 4 regular players being out of the lineup. Hopefully it’s something they remember as this season goes along because the start of their season hasn’t been up to the high standards they set last season and to the high standards it takes to make the playoffs and win in the postseason.

***
Why go with 11 forwards & 7 defensemen?

Part of it was probably because they knew they had 4 days until their next game but was there more to it?

Salary Cap? Did they want to save some money? Doubtful since they have $3M+ space already but only 1 of the 4 injured regulars is currently on IR (Injured Reserve) so maybe not so farfetched.

Was it because there wasn’t much to choose from in Iowa? Sammy Walker has started his professional career very well as he now has 7 points on 4 goals & 3 assists in 7 games. He’s also a +4. Mitchell Chaffee is a +7 with a goal & 2 assists and Adam Beckman is a +2 with 3 goals & 2 assists.

Bill Guerin has always talked about not rushing prospects so do they want Sammy Walker to play the whole season in Iowa? If he’s still at a point per game in a month, they will probably have to consider bringing him up but he’s also learning the pro game. They’ve seen Mitchell Chaffee play with the big club for 2 games last season so they probably have an idea what he brings. Adam Beckman started last season with 8 points in 8 games then had just 26 points in the next 60 games. He also played some games with the big club last season.

We suspect they thought they could handle going with 11 forwards & 7 defensemen for one game.

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

4 days off! Well, 4 days without a game is a better way to say it. Then they head out on a 3-game road trip starting in Los Angeles for the 1st game which is also the front end of their second road back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Kings.

They will then head to Anaheim then end the road trip in Seattle against the Kraken.

––––– CP –––––

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

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Los Angeles Kings – October 15th, 2022

Posted on October 22, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Los Angeles Kings - October 15th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild likely watched quite a bit of film of their season opener so they could hopefully get to their game for Game 2 and not allow 7 goals against.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Los Angeles Kings - October 15th, 2022

Might want to change that font, Minnesota Wild PR. This might be in response to the team’s defense in Game 1. No more time & space in the defensive end & hopefully a lot less puckwatching! Is that why the top pair has been changed for the Minnesota Wild? Jake Middleton instead of Alex Goligoski.

Los Angeles Kings

Los Angeles Kings Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - October 15th, 2022

Game Recap

1st Period

Kirill Kaprizov took an irresponsible tripping penalty in the offensive zone 1:48 into the game. The Minnesota Wild’s Penalty Kill got better as the season opener went along but they know they’re better off being 5-on-5 and no coach is ever happy with offensive zone penalties.

Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno was trying to get better position in the neutral zone and he and Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty collided and Doughty ended up knocking/grabbing Foligno’s stick out of his hands. Foligno was asking (yelling) the officials why that’s not interference.

The Wild didn’t give the Kings much on the Power Play but a minute later the Los Angeles Kings took advantage of the Wild and their defensive woes as everyone is still puckwatching instead of doing their own job…

4:28 – GOAL – Los Angeles – Adrian Kempe from Kevin Fiala & Mikey Anderson

1-0 Los Angeles Kings

Kevin Fiala knew Adrian Kempe was on the far side before he got the short pass from Mikey Anderson. The puckwatching began almost immediately when LA got the puck. Minnesota Wild D Alex Goligoski was covering Adrian Kempe on the weak side of the ice and he started moving to the center of the ice and even further towards the puck even though he had to know Kempe was over there and that he’s a goal-scorer (35 goals in a breakout 2021-22 season). Unfortunately the rest of the Wild were also in puck pursuit as both D Calen Addison & F Ryan Hartman went to Kevin Fiala who made sure Kempe was still open then made a quick move to create some more space and sent a pass across to a wide open sniper. Even Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury looked like he was too deep in the net so he’s not out far enough to make a save.

8:55 – GOAL – Los Angeles – Gabriel Vilardi from Alex Iafallo & Quinton Byfield

2-0 Los Angeles Kings

Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman tried to make a pass from the right boards in his own zone but he waited too long which allowed Kings F Quinton Byfield to get a stick on his pass attempt to create a loose puck that he got to right away. The key to this play is Ryan Hartman giving up on it. Was he hurt? It doesn’t look it so he should be getting on his horse to disrupt the play. Matt Dumba was coming back and he had a chance to take the puck away from Byfield but he missed the puck and kept skating to take a swinging poke-check and missed. Byfield then passed it to Iafallo who decided to pass instead of shooting but Fleury played it more like a shot and missed so Gabe Vilardi had an easy goal in a mostly wide open net to put the Kings up 2-0.

Defensive zone turnovers are tough because you’re thinking offense and moving away from your opponent rather than thinking defensively & covering the opponent so when the turnover happens, everyone is out of position. It was a bad turnover but the response to it from Hartman was worse. It showed how much the Wild are struggling with confidence. It’s the woe-is-me reaction where the immediate reaction should be to try to make up for it by getting back to make a difference the other way.

Wild F Marco Rossi was called for a hooking penalty because his stick was in the midsection of the Kings player. Was it a good call? It’s debatable but it definitely wouldn’t be called if his stick isn’t there.

11:13 – GOAL (PPG) – Los Angeles – Drew Doughty from Anze Kopitar & Kevin Fiala

3-0 Los Angeles Kings

This goal happens because 2 Wild players pursued the rebound/loose puck in the right corner. Kings F Kevin Fiala got to it first. Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek pursued him but let the pass get through to the point. That was the 2nd assist. Should Wild D Matt Dumba be more aware/concerned about Doughty? It’s easy to say that but he also is kind of covering Kings F Gabe Vilardi (#13) in front of the net who would be open if Dumba were more aggressive to defend Doughty.

