Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Columbus Blue Jackets – March 26th, 2022

Posted on March 26, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Columbus Blue Jackets - March 26th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild surely haven’t forgotten their last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a 3-2 shootout loss where the Jackets tied the game with 32 seconds remaining in regulation but one of the storylines was Columbus G Elvis Merzlikens talking some trash and even getting into a little scrum with Wild F Jordan Greenway.

Merzlikens stopped Wild F Mats Zuccarello in the first round of the shootout and said something to him afterward that made the usually stoic Zuccarello look back in shock that a goalie would talk trash.

The big storyline for today’s game was newly acquired G Marc-Andre Fleury making his first start for his new team, the Minnesota Wild.

Did the Wild change 4 to 5?

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Are the Wild alternating defenseman Dmitry Kulikov and Jon Merrill after the acquisition of D Jacob Middleton? Merrill played on Thursday night with Kulikov scratched and that’s the only difference in tonight’s lineup.

Well, other than the Minnesota Wild debut of G Marc-Andre Fleury, of course. That’s somewhat significant.

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Columbus Blue Jackets - March 26th, 2022

Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus Blue Jackets Lineup at the Minnesota Wild on March 26th, 2022

Game Recap

The Wild had great energy as they came out but these young teams at the bottom of the standings are almost tougher games to play because it’s not a big game in terms of competition but it is a big game for the Wild as they need to keep the pedal on the medal to improve, or just stay, in their current 2nd place position in the Central Division.

The Minnesota Wild got an early penalty just 27 seconds into the game when F Mats Zuccarello tripped Gustov Nyquist but the Wild killed off that power play in very nice fashion as they continue to improve in that very important area.

Columbus D Cole Sillinger then took a terrible penalty as he grabbed Wild F Matt Boldy’s jersey to get called for holding to put the Wild on the Power Play for the 1st time and the Wild made it count this time.

Jared Spurgeon took a shot from the right point that wound up behind the net and Joel Eriksson Ek was the first to it to the right of the net behind the goal line. Mats Zuccarello also went behind the net to the left to give Ek an option for a pass. Zuccarello saw his buddy Kirill Kaprizov* at the right side of the net and fed him for a one-timer from a tough angle to put the Wild up 1-0.
*See the Game Notes section at the bottom of this article for more on this topic.

At the end of the 1st period, Columbus D Vladislav Gavrikov tripped Wild F Kevin Fiala in somewhat of a slew foot action and Fiala was none too happy about it. The officials gave Gavrikov a tripping penalty that would put the Wild on the Power Play to start the 2nd period.

On the power play, Sean Kuraly broke up a play while shorthanded that sent the puck up the right side of the ice into the Wild’s defensive zone. Kuraly was the first to that puck with Wild D Jared Spurgeon coming back to try to break up a scoring chance. Spurgeon got alongside him but Kuraly had a half-step on him and tried to get to the net and ended up running into G Marc-Andre Fleury taking his feet out from underneath him and knocking the goal off its moorings. Another Blue Jackets player was coming in on the play and sent the puck into the net but the official immediately called the goal off since Fleury was taken out on the play.

Jared Spurgeon jumped on Kuraly to tell him it’s not okay to run into his goalie.

Boarding penalty from Columbus F Oliver Bjorkstrand for boarding Marcus Foligno. Jordan Greenway immediately grabbed Bjorkstrand in response to the hit on his Wild teammate. Somehow the official evens up the call by giving Greenway 2 minutes for roughing.

We were treated to 4-on-4 and the Wild had the puck for the majority of it but they don’t seem to want to shoot the puck* so they didn’t get much of a scoring chance throughout the whole 2 minutes.
**See the Game Notes section at the bottom of this article for more on this topic.

Columbus was checking Kirill Kaprizov hard all game long and it was maybe getting to him as he & Columbus D Gabriel Carlsson got coincidental minors for slashing that ended up with another 2 minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.

This time, though, the Columbus Blue Jackets had the better of the play and winded up taking a 2-1 lead on a Jakub Voracek wrister that may have been helped by a screen to beat Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury.

Columbus outshot the Wild in the 2nd period, 13-9.

The Wild dominated the first 12:15 of the 3rd period but couldn’t get one past Blue Jackets G Elvis Merzlikens then Wild D Alex Goligoski got a high-sticking penalty behind his own net to put Columbus on the power play for just the 2nd time.

Can the Wild come up huge on the PK to keep this game at just a 1-goal deficit?

