Minnesota Wild Recap at the Colorado Avalanche – October 30th, 2021

Posted on October 30, 2021 by

The Minnesota Wild have been dealing with Covid-19 & Injuries early in the season. It’s not great but it might be better to be dealing with it now, rather than later in the season.

They placed F Jordan Greenway on Injured Reserve (IR) with a lower-body injury after he took a hit from Seattle Kraken D Mark Giordano and struggled to get off the ice in the 3rd period.

The Minnesota Wild recalled F Adam Beckman from the Iowa Wild to replace Greenway and he made his NHL debut in tonight’s game. Safe to say he’s a Mile High in more ways than one as it’s hard to imagine what it feels like to reach the best league in the world and play your first game. Were there nerves? Was it going to take a shift or two for him to get used to the speed of the NHL game?

The Wild also recalled D Calen Addison & sent D Jon Lizotte down to Iowa because D Alex Goligoski is out for 1-2 weeks with an upper-body injury and Dmitry Kulikov was day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Kulikov was good to go and played opposite Captain Jared Spurgeon tonight which meant Addison would play on the bottom pair opposite Jon Merrill.

It was also reported that both F Mats Zuccarello & F Rem Pitlick were confirmed to be Covid-19 positive so they will both be out at least 10 days (starting from the day they were put on the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol List.)

Here’s how the teams lined up in Colorado:

Minnesota Wild

97 Kirill Kaprizov – 14 Joel Eriksson Ek – 17 Marcus Foligno
22 Kevin Fiala – 89 Frédérick Gaudreau – 38 Ryan Hartman
21 Brandon Duhaime – 7 Nico Sturm – 27 Nick Bjugstad
53 Adam Beckman* – 52 Connor Dewar – 37 Kyle Rau

29 Dmitry Kulikov – 46 Jared Spurgeon
25 Jonas Brodin – 24 Matt Dumba
4 Jon Merrill – 59 Calen Addison

Cam Talbot
Kaapo Kähkönen
*NHL Debut

Scratched/Out:
F Victor Rask, F Mats Zuccarello (Covid-19 Protocols), F Rem Pitlick (Covid-19 Protocols), F Jordan Greenway (IR-LBI), D Alex Goligoski (IR-UBI)

Colorado Avalanche
Colorado Avalanche Lineup - October 30th, 2021

1st Period Recap

Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov, who has yet to score a goal this season, got his hair cut so maybe we should expect a faster Kap so I predicted a breakaway goal from him for the 1st goal of the game (#mnwildFirst)!

Adam Beckman got a shot, the Wild’s 1st shot of the game, in his 1st shift of the game just 3:00 in. 

Kaprizov had 2 shot attempts early and was also cross-checked by Nazem Kadri to knock him down and take the puck but that was apparently not a penalty.

Well, it wasn’t the first goal of the game for Kaprizov as Colorado Avalanche F Gabriel Landeskog scored when he skated through the offensive zone past pretty much every Wild player and received a pass from Andrei Burakovsky on a line rush against the Wild’s bottom line & bottom defensive pair. It was not long after the Wild got a great shift from the Fiala, Sturm & Hartman line. Kap could still score the Wild’s 1st goal of the game, though.

That goal really energized the Avalanche as goals usually do but they dominated the next couple of minutes before Wild G Cam Talbot made a save to send the game to a commercial timeout. During that sequence, Calen Addison took a stick up high but it looked like it was friendly fire from his defense partner, Jon Merrill.

Avalanche F Nathan MacKinnon then drew a holding penalty on Wild D Dmitry Kulikov. The Wild killed off the power play, though.

The Avalanche then dominated the rest of the period so the Wild would try to regroup in the 1st intermission.

2nd Period Recap

Early in the period, Wild rookie F Adam Beckman, who is known for scoring goals (97 goals in 152 WHL games, 4 in 13 AHL games), got the puck on the left side of the net (COL G Darcy Kuemper’s right) and he wasn’t facing the net but he just turned & took a shot. It created a small scoring chance.* 

Colorado D Cale Makar came in for a hit on Brandon Duhaime and, on first look made it look a little high or a little higher than it needed to be but, on the second look (replay), Makar could’ve hit him a lot worse and he actually could’ve hit him with his left side but he turned to his right side so he would hit him more from the front than the side. 

Stick tap to Hockey Wilderness for the video/s

Just over 14 minutes into the 2nd period. Wild D Matt Dumba started a rush &, with the puck dumped in, he saw F Gabriel Landeskog going to get the puck so he lined him up and hit him with a good, physical hit. Landeskog didn’t like it so he shoved Dumba’s head into the boards and got called for roughing** The Wild’s power play got plenty of chance then drew another penalty and scored to tie the game on a great pass from Marcus Foligno out front to Ryan Hartman for a one-timer for the slot that beat Kuemper to the blocker side to tie this game at 1!

Unfortunately, on the very next shift, Nathan MacKinnon forced a turnover (or won a battle for the puck) and it ended up on D Erik Johnson’s stick and he scored just 40 seconds after the Wild tied it at 1 & the Avalanche were right back up by 1 goal at 2-1.

3rd Period Recap

2:24 into the period, Wild F Brandon Duhaime cross-checked Avalanche D Bowen Byram from behind about 5 feet from the boards. It’s a dangerous hit but is it a major? We think it’s questionable but the league wants that kind of hit out of the game. Afterwards, Avs F Nathan MacKinnon skates over to Duhaime, says something & they both drop the gloves and throw some punches.

The officials called it a major right away then reviewed it and kept it as a major. Then, they give each 2 minutes for roughing instead of fighting and MacKinnon didn’t get an instigator for some reason.*** Why? The major already changes the game. That’s on Duhaime but he then had to leave the ice because the major came with a game misconduct so, he was done for the night. An instigator penalty comes with a 5-minute major for fighting & a 10-minute misconduct but, of course, the officials didn’t call an instigator or fighting. If they had, MacKinnon wouldn’t have been back until there was only 36 seconds left in the 3rd period.

