Minnesota Wild Recap vs the New York Rangers – March 8th, 2022

Posted on March 9, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the New York Rangers - March 8th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild activated F Jordan Greenway before the game which meant F Connor Dewar was the odd man out even though he’s been playing very well.

Tonight, the Minnesota Wild faced another hot team in the New York Rangers and it was a guarantee they were looking for some redemption against the Wild after they ruined the retirement ceremony of “King” Henrik Lundqvist back on January 28th with a 3-2 comeback victory coming back from being down 2-0 in the 1st period and Henrik’s buddy, Mats Zuccarello, had his fingerprints all over that comeback with a goal & an assist.

Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant probably has the 2021-22 Vezina Award winner on his roster in G Igor Shesterkin but he still decided to go with his backup goalie, Alexander Georgiev, who last started a game on January 27th. He also had only played 41 seconds in a game since then when Igor Shesterkin was forced to leave a game (in Overtime) due to concussion protocol on February 15th and he wasn’t happy about it.

Let’s see if the Wild made them pay for playing their backup goalie.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

D Jon Merrill & Alex Goligoski flipped pairs with Merrill playing on the top pair with Captain Jared Spurgeon and Goligoski playing on the bottom pair with Dmitry Kulikov.

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the New York Rangers - March 8th, 2022

New York Rangers

New York Rangers Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - March 8th, 2022

Game Recap

Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason opted to start the Marcus Foligno – Joel Eriksson Ek – Jordan Greenway line started as he was obviously trying to get their forecheck going to help lead the team back to their aggressive game and that they did. It’s been one of the many things that have hurt the Wild of late but they had serious jump to begin the game on the forecheck and with their physicality.

Matt Boldy laid out Kreider early! Marcus Foligno knocked Ryan Reaves stick out of his hands with a body check but everyone was getting back to playing a physical game.

Kirill Kaprizov circled the offensive zone twice then passed it.* We think he should shoot more but we think everyone should shoot more.
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this.

D Jon Merrill had a turnover at the blue line that created a 2-on-1 but F Nico Sturm made a great play to break it up.

Good sticks are another Wild staple and they’ve had that so far in the 1st period, too.

They were getting chances but hadn’t scored halfway through the period…

Until Kirill Kaprizov intercepted a pass/dump attempt in his own zone then carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the center of the offensive zone. F Ryan Hartman had just come onto the ice and was heading up the right side. He slowed at the blue line to stay onside but also to be an option for a drop pass which he received and took a shot from a few feet in front of the top of the right faceoff circle and his sneaky shot beat went off Rangers G Alexander Georgiev’s blocker and down off the ice and into the net for a 1-0 Wild lead!

Those Ranger defensemen were giving Kaprizov & Hartman a lot of room to make a play. They’ll be told to gap up in Film Session tomorrow.

About 4 minutes later, the Wild went up 2-0 when  Ek deflected a pass into the offensive zone, sending the puck into the air and right to Jordan Greenway who caught it, dropped it on the ice then passed it to trailing forward Marcus Foligno for a one-timer but the puck wasn’t flat so it turned into a FlutterPuck and Joel Eriksson Ek showed his bunting prowess by deflecting it into the net for his 17th goal of the season.

Watch this play again and see Marcus Foligno standing at the far boards at the blue line with former Minnesota Gopher D Ryan Lindgren shading that way. Then, the puck is deflected in and every Rangers player immediately watches the puck. Is Lindgren at fault for leaving Foligno open? Yes & No. It’s a broken play but it really breaks because of poor play in the neutral zone &/or forecheck from the Rangers forwards. One is standing still. The other two react when the puck is passed up the middle which means they’re immediately late on the play. They were in a 1-2-2 formation and maybe that’s what they wanted to do there and the bounce created the opportunity. Coasting/watching is never really a good sign as a defender/backchecker.

Goal 2 - Goal Review from Wild vs Rangers 2 - 3-8-2022

Because F Mika Zibanejad is behind Jordan Greenway, that forces Adam Fox to try to cover Greenway which forces Ryan Lindgren to cover Ek which leaves Foligno wide open.

The first period ended with the Wild up 2-0 and the shots were even and 6 shots on goal apiece.

5 minutes into the 2nd period, the New York Rangers cut the deficit in half when F Dryden Hunt scored off a 2-on-1 that happened as a result of Wild D Matt Dumba pinching on the forecheck and both Fs Nick Bjugstad and Brandon Duhaime pursuing the puck as well instead of one of them covering for Dumba, defensively.*
*It’d be awesome if we’d be able to hear if any of those 3 talked to each other during this play.

Nick Bjugstad then drew a tripping penalty 2:23 later to give the Wild their first power play of the game and Joel Eriksson Ek had a great chance to score on a rebound but Georgiev made the save and the puck was cleared to the far blue line where Jared Spurgeon tried to dump it back it but it was deflected/blocked by Rangers F Chris Kreider and he tried to send a pass to F Mika Zibanejad but it just missed and Wild F Mats Zuccarello deflected it back into his defensive zone. When he went to retrieve it, he tried to turn to his left but as he went to put his stick down, Zibanejad lifted (read hooked) his stick and Zuccarello fell down leaving the puck for Zibanejad to deke out Cam Talbot & tie the game at 2. Somehow, the official doesn’t call a hooking penalty on the play.

Here we have the big test for the Minnesota Wild because in the past few games when things went wrong, they snowballed into more bad things. Would the Minnesota Wild get back to being the team that has a great response to adversity?

Well… 66 seconds later, after a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle from Matt Boldy was blocked in front, the puck fell by Marcus Foligno and he tried to bring it back because he knew the goalie was right behind him. It’s basically a loose puck but Matt Boldy was right there and he knew Kevin Fiala was at the right side of the net so he just sent it to him and Wild took the lead back Just… Like… That!!! 3-2 WILD!

And all of us felt like this, right?:

Kevin Fiala Celly GIF - March 8th, 2022

But…there was still a long way to go in this one as they had yet to even hit the game’s halfway point.

A little shy of 4 minutes later, the Wild executed a play off a faceoff just in front of the left side of their own blue line. Ek won the faceoff and Marcus Foligno sent the puck back to Jonas Brodin at the left half-wall then he curled and took off towards the right boards. Brodin sent the puck across the ice to his defensive partner Matt Dumba and he sent the puck to Marcus Foligno who had broken towards the middle of the offensive blue line. Foligno had turned to skate backward so he could catch the pass on his forehand and then was able to protect the puck so he could make a deke to his forehand then go to his backhand and put it past the goalie for a 2-goal Minnesota Wild lead at 4-2.