Yes! They killed it off rather easily, to be honest. Now, did they get back to work to get the game tied?

They pulled Fleury with about 2 & a half minutes left in regulation… and this is what the Wild d0. They play 6-on-5 better than any team in the National Hockey League.

After head coach Dean Evason took a timeout to rest his top players in order to keep them on the ice, the Wild won the faceoff with 1:10 left as Joel Eriksson Ek pulled it back to Jared Spurgeon and he sent it to Jonas Brodin at the left point. They went to D-to-D* then back again to Brodin and he sent it to Kirill Kaprizov at the left half-wall. Joel Eriksson Ek went to the net to provide a screen of Columbus G Elvis Merzlikens. Kap skated in a little past the top of the faceoff circle and shot it and it doesn’t look like Elvis saw it at all as it went into the net to tie the game at 2 with 1:03 remaining in regulation.
*Defense to Defensive

They continued to push in the final 63 seconds but this one went to OVERTIME, securing at least 1 important point.

OVERTIME

Columbus F Partick Laine got a break down the left side after a Wild rush but Marc-Andre Fleury made a huge save to keep the game alive.

Wild D Jared Spurgeon then got a chance up the right side but Merzlikins made the save, too.

The puck somehow got back into the Wild’s defensive zone with Frédérick Gaudreau with the puck and Kevin Fiala going up the left side and Spurgeon up the right. Fiala & Spurgeon crossed behind Gaudreau and Freddy dropped the puck to Spurgeon. He took the puck into the offensive zone as Fiala had curled at the blue line to skate behind Spurgeon who then dropped the puck back to Fiala then skated to the net. For some reason, both Blue Jacket defenders went to Fiala which left Spurgeon open to come in alone on Merzlikins and he faked to his forehand then went backhand and put it off the post but it then went off of Merzlikins back and into the net for the extra point and another exciting, Wild Win!!!

AND…Elvis Has Left the Building…With A LOSS!!! Bye-Bye, Elvis and…

Thank You! Thank You Very Much!!!

Elvis Presley GIFfrom Elvis GIFs

Final Score
Columbus Blue Jackets 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild 

Goals:

MN: Kirill Kaprizov(34,35), Jared Spurgeon(6)
CBJ: Jake “Mister” Bean(5), Jakub Voracek(5)

Assists:

MN: Mats Zuccarello(45),Ek(15); Jonas Brodin(21), Kevin Fiala(36); Kevin Fiala(37), Frédérick Gaudreau(20)
CBJ: Jack Roslovic(20),Dean Kukan(7); Vladislav Gavrikov(24),Patrick Laine(24)

Goalies:

MN: Marc-Andre Fleury: 23 Saves on 25 SOG, .920%
CBJ

Next up: 

Right back at it tomorrow night against the Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche at 5 pm on Bally Sports North Extra (formerly Plus).

Cam Talbot is supposed to get the call in the cage as he’ll look for a personal 7th consecutive victory in net while his Minnesota Wild will look to extend their winning streak to 6.

This should be a heckuva game.

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 vs the Vancouver Canucks – March 24th, 2022

Posted on March 25, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Vancouver Canucks - March 24th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild got back on the ice again after a nice 3-0 win vs Vegas on Monday night and it was against the Vancouver Canucks and former Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau,* who seems to have righted the ship in Vancouver since he took over as their head coach on December 6th. They were 23-11-6 since then and were also just 3 points back of the last playoff spot before tonight’s game so they’re a scrappy bunch who are battling to get into the dance.
*Also having a Wild reunion is former Wild D Brad Hunt. There’s also Minnesota native Brock Boeser.

So…this wasn’t an easy battle for 2 points.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Vancouver Canucks - March 24th, 2022

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver Canucks Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - March 24th, 2022

Game Recap

Moose dropped the mitts with Vancouver D Luke Schenn less than a minute into the game and they were both throwing punch after punch before Marcus Foligno fell down to end the fight. It looked like Foligno asked Schenn if he wanted to go so Moose was trying to set the tone in this game to get his team going early.