Is this a fight?
from Spoked Z

The Avalanche scored 29 seconds into the 5-minute Power Play to make it 3-1 but the Wild killed off the rest of that penalty which also included 68 seconds of a 2-man advantage then 52 more seconds of power play time.

It looks like they missed another penalty when Gabriel Landeskog hit Joel Eriksson Ek in the face with his stick. That should’ve been a double-minor & it’s hard to believe it wasn’t seen by either official since it came right off the faceoff:

Courtesy of @cjzero on Twitter

The Wild made a great push but didn’t score & allowed an empty-net goal for a final score of…

Final Score
(5-3-0) Minnesota Wild 1 | 4 Colorado Avalanche (4-4-0)

Goals (Assists):
MN:
Hartman(4) (Foligno(4), Dumba(4))

COL:
Landeskog(3) (Burakovsky(3), MacKinnon(7))
Johnson(1) (MacKinnon(8), Landeskog(3))
Kadri(3) (Landeskog(4), Compher(3))
Landeskog-ENG(4) (Compher(4), Johnson(2))

Game Notes

*Beckman likes to shoot and we like that….a lot!!! It’s incredibly difficult to score without shooting the puck and the players who score a lot, shoot a lot. They go to the goal-scoring areas and are always ready to shoot. Their teammates know they like to shoot and know where they like the puck for a one-timer.

Beckman probably thinks about shooting every time they get the puck no matter where they are on the ice. That’s what made us think of it. He made a turnaround shot from a bad angle because he has a great shot. He’s likely also been told he’s with the Wild because of that shot so they want him to shoot the puck instead of deferring to his veteran teammates.

**Landeskog is supposed to be a leader for the Avalanche but he takes a lot of really stupid penalties. How many times do those penalties cost his team. The Wild scored on the 2nd power play but his penalty was what caused the 2nd penalty to be drawn.

It appears you just have to get in his head and he’ll get mad and do something stupid.

***Officially Bad! So…here’s the Instigator rule from the 2021-22 NHL Rulebook. Should that have been an instigator? Did MacKinnon have the “distance traveled, first punch thrown, verbal instigation or threats, obvious retribution for a previous incident”? We’d say yes but…what do the ClutterPuckers think?:

Postgame

Coming soon as no videos were up on the Wild’s Press Pass Playlist but here’s the Postgame PONDcast from the radio side from KFAN.

And…here’s the link to @BallySportsNorth’s postgame tweet with Head Coach Dean Evason:
“Looked like a fight to me…I don’t understand it…they dropped their gloves. They throw punches. It’s a fight. He shouldn’t be on the ice for 5 minutes.”

Next up:
vs Ottawa at The X
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021
at 7:00 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, Iowa Wild, Minnesota Wild, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Prospects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Recap at the Seattle Kraken – October 28th, 2021

Posted on October 29, 2021 by

The Minnesota Wild responded to their 1st loss (a bad 5-2 loss at home to the Nashville Predators) with a great game in Vancouver where they scored the 1st goal for the 1st time this season then held on for a 3-2 win to get back in the Win column!

They looked to start another winning streak as they played their first game against the Seattle Kraken. They saw former teammates & Minnesota Wild players, D Carson Soucy, who was taken in the Expansion Draft, and Fs Ryan Donato & Marcus Johansson, who both signed as free agents. 

The Wild got some bad news on Wednesday that Fs Mats Zuccarello & Rem Pitlick had to be placed in the NHL’s Covid-19 protocols so the Wild recalled Fs Kyle Rau, Connor Dewar & D Jon Lizotte.

We also found out before the game that Ds Alex Goligoski & Dmitry Kulikov were out due to injury so D Jordie Benn made his Minnesota Wild Debut & D Jon Lizotte made his NHL Debut.

That’s 4 regulars out so how did the Wild do against the expansion Seattle Kraken?

It’s always interesting to see how a team plays against a brand new team in a brand new arena. The Wild did very well in Vegas in their first season as they won all 3 games against them in their inaugural season. They’ll play Seattle 3 times this season, too, with 2 of those games in Seattle.

Here’s how the teams lined up for the 1st game at Climate Pledge Arena:

Minnesota Wild

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

25 Jonas Brodin – 24 Matt Dumba
8 Jordie Benn – 46 Jared Spurgeon
4 Jon Merrill – 39 Jon Lizotte 

33 Cam Talbot
34 Kaapo Kähkönen

Seattle Kraken

17 Jaden Schwartz – 37 Yanni Gourde – 19 Calle Jarnkrok
72 Joonas Donskoi – 21 Alexander Wennberg – 7 Jordan Eberle
13 Brandon Tanev – 16 Jared McCann – 14 Nathan Bastian
9 Ryan Donato – 15 Riley Sheahan – 67 Morgan Geekie

5 Mark Giordano – 24 Jamie Oleksiak
6 Adam Larsson – 55 Jeremy Lauzon
4 Haydn Fleury – 29 Vince Dunn

31 Phillipp Grubauer
35 Joey Daccord

1st Period Recap

We were anxious to see Kevin Fiala play on the top line with Kaprizov and Ek. 

Ryan Hartman got the Wild on the board 1st for the 2nd game in a row as he was wide open in the slot and Kirill Kaprizov found him from behind the net with a great pass. 

The Wild then scored seconds later but the officials immediately waved it off because Marcus Foligno knocked it in off his skate and they viewed it as being kicked in. They reviewed it and stayed with the call of No Goal.