4:38 later and right after Mats Zuccarello had a scoring chance off a great tic-tac-toe play from Ryan Hartman behind the net to Kirill Kaprizov at the left corner to Zuccs in front of the net for a one-timer that Georgiev somehow saved, Rangers F Arteri Panarin send a backhand pass to Adam Fox but it rolled off his stick for Zuccarello to pick it up and turn up ice on the left side for a 3-on-2 odd-man rush with Alex Goligoski in the middle and Kevin Fiala on the right side. Fiala saw Adam Fox was set on covering Goligoski so he got on his horse to get a perfect feed from Zuccarello.** The puck took a weird bounce but Fiala was able to corral it in just enough time to roof a backhand for his 2nd goal of the game and the 20th of the season.
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this.

The Wild outshot the Rangers 11-7 in the 2nd period to take a 3-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of play.

Could the Wild shut down the Rangers in the 3rd period & get back in the win column and feel good about their game with just 13 days to go before the Trade Deadline?

They Could And They Did!

Cam Talbot made a big save with 11:26 remaining in regulation. It was still a 3-goal lead but making that save kept the Rangers from getting any momentum and it was just another sign that this team may finally be out of this 10-game slump.

Final Score & Stats
New York Rangers 2 | 5 Minnesota Wild

Goals:
MN: Hartman(23), Ek(17), Fiala(19), Foligno(19), Fiala(20)
NY: Hunt(4), Zibanejad(22)

Assists:
MN: Kaprizov(43); Foligno(11), Greenway(11); Boldy(12), Foligno(12): Dumba(17), Brodin(19); Zuccarello(40)
NY: Strome(28), Panarin(47); Unassisted (Kreider?)

Goalies:
MN: Cam Talbot – 23 Saves on 25 Shots on Goal, .920%
NY: Georgiev – 23 Saves on 28 Shots on Goal, .821% 

Game Notes

*Kirill Kaprizov

In the pregame show, former player, now broadcaster Mark Parrish said Kirill Kaprizov has been playing with a shot-first mentality. I disagree. He sometimes tries to make a move instead of just shooting the puck, too. Is that bad? Not necessarily but we’d still like him to look for his shot more often.

He’s a goal-scorer and you can’t score goals without shooting the puck.

After tonight’s game, Kirill Kaprizov has 194 shots on goal in 54 games or 3.59 per game. He has shot the puck more this season than last season so that’s a good thing.

In comparison, maybe the best goal-scorer to play the game, Alex Ovechkin, averages 4.77 shots on goal per game.

If you shoot, the goals will come…

**Mats Zuccarello

We need to talk about Zuccy because he’s been a big-time difference-maker for this team for the last two seasons.

When he was signed to a 5-year, $30M ($6M AAV*) free-agent contract in Minnesota on July 1st, 2019 by former General Manager Paul Fenton, it wasn’t received well. Fans thought it was an ignorant signing. He had only scored over 20 goals once in his 9-year career up to that point but he was known as a great teammate and he’s still evolving.
*Average Annual Value

He’s turned into a pest and, at only 5’8”, he’s been seen muckin’ it up in front of the net and sticking up for his teammates. He has great vision and we all know how well the pairing of him & Kirill Kaprizov has worked out. He currently has 57 points (17 goals, 40 assists) in 47 games. That’s just 4 points off his career-high in points in a single season.

He’s also showing more leadership which is likely a result of the culture the Wild have been building with current General Manager Bill Guerin and captain Jared Spurgeon.

He’s just a joy to watch play the game and that assist to Fiala tonight was a thing of beauty!

***The Year of Fiala! 2022!!!

Since the calendar turned to 2022, Kevin Fiala has now scored 14 goals (& 31 points) in 26 games and that includes 4 games where he didn’t score any points.

Kevin Fiala 2021-22 Game Log Hockey-Reference com

Hockey-Reference.com Kevin Fiala 2021-22 Game Logs

The Wild will definitely try to get him signed to a multi-year extension after the season. It’ll be interesting to see how they make it all work for the next 3 seasons.

Some point soon, we’re going to post a Salary Cap Preview for the Wild and show how their culture and their depth is going to help them get through the next 3 years with those buyout penalties.

Postgame

Postgame interview with Head Coach Dean Evason:

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

Back-to-Back games on the road starting in Detroit on Thursday night at 6pm CST on ESPN+/Hulu

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

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Dallas Stars – March 6th, 2022

Posted on March 6, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Dallas Stars - March 6th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild are 3-7 in their last 10. The Dallas Stars are 7-2-1 in their last 10.

It means nothing!

Well…maybe it means a little more than nothing. Dallas is surely playing with a lot of confidence but the Wild still have plenty of confidence and have slowly gotten back to their game in the last few games.

Believe it or not, it started at home against Calgary where they regained the battle level then they got a nice comeback victory in Philly and continued with a very well-played game in Buffalo that just didn’t go their way.

Now they get a division rival at home who they beat 7-2 back in November (but also lost 7-4 in Dallas in December). This Minnesota Wild team has shown a response to adversity all season long so you know they’ll compete their butts off in this game.

D Matt Dumba was activated from Injured Reserve (IR) while F Jordan Greenway was placed on IR.

No word on Mats Zuccarello* as of right now.
*Are Zuccy & Kap a “duo” like Backstrom & Ovechkin? “What then?”

Today’s game is on national television on NHL on TNT. Will they once again make themselves look bad for lack of knowledge about the Wild? #Depth #EmptyNet

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Mats Zuccarello was back in the lineup. That’s HUGE!!!

Connor Dewar was rewarded for a great game against Buffalo as he stayed on the line with Ek & Foligno while Duhaime moves back to the line with Sturm & Bjuggy. Let’s put another notch in that Win column, boys!!!

Minnesota Wild Lineup vs the Dallas Stars - March 6th, 2022

Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars Lineup at the Minnesota Wild - March 6th, 2022

Game Recap

1st Period

The Wild had the better jump and better play in the 1st but all it meant was some momentum and more shots on goal.