The Wild had a good forecheck going early but the Canucks were blocking everything and on a Wild rush 4 minutes in, F Ryan Hartman took a shot from the left point that was blocked by Vancouver D Tyler Myers and it created a 3-on-1 as the puck came off Myers’ shin pad and Wild D Jared Spurgeon had pinched to join the play. That left new Wild D Jacob Middleton to try to defend the odd-man rush. He did a decent job but let a pass get across for a one-timer but Wild G Cam Talbot got across to make the save on Minnesota-native F Brock Boeser. The puck deflected to the left corner where Canucks D Oliver Ekman-Larsson tried to wrap it around the boards to Boeser behind the net but Middleton was there to break it up but the puck deflected off his stick blade to the left slot where Vancouver F Bo Horvat and he shot it into the upper right corner to put the Canucks up 1-0 early in the 1st period.

The Wild had yet to register a shot but it took just under 4 minutes later to do just that and they had their aggressive forecheck going, too.

That aggressive forecheck forced a turnover when Vancouver D Tyler Myers passed the puck back to his defensive partner Oliver Ekman-Larsson but he may not have been ready for it &/or it was a bad pass in his feet so he allowed the puck to go through his feet then he turned to skate to it and may have forgotten that Mats Zuccarello was in the middle of the zone. Zuccy got on his horse in pursuit and lifted Ekman-Larsson’s stick to create a loose puck to the right of the net. Kirill Kaprizov was there to take the puck and he faked like he was turning towards the right half-wall then went behind the net around to the left half-wall and sent it back towards the left corner to Ryan Hartman. Tyler Myers was in pursuit of Kaprizov but let him go when he passed the puck so he could follow the puck and try to get it from Hartman.

Kaprizov kept skating toward the center of the blue line. Jonas Brodin skated toward the net so he and Kaprizov wouldn’t occupy the same ice and also so the defender would have to defend him. That left time & space for Kaprizov to get a pass from Hartman and to skate into a wrist shot that went off the top of Canucks G Thatcher Demko’s catcher glove and into the upper right corner to tie the game at 1-1.

so…that first shot on goal was a good one. 1-for-1.

There were after the whistle scrums consistently then an official called Wild F Jordan Greenway & Canucks D Oliver Ekman-Larsson for roughing with 34 seconds remaining in the 1st period so it was 4-on-4 hockey and Kevin Fiala, who was flying around all period, took the puck through the neutral zone with speed, passed to his center Frédérick Gaudreau at the right boards just inside the offensive zone and Gaudreau gave it back to him as Fiala was skating by the Vancouver team but he just couldn’t handle the puck and it deflected to the right and Canucks G Thatcher Demko was able to make the save.

The Wild were outshot 10-8 in the 1st period.

Wild F Jordan Greenway came out of the penalty box and immediately got a scoring chance off a feed from Ryan Hartman and a good shot on net that forced a faceoff to the right of Canucks G Thatcher Demko. Greenway may have been heading for the bench then saw a chance to make a play as Hartman gained possession of the puck.

The next faceoff was won by the Wild which led to a quick shot from Kevin Fiala that Demko saved to force another faceoff in the same spot. On this faceoff, it looks like Vancouver wins it but it also looks like their center won it back towards his own net which forced Demko to make a quick save off his left pad that created a rebound. Kevin Fiala went right to the net and got the puck on his backhand so he protected it and made a turnaround shot on his forehand that beat Demko to put the Wild up 2-1.

It’s hard to tell if the puck goes off of Vancouver D Luke Schenn’s right leg or not but you have to wonder if Kevin Fiala made that move because he saw or knew the defenseman was coming towards him quickly or just so he could shoot it off his forehand for a stronger shot. He had already attempted about 3 shots that way in the game.

A little less than 7 minutes later, the Wild scored on a delayed penalty but the Canucks challenged that the play was offsides so the goal was disallowed. Kirill Kaprizov entered the zone as Ryan Hartman was passing the puck to him but it was deflected to make him offsides. That’s too bad. Jonny Merrill would’ve had his 5th goal of the season.

Wow! So close! A deflection may have changed this game

Phantom High-Sticking penalty** as Canucks D Quinn Hughes showed his acting skills and the official falls for it. Did Mats Zuccarello’s stick hit his visor? Hughes reacted late (?) Ryan Hartman did not like Hughes’ acting, though and he went to give him a piece of his mind so Vancouver G Thatcher Demko came out of the net to greet Hartman and Hartman shoved the goalie before the whistle was finally blown to make the penalty call.
**See our Game Notes section at the bottom of this article for more on this topic.

The Canucks then tie the game 5 seconds later right off the faceoff as Vancouver F J.T. Miller took a shot from the left point as Wild G Cam Talbot was being screened so he saw the puck too late to make the save & we had a 2-2 game!