Seattle tied the game when a pass out front missed its mark but it went off the left half-wall and bounced right to D Haydn Fleury for a one-timer that deflected off Matt Dumba’s shin and past Cam Talbot.

The Wild responded with a great shift from the Nico Sturm line then another one from the top line but didn’t get a chance or even a shot.

It was mostly Wild early but the Kraken got their game going and then Marcus Foligno took a double-minor for high-sticking Joonas Donskoi with 5.3 seconds remaining in the 1st period.

Shots
MN: 11 | SEA: 13
Faceoffs
MN: 59.1% | SEA: 40.9%
Power Play
MN: 0-1 | SEA: 0-1
Hits
MN: 15 | SEA: 15
Blocks
MN: 4 | SEA: 4
Giveaways/Takeaways
MN: 2/1 | SEA: 1/2

2nd Period Recap

The Kraken kept dominating but the Wild killed off the double-minor penalty and were in survival mode for the majority of the 2nd period as the Seattle Kraken were just getting more confident as the game went on.

Seattle then took the lead on a wraparound when D Haydn Fleury scored his 2nd goal of the game as he took a shot from a bad angle and the rebound came right back into him as he was skating toward the net so he just went around the net for a nice wraparound goal for his 2nd goal of the game.*

*Haydn Fleury has 7 career goals in the NHL in 183 games.

The Wild started to get their game back then Connor Dewar took a tripping penalty in the offensive zone with 3:00 remaining so back to the kill they went. 

We expected the Wild to come out for the 3rd with a lot more energy and a much higher compete level. The Wild had 8 of the first 10 shots in the game so they had only 7 of the next 35 shots.

2nd Period Totals
(1st Period Stats)
Shots
MN: 16 (11) | SEA: 30 (13)
Faceoffs
MN: 50% | SEA: 50%
Power Play
MN: 0-1 | SEA: 0-4
Hits
MN: 29 (15) | SEA: 25 (15)
Blocks
MN: 8 (4) | SEA: 6 (4)
Giveaways/Takeaways
MN: 5/3 (2/1) | SEA: 2/2 (1/2)

3rd Period Recap

Did the Minnesota Wild show up for the 3rd period? This team has been known for their response for a while now so…

They started off the period very well then had to kill off a boarding penalty when Jon Lizotte sent Morgan Geekie into the boards but the Wild got right back to their game and drew an interference penalty and the Power Play created a couple of great chances but Grubauer made to great saves. Seattle got a clear and the Wild changed units but didn’t get much out of the 2nd unit as they couldn’t set up to get any zone time.

Then Seattle D Jermey Lauzon threw Hartman into the boards but no penalty was called even after the after-whistle scrum as Marcus Foligno let his frustration be known.

7:57 left in regulation at that point.

The Wild were pinned in their own zone but they eventually got out of it and got another good shift & scoring chance but Grubauer was still up to the task.

6+ & the shots were 13-4 Wild in the period & it felt like the Minnesota Wild were going to tie it up at some point.

5:02 left in regulation…

Greenway took a hard hit from Mark Giordano and struggled to get off the ice.

Net empty at 1:47. Matt Dumba had to make a block/save to keep it at one goal but eventually, Brandon Tanev scored to put Seattle up 3-1 with just a minute remaining in the game.

Time Out – Minnesota

A Full-Ice Empty-Net goal with 7.9 seconds remaining ended it for sure.

The Wild gave it a heckuva effort in the 3rd but it’s hard to make up for 30+ minutes of bad hockey.

Final Totals
Shots
MN: 31 | SEA: 38
Faceoffs
MN: 54.5% | SEA: 45.5%
Power Play
MN: 0-2 | SEA: 0-4
Hits
MN: 43 | SEA: 40
Blocks
MN: 11 | SEA: 10
Giveaways/Takeaways
MN: 5/5 | SEA: 2/2

Game Notes

*The Wild responded in the 3rd like we’d expect them to but it just wasn’t enough. There are going to be games where a team doesn’t play well and has to battle their way out of it. They did that tonight but just could never get the big goal they needed.

**Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot suffered his 1st loss of the season even though he stopped 34-of-36 shots against him. He’s been amazing for the Wild this season. As he has in most of the Wild’s games, he made a number of great saves to keep his team in the game. He also had very little chance on either goal but that is the life of a goalie. 

***The Wild didn’t look as good as they usually do. Is part of that because they had 4 players out? Yes, but, we’re sure the Wild expect any players called up from Iowa to seamlessly move into their lineup because it’s the same system they run down there. It wasn’t as smooth as they’d like it to be but 2 of those players were also making their NHL Debuts and it is a step up from the American Hockey League so it might take a little bit to figure out how to play in the best hockey league in the world.

Next up: 

The Minnesota Wild head to Colorado to end this 3-game road trip as the Avalanche have maybe righted their game with a 4-3 win in St. Louis tonight.

We, of course, expect the Wild to come out very ready to play on Saturday night in Colorado. The big question is who will & who won’t be in the lineup since the Wild have 2 injured players and 2 players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. Will they lose more players? Will they get back any of those players?

––––– 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

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Anaheim Ducks – October 23rd, 2021

Posted on October 24, 2021 by

The Minnesota Wild face the Anaheim Ducks for the 2nd time this season already and we’re only 4 games into this season. They obviously were looking to avenge their home-opening loss they were handed by the Wild.

Did the Wild play a much more defensively responsible game after allowing 5 (or 6) goals? They’re at an average goals allowed of 2.67 per game which isn’t really that bad.

Let’s see what happened in today’s game.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Anaheim Ducks

1st Period Recap

The Ducks came out flying* and Rickard Rakell scored the first goal just 78 seconds into the game when he got to a rebound by winning a batter with Wild D Jonas Brodin and sent it through G Cam Talbot’s legs. 