Loud boos came down on the home team as the Minnesota Wild crowd wasn’t happy!

The Minnesota Wild took their timeout!

1:44 later the Minnesota Wild got on the board with a goal from D Jake Middleton.

12:57 – GOAL – Minnesota – Jake Middleton from Jared Spurgeon & Matt Boldy

3-1 Los Angeles Kings

Jake Middleton took a shot from the middle left of the blue line and it deflected off the left leg of Los Angeles Kings D Brandt Clarke. This is why you shoot the puck. You never know what it can hit in front of the net. It’s also another reason why it’s tough to be a goalie. Some people will call that a soft goal but Seattle Kraken goalie coach Steve Briere would ask how exactly is Kings G Cal Peterson supposed to stop that?*
*Sheldon Keefe would expect that to be saved somehow. Watch All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, a docuseries from Amazon Prime chronicling their 2020-21 season. It’s definitely worth a watch, especially if you’re a hockey or sports fan. Or our Game Notes section from this recap from last season.

Just under 4 minutes later, the Wild got it back to a 1-goal game off a great effort from Marcus Foligno.

16:43 – GOAL – Minnesota – Marcus Foligno from Joel Eriksson Ek & Matt Dumba

3-2 Los Angeles Kings

2/3rds of the Minnesota Wild’s Identity Line and Wild F Tyson Jost were true to that Hard Work identity on this play. Jost got to the rebound of a Matt Dumba shot* that deflected to the left boards and sent it around the left corner to Ek who quickly sent it to Foligno who he went to his backhand as he went to the net with the puck and he shot a backhand past Kings G Cal Peterson as he wasfalling down,
*Jost must not have touched the puck as the 2nd assist went to Dumba.

The Kings were guilty of puck-watching on this play and D Drew Doughty should maybe think about using his stick to get the puck instead of going for the hit.

Unfortunately, the Kings got their 2-goal lead back on an Alex Iafallo slap shot from the point that somehow fooled Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury. He wasn’t happy with himself as he knows that’s a soft goal and that’s just a huge letdown after his team battled back to make it a 1-goal game.

8:55 – GOAL – Los Angeles – Alex Iafallo from Gabriel Vilardi & Matt Roy

4-2 Los Angeles Kings

Better 1st period than game 1 but still not even close to good enough.

2nd Period

You know this Wild team won’t stop battling but they also just need to play better and you can see their confidence withering which of course causes more problems.

The Wild made a goalie change to begin the 2nd period from Marc-Andre Fleury to Jonas Gustavsson.

33 seconds into the period, Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty took a high-sticking penalty but also almost impaled himself when the blade of his stick got stuck in the net:

The Wild didn’t score on that power play but they got another one when an after-the-whistle scrum broke out when Marcus Foligno didn’t like how Kings D Brandt Clarke swung his stick near his head so Marcus wanted to discuss it face-to-face. Clarke wasn’t very interested in doing that and his teammates Blake Lizotte & Brendan Lemieux jumped on him for 3 roughing penalties, 1 on Foligno & 1 each to Lizotte & Lemieux.

This time the Wild did score on the power play on a couple of cross-ice passes from Boldy to Kaprizov & Kaprizov to Eriksson Ek who was waiting at the back door for a pretty easy tap-in to make it a one-goal game.

5:25 – GOAL (PPG) – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek from Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello

4-3 Los Angeles Kings

Wild F Mats Zuccarello took a tripping penalty. He thought the trip happened because the Kings player pushed him from behind but his stick got between his skates so it was the right call so back to the Penalty Kill for the Wild.

9:11 – GOAL (PPG) – Los Angeles – Kevin Fiala from Adrian Kempe & Anze Kopitar

Wild D Jake Middleton was in a battle behind his own net and the puck deflected up into his face. It looked like a high-stick but a closer look revealed that it was indeed the puck just being mean. Middleton reacted by bringing both hands to his face so he lost his stick. That was impactful in Los Angeles eventually getting the puck over to Kevin Fiala for the perfect one-timer to the only place the puck to go in the net for his 1st goal as a Los Angeles King and another 2-goal lead for his team.

5-3 Los Angeles Kings

Kings F Adrian Kempe got a penalty for holding Joel Eriksson Ek and the Wild’s Power Play made them pay for it.

12:12 – GOAL (PPG) – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov from Mats Zuccarello  & Jonas Gustavsson

The Kings cleared the zone on the penalty kill and 3 of their players tried to make the long change. Wild G Jonas Gustavsson saw that and quickly sent the puck up to Mats Zuccarello just over the red line on the right  boards. With the Kings scrambling to get in position, Kirill Kaprizov weaved through them to find open ice on the far side and his buddy Mats Zuccarello found him for a shot to the upper left to get the Wild back within a goal.

5-4 Los Angeles Kings

But… the Kings needed just 58 seconds to get their 2-goal lead back once again.

13:10 – GOAL – Los Angeles – Matt Roy from Brendan Lemieux & Arthur Kaliyev

Solid hit from Marcus Foligno at the beginning of the video. Matt Roy gets the puck at the middle right of the point and he took the shot and got it just high enough to get over Gustavsson’s pad. The mass of humanity (Jared Spurgeon, Alex Goligoski & Blake Lizotte) provided a tough view for the Wild goalie to see the shot until it was too late.

6-4 Los Angeles Kings

2-2 score in the 2nd period but the Wild can’t be happy with that, either.

3rd Period

They got another Power Play on a tripping penalty from D Drew Doughty and Mats Zuccarello made it a 1-goal game yet again with a shot from the top of the left circle to the upper right corner.