A minute or so later, Vancouver captain Bo Horvat was still angered by Ryan Hartman’s actions so both players were exchanging slashes and shoves then Hartman kind of knocked Horvat down and he retaliated with a cross-check to the ribs and got a visit to the penalty box for it.

Did the Wild capitalize on it and re-take the lead?

Nope…how ‘bout some momentum from it?

For the most part, yes, as the Wild dominated for the rest of regulation but they couldn’t get one past Demko.

Jost got a shift with Ek & Foligno and almost scored as his shot went off Demko and just wide.

OVERTIME…

The Canucks won the opening faceoff of overtime and Elias Pettersson took the puck into the offensive zone then curled back to the blue line and tried to pass the puck to either Hughes or Miller but they collided and Kirill Kaprizov almost intercepted the pass and probably would’ve had a breakaway but Miller poked it away. Quinn Hughes got to the puck first and dropped the puck back to Miller for a shot and he hit the right post. PING!

Hughes then tried to pass it to Pettersson in the right slot but Kaprizov got his stick on it to create a loose puck. Pettersson ended up getting the puck back and skated towards the right corner but fell down. He tried to keep possession of the puck while he was down & keep it from Kaprizov & Jonas Brodin but Brodin pried it loose then skated behind his own net. Once Ek saw Brodin get the puck, he took off towards the Canucks net. Kaprizov had a couple of steps on Pettersson & Hughes didn’t bother to pressure Brodin which allowed Brodin to hit Kaprizov at the Wild blue line and he quickly hit Joel Eriksson Ek for a breakaway and he deked to his backhand then went back to his forehand and was able to get the puck past the outstretched leg of Thatcher Demko for the…

GAME-WINNING GOAL!!!

EK YEAH!!!

WOW!!! What A Game!!! The Wild overcame a little adversity to come out with yet another 2 points and regained 2nd place in the Central Division!

FINAL SCORE

Vancouver Canucks 2 | 3 Minnesota Wild

Goals:

MN: Kirill Kaprizov(33), Kevin Fiala(21), Joel Eriksson Ek(19)
VAN: Bo Horvat(25), J.T. Miller(27-PPG)

Assists:

MN: Ryan Hartman(22), Mats Zuccarello(44); Unassisted; Kirill Kaprizov(45), Jonas Brodin(20)
VAN: Oliver Ekman-Larsson(14), Brock Boeser(19); Quinn Hughes(47), Elias Pettersson(27)

Goalies:

MN: Cam Talbot – 26 Saves on 28 Shots on Goal – .929 Save % – 26th Win
VAN: Thatcher Demko – 33 Saves on 36 Shots – .917 Save % – 27-20-4 (W-L-OTL)

Game Notes

*Aggressive Penalty Kill & Good Sticks

The Wild changed their penalty kill to a more aggressive system and they’ve turned it around after a terrible run where they gave up a Power Play Goal in something like 16 out of 17 games.

It’s about quickly taking away time & space, having a good stick in the passing lanes and looking for opportunities to pounce when there’s a loose puck or a player is on their backhand. Marcus Foligno made a handful of great plays on the Penalty Kill tonight with a good stick.

Yes, they gave up a Power Play goal tonight, too, but they killed off the first 2 and we also think part of that terrible run was due to confidence and being very detailed on the penalty kill.

We’ll see if they can keep the PK turnaround going on their next kill which is hopefully not sooner than later.

**Adversity

Responding to adversity instead of letting it bring your game down & costing you more than whatever already happened is a total gamechanger. The penalty call for high-sticking had the Wild angered then it got worse when the Canucks were able to tie the game almost instantly on the Power Play.

The Canucks may have let adversity doom them as Ryan Hartman drew a penalty on a stupid cross-checking penalty from Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvat. Did it feel good to get a good shot in on Hartman? Maybe but did it give the Wild the momentum that may have propelled them to the victory?

It definitely looked like it did.

A captain needs to lead by example and not make the stupid mistake of letting someone get in their head. Is that not exactly what Ryan Hartman was trying to do?

***Physicality, Size & Toughness

That is a great combination in hockey. The Wild added all 3 of them at the Trade Deadline with F Nicolas Deslauriers & D Jacob Middleton. It also makes the rest of the team follow suit because, like playing with confidence, being aggressive & winning battles, it makes the whole team be a little more physical and play through everything.

The Wild outhit the Canucks 31-22 tonight with both Marcus Foligno & Nicolas Deslauriers having 7 hits each, Joel Eriksson Ek had 4, Matt Dumba had 3 and Middleton & Zuccarello had 2.