A loose puck in the neutral zone looked like a turnover but somehow F Brandon Duhaime kept it from going the other way and it allowed F Nick Bjugstad at the blue line and he fed F Nico Sturm to send him in on a mini-breakaway up the right side and he scored on his backhand as he turned to protect the puck from the oncoming defenseman and the Wild went up 1-0 with 9:08 remaining in the period.

Brandon Duhaime made the play on that Wild goal but, with 58 seconds left in the period, he accidentally sent the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty and, in the waning seconds, a puck deflected behind the net and Dallas F Tyler Seguin was on the other side and he took it & went to the net with it. He was heading towards the crease &, as he got to the crease, Wild F Frédérick Gaudreau tried to disrupt his path with a body check and he ended up taking him into Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen, sending the goalie down as if he was stacking the pads to his right.

Gaudreau also got his stick on the puck, which popped up in the air. Dallas Stars F Joe Pavelski saw it the whole way and sent a backhand towards the net right as it landed on the ice. The puck then deflected off the back/side of the left leg of Wild D Dmitry Kulikov and into the net to tie the game at 1 with 3 seconds remaining in the period.

So….maybe because this Marcus Foligno goaltender interference penalty was fresh in the minds of the Wild’s video/replay coaches and head coach Dean Evason…*

Stick Tap to Wes Walz for pointing this out:

Wes Walz @walz3737 · 13m

Goalie interference initiated by Wild player, no goal. 2 nights ago Buffalo defenseman pounding Foligno into goalie IS goalie interference.

…they challenged the play for goaltender interference. There was a long delay but… they stayed with the call on the ice of good goal which meant the Dallas Stars would get another power play.
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

2nd Period

And… Dallas scored on the power play 98 seconds into the 2nd to put the Wild down 2 goals. A shot from the middle of the blue line apparently fools the Wild goalie enough to make him not catch it cleanly and Stars F Jason Robertson took a whack at it to get it loose then sent it into the open net.

95 seconds later, Dallas went up by 2 goals on a similar play but this time, it was Minnesota-native F Riley Tufte who went to the net looking for a rebound and he found it. Kähkönen made the save on the first one but, somehow, Tufte was still able to get his stick on the 2nd rebound and send it into the goal for his 1st career NHL goal! How ‘bout that? Congrats to the former Blaine Bengal and University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldog!

The Wild are still trying to get back to their good defensive game** as they’ve given up a lot of goals in the past 10 games or more. As you can see on this goal, Mats Zuccarello is just a hair late getting to Tufte.

Then, about halfway through the 2nd period, F Jason Robertson scores his 2nd of the game (5th in the last 2 games) on a shot that has to be saved by the Wild goalie. Even he would tell you that.***
***Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

After this goal, the Wild started to dominate the game from a possession, shots & offensive zone time standpoint but…unfortunately, it didn’t include any goals.

3rd Period

The Wild kept dominating the game but didn’t score until they had the goalie pulled for 5 minutes and F Kirill Kaprizov scored his 27th goal of the season off a 2-on-1 with 3:41 remaining in the 3rd. Dallas Stars D Jani Hakanpaa made a bad read at his own blue line going after Mats Zuccarello &/or allowing the puck to get past him to create that 2-on-1.

A minute & 44 seconds later, Kaprizov scored again (28) to make it a 1-goal game as the Stars were scrambling with one player not having a stick. Kaprizov was calling for the puck and he finally got it and shot it into the gaping net.

Should Hakanpaa do a better job of trying to block that shot knowing his goalie isn’t likely to get over to make that save? Uhh…we’d say yes!

There was still 1:57 remaining in regulation.

Could the Wild do the unthinkable, here?…

Nope! With 1:05 remaining, Stars F Jamie Benn sent one into the empty net to make it a 2-goal game once again and Jason Robertson would add a 6th goal for his 2nd consecutive game with a hat trick after a Wild turnover in their own zone.

Not enough Wild in not enough time.

If you want them, the stats are HERE!

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Game Notes

*Goaltender Interference – What is it? What is it not? Will we ever know?

The TNT studio hosts/broadcasters thought it was a bad challenge because they thought Frédérick Gaudreau sent Tyler Seguin into the goaltender but one thing the TNT intermission broadcasters neglected to point out was the Marcus Foligno goaltender interference from the Buffalo game on Friday night was almost the same situation. Marcus Foligno was checked into the Sabres goaltender but it was still called goaltender interference. There wasn’t a goal so that play couldn’t be challenged.

So…what is the right call because it appears the NHL is calling it both ways and thus, the Wild challenged the call today. They obviously thought it was goalie interference or there was a chance it was or they wouldn’t have challenged the call.

It’d be nice if the crew from the nationally-televised broadcasts had people who knew about the teams playing in each game.

Do they not have time to do enough research?

Will the NHL ever have a complete explanation of Goaltender Interference and what isn’t Goalie Interference?

We’ll have to wait and see. Ughh!!!

**Panic in the defensive zone? Or just being a split second too late on the play &/or the puck.

Is it defense, goaltending or a combination of both? You’d probably have to go over every goal allowed over the past 10+ games to find out. Every goal against Buffalo was more on the defense than the goaltender.

The bottom line is the Wild just have to be sharper in the defensive zone. Read the play rather than react to it. It’s an area where struggles arise when teams are in a slump or going through a bad stretch.

***Goaltending!!!

Well…this is basically the same as above. The Minnesota Wild goaltenders have to be better to give the team a chance to win. Allowing an average of 4.27 goals per game (47 total goals) over the last 11 will rarely get it done. They did win 3 of those last 11 games but only one of them did they allow under 4 goals (the 7-3 win in Edmonton). They also won 2 games while allowing 4 goals, the 5-4 win in Philly and the 7-4 win vs Detroit on February 14th.

There were 8 empty-net goals allowed over that span so 39 goals over 11 games and an average of 3.54 isn’t much better.

It sure was looking like Kaapo Kähkönen was on his way to being the #1 goalie but he’s hit a speed bump but it’s hard to blame him alone because…well… it is a team game and nobody can have success on their own.

If you think about it, it’s exactly the same way in pretty much every aspect of life.

Postgame

The Wild showed their frustration with some of the plays/hits from the Stars. Nick Bjugstad was slew-footed by Stars F Alexander Radulov and wasn’t happy. He was probably lucky not to get a penalty as he cross-checked 2-3 players in retaliation.