5:56 – GOAL (PPG) – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello from Calen Addison & Matt Boldy

Zuccarello waited for Kings G Cal Peterson to have to look around the screen of Joel Eriksson Ek to shoot the puck and he shot it high assuming every goalie in the NHL is going to go down to make any save. It really makes you wonder if the butterfly-style of goaltending needs some tweaks, huh?

6-5 Los Angeles Kings

The Wild were within 1 and you figured their battle-level would be at a season-high with a tie game within their grasp.

Wild D Matt Dumba dumped (Dumpa?) a puck in around the right corner. Kings G Cal Peterson went behind his net to try to stop it but only got a piece of it so the first player to it was Wild F Matt Boldy. Knowing that Peterson had yet to get around the front of the net, Boldy quickly moved the puck to his backhand in front of the goal line to try to get it in the net or at least get a deflection of some kind.

Kings D Drew Doughty got the shaft of his stick on the shot to deflect it away from the goal but he slid into teammate F Victor Arvidsson knocking him down. Wild F Sam Steel was right there, too, and the puck came out to the left faceoff dot where Wild D Jonas Brodin threw it at the net but there were 6 players in/around the goal crease* and Kings F Trevor Moore (#12) slid to block the shot but it somehow got through so Kings G Cal Peterson lunged to his right on top of teammates Doughty & Arvidsson. The puck trickled out just past the front of the crease and Wild F Ryan Hartman quickly got to it to try a quick backhand but he couldn’t get it up high enough so Peterson ended up saving it off his left pad but it rolled up & over his pad.

Sam Steel moved around the humanity of Kings in the crease to be ready for a chance at the puck when it finally reappeared. Kings D Mikey Anderson (#44) tried to flip the puck out with his left glove but missed so the puck finally came back down so he tried to stack the pads but Sam Steel was able to sweep it into the net and…
*Clowns would be very proud of all those people in such a confined space. 😂

This… Game… Was…

TIED at 6-6! WOW!

7:32 – GOAL – Minnesota – Sam Steel from Ryan Hartman & Jonas Brodin

That might be the craziest goal in NHL history. Drew Doughty feared for his life when he saw Brodin coming to the loose puck. When the puck finally went in the net, all but 1 of the Los Angeles Kings players were in/around the crease with only 1 of them actually on his skates. Victor Arvidsson had his goalie laying on top of him for most of it. Ahh… that was fun. Haha!

After all the work the Wild did to get the game tied, it took just 31 seconds for Los Angeles to get the lead back again as Adrian Kempe got a pass from Anze Kopitar as he was skating into the slot and he caught it & shot it immediately beating Wild G Jonas Gustavsson to the upper left corner.

8:03 – GOAL – Los Angeles – Adrian Kempe from Anze Kopitar & Mikey Anderson

7-6 Los Angeles Kings

Kempe made the pass to Kopitar at center ice to start the scoring threat. Wild F Tyson Jost was the 4th man back but it’s a tough situation because Jonas Brodin went to Kempe at the right boards then tracked back to the net and Kevin Fiala was open on the far side so Jost was in no man’s land at that point. Once the puck was knocked away by Matt Dumba into the corner & it’s obvious Kopitar is going to get to it first, you can see Jost look at Kempe then look back at the puck and then break to get to Kempe but he’s was a split second too late to get to him at that point and that’s all it takes for a goal to happen in the NHL.

Other ways the play may have been able to be stopped is if Dumba is more aggressive getting to Kopitar and played a better angle to get his stick in front of the puck to take away that passing lane. Brodin could tell Jost to cover Kempe because Fiala had kept skating to the net. It’s easy to say this after the fact. Is it as easy to make those plays in real time? The most likely answer is no.

The Wild kept battling to get the game tied. They pulled the goalie and had some chances but the Kings stopped them all so that’s 2 straight losses to begin the season for the Wild with both of them disappointing because of questionable defense. Even more alarming is it’s really every part of the defensive side of the game, the defensemen, the goalies and the forwards.

––––– CP –––––

Final

Los Angeles Kings 7 | 6 Minnesota Wild 

Goals

MN:
1. Jake Middleton(1) 2. Marcus Foligno(1) 3. Joel Eriksson Ek (1)(PPG) 4. Kirill Kaprizov(1)(PPG) 5. Mats Zuccarello(1)(PPG) 6. Sam Steel(1)

LAK:
1. Adrian Kempe(2) 2. Gabriel Vilardi(2) 3. Drew Doughty(1)(PPG) 4. Alex Iafallo(2) 5. Kevin Fiala(1)(PPG) 6. Matt Roy(1) 7. Adrian Kempe 2(3)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists

MN:
1. Jared Spurgeon(1), Matt Boldy(1) 2. Joel Eriksson Ek(1), Matt Dumba(2) 3. Kirill Kaprizov(2), Mats Zuccarello(1) 4. Mats Zuccarello 2(2), Jonas Gustavsson(1) 5. Calen Addison(1), Matt Boldy 2(2) 6. Ryan Hartman(1), Jonas Brodin(1)

LAK:
1. Kevin Fiala(1), Mikey Anderson(1) 2. Alex Iafallo(2), Quinton Byfield(2) 3. Anze Kopitar(2), Kevin Fiala 2(2) 4. Gabriel Vilardi(2), Matt Roy(1) 5. Adrian Kempe(1), Anze Kopitar 2(3) 6. Brendan Lemieux(1), Arthur Kaliyev(1) 7. Anze Kopitar 3(4), Mikey Anderson(2)

Goalies

MN:
Marc-Andre Fleury – 10 Saves on 14 Shots – .714 Save%
Jonas Gustavsson – 17 Saves on 20 Shots – .850 Save%

LAK:
Cal Peterson – 29 Saves on 35 Shots – .829 Save%

Game Notes

*
The Wild aren’t sneaking up on anyone this season…

In 2021-22, the league may have not thought this team would compete like they did or put up the points they did but that’s all history now. The league knows who the Minnesota Wild are and they’re ready for them.