If you remember Cal Clutterbuck, the reason for the name of this blog, you know how much he affected the game with the way he played and threw hits.

That’s what we mean by Bringing The Clutter!!!

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

The Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at 7pm on Bally Sports North and G Marc-Andre Fleury will be starting in the cage for his Minnesota Wild debut.

Cam Talbot will start on Sunday at 5pm against the Colorado Avalanche.

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 Vegas Golden Knights – March 21st, 2022

Posted on March 22, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Vegas Golden Knights - March 21st, 2022

The Minnesota Wild looked a little different before facing the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night since the NHL Trade Deadline passed about 5 hours earlier and the Wild made 3 trades on the day, 1 last night & 1 yesterday to get their team ready for the stretch run to the end of the regular season and take them into the battle for the Stanley Cup.

There is a pretty big one that started the day for the Wild when they acquired 3-time Stanley Cup-winning G Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks for a conditional 2nd-round draft pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. That pick will turn into a 1st-round pick if the Wild make it to the conference finals and Marc-Andre Fleury wins 4 games in each of the 1st two playoff rounds.

Since they acquired a goalie, General Manager Bill Guerin also sent G Kaapo Kähkönen to the San Jose Sharks for D Jacob Middleton, a 26-year physical defenseman.

See all the trades the Minnesota Wild made below and all the trades from every HERE:

2022 Trade Deadline moves by the Minnesota Wild - 3-21-2022

The Vegas Golden Knights are 2-5 in their last 7 games and 5-8 in their last 13 as they are barely holding on the 2nd Wild Card playoff spot by 3 points over the Dallas Stars but Dallas has 4 games in hand. They’ve been playing without Fs Mark Stone & Max Pacioretty for the majority of the season.

The Wild should be chomping at the bit to take it to the Golden Knights after losing both games in Vegas, 3-2 in November & 6-4 in December and, of course, there is that little 7-game series they played against them back in May that might get them riled up, too.

But, it’s hard to believe they’d need any more motivation after what Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin did today to show how much he thinks of this team. They are going for it and that is Awesome!

Minnesota Wild Lets Go GIFfrom Minnesota Wild GIFs

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

The only change from Saturday’s game against Chicago is newly-acquired F Nicolas Deslauriers in place of F Connor Dewar who, by the way, the Wild sent down to the AHL’s Iowa Wild then recalled him so he would be eligible for the Iowa’s playoff roster:

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Vegas Golden Knights - March 21st, 2022

Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas Golden Knights Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - 3-21-2022

Game Recap

The Minnesota Wild had a ton of energy right from the drop of the puck and newly acquired physical F Nicolas Deslauriers was looking to make a statement physically as soon as possible and he found a target behind the net and threw a body check that got the crowd and his teammates going. The rest of the Wild were showing they may have gotten the confidence back in their game to make a nice run to end the season.

5:30 minutes into the game, it was Nicolas Deslauriers that put the Wild up 1-0. Wild D Jon Merrill send a shot at the net from the left point that Vegas G Logan Thompson easily stopped and deflected to the right half-wall. Deslauriers was the 1st one to the loose puck and he sent it to the left corner to teammate Tyson Jost. Jost looked like he was going to send the puck back up the boards but he waited for the defender to go for the puck to turn and send the puck to Brandon Duhaime and he immediately sent the puck to the front of the net where Deslauriers was waiting for it. The pass was right on the button, allowing Deslauriers to one-time it right through the 5-hole for a 1-0 Wild lead.

The Wild dominated the majority of the 1st period, outshooting the Copper Knights 15-6.

The Knights adjusted in the 1st intermission and outshot the Wild 13-10 in the 2nd period but didn’t score a goal. Cam Talbot was looking for his 5th consecutive win in net for the Wild and the team defense may finally be all the way back to playing like they were in the 1st 26 games of the season when they were 19-6-1 and hadn’t lost more than 2 games in a row in that span.

But…there was still a whole period to go and they were only up 1-0. That’s a lot of time and all it takes is a stupid bounce of deflection like Wild fans have seen a lot in their 21 seasons and we saw not too long ago when they were lost 5 in a row to start the 2022 calendar year and over the last month they went 5-9-1 after Valentine’s Day to the middle of March.