They lost some of their composure. This is what happens when a team isn’t completely at its best. We’ll see how they respond on Tuesday.

Head Coach Dean Evason Postgame vs Dallas:

Head Coach Dean Evason:

“I’m not going to sugarcoat our special teams. They’ve flipping sucked.”

Tufte after scoring his 1st career NHL goal at The X:

“I played in the state tournament here, won a national championship here, and close with my first NHL goal, so those are all great. This building’s been good to me.”

The looming trade deadline isn’t lost on the #mnwild group.

Matt Dumba:

“I hope that fuels us, because our group, how tight we are, we don’t want to see this broken up. We want to work for each other and put ourselves in the best position to stay together.”

Nico Sturm: 

“The teams behind us or around us are playing really well. It’s almost like, I don’t want to say panic or scared to lose, but everybody realizes what’s going on. And we’re grasping at something trying to stop it and it’s not working out right now.” #mnwild

Nico Sturm said the trade deadline is definitely in the back of everyone’s mind right now:

“We like this group. It’d be a shame if we keep going like this and we can’t stay together. Because if this keeps going we all know something is going to happen.”

Kaapo Kahkonen on the fragility the Minnesota Wild of late:

“It seems like when one little thing starts a little bit of a snowball effect in a game like that. It’s not the way it should be. We just really have to dig ourselves out of this.”

🏒–– CP ––🏒

Next up: 

The New York Rangers come for a visit on Tuesday at 7pm at The X-cel Energy Center on Bally Sports North.

Will this be the turning point?

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

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Florida Panthers – February 18th, 2022

Posted on February 18, 2022 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Florida Panthers - February 18th, 2022

The Minnesota Wild were looking for some redemption after a dud of a game in Winnipeg in a 6-3 loss against the Winnipeg Jets for their 2nd loss in their last 4 games both at the hands of those Jets. It doesn’t get any easier as the Wild were facing possibly the best team in the NHL in the Florida Panthers (33-10-5 for 71 points & the best record in the Eastern Conference). They’re also 2nd in the league in Winning % at .740 behind only the Colorado Avalanche (35-9-4, 74 pts, .771 win%).

NHL Hockey Standings from February 18th, 2022

The Wild were 30-12-3 with 63 points and a .700 winning %.

Tonight is Kirill Kaprizov’s 100th game in the NHL (not counting his 7 playoff games*).
*Why don’t playoff games count?

Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov 100th game - February 18th, 2022

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild vs Florida Panthers - February 18th, 2022

Game Recap

The Wild got on the board first with F Kirill Kaprizov’s 50th career goal in his 100th career game* off a great feed from D Jared Spurgeon to Kap at the right side of the net just in front of the goal line for a one-timer with 12:53 left in the first period.
*50 goals in 100 games isn’t bad, huh?

Unfortunately, the Panthers responded just shy of 3 minutes later to tie the game on a Mason Marchment wraparound attempt that surprised Wild G Cam Talbot who made the initial save but Marchment got his stick on the rebound.

2:27 later, Mason Marchment got his 2nd goal of the game off a great feed from F Anton Lundell.

The Panthers dominated the game after the Wild’s goal so they had to make some adjustments heading into the 2nd period.

Shots were tied at 9 each in the 1st period.

The Wild were better to begin the 2nd period but still gave up a goal about 8:30 minutes into the 2nd when a scoring chance was saved by both Cam Talbot and D Alex Goligoski but the Wild were in panic mode and watching the puck so nobody covered Florida F Anthony Duclair as he got open for a pass from behind the net.

The officials apparently had hit their penalty quota for the Wild as they missed a few calls including a trip of D Jonas Brodin at center ice with about 6 minutes remaining in the period but they finally made a call when F Ryan Hartman was hauled down with just under 5 minutes left in the middle frame.

They couldn’t score on that power play despite 2 shots and a couple of good chances.

For some reason, the official called F Marcus Foligno for….uhh… checking? Was it head contact? Foligno wasn’t happy about the call but the officials looked at the call and decided there was no penalty on the play.* They held the faceoff in the Wild’s zone and Wild coach Dean Evason wasn’t happy about that and it really doesn’t make sense. If the officials screwed up a call, the faceoff should be at center ice.
*WOW! How many times has that ever happened? See the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

The 2nd period ended with the score 3-1 and the Florida Panthers had yet to lose a game when leading after 2 periods (23-0-0). That is the exact same score when the Minnesota Wild first played the Florida Panthers this season on the 20th of November and they outscored the Panthers 3-2 in that game but still lost 5-4.

Matt Boldy took an interference penalty in the first minute of the 3rd and the Panthers scored on a D Aaron Ekblad wrist shot from the point to put their lead at 4-1 with 18:19 left in regulation.

Oh, boy! How did the Wild respond to this adversity?

A high-sticking penalty at 14:32 by Wild D Dmitry Kulikov put the Panthers on the power play again.

A scrum on a loose puck in front of the Wild net seemed to last forever but the puck never went in and it was never frozen. Another thing you don’t see very often.

A big hit on Anthony Duclair by Ryan Hartman** drew a retaliatory penalty from Carter Verhaeghe. It was all body from the live look. It took Ducliar a few moments to get back up but he looked all right.
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

Now, did the Wild do anything with the Power Play?

Oh, Yes It Did!!!

The Wild won the ensuing faceoff and Kirill Kaprizov made a quick pass to Mats Zuccarello all alone in front of the net and he deflected it in the net to bring the Wild within 2 with the score 4-2.

Duclair then headed back to the locker room probably due to the concussion spotter. If that’s the case, it’s strange because he wasn’t hit in the head. Did his head hit the ice when he went down? Either way, New York Rangers G Igor Shesterkin is probably angry about it!!!

The Wild then pulled their goalie and the broadcasting crew has obviously not seen enough of the Minnesota Wild’s games this season* because they were surprised the goalie was pulled so early. We all know coach Dean Evason pulls the goalie early.
*Imagine that, a national broadcast not knowing enough about the Wild.

The Panthers scored 2 empty net goals (Verhaeghe & Marchment (for the Hat Trick)) to make it 6-2 so Talbot was put back in and the Wild had their first 2-game losing streak since the calendar turned to 2022.