Kirill Kaprizov & Max Comtois took coincidental Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties at the 14:38 mark of the period so they played 4-on-4 for a couple of minutes and …

Brandon Duhaime scored his first career NHL goal & he didn’t even have his stick in his hand as the shot from the point came from Nico Sturm and it deflected off of Anaheim F Rickard Rakell’s stick then went towards Duhaime in front of the net and he had dropped his stick and when he went to grab it off the ice, the puck deflected off of his left skate & into the net. WOW!! How ‘bout that for your 1st NHL Goal, huh?

Then just 114 seconds later, D Jared Spurgeon unleashed a laser from a bad angle below the right faceoff circle to put the Minnesota Wild up 2-1. The Captain went bar down from that crazy angle. WOW! What a Shot!!!

Kaprizov received a drop pass from Brodin and decided to try to protect the puck instead of shooting it when he saw a defender in position to tip the puck away. It eventually turned into a goal for the Ducks as Troy Terry tied the game at 2. He somehow tipped this shot.*

Kaprizov took another penalty, this time it was a hooking penalty in the offensive zone just reaching instead of skating. The Wild are just piling up the stick infractions. Sooner or later, these penalties are going to cost them. They may have already. We’re not sure what penalties align with the goals allowed on the penalty kill.

This time it ended up in 4-on-4 play just 24 seconds after the power play began as Max Comtois took an interference penalty at the offensive blue line trying to stay onsides.

2nd Period Recap

Rickard Rakell scored his 2nd goal of the game to put the Ducks up 3-2 early in the 2nd period, this time off a tip from in front of the net.  

It took a little more than 10 minutes, that included another Wild stick infraction penalty (Goligoski hook) and a Ryan Hartman goalie interference penalty as he drove the net, but the Wild finally responded to tie the game at 3 on D Jon Merrill’s 1st goal as a member of the Minnesota Wild. 

It came off kind of a weird play as the Ducks D Josh Mahura had a deflected pass come to him in the middle of the Ducks zone & he tried to pass it to F Derek Grant but Grant didn’t handle it. Grant, Mahura and Ducks F Nicolas Deslauriers all thought one of the other 2 were going to get the puck so no one went for it and that allowed Marcus Foligno to get to the puck before all of them and they were now out of position.

Foligno proceeded to take the puck behind the net and you can see every Ducks player on the ice was PuckWatching so that allowed Foligno the time to find D Jon Merrill coming in from the left point and feed him a pass for a one-timer and his 1st goal in a Wild uniform AND another tie game!

Through the Five Hole!

Anaheim challenged the play as being offsides and failed so the Wild received another Power Play but, unfortunately, they did not score on it but Merrill got the double celebration of his goal and that’s always fun.

3rd Period Recap

Coincidental minors between Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek & Ducks D Hampus Lindholm after Ek checks Lindholm’s arm into the glass and he didn’t like that so he cross-checked Ek in his right side in the rib area and Ek went down. The official called cross-checking & embellishment. How do they determine it’s a dive? Maybe the official should feel what a cross-check in the ribs feels like. I don’t recall Ek being a diver, either.

No scoring in the 3rd so they headed to OVERTIME for the 2nd game in a row but the Wild finished the 3rd with a flurry of chances and had a minuter plus of offensive zone time but obviously couldn’t score to end the game.

Overtime

The Wild got a power play when D Hampus Lindholm closed his hand on the puck to try to get it out of harm’s way but the official spotted it. The Wild had their share of chances but couldn’t score.

Joel Eriksson Ek had planted himself in the Ducks’ heads as he tends to do to every opponent. He’d been knocked down in front of the net by Ryan Getzlaf when Getzlaf’s stick hit Ek’s left skate and Ek went down to which Getzlaf responded with palms up, obviously claiming he goes down too easy. He was backing up and all of sudden his left skate has nothing to stand on.

Then, after John Gibson made a glove save, Ek was going to past him thinking the puck had gone behind the net. Getzlaf got in his face and Gibson pushed him in the chest with his catcher glove. 

The Wild took their timeout so they could put the same lineup back out of the ice for the 2nd half of the power play and as Ducks G John Gibson skated to the bench, he ran into Ek on purpose. Ek is just a pest and you gotta love it because he just plays hard. He’s one of those guys who you love if he’s on your team but hate if he’s on the other team.

 

At the end of the power play, the Ducks got a 2-on-1  but didn’t get a shot but they kept possession and got a couple of chances that were stopped by Cam Talbot. 

The Wild then took control of the puck and got a shot from the point from Jonas Brodin that was deflected into the left corner (to Gibson’s right) and the Ducks were able to clear the zone but Brodin made a quick pass off the boards by the Wild bench to Zuccarello. He pulled the puck back to create some space and as he did so, he saw Gaudreau change for a fresh Ryan Hartman so he fed Hartman as he was just entering the zone. He skated to the left dot and went upper right with 13 seconds left to win another Wild game in OVERTIME!!!

Game Notes

*How do goalies deal with tipped shots? It has to be one of, if not the most, difficult shot to save because they can’t really plan for it because it might not get tipped. It’s like playing the pass instead of the shot. We’d assume they just try to follow the puck as much as possible and react accordingly. The puck can also be tipped in any direction. 

Consider the Duhaime goal… does Ducks G John Gibson see the puck get tipped at the point?

I just finished watching All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, a docuseries from Amazon Prime chronicling their 2020-21 season. It’s definitely worth a watch, especially if you’re a hockey or sports fan.

Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe cusses…A LOT in it. There’s one scene where G Frederick Anderson had allowed 4 goals and the coaching & front office staff are in the postgame meeting discussing the game and goalie coach Steve Briere said 2 of the 4 goals were deflected in and one of them went off D Jake Muzzin’s ass. He then asked what’s he (Anderson) supposed to do about that. Keefe responds saying he needs to stop one of them to which Briere responds, “off of Muzz’s ass?” which received a quick “Fuck Off!” then a pause for awkwardness. 