They’re going to have to step up their game from here on out. They were better tonight if only because they had a chance to win but they’re still not close to where they need to be.

Maybe facing last season’s winner of The Cup will be just what they need. They know they’ll have to be on top of their game to play with the Colorado Avalanche.

Was preseason too easy for them? Their game seemed to be right where they needed it to be. The games don’t ever seem to be a normal regular season lineup for both teams, though, so it’s just not the same as when they count.

**
Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi had 4:33 of Total Ice Time

He took a hooking penalty early in the 1st period then 5 more shifts and 3:10 of time on the ice. The coach wasn’t just upset or sending a message to his young rookie. That whole line was limited for the majority of the rest of the game. Brandon Duhaime & Connor Dewar got some time on the penalty kill and were probably thrown out there to let the other lines/players get a rest.

The doghouse doesn’t make sense. Talk to them between periods and get ‘em back on the ice so they can improve and redeem themselves and possibly help your team win the game after they screw up but, hey, that’s just my opinion.

––––– CP –––––

Next Up: 

The Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche on Monday night at 7pm on Bally Sports North at The X.

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

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the New York Rangers – October 13th, 2022

Posted on October 14, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the New York Rangers - 10-13-2022

The Minnesota Wild started season number 22 last night against the New York Rangers. Minnesota Wild fans should be as excited as they’ve ever been after the great season they had in 2021-22. Check out our Season Preview to catch up on what changed from last season to this season.

Biggest question: Will the Wild be able to score on New York Rangers G Igor Shesterkin?

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild
Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the New York Rangers - October 13th, 2022

New York Rangers
New York Rangers Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - October 13th, 2022

Game Recap

1st Period

The Minnesota Wild’s top line (Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman & Mats Zuccarello) created a scoring chance on their 1st shift with a cross-ice pass from Zuccarello to Kaprizov who one-timed a pass back across the ice to Wild D Jared Spurgeon who one-timed a shot wide right of the net but a defensive stick played a part so Spurgeon wasn’t able to get a clean shot off.

Minnesota Wild D Jake Middleton took a tripping penalty in the neutral zone after teammate F Matt Boldy took a hit from Ryan Carpenter. Middleton accidentally got his stick in Carpenter’s feet for the 1st Wild Penalty of the season. There are very few great penalties but this was a careless penalty to send a very good team on the power play.

Well… let’s see how that new Penalty Kill looks, huh?

Arteri Panarin was playing the right point and he sent a cross-ice pass to Ranger F Mike Zibanejad in the left corner below the left faceoff dot. Zibanejad one-timed a pass to Chris Kreider in front of the net. Kreider caught the pass but maybe wasn’t completely ready for such a quick hard pass so it bounced off his stick about a foot in front of him but he quickly & easily shot it into the empty net for an early 1-goal lead.

That was against the Wild’s 2nd penalty kill unit as Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Dumba & Jonas Brodin did a good job killing off the 1st 30 seconds of the power play. The 2nd unit was Tyler Jost, Freddy Gaudreau, Jared Spurgeon & Alex Goligoski. They got a clear but were chasing the puck on the goal. They wanted to be more aggressive but that was too aggressive. You have to pick your spots.

4:06 – New York Rangers – PPG – Chris Kreider from Mike Zibanejad and Arteri Panarin

1-0 New York!

Watch the Wild react to the puck for the whole play! Terrible! Read The Play!

The Minnesota Wild’s top line (Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman & Mats Zuccarello) created a another scoring chance with a cross-ice pass from Kaprizov floated a backhand saucer pass to a driving Spurgeon who lifted the Ranger defender’s stick to gain the puck and he sent a pass to Ryan Hartman in front of the net but Rangers G Igor Shesterkin made the save. Ohhhh!

The response to being scored on was evident right away as they started dominating until Ranger D Ryan Lindgren took a cross-checking penalty on Kirill Kaprizov at the 10:44 mark. The compete level of Kaprizov drew that penalty as he threw a body check on Lindgren and Lindgren wasn’t happy about it so he cross-checked seconds later then was sentenced a 2-minute minor for his rule-breaking.*
*Why? Why let your emotions get the best of you to help the other team? Check out the Game Notes section for more on this topic.

The Wild used Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Ek, Boldy & Addison on their 1st Power Play Unit & Rossi, Hartman, Gaudreau, Foligno, Spurgeon on their 2nd Power Play Unit. They created some chances but no goals until Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman ended the power play with a tripping penalty when he got his stick in Vincent Trocheck’s feet. He was trying to just give him a tap but got him low. Careless, stupid penalty.

The Wild killed off the 2nd Ranger power play and got a shorthanded scoring chance when Connor Dewar used his speed to beat Vincent Trocheck to the puck. He had Brandon Duhaime on his right and tried to get the puck to him but Trocheck got a piece of it with a diving lunge.

The Wild got some offensive zone time but were just a little off on their passes early on in Game 1.

The Rangers then got the puck in the offensive zone and with Arteri Panarin behind the net, Kaprizov & Calen Addison were at the side of the net just letting him be there but the other 3 Wild players were covering space instead of a player. Panarin then passed the puck to Alexis Lafreniére in the right corner just in front of the goal line. Addison went to him and did the goalie stance to maybe deter him from shooting. Ranger D Adam Fox was just below the left faceoff dot being loosely covered by Wild D Jonas Brodin who noticed he should cover someone and turned to get to Fox’s stick but wasn’t fast enough as Fox was able to get enough of the pass to deflect past Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury for a 2-0 lead.