A out 5:40 into the 3rd period, Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek couldn’t handle a pass in the neutral zone so Vegas D Shea Theodore (#27) tried to make a pass to F Keegan Kolesar (#55) but he wasn’t ready for it so the puck came back to Wild D Matt Dumba. Kolesar tried to hit him with a body check but missed as Dumba spun & passed the puck to Ek at the left boards and the blue line. Ek took the puck into the zone and tried to drop the puck back to Dumba but didn’t get all of it so it was just sliding to the middle of the ice where both Vegas D Dylan Coghlan and F Nolan Patrick were coming to it at the same time. Coghlan poked the puck back towards the neutral zone but Matt Dumba was there to kick it from his skate to his stick at the top of the slot and he wired a shot to the upper left corner to double the Wild’s lead to 2-0!

Marcus Foligno helped this play happen in two ways. He drove to the net so Shea Theodore had to defend a pass to him and he skated in front of the goalie to provide a screen.

From a defensive standpoint, watch how all 3 of the Vegas forwards are coasting through the whole play. Mattias Janmark (#26) and Nolan Patrick (#41) took one stride in the neutral zone and coasted the rest of the way and Kolesar, after missing on trying to check Dumba, just watched from the neutral zone. Hmmm…will this be shown in a film session tomorrow? Probably.

The Knights had 2 shots in the period when the Wild doubled the lead with 14:14 to go in regulation and they only had 7 more the rest of the way and Cam Talbot allowed nothing to get past him for his 2nd shutout of the season. The Wild did add an empty-net goal when Ryan Hartman scored his 26th with 6.1 seconds left.

The Vegas Golden Knights looked like a defeated team at that point but, the road hasn’t been kind to them lately. That was their 6th straight loss away from Sin City.

FINAL SCORE

Vegas Golden Knights 0 | 3 Minnesota Wild

Goals:

MN: Nicolas Deslauriers(6-1st w/Wild), Matt Dumba(6), Ryan Hartman(26)
VGK: NONE, NYET, ZILCHO, NO GOALS FOR YOU!!! 

Assists:

MN: Brandon Duhaime(10), Tyson Jost(9); Unassisted; Marcus Foligno(14)
VGK: No Helpers, Not A One!

Goalies:

MN: Cam Talbot: 28 Saves on 28 Shots for a Shutout(2) & his 25th Win
VGK: Logan Thompson: 33 Saves on 35 Shots

Next up:

The Vancouver Canucks make their 1st appearance at the Xcel Energy Center in 778 days (since February 6th, 2020, a 4-2 win) on Thursday night at 7 pm 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, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Minnesota Wild Acquire F Nicolas Deslauriers from the Anaheim Ducks

Posted on March 20, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Acquire F Nicolas Deslauriers from ANA - March 19th, 2022

On Saturday, the Minnesota Wild acquired F Nicolas Deslauriers (duh-LOHR-ree-AY) from the Anaheim Ducks for a 3rd-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Deslauriers, a 3rd-round pick himself in the 2009 NHL Draft, is a 6’1, 220 lb gritty forward who has 5 goals & 5 assists in 61 games this season and 41 goals & 41 assists in 486 games in his career.

He also has 90 PIMs*(10 Fights) and 210 hits this season (5th in the NHL) and 498 PIMs (54 Fights(?)) and 1,483 hits in his 9-year career.
*Penalties In Minutes
?-54 Major Penalties which we assume are for fighting.

He played with current Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno for the 1st 4 years of his career (2014-17) as members of the Buffalo Sabres so they know each other well.

He was acquired to provide the Wild with a little more grit, physicality & security on the ice for his fellow teammates so he’s like another Foligno on the ice so, as he says,

New Wild F Nicolas Deslauriers on his role with the Minnesota Wild

What a quote, huh: “I’ll do the 5 minutes.”

Just think of how much this could help against the Blues, the Avs, the Flames, etc…

You know we like this guy because…

He Brings The Clutter!!!

Foligno Security has merged with Deslauriers Security to protect the Wild! HA!

Watch the whole Post Practice Interview with Deslauriers here (7 minutes, 19 seconds):

He’ll wear number 44 and will be in the lineup when the Wild face the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow night at 7 pm on Bally Sports North!

Nicolas Deslauriers - Name & Number - Home

More on the Trade from GM Bill Guerin here (4 minutes, 2 seconds):

Marcus Foligno(7 minutes, 44 seconds):

& Head Coach Dean Evason(7 minutes, 29 seconds):

Thanks for reading this Clutter!!! Have a Great Day! GO WILD and…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

Posted in Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Nashville Predators – March 13th, 2022

Posted on March 13, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Nashville Predators - March 13th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild retired a jersey number for just the 2nd time but it was the first time they’ve done it for a player as they raised the number 9 of long-time player & CapFinn F Mikko Koivu to the rafters on Sunday evening. It was a nice ceremony for Mikko that you should try to find & watch if you didn’t see it.