Maybe they were disCUSSing the game instead?

**Jordan Greenway seems a step off or a second late right now. In one sequence, he received a pass from behind the net when he was just above the goal line and he hesitated then moved a little and attempted to shoot but it was easily blocked. Is it a confidence thing or does he look to pass first?

He did have an assist today, a secondary assist on the 2nd goal to double his assist & point totals to 2. He also led the team in assists last season with  26 in 56 games. He also had just 6 goals on 80 shots in those 56 games so he just needs to look for his shot more. He hasn’t really been much of a goal-scorer since moving on to the US NTDP where he scored  25 goals in 105 games. In college, he scored just 28 goals in 112 games. He’s a big player (6’6, 231 lbs) who should be more physical than he is. That’s bigger than Marcus Foligno (6’3, 226) & Joel Eriksson Ek (6’3, 207) and those guys hit a lot more than he does but…

We’ve said this before, Jordan has never really had to worry about being physical because he was usually just bigger than everyone else so it was easy to impose his will on them. Now, he’s in a league with men and men who are as big and bigger than he is and they know how to by physical. Hopefully, he’ll figure out how to play a physical game and shoot more. He should easily average more than a shot per game in our opinion. In his NHL career so far,  he has just 289 shots in 214 regular-season games and 17 shots in 16 postseason games.

It’s a contract year for him, there is no better time to step up and be the player he can be. If he doesn’t, he’ll be another Charlie Coyle.

We’re pulling for you, Jordo!!!

LET’S GOOOOOO, JORDOOOOOO!!! 

Go The GreenWay, people!!!

***Kevin Fiala, on the other hand, looks like a player about to break out. He’s making things happen almost every shift but they just aren’t turning into goals right now. He had 3 shots but he just creates things with his speed, his hands and his vision. 

Some people think he should have better linemates but we pointed out in our Season Preview that Fiala is a player that can create with anyone and we like that the Wild went out and signed a free agent that he’s had success with when he was developing in the minors in F Frédérick Gaudreau.

He also gets to face the team that traded him tomorrow so…

Stars of the Game
1st Star
Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman

GWG with 13 seconds remaining in Overtime!

2nd Star
Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime

1st NHL Goal, 5 shots on goal, physicality, compete level

3rd Star
Minnesota Wild D Jared Spurgeon

That BarDown Goal in the 1st! WOW!

Postgame

Ryan Hartman in the postgame interview: “Thanks to you guys, I knew when to shoot!” Haha

Next up: 

Mikael Granlund, Luke Kunin and the Nashville Predators come to town for another 5 pm game on Sunday night fresh off a 6-4 loss in Winnipeg that made them 1-4 on the season so they might be an ornery bunch.

Will the Wild be ready for them? We think YES!!!

The game will air 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 Gophers Recap vs the UMD Bulldogs – October 22nd, 2021

Posted on October 23, 2021 by

Minnesota Gopher Recap vs UMD Bulldogs - October 22nd, 2021

The Minnesota Gophers look to start a winning streak after a HUGE break last weekend gave them an Overtime victory at St. Cloud State, splitting the home & home series.

Through the first 4 games of the season, this 2021-22 Minnesota Gopher hockey team has shown their talent on the offensive end pretty much every game but their defense & the goaltending of Jack LaFontaine has not been pretty for the most part. They’ll have to get that shored up to beat the top teams in College Hockey.

Here’s how the teams lined up for the 1st game of this in-state battle home & home series that began at 3M Arena at Mariucci:

Minnesota Gophers

Starters in Gold!

University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs

For some reason, they didn’t post a line chart.

This is what they had in their most recent game:

1st Period Recap

The Bulldogs came out with a lot of energy and the Gophers didn’t appear ready for it and their lack of execution in really any aspect of the game cost them early as UMD scored twice in the first 12:03 of the game behind goals from  The Bulldogs controlled the majority of play for the first 15 minutes of the game.

It took until the 9:38 mark for the Gophers to get their first shot on goal and that came off a Bulldog pass that went off a Bulldog skate and went on goal. Their actual first shot didn’t come until the 8:27 mark. The Gophers started to find their game and even out the play at that point, too.

The Gophers then got a power play as Blake McLaughlin was hauled down when a pack went up in the air and Bulldog D Connor Kelley tried to reach it with his stick but his stick went under McLaughlin’s arm and he pulled him down when he tried to pull his stick back.

The Gophers SCORED on that Power Play when Mike Koster took a shot from the middle of the point through a bunch of bodies that got past Bulldog G Ryan Fanti. HUGE goal to get the Gophers on the board and to end a pretty bad period only down 1. 

2nd Period Recap

The Gophers came out with a lot more energy in the 2nd.

Coincidental minors ended up in 4-on-4 play and the Gophers had a Communication Breakdown that resulted in a wide open D Owen Gallatin in the slot for a one-timer that beat LaFontaine to his right on the ice for a 3-1 UMD lead.

The Gophers then may have been victimized by a non-call when Mike Koster was sent into the boards awkwardly and he never had the puck. The Gophers were able to clear the zone but D Wyatt Kaiser was able to keep possession after Gopher F Chaz Lucius tried to chip it past him off the boards. Kaiser then spun backwards to create space & passed it to Kobe Roth at the right boards just past the red line and Kaiser broke towards the offensive zone. He was pretty much all alone so he just took a good hard shot that went off LaFontaine’s mask and came out for a juicy rebound that Kaiser got to first as he followed his shot and he was able to score into the empty net for his first collegiate goal. Good for that Minnesota boy from Ham Lake.