Final Score

Minnesota Wild 2 | 6 Florida Panthers

Goals

Minnesota: Kirill Kaprizov (23); Mats Zuccarello (16)
Florida: Mason Marchment (9,10,11-ENG); Anthony Duclair (20); Aaron Ekblad (12); Carter Verhaeghe (16-ENG)
*ENG=Empty Net Goal

Assists

Minnesota: Jared Spurgeon (15), Mats Zuccarello (34); Kirill Kaprizov (38), Eriksson Ek (12)
Florida: Unassisted; Anton Lundell (23), Sam Reinhart (29); Jonathan Huberdeau (50), Aaron Ekblad (33); Anthony Duclair (17), Jonathan Huberdeau (51); Mackenzie Weegar (25); Anton Lundell (24)

Goalies

Minnesota: Cam Talbot – 29 Saves on 33 Shots
Florida: Sergei “Bob” Bobrovsky – 24 Saves on 26 Shots

Game Notes

*A Penalty Was Called Back! Yes, you read that correctly. The officials were going to call a penalty on Marcus Foligno for we can only assume was a high hit but they apparently weren’t sure on the call (or they were looking to see if it warranted a harsher penalty) so they looked at it and saw “it was a clean hit” so they said there was no penalty on the play.

THEY SAID THERE WAS NO PENALTY ON THE PLAY!!! Is that even a thing?

That is Amazing! I don’t believe we’ve ever seen that before but they did get the call correct.

**Big Hits! Who doesn’t love big hits? Make sure you enunciate that question well when you ask it, though! Wink!

Big Hits can change momentum, especially if they are clean hits. That Ryan Hartman hit did change the momentum but the Wild just weren’t good enough tonight.

***Is there something wrong with the Wild as they didn’t look good for the 2nd consecutive game?

No. There’s nothing wrong with the Wild that they can’t fix. The last two games wasn’t the Minnesota Wild team we’ve seen for the majority of this season. For some reason, they just didn’t seem confident in their game. That is inexplicable because their game (the way they play or system) is one of the biggest reasons they’ve been so good this season.

A lot of that is their forecheck and tonight, it didn’t look like they trusted it to get the results they usually get from it. Why?

The Florida Panthers got them off their game somehow. The Florida Panthers could be the best team in the National Hockey League right now but the Minnesota Wild usually worry about their game, not who they’re playing against.

Postgame

It appears there is either no postgame press conference or ESPN+/Hulu doesn’t cover the postgame press conferences. Streaming sports? Your thoughts? We aren’t big fans of it right now.

We’ll add something later if we find it.

From Jessi Pierce on Twitter:
Dean Evason: “We were unintelligent …we weren’t worse than that team tonight, we just made worse mistakes. …It’s uncharacteristic.”

Next up: 

The Wild visit the Edmonton Oilers for the 2nd time this season on Sunday at 7pm on Bally Sports North. 

They beat them 4-1 on December 7th but this is the new Oilers with new head coach Jay Woodcroft. Will their team defense be better?

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

AND…as always…

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Buffalo Sabres – December 16th, 2021

Posted on December 17, 2021 by

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Buffalo Sabres - 12-16-2021

The Minnesota Wild finally got back on the ice on Thursday night after Covid-19 postponed Tuesday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes and is threatening to do even more damage as the numbers of players testing positive &/or being placed in Covid Protocols has skyrocketed over the last 5 days or so. It’s now at about 58.

Some fans have said the league should probably shut it down. That’s a panic-like reaction, especially since the league dealt with stricter protocols for all of last season and rescheduled many games due to outbreaks throughout the shortened season.

Instead, they’ve instituted enhanced protocols into January (at least through January 7th) for all teams like they had in the 2020-21 season that includes being tested daily instead of every third day, according to sources. Also, all team personnel will be required to wear face masks at facilities, meetings will be held virtually, and everyone will be asked to limit all social interactions outside of the hotel, rink or home.

The Montreal Canadiens hosted the Philadelphia Flyers without fans as Quebec public health officials requested that no fans attend the game.

Other Puckin’ News

General manager Bill Guerin was named the General Manager for the 2022 USA Hockey Olympic team so… a gold medal & a Stanley Cup, right?

Seriously, Guerin deserves it after what he’s done with the Wild since being hired as their General Manager on August 21, 2019.

Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin named 2022 GM USA Hockey Men's Olympic Team General Manager

🏒–– CP ––🏒

The 2022 World Junior Hockey Championships begin in 10 days on December 26th but there will be a couple of Pre-Tournament games on Monday, December 20th (against the Czech Republic (No TV)) and Wednesday, December 22nd (against Finland). Every game except for the 1st pre-tourney game will be on the NHL Network. The schedule is below.

2022 IIHF World Junior Championships - USA Hockey Schedule

The Wild should be well represented this year:

🇸🇪
G Jesper Wallstedt

🇺🇸
D Jack Peart 

🇨🇦
D Ryan O’Rourke
D Carson Lambos 

🇷🇺
F Marat Khusnutdinov 

🇨🇿
F Pavel Novak

 

Here’s how the Minnesota Wild and the Buffalo Sabres lined up:

Minnesota Wild

No changes from the lineup that would’ve played on Tuesday night but that lineup did include the return of one Jonas Brodin to the defense. They lost the 2 games JoBro did not play (at Los Angeles & at Vegas):

97 Kirill Kaprizov – 38 Ryan Hartman – 36 Mats Zuccarello
18 Jordan Greenway – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek – 17 Marcus Foligno
22 Kevin Fiala – 49 Victor Rask – 89 Frédérick Gaudreau
21 Brandon Duhaime – 7 Nico Sturm – 27 Nick Bjugstad 

25 Jonas Brodin – 24 Matt Dumba
47 Alex Goligoski – 46 Jared Spurgeon
4 Jon Merrill – 29 Dmitry Kulikov 

33 Cam Talbot
34 Kaapo Kähkönen

Scratched: 16 Rem Pitlick, 8 Jordie Benn 

Buffalo Sabres

Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin named 2022 GM USA Hockey Men's Olympic Team General Manager

Game Recap

Wild F Mats Zuccarello made a great pick in the neutral zone to lead a 2-on-1 with Kirill Kaprizov, but he passed behind 97. Nobody thought he was gonna shoot that one.

Gaudreau for high-sticking at 4:25 of the 1st

Buffalo F Jeff Skinner was hit in the face by the puck after it deflected off the boards on a Marcus Foligno clearing attempt. The Sabres got a lot of zone time and a few good shots but Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot was on his game from the start in this game. Penalty Killed.