16:03 – Goal – New York – Adam Fox from Alexis Lafreniére & Arteri Panarin – Puckwatching!

2-0 New York!

More Puckwatching! Ughh!

Late in the period, the Rangers added another one as the Wild kept their consistent bad defensive play and puckwatching going. 3 players were staring down the puck being carried by Alexis Lafreniére while he found Arteri Panarin skating in open ince in the left slot. Late reactions allowed him the time to shoot another puck past Fleury with 11. 8 seconds left sending the Wild in the season’s first intermission down 3-0.

19:48 (11.8 seconds) – Goal – New York – Arteri Panarin from Alexis Lafreniére & Vincent Trocheck

New York Rangers F Arteri Panarin makes it 3-0 - October 13th, 2022
Rossi realizes to look for someone to cover a split second too late & can’t make a play on either the puck or the player.

3-0 New York!

That’s not how you want to start your season, especially at home but… there are still 2 periods left & you can’t count this Minnesota Wild team out. They already showed a good response to the 1st goal which drew a power play but they shot themselves in the foot by taking a penalty of their own which of course killed that momentum.

Adjustments expected for puckwatching in their own end & if you leave a player behind the net alone, you can’t allow any of the other 4 players to be open for a pass like the 2nd goal.

2nd Period

1:06 into the 2nd period, the Minnesota Wild took another lazy, careless penalty when Ryan Hartman hooked Arteri Panarin as he was skating back towards the offensive blue line.**
**Players just love to tap/hook/nudge an opposing player to let them know they’re there. It’s hard to imagine that having any effect on a player in the National Hockey League, right? Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

The Wild did a great job killing that penalty off. Dare we say, Textbook? We dare! They then got back to working on the comeback and they were gaining momentum. 3 shots in a row seemed to mess with Shesterkin.

Then sheer hard work from Brandon Duhaime drew a penalty and the Wild made the Rangers pay when Marcus Foligno had the puck in the left corner and he sent it around to the right half-wall to Matt Boldy. 3 Rangers chased the puck as Boldy sent it back down to Foligno now in the right corner and Foligno got it to Kirill Kaprizov behind the net. Adam Fox went to defend Kaprizov behind the net so he went to the left side then moved to his right to protect the puck and sent a little backhand pass to an oncoming Mats Zuccarello for a one-timer that beat Shesterkin to the upper left corner and the Wild were on the board.

7:45 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello from Kirill Kaprizov & Marcus Foligno

3-1 New York

Wild F Freddy Gaudreau drew a tripping penalty in front of the Ranger net when he drove in for a scoring chance.

Ek was in prime form as he was battling for every loose puck and wreaking havoc on the forecheck. During the power play, Ek got blasted into the boards from behind by Ranger D Jacob Trouba who hit him in the numbers with his shoulder 4-5 feet from the boards. Ek didn’t hit the boards that hard but it sure looked like a boarding penalty. The officials obviously disagreed as there wasn’t a call on the play. That’s likely the no-call because they were already on the power play call, right?

Well, the Rangers continued to pound away on Ek and when he went for a loose puck that was somewhere in Shesterkin’s armpit, Chris Kreider took exception to it and cross checked him not once but twice. The 2nd cross-check was on the side of his face so it put the Wild on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:22.

Ek was put in a headlock because he was in on Shesterkin after a save then former Minnesota Gopher D Ryan Lindgren cross-checked Ek 3 or more times. Ek responded and they both went for roughing. Funny how that evens out even though it didn’t look even as Ek was getting pounded with a stick while on the ice and in the net. Ahh…officials.

The Wild were a lot better in the 2nd and it looked like they had clawed themselves back into the game but the Rangers with just over 3 minutes remaining in the period when Filip Chytil scored off a rebound to put the Rangers back in front by 3 goals.

4-1 New York

That’s a tough one to give up after all the work they did to get back in the game but hey, nobody’s feeling sorry for them. They dug this whole and they’ll have to find their way out of it.

3rd Period

Just over 4 minutes into the 3rd, an Alexis Lafreniére shot was blocked by Wild D Jared Spurgeon creating a loose puck that Kirill Kaprizov got to first but he had Ranger D K’andre Miller already chasing him from behind and Arteri Panarin in his skating path and the puck was bouncing so it was tough to handle. He tried to hit it to the boards but he didn’t get all of it and Panarin was able to get a piece of it to settle it down and he saw Vincent Trocheck at the left of the net so he fed him a backhand for a one-timer that Marc-Andre Fleury got his blocker on but didn’t get enough of it as it bounced down off of his blocker and into the net for a 5-1 New York lead.

4:18 – Goal – New York – Vincent Trocheck from Arteri Panarin

That’s a tough one! What can Kirill do there?
Leave it for Spurgeon? Spurgeon would have to tell him to do that.

58 seconds later the Wild got a goal back when Matt Boldy made a slick move to get a rebound around Shesterkin for his 1st goal of the season.

The kid has some skills. “That’s a Boldy strategy, Cotton.”

5-2 New York

But… 30 seconds after that, Rangers F Kaapo Kakko made it a 4-goal lead once again when he skated around the net then back in front and as he tried to make a move around Fleury, the puck hit Matt Dumba’s skate and went in the net.

6-2 New York

34 seconds later, Matt Boldy did it again as he made a patient move around Shesterkin to tuck his 2nd goal of the season with 13:40 remaining in regulation.

6-3 New York

That’s 4 goals in 2 minutes & 2 seconds!
Unfortunately it’s 2 each so the Wild are still down 3 goals!