Here’s a link to the ceremony in its entirety, all 38:13 of it:

And, no, the names of Hnat Domenichelli & Alexandre Daigle are not on the jersey in much smaller stitching. They were the only other players to ever wear that jersey number for the Minnesota Wild. Do you remember either of them?

Who wore number 9? - Minnesota Wild Sweater Numbers from Hockey-Reference.com

Who wore number 9? – Minnesota Wild Sweater Numbers from Hockey-Reference.com

The Minnesota Wild then turned their focus to the Nashville Predators and they were looking to start a 9*-game homestand with a win. In their only game against them so far this season, the Nashville Predators handed the Minnesota Wild their first home loss of the season so they will likely have a little more motivation for this one. Mr. Koivu being in the building doesn’t hurt, either.
*Fittingly, 9 games is the longest homestand the Minnesota Wild has had in its 21-year existence.

“Can we still use the 9?…Yes?…Are you sure? I don’t need to feel the Mikko Koivu ‘exploding shoulder’ if you’re wrong!”

Like Mikko said,

“There is only one State of Hockey
and you guys really are the best.”

Now, let’s go take it to the Nashville Predators.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Nashville Predators - March 13th, 2022

Nashville Predators

Nashville Predators Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - March 13th, 2022

Game Recap

The Wild started their 4th line then backed it up with The Identity Line of Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek & Marcus Foligno and it didn’t take long for them to muck it up with a little extra push towards the net after a Foligno shot.

Welcome to the Central Division and the Minnesota Wild getting back to their “identity”* with the line that brings it every night.
*If you don’t know what the Wild’s “identity” is, it’s having an aggressive forecheck, being physical to cause quick plays that lead to turnovers and competing on every puck and every possession.

Or…Hunt pucks and hunt any opponents in your way of the puck! Yeah. I like that better!

Wild F Jordan Greenway gave Roman Josi an extra shove in the neutral zone then took a shove back from Preds F Colton Sissons and Marcus Foligno stepped in to see what all the ruckus was about and Luke Kunin was coming off the bench and apparently didn’t like what was being said so he jumped right into it and quickly dropped the mitts with his former teammate. He found out just as quickly that he’s not really in Foligno’s weight class (Kunin: 6’0, 195; Foligno: 6’3, 228) as Foligno ended up shoving him to the ice after getting at least one good punch in.

Nashville then picks up a slashing penalty as Ryan Johansen was heading to the bench. It wasn’t on the video feed and no replay was shown. That’s nice, huh?

The Wild didn’t get much out of the power play then Nashville scored shortly afterward on a Filip Forsberg tip in front of the net. It was their first shot on goal of the game 8:24 into the 1st.

4:39 later, Wild F Kevin Fiala came up the right side with speed to get past the trap then curled towards the boards at the right half-wall and fed Frédérick Gaudreau for a shot on net from just in front and inside the right faceoff dot. F Matt Boldy had come up the left side then skated toward the center of the zone to maybe be a screen for the shot but kept skating stopped just before the goal line. The rebound came right out to him and he went upper right on the short side to tie the game at 1 with his 12th goal of the season.

The Wild then got an interference penalty when D Jon Merrill ran into Predators F Tanner Jeannot who went down pretty easy as he was trying to stop in front of the net and that, my friends, is a pretty weak call.

The Wild killed it off.

In the waning seconds of the 1st period, Matt Boldy almost put the Wild up a goal but his shot only hit the post. The horn never sounded but the clock stopped at 3.9 seconds remaining and eventually, the official called the period over because he had never blown the whistle, either.

The Wild outshot Nashville 9-5 in the first 20 minutes.

8:44 into the 2nd period, after Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen made a couple of great saves, Predators D Roman Josi scored to put the Predators up 1 with a backhand that may have fooled Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen as it went under his catching glove.

Just shy of 2:30 later, the Big Rig, Wild F Jordan Greenway, came up the right side of the ice with enough speed to get past the defenseman and he moved the puck to his forehand and took a quick shot that beat Nashville G David Rittich to his blocker side to tie the game at 2!