Bad for the Minnesota Gophers but they just seemed to be watching the game instead of participating. There aren’t any seats on the ice for a very good reason. The spectators are outside the glass, boys! They were reacting to the play rather than reading and anticipating the play.

This Gopher team has the talent to come back from 3 goals down but not if they don’t compete and compete hard! There’s that old slogan about talent not working hard. The Motz couldn’t be happy at this point of the game & really, for the whole season so far. It’s only 5 games in but holy cow! Someone get them going!!!

Gopher Freshman F Matthew Knies scored with 2:06 remaining in the period and as it was happening, we thought, there’s a guy who could help turn this game around. He got in on the forecheck and made a play at the right half-wall going back towards the point rather than throw it back into the corner where his linemate Mason Nevers was but he made sure to get rid of the puck by sending it to the left half-wall so D Ben Brinkman could get to it. He then passed to Nevers coming around the back of the net. Nevers passed it to Brock Faber at the right point and he walked the line a little before passing it to Knies in the slot and he skated in a little before shooting a backhand that may have gone off of Ben Meyers then into the net. 4-2 Bulldogs

The Gophers ended the 2nd period in a good way just like they did the 1st. Did they make a game out of it in the 3rd?

3rd Period Recap

The Gophers again came out with more urgency & energy in the 3rd but there’s a reason the University of Minnesota-Duluth has been in 3 of the last 4 NCAA Ice Hockey Championship games and won 2 of them.

We don’t have the stats but we can’t imagine the Bulldogs have given up a lot of 2-goal leads in the 3rd period under Head Coach Scott Sandelin.***

The Gophers got a power play but took 2 penalties that look pretty weak and the Bulldogs scored 6 seconds into the 5-on-3 to make it 5-2. The Gophers did score shortly thereafter to get within 2 goals again.

The Gophers battled through the end of the game but as you’d expect, it was too little, too late.

Game Notes

*In the 2nd period: Analyst & former Gopher defenseman Ben Clymer said, “Doug Woog would not allow us to make backhand passes in practice, for real. He would lose his mind on you: ‘You guys aren’t good enough to make backhand passes!’”

He later added that he had made a full cross-ice backhand pass through the neutral zone while playing for Coach John Tortella and when he got back to the bench, Torts said, “Great Pass! Don’t ever do that again!”

**We’ve often thought the Gophers suffered when the WCHA disbanded because the Big Ten wanted to have their own Hockey Conference and tonight was a good example of that because the NCHC, which is mostly teams from the old WCHA, is a power Hockey Conference with St. Cloud State, the UMD Bulldogs, North Dakota, Denver, Colorado College, Omaha (all former WCHA teams), Miami (of Ohio) and Western Michigan. The WCHA was a great hockey conference because there weren’t any easy games. It was very competitive every weekend. It’s taken the Big Ten a while to reach that status but it does look like they’re getting close.

NCHC* Frozen Four Appearances

2014 – 1
2015 – 2
2016 – 2
2017 – 2
2018 – 1
2019 – 2
2021 – 2
Total – 12
*All Appearances are also former WCHA teams

B1G Frozen Four Appearances
2014 – 1 – Minnesota
2015 – 0
2016 – 0
2017 – 1 – Notre Dame
2018 – 2
2019 – 0
2021 – 0
Total – 4

***We looked it up on CollegeHockeyInc.com:

The UMD Bulldogs are 129-7-8 going into the 3rd period with a lead since they left the WCHA & joined the NCHC in the 2013-14 season:

2020-21 – 9-2-1
2019-20 – 18-1
2018-19 – 20-1
2017-18 – 23-0-1
2016-17 – 17-0-2
2015-16 – 14-0
2014-15 – 15-2-1
2013-14 – 13-1-3
Hopefully, tonight’s game will be a lot more competitive.

Next up: 

Thank you for reading! Bring The Clutter in the comments & on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn.

And…as always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Winnipeg Jets – October 19th, 2021

Posted on October 21, 2021 by

The Minnesota Wild faced the Winnipeg Jets for the first time in about 22 months, 650 days ago on January 4th, 2019 to be exact so…Happy New Year and New Season, ClutterPuckers!!! HA!

Only half of the team that played in that game so long ago are still with the team today. Luke Kunin scored the game-tying goal and Eric Staal scored the game-winning goal in OVERTIME!!! Both of those players were traded and the players they were traded for (Marcus Johansson & Nick Bonino*) left via Free Agency in July (Johansson to Seattle & Bonino to San Jose). Eric Staal is currently a free agent.
*The Wild also traded a 4th-rounder (#101) but received a 2nd (#37 – F Marat Khusnutdinov) & a 3rd (#70) which was then traded to Detroit along with pick (#132) to select D Daemon Hunt.

So… how will these two teams greet each other after 22 months? “Hey, it’s been a while, how are you?… Where’d everyone go? Who’s that in goal? What the Puck happened here?” This isn’t the same Minnesota Wild team they’re used to seeing. There’s a lot more grit and fight in this team, now!

Here’s how both teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Winnipeg Jets

Let’s see how it went…

They honored the late Tom Kurvers, their now former assistant GM, who passed away this past summer after a valiant fight against cancer, with a tribute before the game:

1st Period Recap

Matt Dumba took a cross-checking penalty just 37 seconds into the game as he hit Mark Scheifele somewhat softly. Scheifele is a lot stronger on his skates than that but it was a cross-check and the officials are calling them more this season.

The Wild killed off the penalty but maybe the Jets got some momentum from that power play as a 1:11 after the penalty & 3:48 into the game, Kyle Connor scored short side from a pretty bad angle.

The Minnesota Wild showed their resiliency on the very next shift and scored 53 seconds later when Mats Zuccarello had a loose puck come to him and shot it past Connor Hellebuyck. Assists went to Matt Dumba(2) & Kirill Kaprizov(3).