Kirill Kaprizov was called for hooking for this:

Marcus Foligno tried to get his team going by asking Ranger F Ryan Reaves to drop the mitts and he obliged:

Chris Kreider scored off a tip on the immediate faceoff to make it 7-3.

The Bottom Line

Not good enough from the Minnesota Wild. They know it and they’ll adjust for the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night. It might be a long film session on Friday. Too many penalties and just all around terrible defense in their own zone that allowed 7 goals.

They get an early chance to hold themselves and their teammates accountable so they can play a lot better next game!

––––– CP –––––

Final
New York Rangers 7 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals

MN: 1. Mats Zuccarello(1)-PPG; 2. Matt Boldy(1); 3. Matt Boldy(2)

NYR: 1. Chris Kreider(1-PPG); 2. Adam Fox(1); 3. Arteri Panarin(1); 4. Filip Chytil(1); 5. Vincent Trocheck(1); 6. Kaapo Kakko(1); 7.Chris Kreider(2)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists

MN: 1. Kirill Kaprizov(1), Marcus Foligno(1); 2. Jake Middleton(1); 3. Matt Dumba(1)

NYR:  1. Mike Zibanejad(1), Arteri Panarin(2); 2. Alexis Lafreniére(1), Arteri Panarin(3); 3. Alexis Lafreniére(2), Vincent Trocheck(1); 4. Adam Fox(1), Barclay Goodrow(1); 5. Arteri Panarin(4); 6. Unassisted; 7. K’andre Miller(2), Mike Zibanejad(2)

Goalies

MN: Marc-Andre Fleury: 28 Saves on 35 Shots on Goal, .800 Save%

NYR: Igor Shesterkin: 33 Saves on 36 Shots on Goal, .917 Save%

Game Notes

*
Retaliation Penalties? What’s the Point?

Most of these penalties are just stupid. Have some poise and just take a hit and get them later in the course of the game. Defensemen know they’re going to get hit in every game so why do they get angry about it? They’ll have a chance to get them back at some point.

**
The Nudge/Tap/I’m on You Penalties?
Again? What’s the Point?

These are more frustrating than the retaliation penalties. How many NHL players are bothered by a little tap/slash/hack/push when they have the puck? Wouldn’t players be better off skating to have a chance at getting at the puck than coasting and taking the little hacks at the puck-carrier?

It’s like reaching instead of skating. Keep skating! If you’re too tired to skate than you’ve taken too long of a shift and should get off the ice.

***
How do you stop your team/players from Chasing the Puck?

It happens every game on both teams. To refresh or let you know what “Chasing the Puck” means, it’s when a defensive player is watching the puck* while the player they should be covering/defending is going wherever they want to go, trying to find open ice for a pass and a scoring chance.
*Thus why we call it Puck-Watching most of the time.

It makes players react to the puck and where it’s going instead of reading the play so they can anticipate & react to what they’re reading. Reacting to the puck doesn’t allow enough time to make a play on it or the player who has it or is about to get it and it usually ends up with you watching the puck go into your own net.

It has to be beyond frustrating for coaches and even the players because they know they shouldn’t do it. Coaches have the tough job of being brutally honest with a player saying they were terrible in the game. The Truth Hurts sometimes but it’s better to get an honest take on how you played than being nice. The good thing is the coaches will then show you what you did and why it doesn’t work with video and then show you how to change it so you don’t do it again.

But… for some reason, it keeps happening so… how do you get past it?

It’s a team game so it takes the whole team to stop it. Teams have to talk on the ice to help their teammates, things like “Man on,” “Time”, “Skate,” or “Get It Deep” or telling them where you are for a pass (“Slot,” “Boards,” “Net,”, etc…).

Practice will obviously help this, too. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a forward or a defenseman, either. Either way, it’s about time & space. If you’re playing offense, you want it. If you’re playing defense, you want to take it away.

The speed of hockey is incredible and it doesn’t get any faster than the National Hockey League so players default back to fundamentals and following the puck seems like a good way to keep track of it but that little vulcanized disc is only 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch high:

The History of the Hockey Puck

“What are you looking at, ya Hockey Puck?”

––––– CP –––––

Next up: 

The Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at 7pm on Bally Sports North!

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, Minnesota Wild, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

2022-23 Minnesota Wild Season Preview – Taking the Next Step!

Posted on October 12, 2022 by

2022-23 Minnesota Wild Season Preview - Taking the Next Step!!!

All Minnesota Wild fans know the pain of losing in the first round way too well. They thought last season was going to be the end of that pain, at least in the first round. The end of their team’s season ending in the first round. The end of their team not living up to their potential. Unfortunately, that familiar pain returned when the St. Louis Blues won 3 straight games to end what appeared to be the greatest season in franchise history.

It was the greatest regular season in franchise history and though that was a ton of fun to watch, that’s not what any fan wants from their team. The President’s Trophy* is not the goal. It doesn’t get taken around the world to show the fans. Why does it even exist? Who proudly displays they won it? Who wants to see it? Does it have a “keeper” like big Stan does? Who knows and who cares? It probably sits in a box somewhere in the team’s facility collecting dust.
*If you didn’t know, the President’s Trophy is awarded to the team with the most points in the regular season.

Year One!

Last season was year 1 for a new era of Minnesota Wild hockey. It was year 1 of a new culture. A new culture that produced that great regular season. That team competed until the final buzzer. They never gave up. They were strong in almost every facet of the game. One of their strongest traits was their mental toughness. They always had the confidence they could come back no matter what adversity they had to overcome. They would respond to goals against, losses and bad stretches. They scored more late extra-man goals than any other team in the National Hockey League.