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov struggled to the bench after the kill. Blocked shot?

Buffalo Sabres D Colin Miller tried to throw a body check on Wild F Jordan Greenway and Jordan just pushed him down as he keeps developing more and more of a physical presence this season.

GOAL: Jon Merrill at 10:11 of the 1st period

A Minnesota Wild line rush with Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman and Kirill Kaprizov results in a great chance on a one-timer for Kaprizov on a nice feed from Zuccarello but he shot it wide behind the net. Hartman was there to corral the puck and he sent it back to D Dmitry Kulikov at the left point and he quickly sent it to the right point to D Jon Merril for another one-timer and this one squeaked through Buffalo G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to his glove side for Merrill’s 3rd goal of the season. 1-0 Wild

Another chance for Buffalo came from a 3-on-2 and Cam Talbot had to make a couple saves to keep the game at 1-0 Wild. The initial shot came from Jeff Skinner so he was alright after taking a puck to the face earlier in the period. A rebound followed then another grade-A shot from in close.

The Fiala-Rask-Gaudreau line were maybe a little too aggressive trying to keep the puck in the zone and failed to create that 3-on-2.

The Wild were outshot 21-6 in the period but, hey, they scored on 1 of their 6 shots.*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article.

GOAL: Dylan Cozens with the tip in front tied the game at 1

An immediate response from Minnesota somehow didn’t result in a goal as Luukonen was looking behind him to see if the puck was there but it did draw a power play as Joel Eriksson Ek was hit cross-check high-stick to his head. The initial call was a double-minor but they reviewed the call and then confirmed it to send the Wild to the power-play.

The Wild got a few shots off but nothing really close to a goal and their best chances missed the net.

Kevin Fiala had a shot get through Luukonen and it was trickling towards the net but Sabres D Colin Miller got to it to keep it out of the net. Fiala then got another chance but he missed the net. Spurgeon then got a shot that was saved. This was all over the span of about 80 seconds. Then…

GOAL: Kirill Kaprizov got one to squeak through for another 1-goal lead

Finally, seconds later, Kirill Kaprizov got a shot to trickle through Luukkonen’s 5-hole but this time it also trickled past the goal line. 2-1 Wild

The Wild outshot Buffalo 13-6 that period while each team scored a goal.

The Wild have been one of the better 3rd-period teams in the league so you’d expect a good push from them to get 2 points.

They had plenty of chances but you could see some players trying to do too much by themselves instead of working as a team and, basically, doing what they’ve done all season and, especially, at home by being aggressive on the fore-check and creating chances off of it but also not making prayer passes that have little chance to succeed.

Then, with just under 8 minutes to go in the 3rd period, they got trapped in their own end but they had at least 2 chances to get the puck out of the zone but they tried to make something else happen instead of just clearing the zone and regrouping for another push from Buffalo.

GOAL: Pysyk Scores to Tie the Game at 2

They also started chasing the play by reacting to what was happening instead of reading the play and anticipating. This is proved by Brandon Duhaime diving to try to get to the goal-scorer, Mark Pysyk, at the last second.

Wild D Jon Merrill should probably have put the blade of his stick in front of the puck instead of trying to figure out where Buffalo Sabres F Vinnie Hinostroza was going to pass the puck.

The game headed to Overtime and, like pretty much every OT, both teams had chances but neither could get the game-winner so this one was settled in a shootout.

SHOOTOUT

Wild F Mats Zuccarello…shot, saved

Sabres F Victor Olafsson…move, missed the net

Wild F Kevin Fiala…shot, saved, hit the shaft of the goalie stick!

Sabres F Kyle Okposo…shot, saved, also off the shaft of the stick.

Wild F Kirill Kaprizov…shot…post, no goal! OHHH!!!

Sabres F Tage Thompson…shot…score!

FINAL
Buffalo Sabres 3, Minnesota Wild 2

Game Notes

*SHOOT THE PUCK!!! 

Man, it’s frustrating when a team or an individual player doesn’t shoot or doesn’t seem to want to shoot the puck.

We like a shooting mentality. Put a lot of shots on net and you should get a lot of chances to score.

One thing that always seems crazy is when a team scores on their 5th shot of the game, an 80% save percentage, with 9:49 remaining in the 1st period and only had one shot on goal the rest of the period. Did they relax after getting that lead? Did they think it was going to be an easy win?

There are no easy wins in the NHL!

The Wild did outshoot the Sabres 26-19 the rest of the way.

**Do we call this one of those games a good team plays every now & then? A misstep? It just didn’t look like the 2021-22 Minnesota Wild. They started trying to make more plays individually instead of working together.

The fore-check wasn’t as good as it usually is. They started to react to the puck defensively instead of reading the play and reacting to their reads. The game-tying goal in the 3rd is a prime example of that.

***Flat? “The team came out flat.” “They had no energy.” “They weren’t ready.”

These are all several ways to describe a team not playing well.

Then the team is asked about it after the game, a loss like the Wild had last night. Why does it happen? Was it not respecting the opponent? Forgetting what you were doing to win 8 games in a row?

The players don’t have an answer. Jordan Greenway was asked directly about it and he searched his mind and said he didn’t know. There is nothing to explain it or it wouldn’t happen anymore because teams, coaches, personnel would see it coming and address it and they would’ve figured out how to fix it, too.

And it happens to every team, too. The Wild’s next opponent, the Florida Panthers, are now going through a bit of a slump, too. They started the season 10-0-1, 21 points in 11 games. They’re 4-5-1 in their last 10 and 8-7-3 (or 19 points in 20 games) since that 11-game start.

Buffalo started the season 5-1-1 then went 4-14-3 in their last 21 games before last night but they also beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-2 in Winnipeg on Tuesday night and had allowed just 8 goals against in their last 4 games.

Greenway said it in his postgame comments, “That’s an NHL team. That’s a good team. They’re going to come out and try and win.”

Postgame

Wild Beat Writer from The Athletic, Michael Russo – “Sure feels like you guys almost got what you deserved, tonight. It’s just not a good game from the start to the finish.”

Minnesota Wild Head Coach Dean Evason – “We probably deserved worse, right? Yeah, we weren’t good. We weren’t good right from the start. We weren’t good in the middle. We weren’t good in the end…

All of us. We weren’t very good. Maybe we need some practice. We need some practice. Our pace was just terrible. Terrible….