The great thing about this goal is Winnipeg had a chance to get the puck out but the Wild’s top line stayed aggressive and a D-to-D pass behind the net turned into a wraparound and Kirill Kaprizov was there to keep it in the zone then lost it to Kyle Connor but kept on him and created a loose puck that Zuccarello then sent back to the right point to Matt Dumba and he took one his Dumba Blasts that created a rebound. Jets D Nate Schmidt tipped it away from Ryan Hartman but right to Zuccarello and he one-timed it in to tie the game at 1!

Kyle Connor scored his 2nd goal of the night 3:36 later to put Winnipeg up 1 again. Minnesota Wild D Dmitry Kulikov tried to make a pass up the right boards but it was intercepted by Andrew Copp and when he tried to dump the puck back down into the corner & it deflected off of Kulikov right to Connor & he wound up and blasted it past Cam Talbot. Sometimes, that’s how the puck bounces.

Kirill Kaprizov & Mats Zuccarello might be taking notes from Joel Eriksson Ek as they are starting to be pains in the butt to play against. Zuccarello didn’t like Jets D Logan Stanley’s stick between his legs after the whistle so he aggressively hit it down to which Stanley responded by pushing Zuccarello.

Later in the period, Kaprizov came up high on the 6’7, 228 lb defenseman and ended up getting a roughing minor to even up the play to 4-on-4. He may have gotten him with the elbow. Winnipeg didn’t score on their 64-second power play and when Kaprizov came out of the box, he was taken down from behind shortly thereafter by Pierre-Luc Dubois who apparently took exception to how easily he thought Kaprizov went down even though he took out both of his feet. So the Wild went back on the power play and they tied it as every Wild skater touched the puck before tying the game on the Power Play.

Kirill Kaprizov entered the offensive zone on the left & quickly passed it to Kevin Fiala on his left at the point. He quickly passed it to Jared Spurgeon at the center of the blue line and he hit Mats Zuccarello at the right faceoff dot. Zucc took a shot that deflected off a Winnipeg D-man and went wide right but Joel Eriksson Ek quickly got to the rebound behind the net & tried to just get it on net as quickly as possible and it went over Jets G Connor Hellebuyck’s right pad to tie the game at 2.

We knew Winnipeg messing with Zuccs & Kap meant they’d get reacquainted with Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno and it happened immediately after the Wild tied the game as Foligno & Winnipeg D Brendon Dillon dropped the mitts on the ensuing puck drop and Foligno got the fight going with a jump punch (or Superman punch) then finished the heavyweight bout off nicely and skated off the ice throwing his arms up to the fans then down to throw his elbow pads on the ice. He was fired up and he got his team fired up. Don’t mess with our players!

2-2 after 1. The Wild outshot them 13-11 in the first.

2nd Period Recap

Ryan Hartman took a slashing penalty in the offensive zone and Winnipeg capitalized on the Power Play when D Josh Morrissey had some space in the slot and his shot went off the shaft of Kulikov’s stick to deflect past Talbot to and put the Jets back up by 1 goal at 3-2.

Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime laid a big hit on Jets D Josh Morrissey as he was coming to clear the zone. ****Game Notes

After another Ryan Hartman penalty (hooking), Brodin made a nice play off a deflection of a Hartman pass to almost put the Wild up 1 at the end of the period but Hellebuyck made a great save with his outstretched left pad/skate. Hartman jammed at it a couple seconds later as the puck was under Hellebuyck but the officials immediately waved it off. They looked at it and that no-goal call stood.

3rd Period Recap

Frédérick Gaudreau caught a pass from Kevin Fiala and threw it down in front of him so he could take a quick shot and he hit the crossbar early in the 3rd. 

Minnesota Wild F Nick Bjugstad took a delay of game penalty at the 2:43 mark. We’ve always hated this penalty. It’s relatively impossible to measure intent but a lot of the time, these penalties happened as a result of a puck on edge and the players are just trying to clear the zone and the puck happens to go out of play. Maybe they should raise the glass to the same height as the glass that’s on the ends of the ice to help with this.

The Jets took advantage and got their 4th 1-goal lead of the game off the stick of Pierre-Luc Dubois(2). Wild G Cam Talbot may have been screened by D Jared Spurgeon, at least enough to not see the puck until it was too late.

Do they make another response? A big Dumba blast and Hellebuyck doesn’t appear sure he has it so Hartman takes a whack to knock it loose but the whistle had already blown.

F Andrew Copp put the Jets up 2 with 13:23 to go in regulation and the Wild were down 2 for the first time this season.

A nice Jets breakout created a 2-on-1 as they just made a quick passing play and Alex Goligoski had no chance to get back so it was up to Spurgeon to try to defend it and Andrew Copp just shot it and went bar down to the upper left. Jordan Greenway may have been too aggressive on that play, too. Foligno & Hartman were already low so he should’ve probably backed off.

Kaprizov took a hooking penalty. It was another stick infraction. This time, Kaprizov was behind Copp & he caught up to him and tried to lift his stick but he also stopped moving his feet.* The Wild’s Penalty Kill gave them momentum as they allowed very little offense to Winnipeg.
*Why stop when you get within reach of a player? Keep skating so you can reach the puck and/or get even with the player so you can push him off the puck.

Another penalty after the whistle after Zuccarello’s shot and Dumba driving the net and Minnesota-native D Neal Pionk got 2 minutes for slashing. Did the Wild Power Play get them back in this game with 6:26 remaining in regulation?

YES….IT DID!!! FOLIGNO GOT DIRTY after a loose puck was won back by Dumba and he hit Hartman who passed across to Gaudreau and he waited, faked a shot then teed up Alex Goligoski for a blast that was saved but Foligno was on the doorstep and he outbattled Josh Morrissey to get to the rebound and get the Wild back within 1 with 4:58 left!