That’s why it was so shocking to watch how the season ended in the playoffs. They took a 2-1 series lead with a convincing win in St. Louis in Game 3 but the experience of the Blues took over and the Wild looked like a different team, a beaten team, for the next 3 games. A goal against took the life out of them and had them hanging their heads. We didn’t see much or any of that in the regular season. The one obvious player that was still confident throughout was 97. Kirill Kaprizov never stopped battling for his team.

The Education of Losing

Do players keep watching the playoffs after their season ends? It must be difficult to do but there’s also lessons that can be learned from watching a team win it all. How did they do it? What adversity did they overcome?

There’s a saying, “You have to lose before you can win.” Like failure, you can’t avoid losing but you can learn from it. You gain experience and knowledge of what it takes to succeed & win…

Even The Great One Wayne Gretzky knows, you have to lose before you can learn to win

Even The Great One knows, you have to lose before you can learn to win

The coaches and the front office personnel keep watching the playoffs. They also go back and watch the video to see what changes they have to make for their team that will help them get a different result when they get another chance to play for The Cup.

Changes Are Coming! Changes Are Coming!

Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason said in a Q&A article from The Athletic*:

“We got to be f—ing better as a coaching staff. Clearly, we all didn’t handle that situation good enough. So once we get our group, once we get to that group, we are going to speak of that a lot. And we are going to be in a position where we push each other. As I said, I talk about the players making the other player accountable. We have to do the exact same thing on our end, too. We have to be better. Period. We have to give the tools to the players to be prepared. And we didn’t do a good enough job of doing that, so we’re going to push all of us in that direction. There’s nothing we can do about last year, right? Except learn from it and do something different, no different than our PK. We have to do something different that we feel will allow us to have success.”

*The Athletic comes highly recommended from us, Clutter Certified if you will. They always have great deals going on, currently at $1/month HERE!

It’s awesome to hear the coach talk about how much he thinks he & his staff need to be better and to see how much passion he has for it. He felt they failed their team too often so it’s going to be different this season. That’s how you develop into a better team.

The biggest system changes will be on special teams as the Minnesota Wild’s Power Play & Penalty Kill didn’t help them enough last season. They were ranked 18th on the Power Play at 20.5% and 25th on the Penalty Kill at 76.1% so…those “teams” were not special. So they’re going to use more personnel in both situations and be a lot more aggressive on the Penalty Kill. The PK struggled to clear the puck because they too often tried a prayer heave to get the puck out of the zone that didn’t work so they’ll go with more of a teamwork way of clearing the puck by finding a teammate who can clear the puck more easily. The preseason showed a definite improvement in both of those areas.

The preseason also had them trying different lineups and defensive pairings which is another change from last season when they pretty much kept the same lines & pairs for the majority of the season. Part of that is due to it being preseason and finding out who is making the team but it should help to already have some experience playing with other teammates.

Rumor has it the Wild will go with a top pair of Jared Spurgeon & Jonas Brodin from time to time, maybe at home when they have the last change so they can match up against the opponents top line.

But…

This was Always the Plan.

One of the biggest reasons Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin bought out the contracts of D Ryan Suter & F Zach Parise was because they believed in the talent they had in their prospects & their depth and they expected a few of those prospects to make an impact very soon.

Billy G did those buyouts to have cost certainty instead of having to wonder if Suter & Parise would retire and then be surprised by a huge salary cap recapture penalty. The buyouts are a huge cap penalty ($12,743,588 this season & $14,743,588 in both 2023-24 & 2024-25) but he knows exactly what his cap is now or cost certainty.

Prospects under Entry-Level Contracts (ELC) make a maximum of $925K in 2022 and those contracts can be a maximum of 3 years long but they can “slide” or extend by 1 year depending on if the player is 18 or 19 years old or if they played less than 10 NHL games in the regular season &/or the playoffs. If those Wild prospects can make the jump, they can help the team immensely from a Salary Cap standpoint.

We already saw F Matt Boldy make an impact last season with 39 points (15 goals, 24 assists) including 10 (3g, 7a) on the power play for a 0.83 point per game rate which was 5th on the team last year. That would be 68 points over a full 82-game season and it’s safe to say the Wild & Matt Boldy expect more than that. Fs Brandon Duhaime & Connor Dewar, D Calen Addison and G Kaapo Kähkönen were also on ELCs last season..

Add this to the many reasons why you have to draft & develop well.

Youth Going Wild

Enter Marco Rossi…

Drafted 9th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, Marco Rossi was coming off a monster season as an 18-year-old in the Ontario Hockey League. He scored 120 points on 39 goals & 81 assists in just 56 games. Minnesota Wild Director of Amateur Scouting Judd Brackett definitely had his eye on him:

“I want Rossi. He is lethal!”

How the Wild Selected Marco Rossi

We’re starting to see just how lethal Marco Rossi can be. It’s just preseason but he led the league in points (9) & assists (7). He looked like he belonged out there and maybe more importantly, he looked comfortable like he knew he belonged in the National Hockey League. He played with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello in the last preseason game and he made plays, scored . It’s pretty unbelievable that he fell to the Wild and the 9th pick. We’ll see if that becomes even more unbelievable as this season and his career moves along.

He scored 53 points on 18 goals and 35 assists in 63 games for the Iowa Wild in the AHL last season after missing the majority of the 2020-21 season due to Covid-19 and myocarditis, a broad term that essentially means inflammation of the heart.

Minnesota Wild rookie F Marco Rossi's scary bout with Covid-19 & myocarditis

Marco Rossi’s scare with COVID-19 & myocarditis

That is beyond scary for everyone involved. Thankfully he was able to get through that and get back to being healthy and living a normal life so he could keep pursuing his dream of playing in the NHL. It also puts into perspective just how impressive Marco’s season was since he was getting back to playing hockey and feeling comfortable again.