We didn’t have anything tonight.”

Next up: 

Maybe the best team in the National Hockey League in the Florida Panthers who also lost last night, to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1.

We get to see how this Minnesota Wild team will respond to a 3-game losing streak and playing against one of the best teams in the league on Saturday afternoon at 1pm 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

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Minnesota Wild Recap at the Los Angeles Kings – December 11th, 2021

Posted on December 12, 2021 by

The Minnesota Wild turned 7 into 8 on Thursday night in San Jose as they beat the Sharks 5-2 to extend their winning streak to 8 games. That score is a little misleading because it looks like the Wild may have had a somewhat easy game but it was far from it. They led 3-0 going into the 3rd period but San Jose made it a 1-goal game with 6:34 to go and the Wild ended up scoring 2 empty-net goals that sealed the victory.

You can Read the Recap here! The Game Notes are about Kevin Fiala, the Wild’s defensive responsibility & how they rarely, if ever, panic during a game and Jonathan Dahlen.

We also added some other Hockey Notes about Anaheim Ducks’ F Trevor Zegras’ lacrosse-style assist from behind the net.

The Wild took on the Los Angeles Kings tonight. The Kings are a tough team to read. They started the season 1-5-1. They then went on a 7-game winning streak but followed that by going 3-5-3 since including 2 overtime losses and 1 shootout loss. The wins were a 4-2 win vs the Senators, a 5-1 win in Edmonton against the Oilers and a 4-0 win in their last game on Thursday night at home against the Dallas Stars. The previous game was a 4-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks after they made a coaching change to former Minnesota Wild coach, Bruce Boudreau.

They’ve scored 68 goals & allowed 67 goals in their 25 games so far this season. In their 7-game winning streak, they scored 24 goals and allowed 13 goals but in their last 11 games, they’ve scored 28 goals and allowed 33 goals.

The Kings Gameday Report was written by none other than Minnesota’s own Jack Jablonski.

The Wild, on the other hand, has scored 101 goals and allowed 74 goals in their 26 games so far this season and they’ve gone pointless in 2 consecutive games just once when they lost 2 straight in regulation at the end of October, both 4-1 losses at Seattle & Colorado. They also lost 2 straight in the 2 games in Florida right before this current winning streak but gained a point by forcing overtime and lost in a shootout in Tampa Bay.

During the streak, they’ve scored 37 goals and allowed 15.

The Minnesota Wild have brought a pretty consistent game for the majority of the season so far while the Kings have not for whatever reason.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

D Matt Dumba was back in the lineup after missing Thursday night’s game for being under the weather (non-Covid) but D Jonas Brodin was out due to an upper-body injury.

Kaapo got the start in net.

18 Jordan Greenway – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek – Marcus Foligno
97 Kirill Kaprizov – 38 Ryan Hartman – 36 Mats Zuccarello
21 Brandon Duhaime – 49 Victor Rask – 22 Kevin Fiala
58 Mason Shaw – 7 Nico Sturm-  27 Nick Bjugstad

47 Alex Goligoski – 46 Jared Spurgeon
4 Jon Merrill – 24 Matt Dumba
8 Jordie Benn – 29 Dmitry Kulikov 

34 Kaapo Kähkönen
33 Cam Talbot

Los Angeles Kings

Los Angeles Kings Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - 12-11-2021

Game Recap

Brandon Duhaime threw a big hit on Alexander Edler around 3 minutes into the game and Edler was down for quite a while and he needed help coming off the ice as he wasn’t putting any weight on his left leg.

Did that leg bend underneath him as he was hit?

On the ensuing faceoff, Kirill Kaprizov held Drew Doughty to send the Kings to the Power Play. That’s kind of a weak call but it’s more about having his stick in the position he had where Kirill was behind Doughty but had his stick in front of him keeping him from moving his stick.

The Minnesota Wild Penalty Kill did its job, though. The Wild get a lot done in the defensive zone by just having great sticks.*
*Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article!

Jordan Greenway hasn’t been a minus player even one night in the last 13 games and he’s a +13 in that stretch according to Wild Play-by-Play man, Anthony LaPanta. He also had 33 hits in that span which is 2.54 hits per game.

Drew Doughty said earlier this season that he thought Kirill Kaprizov might be a little overpaid.**
**Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article!

The Wild had 2 players collide (Spurgeon & Greenway) that turned into a 3-on-1 for Los Angeles and Joel Eriksson Ek took a slashing penalty to deny the Kings a good scoring chance.

The Wild PK did its job once again and Jared Spurgeon made a big play to keep the game scoreless as he took away a cross-ice pass as he pulled some laydown defense.

As the penalty expired, Joel Eriksson Ek got a break and took the puck up the right side of the Kings offensive zone and had a step on Drew Doughty and Doughty’s stick tripped him up but there was no call even though Drew Doughty looked back at the official to see if it was going to be called.

Kaapo had to make a big save with 5:30 to go in the 1st as a loose puck came out to a Kings player for a quick one-timer.

Kaapo then got a Delay of Game penalty when he tried to wrap the puck around the left corner and accidentally sent it out of play…apparently. The officials didn’t call it right away. They discussed it and then called the penalty.

The Wild killed off its 3rd penalty of the period but the Kings got a great scoring chance right after the penalty expired but Kaapo made another great save by coming out to cut the angle down.

The Wild then put a lot of pressure on as the period came to an end and Kirill Kaprizov actually put the puck in the net but it was after the buzzer.

Shots were 13-8 LA.

2:45 into the 2nd period, the Los Angeles Kings took an interference penalty when Drew Doughty impeded Brandon Duhaime after he dumped the puck in. Oops!

The Kings killed it off then got their own power play after Alex Goligoski had to take a slashing penalty on a Kings scoring chance.

The Wild killed off the penalty but were stuck in their zone for most of the 2 minutes then even more (3:45 total, maybe) as Dmitry Kulikov broke his stick on an attempted clear but the Wild stayed composed and got out of it.

Somehow the officials missed an obvious tripping penalty at center ice as Kirill Kaprizov was tripped by Phillip Danault and you could hear “Holy %#@&!” being yelled immediately afterward.

 

Doughty then took another interference penalty as he cross-checked Kevin Fiala in front of the net.