The Wild took their Time Out with 2:47 remaining and they pulled their goalie. A turnover cost them as Mark Scheifele got the empty-netter and they may have tried to get too perfect of a chance rather than shoot the puck and make something happen. The officials looked at the play for some reason. Kyle Connor appears to be offside on the far side of the ice. WOW!!!

NO GOAL!!! Conner didn’t even try to drag his leg. He obviously must’ve thought it was going to be an easy empty-net goal. Details, people! DETAILS!!! Mark Scheifele received the pass in front of him and for some reason pulled the puck back to his forehand side.

At the sight of the replay, the Wild fans at the Xcel Energy Center start cheering and many fans had started to file out of the arena right after the goal was scored so…when it was called NO GOAL, they all started coming back to their seats. NEVER LEAVE EARLY, people!!!

For some reason, we can’t find any video of this play anywhere. That doesn’t make sense as we saw it on TV!

74 seconds left in regulation! How…uhh…Wild would this be?

THEY SCORED!!! A loose puck went off of Mats Zuccarello’s right leg. The puck bounced up and Eriksson Ek swatted down at it & hit it down with the shaft of his stick and it went in between Connor Hellebuyck’s legs to tie the game with 59 seconds remaining.

Oh, boy! Free Point and now…FREE HOCKEY as we’ll go to 3-on-3!!!

OVERTIME

With new life in OVERTIME, the Wild had all the momentum in Overtime but the teams traded chances and both goalies came up with some big saves. Then Kirill Kaprizov drew a hooking penalty on Josh Morrissey and looked like he had a great chance to end it but Kyle Connor lifted his stick and ended up knocking him down and Kaprizov went hard and awkwardly into the boards. No second penalty for tripping.

So…it was 4-on-3 with Ek, Fiala, Kaprizov & Spurgeon against Lowry, Stanley & Dylan Dimelo. The puck went into the left corner off a deflected pass and Fiala tried to send it back to Spurgeon at the point but it went off Lowry’s stick & it developed into a 2-on-1 with Lowry on the right & Stanley on the left. Lowry fed Stanley a great pass but Cam Talbot got across to make the save then covered but pushed it out to Spurgeon & he fed it to Kaprizov to go up the right side with Ek on the far side and Fiala trailing. As Kaprizov hit the top of the right circle, he passed to Fiala who immediately returned it to Kaprizov but it forced Dimelo to honor Fiala and opened up the backdoor pass to Joel Eriksson Ek for the Game-Winning Goal and his First… Career… HAT TRICK!!!

WOW!!! WHAT A GAME!!!

See the Extended Highlights Below!!!

Extended Game Highlights

Stars of the Game
1st Star
Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek

3 goals for his 1st career Hat Trick, +2, 7 shots, 19-25 from the faceoff dot (career-high)

10-19-2021 - Joel Eriksson Ek Faceoff Stats

2nd Star
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello

2 Goals, 2 Assists, +2, 4 shots, showing the value of line & team chemistry

3rd Star
Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov

3 assists, 3 shots, +2, physicality & just competing his butt off

Honorable Mentions:
Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno

Fighting (Superman Punch) to get his team fired up; the 4th goal; Bringing the Clutter like he always does

Minnesota Wild Video Coaches Jonas Plumb and T.J. Jindra

Making the call down to Assistant Coach Brett McLean to challenge offsides on Winnipeg’s eventually overturned Empty-Net Goal*

*Thanks to Kyle Connor for his laziness, not paying enough attention to stay onside. #OOPS! Thanks for those 2 points!

Game Notes

*This team plays for each other and protects each other. After Kaprizov got his roughing penalty in the first period on big Jets D Logan Stanley (6’7, 228 lbs if you forgot), Stanley cross-checked him and who stepped in front of him, 5’8, 182-lb Mats Zuccarello then, of course, big Marcus Foligno fought Brendon Dillon, who had hit Kaprizov earlier.
-And this might be what the Jets are missing, team chemistry &/or toughness. That’s hard to tell when a team is struggling, though.

**Too many penalties for the Wild. Their Penalty Kill is very good but that doesn’t mean they should keep testing it with dumb penalties. Be aware of where you’re placing your stick &/or keep skating so you can reach the puck instead of the opponent’s stick.

***The first time I heard Paul Stastny’s name was as regulation expired to send this one into OVERTIME!!! Geez! That’s pretty crazy. He had 19:51 of ice time and he also had an assist on Winnipeg’s 3rd goal (Morrissey). He’s now 35 years old so is this obviously his last season or is this just part of the funk Winnipeg is in right now?

****Duhaime was the final player to make the Wild’s roster. We were in favor of Kyle Rau because we think he deserves a chance to get some steady playing time in the NHL but we also didn’t know what kind of player Brandon Duhaime was. As we’re learning about him, it’s easy to see why the Wild made the choice for Duhaime. He’s everything you want in a grinder type of player. He has speed, size and an extremely high compete level. And…if you know why this page is called ClutterPuck, you know that we love his physicality. Clutter Bringer!

*****Not a great game for Minnesota Wild G Cam Talbot but he came up with some big saves that definitely helped his team. We know he’s not satisfied with this game and we’re sure he’ll be motivated to be better the next time out.

Postgame

If you’re into the Postgame. This is a little different than most games so we’ll link all the postgame interviews; Ek & Foligno, Head Coach Dean Evason & Goligoski & Zuccarello.

Next Up:

We have to wait until Saturday night for the Minnesota Wild to play again as they’ll take on the Anaheim Ducks at home at 5pm on Bally Sports North.

Hopefully, you can catch it and we’ll actually post a recap soon after the end of the game.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and Always…

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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