Rossi will get most of the publicity because he’s the top prospect in the Minnesota Wild’s system and he’s a forward that puts up points but there’s another pretty hyped prospect who made the team out of camp in D Calen Addison.

“What about #56 like you’ve had?… 59?” Classic!
Marco Rossi didn’t look surprised when he was told, did he?

Calen Addison is a puck-moving d-man who can skate very well and brings offense. He has 58 points (13 goals, 45 assists) in 77 career games including 4 power play goals in the American Hockey League. He quarterbacked the top power play unit in the preseason. He can hold his own on the defensive end and does the little things that you like to see like putting his stick blade in front of the offensive player when they have the puck. Ryan Suter may have taught him that one. He’s only 5’11 & 173 lbs so he uses his body to lean on guys when he feels the need. It helps to learn from captain Jared Spurgeon.

Don’t sleep on F Connor Dewar, either. He came up from Iowa last season when the Wild needed him and he was able to contribute with a seamless transition to how the Wild play. He has a physical edge to his game but he also has shown a scoring touch in the past. He was almost at a point-per-game level in 19 games in Iowa last season with 17 points on 8 goals & 9 assists.

Goodbye and Good Puck

The Minnesota Wild didn’t lose much from last season’s roster when it comes to total players lost as just 6 players left the team either via trade or as free agents.

Goodbye & Good Puck

Welcome to Minnesota, The State of Hockey.

With only a few players leaving, there were only a few new additions to the 2022-23 Minnesota Wild roster and even fewer since a couple of those spots were taken by players already in the system. On the first day of free agency, the Wild only added veteran depth pieces to two-way contracts in Fs Nicolas Petan (2 year contract), Steven Fogarty (2 year contract) & Brandon Baddock (1 year contract) and D Andrej Sustr (1 year contract). Nicolas Petan & Steven Fogarty showed well as they were 2 of the final cuts of training camp so we might see them with the big Wild at some point this season. Baddock was acquired via trade last season when G Andrew “Hamburglar” Hammond was sent to Montreal. He’s a big physical enforcer-type player.

D Andrej Sustr made the Wild out of camp. He’s a 6’7, 217-lb defenseman who has played 341 NHL games over the past 9 seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning & the Anaheim Ducks. He’s a good player to have as a 7th defenseman. We’ll see what happens when D Jon Merrill is healthy enough to return to the active roster.

The Wild signed one of us when they were able to agree with former Minnesota Gopher F Sammy Walker. He was a 7th-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2017 NHL Draft. He was given a taste of the NHL during training camp but we assume the Wild want him to play the whole season in the AHL to learn professional hockey. You never know how quickly players will develop, though. Being a 3-year captain of one the elite college hockey program says something & he did put up some points in his college career with 112 points (48 goals, 64 assists) with a 12-goal, 28-point average season always scoring double-digit goals. He has speed and talent so he’s definitely someone to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

It took until August 30th, 48 days after free agency began, for the Wild to sign a free agent to a 1-way contract when they signed F Sam Steel to a 1-year, $825K contract. This is Bill Guerin and the Wild’s staff believing there’s a lot more potential in a young former 1st-round pick who may just need a change of scenery after playing for the Anaheim Ducks for the first 4 seasons of his career. This is similar to why they acquired F Tyler Jost last season. They see a player with talent who can do more when put in a better situation.

A Flower in the Net…

G Marc-Andre Fleury was acquired to be The Man in the crease in the playoffs. He was a step up from Cam Talbot because he had the experience of winning a Cup (x3). He was very good in the regular season as he won 9 of his 11 starts. He wasn’t the reason the Wild lost in the first round. The Wild could’ve had a very good goalie tandem this season. It may have been a 1A & 1A situation as both are capable of being the number one goalie for the Minnesota Wild.

Unfortunately, Cam Talbot didn’t see that working well so Bill Guerin sent him to Ottawa for young backup G Filip Gustavsson who will enter his 1st season as part of a tandem in the National Hockey League. This tends to worry some fans because his stats don’t necessarily shine brightly over his career. He’s from Sweden and it’s a different game in North America which is likely something he’s found out over the past 4 seasons going back & forth between the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League. Stats are never really a good way to judge a player overall. He’s helped Sweden win medals and was named Goaltender of the tournament in the 2018 World Junior Championships.

We know to expect very good results from Marc-Andre Fleury even as he turns 38 on November 28th. This team will give both goalies every chance to win in the majority if not every game.

Continue Culture

Year 1 of the big change in this team’s culture produced the greatest regular season in their history with 9 players having career best years in points. That same culture will push them to do the same thing again while also showing any other players they have the same opportunity for success.

That old line we hear in Minnesota so often, “It’s the same team every year.” is never true. This team should be better. They’re growing together. They have everything they need to get over the hump of first-round failures. They’ll definitely face some adversity but they’ll be accountable to each other with the end goal always being to win the battle, the shift, the period, the game, the series and The Stanley Cup!

Do you think you’d succeed with 22 associates and an entire staff of coaches reiterating that you have the skills to play and produce at the top of the industry you work in?

Your 2O22-23 Minnesota Wild Lines

2022-23 Minnesota Wild Roster

Look at that Lineup!

There you go. That’s the roster the Minnesota Wild will use to try to get back to where they were a season ago, home ice in the first round. Anything is possible with that Lil’ Russian on your team!

The Stanley Cup is the goal! Nothing More! Nothing Less!

––––– CP –––––

Thank You for Reading!!!

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AND…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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