The Wild got a big play on the Power Play when Kevin Fiala sent a pass to Matt Dumba after the faceoff and Dumba one-timed a slapshot from around the center of the blue line. Marcus Foligno got his stick on it in front of the net for the tip-in for his 12th goal of the season.

Jordan Greenway won the faceoff with some help from Kevin Fiala who went in to retrieve the puck as it sat there and he just fed Dumba for a Blast at the net and Foligno had worked to get position in front of the net.

The Kings took just 78 seconds to respond and get the game tied once again as Phillip Danault got his own rebound after Kaapo Kähkönen made the initial save.

Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty tried to send a shot to the net but it deflected off of Wild D Jon Merrill and went right to Phillip Danault and he immediately shot it and somehow Kaapo Kähkönen made the first save but the rebound went back to Danault for another try and he got it through the five-hole.

Shots were 12-8 LA in the 2nd period.

55 seconds into the 3rd period, Wild F Nico Sturm made a move on a 2-on-1 but didn’t get the backhand up high enough to beat Kings G Jonathan Quick but Quick wasn’t sure where the puck was so Mason Shaw did a little digging which never sits well with a goalie or the opposing players.

The Kings then get some good pressure and Matt Dumba tried to clear the zone and got a Delay of Game penalty but the Wild’s PK stood strong and killed off yet another penalty.

The Wild then got a great scoring chance on a Kirill Kaprizov slapper that Quick caught with his glove.

Kaprizov made a great pass to Ryan Hartman from beneath the goal line and Hartman had a couple of chances but Jonathan Quick was up to the task again.

Then on a wraparound from the left of the zone by Los Angeles F Trevor Moore, Kings F Brendan Lemieux beat Nick Bjugstad to the puck & sent it behind the net to Carl Grundstrom. Trevor Moore cut to the center of the ice then cut towards the net at about the top of the right faceoff circle to be a passing option and he got a nice quick shot off that Kaapo Kähkönen saved and the rebound came out about 3-4 feet in front of him and it was in Matt Dumba’s feet. Wild D Jon Merrill tried to clear it to the corner but was blocked from doing so by Dumba’s feet and Grundstrom drove his stick through Dumba’s feet to push the puck out and Brendan Lemieux was there waiting for it and he shot it into the net for a 2-1 Kings lead.

Brendan Lemieux Goal Breakdown 1 - 12-11-2021

The Wild were guilty of some puck-watching here as that’s how Trevor Moore got a great shot off and ultimately how Lemieux was open as well.

Brendan Lemieux Goal Breakdown 2 - 12-11-2021

That’s too many guys staring at the puck while the offense just skates around getting open.

Kirill Kaprizov tried to carry the puck into the net to tie the game:

Then Zuccarello found Hartman open right after the play above but Hartman fanned on the shot. OHHH!!!

With the Wild pushing, the Kings got a breakaway but Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen stoned Andreas Athanasiou as he just waited him out and gave him nothing to shoot at after he faked a shot.

The Minnesota Wild pulled their goalie with about 1:45 remaining in regulation and they were really patient trying to find an opening for a shot but the puck got past them a couple of times to clear the zone then finally with about 15 seconds left, Kirill Kaprizov shot it and the rebound was right there as Mats Zuccarello was on the right of the net but he ended up sending it through the crease and it amazingly misses Kings D Matt Roy or it barely went off of him. Alex Goligoski got his stick on it but it went beneath the goal line and Zuccarello just sent it right back in front of the net and Ryan Hartman just missed it then Ek had it but didn’t get much on it and it ended up hitting Jonathan Quick’s goalie stick and rolling around it so he could freeze the puck!

WOW! They had 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 chances in a matter of seconds, there!

The faceoff then came out of the zone because the officials said the Wild defenseman/defensemen came in from the blueline into the scrum.

2021-22 NHL Rulebook - Rule 76.2 - Face-Off Location

2021-22 NHL Rulebook – Rule 76.2 – Face-Off Location

With just 8.7 seconds remaining, the Wild won the face-off back to Zuccarello at the left point by the red line and he quickly sent it across the ice to Kaprizov who made a quick between his legs pass to Jared Spurgeon and Jared sent a shot or a pass (?) that went about 3 yards wide and the Kings wrapped it around the far boards to clear the zone and the winning streak was snapped. OHHH!!!

Was Jared Spurgeon trying to get a tip from Kaprizov with where he sent the puck, there? Kaprizov waved his stick at it. A tip may have been the plan and the best way to try to score with so little time left.

Maybe not the greatest game from the Wild last night but they battled and Minnesota Wild G Kaapo Kähkönen made save after save in this game and had no chance on either of the goals against the Wild.

Game Notes

*Great Sticks of the Minnesota Wild!

Great sticks as in the defensive placement of their sticks to break up plays or make it more difficult to make a play because their sticks are in the way. The Minnesota Wild have made so many great defensive plays just by having great sticks.

Former Wild player D Ryan Suter was great at just putting the blade of his stick in front of the puck when an opposing forward had it on his stick.

**Los Angeles Kings D Drew Doughty says, “I was going to say overpaid after only 45 games but…” then the video cuts to another player.

***The Minnesota Wild will get every team’s A-Game from here on out.

This is something the Minnesota Wild will have to get used to and actually have done very well with so far this season.

In our game preview above, we said the Kings were a tough team to read because they’ve been inconsistent. We honestly think the Wild don’t worry too much about that, though. They make their game plan and try to execute it as well as possible. We find it hard to believe they’d care what a team has done up to the game they are playing them because it doesn’t really matter.

We do think they weren’t as aggressive as we’ve usually seen them. They were waiting too long at the end of the game to find the perfect play to tie the game. In the games where they came back, they just kept shooting and trying to make plays off of those shots.

In this streak, they were ahead for 99% of the entire streak. They also scored 4.625 goals per game and scored under 4 goals just once. Did that change their game a little bit and make them a little less aggressive? Or is it partly because teams have an idea of what to expect from them and know how to defend it?

Postgame

 

The coach wasn’t too happy with the officiating but he was happy with his team’s effort overall.

Next up: 

They’ll head to Vegas for a rematch with the Vegas Golden Knights tonight at 8pm on Bally Sports North.

They lost 3-2 back on November 11th so they should be raring to go for this one. Not only did they lose to the Knights earlier this season but they also lost to them in the playoffs and they’re coming off a loss so we’re excited to see how they respond in this 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

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