50 seconds later, the Predators get their 1-goal lead back on a rebound that was left for an easy backhand shot into a gaping net from Philip Tomasino. DOH!!!

The Wild got another power play when D Dmitry Kulikov was tripped in the offensive zone and the Predators probably had the next scoring chance when F Yakov Trenin came in alone but Kaapo was up to the task to keep the Wild within a goal.

With 12 seconds left in the period, the Wild got a penalty for slashing when D Jared Spurgeon chopped down on Preds F Mikael Granlund’s stick and it ended up breaking so the penalty was called. If the stick doesn’t break, is it still called? We’ll never know.

Nashville outshot the Wild 13-11 in the 2nd.

The Predators then scored 65 seconds into the 3rd period on a Roman Josi point shot that Kaapo Kähkönen couldn’t find as it just got by big Jordan Greenway and it was now a 2-goal lead for Nashville.

The Wild had a great chance on the power play but Roman Josi blocked a shot that would’ve likely gone into an empty net after a cross-ice pass to Kevin Fiala.

A minute or so later, Kirill Kaprizov has a chance for a one-timer taken away by what for sure looked like a slash to his hands that made him lose his stick but there was no call. No replay, either. We got a game summary after the commercial, though. That’s useful.

Just shy of 7 minutes left in regulation, Nashville got a 2-on-1 with Mikael Granlund on the right with the puck and F Eeli Tolvanen on the left against Wild D Jared Spurgeon, who was leaning to the left to allow Granlund to shoot as he (& most Wild fans) figured his former teammate would try to make a pass and that he did but Spurgeon went down to try to make that as difficult as possible then he turned and swung at the pass and got the puck just before Tolvanen could get his stick on it.

You know the Wild were going to battle until the end but Nashville was shutting them down for the majority of the game by clogging up the middle and in front of the net and blocking as many shots as possible.

The goalie was pulled with 3:09 remaining and the Predators made it 5-2 just 51 seconds later. Forsberg celebrates that might achievement.

Goalie pulled again at 1:34. Predators F Nick Cousins left the defensive zone and got a puck flipped to him so he could score an empty-net goal. Strange to see a guy do that, maybe?

Nashville has only lost 1 of 25 games (& 1 of 13 on the road) when leading after 2 periods and you can see why. They just shut it down.

Nashville Predators Situational Hockey-Reference com

If you’re wondering, the Wild are very similar:

Minnesota Wild Situational Hockey-Reference com

Anyway, 6-2 was the final as the Wild are having a problem beating their Central Division opponents from Nashville. They won’t see them again until April 5th & April 24th in Nashville. We’ll see if they have anything for them, then.

Final Score

Nashville Predators 6 | Minnesota Wild 2

Goals:
MN: Matt Boldy(12), Jordan Greenway(5)
NSH: Filip Forsberg(30,31-ENG), Romas Josi(16,17), Philip Tomasino(9), Nick Cousins(7-ENG)

Assists:
MN: Frédérick Gaudreau(19), Kevin Fiala(34); Marcus Foligno(13)
NSH: Dante Fabbro(17), Matt Duchene(27); Philip Tomasino(14), Nick Cousins(8); Nick Cousins(9), Michael McCarron(6); Mikael Granlund(35), Filip Forsberg(23); Matt Duchene(28), Roman Josi(48); Michael McCarron(7), Roman Josi(49)

Goalies:
MN: Kaapo Kähkönen – 19 saves on 23 shots on goal – .826%
NSH: David Rittich – 26 saves on 28 shots on goal – .929%

Game Notes

Well, that’s not the outcome or game you’d expect after a team honors one of their greatest players. It makes us wonder what the record is for all teams after a ceremony. It does kind of change the routine of the players and the opponent really doesn’t take part in the ceremony depending on what it is. Former Minnesota Wild players Fs Mikael Granlund and Luke Kunin were on the Predators bench to watch today, though.

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Nashville lost 7-4 vs St. Louis yesterday afternoon so you knew they were going to come out determined but the Wild knew that, too. That makes everyone think they weren’t ready but it’s something else because this is something that happens to every team just like the slump the Wild just went through and maybe still have completely escaped.

We’ll have to wait for Wednesday night when they face the mighty Boston Bruins to see how they respond.

Postgame

Nothing posted so far…

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

Boston Bruins at home on Wednesday night at 6:30 pm and it’s a nationally televised game so it’s on TNT and we’ll have to listen to a national narrative of people that don’t know the Minnesota Wild.

🏒–– 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, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment