Minnesota Wild Film Study – Marcus Foligno Goal vs Winnipeg on January 4th, 2020

Posted on January 5, 2020 by


Learn about the Minnesota Wild & the game of hockey with some Film Study!

We’re starting something new here at ClutterPuck! We’re going to study the film of Minnesota Wild goals scored in every game* from now until the end of the season. We’ll study the film to see how the Minnesota Wild succeeded and/or failed in every game. If you want to get better, you study. Then you keep doing the things you did well and learn from the things you did wrong. If you Bring The Clutter and don’t back down from failure or success, you’ll be better for it in the next game. Players get better if they Study the Film!!!

Film study will always consist of how the goals were scored, what the offense did right and what the defense did wrong to allow the scoring chance and any intricate details like if the puck was tipped or deflected off anything to help it go into the net or there was something else that created the play beforehand!
*Well, probably not empty-net goals unless there is an obvious reason to look at them.

We’ll usually do them in chronological order and we’ll sometimes do the opponent’s goals as well. Some goals are more obvious than others as to why they happened but if there’s something we can point out that will help our readers and/or players, young & old, understand the game more, we’ll post about it.

The Minnesota Wild started yesterday’s game with an absolutely great goal from Marcus Foligno and one of the greatest things about this goal is every Wild player on the ice touched the puck to make it happen.

Minnesota Wild Film Study Marcus Foligno goal vs Winnipeg - January 4th, 2O2O

You can tell where everyone is to begin the play. Marcus Foligno just received the puck from Ryan Suter.

You don’t see it in the replay but the puck was dumped in down the right boards by Jets forward Patrick Laine. Wild G Devan Dubnyk stopped the puck behind the net then passed it back around the corner to the half-wall (Dubnyk’s left if he was facing the neutral zone). It kind of got caught between Laine & Wild D Ryan Suter but Suter got the loose puck and passed it up to Marcus Foligno and he started skating down the left side. He has linemate Luke Kunin ahead of him up the middle but it would’ve been a tough pass so he passed it back to D Jared Spurgeon.

Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was at the faceoff dot near Ryan Suter when the play started and he started skating forward to be a part of the play when Foligno first got the puck. He gives Spurgeon a passing option. Jets F Mark Scheifele turns around to defend Spurgeon opening up the pass and some space for Ek who catches the pass and skates to the offensive blue line with it then passes off to Luke Kunin on his right side. Kunin was ahead of the play so he had to hold up to stay onsides. He sees Ek has some speed and a step on the defenseman so he gives the puck right back to Ek but Ek doesn’t have much of a chance at a shot because Jets D Tucker Poolman came over to defend him but Ek knows he still has his left wing open so he makes a beautiful backhand pass back to Foligno who has an open net just asking for a puck to be put into it!

So, that was the offensive side of the play. Defensively, there are some issues that Winnipeg might “study” before their next game and maybe even on the flight home or wherever they were going. I don’t care where they’re going.

The first thing that sticks out to us is good old goal-scoring Jets F Patrick Laine. He had 2, maybe 3 chances to break up the play. He could’ve won the battle for the puck on the half-wall. He stopped skating once he saw the pass go back to Spurgeon and he took 2 strides to get within reach (stick-reach) of Marcus Foligno, the player who scored the goal. TWO STRIDES! To compare. Jets F Kyle Connor, who was behind the Wild goal line pressuring Dubnyk to make a play, took almost 16 strides to get back to defend Kunin. Jets F Mark Scheifele took 4 strides to try to get back in the play and he wasn’t a factor in the play.

Minnesota Wild Film Study - Marcus Foligno Goal vs Winnipeg - January 4th, 2020

Don’t Coast Your Way Through Life! It won’t be pretty if you do!

Here’s the biggest problem from back-checkers and we already alluded to it with Patrick Laine. All 3 Jets forwards ending up coasting and watching the play and the puck. Our saying when you’re a Puck-Watcher…

”If you’re watching the puck, you’re going to watch it go into your own net!” – ClutterPuck

To us, the rule for backchecking is to get even with the player so you can make a play on the puck. Don’t reach and don’t coast! Patrick Laine had the best view of that goal. If you want to be a spectator, go buy a ticket!

Some other notes about the goal:

  • Joel Eriksson Ek drove hard to the net. Because he did that, he forced the defenseman to come over to him which left Foligno open for the pass.
  • Ek also started skating hard as soon as he saw Foligno had the puck in his own zone.
  • Every Minnesota Wild player on the ice touched the puck. It went Dubnyk, Suter, Foligno, Spurgeon, Ek, Kunin, Ek, Foligno….GOALLLLL!!!
  • Offense is more fun than defense for most people but Winning requires both and Winning is A LOT more FUN than Losing!

We’ll tackle Luke Kunin’s Game-Tying Goal next!!!

Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think in the comments or on social media on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and always….

Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Winnipeg Jets – January 4th, 2O2O

Posted on January 4, 2020 by

New Year, New Wild! Time to start winning at home by playing the right way from the drop of the Puck!
The #MNWild began the 2nd half of the 2019-20 season with another game at home against the Winnipeg Jets, a team that has already beat them twice, a 5-2 loss in the 3rd game of the season and a 6-0 spanking 2 weeks ago at The X. So…this is a good test to make sure they come out and play a hard 60 minutes and more if they need it.

Wild Coach Bruce Boudreau made some line changes yesterday, moving F Jordan Greenway up to the 1st line alongside Eric Staal and Mats Zuccarello and moving Zach Parise back to the familiar line of Parise, Koivu & Fiala. In Greenway’s old spot on the left of Joel Eriksson Ek and Luke Kunin is now Marcus Foligno leaving the 4th line of Ryan Donato, Victor Rask and Ryan Hartman.

Well, if it’s playing hard right from the start, the Wild did that tonight. Marcus Foligno plays well no matter where he plays but his linemates made a beautiful tic-tac-toe play to put the Wild up 1-0 just 72 seconds into the game. They then outshot the Jets 13-7 and didn’t even give up a scoring chance but Winnipeg G Connor Hellebuyck kept his team within a goal by not giving up anything else in the period.

To start the 2nd period, Wild F Kevin Fiala tugged on the back of Nikolaj Ehlers breezers to get a holding penalty and put Winnipeg on the power play and they needed just 17 seconds to make the Wild pay for it and tie the game at 1.

There were multiple double-minor penalties for high-sticking on the Wild. The first one was on a follow-through of a Luke Kunin pass that caught Mark Scheifele high and it drew blood. Accidental follow-throughs are permitted but, apparently, the officials didn’t see it that way and/or it doesn’t count on a pass attempt.

Then, with a couple minutes left in the 2nd period, another high-sticking incident wasn’t called when Greenway supposedly hit Jets D Anthony Bitetto in the lip. Bitetto went down but, you tell us if it looks like he got hit.

The officials let the play go on until the puck was frozen by Hellebuyck. The Wild had the puck right after the incident happened but no whistle ever happened. Apparently, a linesman can call a penalty if it was missed and the officials can then review the play to find out who the penalty was on and they ended up giving Greenway a double-minor. The problem is that a linesman, according to rule 32.4, is supposed to stop play immediately when it is apparent that an injury has resulted from a high-stick. That didn’t happen. Obviously, the linesman probably doesn’t know if it’s a double-minor so maybe that’s why he let the play go on but…if the Wild had scored, the goal would’ve been disallowed because of the penalty so why would you let the game keep going?

Anyways, the Wild killed the first minor to finish the 2nd period but the Jets scored during the 2nd minor to put them up 2-1 on a Blake Wheeler one-timer off a Kyle Connor from behind the net. That was their first shot of the period.

The Wild, like they have most of the season, responded with some dominating play and offensive zone time and outshooting the Jets 15-3 the rest of the 3rd period but it took until 5:30 left for the Wild to finally tie the game on a Luke Kunin goal.

Matt Dumba took the puck up the center of the neutral zone. He saw Marcus Foligno crossing in front of him to the left side so he floated a puck ahead of him so he could skate into it, a pass into space. Foligno, before getting to the puck, looked to see if anyone was open or going to be open for a pass then made a behind the back pass to the middle to Luke Kunin. The pass was a little behind Kunin so he had to receive the pass on his backhand. He then turned the rest of the way around for a quick shot that actually goes off the paddle of Hellebuyck’s stick and up into the net. How ‘bout that?

Watch the replay again and see it go off Hellebuyck’s stick.

Kunin said later that he heard Dumba yelling to shoot the puck so he did.

The game ended up tied after regulation so the Wild had to try to get it done in Overtime for the first time this season. The Jets had the puck at the beginning of OT. Mats Zuccarello took the puck away from Blake Wheeler and Wheeler slashed and ended up knocking the stick out of Zuccarello’s hands so…the Wild went on the power play and…some more controversy

Eric Staal scored on a loose puck in front of the Winnipeg net but Zach Parise made some contact with Hellebuyck so the officials had to review the play. The call on the ice was a goal and Parise was pushed into Hellebuyck by Bitetto and D Tucker Poolman. It was called a good goal! Game Over! Good start to the 2nd half.

Nice comeback and hard work to get it done!

On to the next one, the Calgary Flames at #TheX tomorrow at 6pm on Fox Sports North!

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Minnesota Wild Recap at the Colorado Avalanche – December 27th, 2019

Posted on December 28, 2019 by

The Minnesota Wild got back in action in Colorado to begin the 2nd half. How would they do against the big, bad Colorado Avalanche?

The #MNWild got back on the ice tonight in Colorado after the Xmas break and they were ready to go. They scored twice in the first 10 minutes on goals by D Carson Soucy & F Eric Staal to put the Minnesota Wild up 2-0 but the Avalanche scored 2 goals in 46 seconds in the final 2 minutes of the first to ruin their period and make that 2-goal lead disappear.

The Wild took the lead again about halfway through the 2nd on D Brad Hunt’s 5th goal of the season when he took a shot from the left point that went in largely because Colorado G Pavel Francouz had a Green Screen in front of him so he couldn’t see a thing (F Jordan Greenway took his vision away.) 

The Avalanche then did the same thing they did in the first period. They scored a goal in the last minute to once again tie the game. This goal came off the foot of F Nathan MacKinnon and, though some fans thought it was a kicking motion, it appeared to us to be redirected by MacKinnon’s skate so Bruce Boudreau didn’t challenge since redirections are legal in today’s NHL. Don’t ask us why that is, though. We don’t understand how any goal should count if it is intentionally kicked or redirected into the net off a player’s foot. What do you think, ‘Puckers?

So…the 3rd period began with the game tied at 3 which the Wild would probably take most of the time, especially on the road. They still had a chance to win and they’d already played a very good game.

1:33 into said 3rd period, the Avalanche took their first lead of the game off F Matt Calvert’s 2nd goal of the game on a tipped shot in front of the net which was also how he scored his 1st goal of the game. 

The Wild responded and ended up tying the game at 4 when F Mats Zuccarello got a rebound off D Jonas Brodin’s shot from the right point and kicked the puck up to his stick then shot it into the empty net.

Then, just 77 seconds later, Wild F Victor Rask intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and skated up the left side and as he got to the faceoff dot, he unleashed a laser of a wrist shot that went far side over Francouz’s left pad and the bell (post) rang to announce the Wild had retaken the lead at 5-4.

The Avalanche made a strong push to tie the game but a faceoff in the Wild’s defensive half & right side of the neutral zone was won by F Joel Eriksson Ek back to D Ryan Suter and he took a chance by shooting at the empty net and scored to put the Wild up 6-4 and that is how it would end.

What a comeback by the Minnesota Wild, huh?

Joel Eriksson Ek actually scored a goal off a ripper of a shot but it was challenged as being offside and disallowed because of it.

The keys to the Wild’s game was their forecheck their quickness to defend and their poise to keep playing no matter what happened. They didn’t get deflated when the Avs tied the game once, twice and when they took the lead. They responded and fought back and that is becoming what they are known for, their Resilience!!!

Goals: Soucy (5), Staal (15), Hunt (7), Zuccarello (10), Rask (4) (GWG) & Suter (5)(ENG)

Assists: Greenway (11), Fiala (14); Fiala (15), Parise (9); Dumba (8), Kunin (7); Brodin (16), Parise (10): Ek (11) in the same order as the goals above.

Next up is the New York Islanders at #TheX on Sunday at 5pm on Fox Sports North!

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Minnesota Wild Recap at the Chicago Blackhawks – December 15th, 2019

Posted on December 17, 2019 by

The Minnesota Wild had to head back out on the road to face the Blackhawks, arguably their biggest rival but, the Chicago Blackhawks are not doing so great this season, kind of like last season.

They were 12-15-6 before last night’s game but they still have that guy named Kane and another guy named Toews and, because it’s a rivalry, it doesn’t matter what the records are.

So….let’s get to the highlights.

Chicago got on the board first when Patrick Kane tried a wraparound that Kaapo Kahkonen stopped but the rebound came right back out so Kane could make another attempt at it. They said no goal on the ice and the game kept going until a stoppage allowed the officials to take a look and they saw the puck had crossed the goal line so 1-0, Chicago.

The Blackhawks then got a power play and Kane ended up with the puck in the slot and he took a shot that deflected off D Ryan Suter’s stick and got past Kahkonen and Chicago lead 2-0.

Wild F Eric Staal was sitting on 999 career points and he buried his 12th goal of the season on a one-timer on the power play to get the Wild back within a goal at 2-1. 

About 2 minutes into the 2nd period, Patrick Kane had the puck in the offensive zone near his blue line and he tried to shoot but it hit Ryan Suter and deflected right to Kevin Fiala allowing him to get a breakaway and he went upper left over Chicago G Robin Lehner to tie the game at 2 goals apiece.

Around 6 minutes later, Chicago got a shot-pass-tip-in goal to take another 1-goal lead but it only lasted another 6 minutes before Fiala tied the game again. This time, it was off an intended centering pass that went off a Chicago defenseman’s skate then off Lehner and in.

The 2nd period ended in a 3-3 tie and it took until almost 14 minutes into the 3rd period to break the tie and, unfortunately, it was a weird goal against the Wild. A shot from Connor Murphy, the same Connor Murphy that the puck deflected off of for the Wild’s 3rd goal, was tipped in front of the net by F Brandon Saad. The puck then goes off of Wild D Matt Dumba and goes up and over Kaapo Kahkonen for a 4-3 Chicago lead.

Then, with the net empty, Wild D Brad Hunt stumbles as he enters the offensive zone with maybe a little help from Jonathan Toews’ stick. Toews passes to Kane and he shoots into the empty net for the Hat Trick and that’s how it would end.

5-3, Chicago over Minnesota.

The Wild will head to Vegas for a Tuesday Night tilt but they did make some moves today…

The Wild sent G Kaapo Kahkonen back down to the AHL Iowa Wild because G Devan Dubnyk has re-joined the team but he’ll be the backup on Tuesday night as Stalock will get the start. Duubs might need some practice time to get back in a rhythm.

They also recalled Fs Nico Sturm and Luke Johnson after placeing F Joel Eriksson Ek on IR (Injured Reserve.) He left the game against Philly after blocking a shot.

Also, injured D Jared Spurgeon and F Mikko Koivu are on the road trip and both skated in the optional skate this morning but Mikko left early which is likely a bad sign. We’ll let you know if anything changes!

Later, ‘Puckers!!!

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Philadelphia Flyers – December 14th, 2019

Posted on December 15, 2019 by

The Minnesota Wild tried to extend their home point streak to 12 games last night against the Philadelphia Flyers, who have former head coach Mike Yeo on staff as an assistant coach and their General Manager is former Wild GM Chuck Fletcher.

The Minnesota Wild have been very good at home because they are playing very well defensively. They’ve shown the ability to shut down the best in the league when they get the matchups they want. It helps that every line is playing well on both sides of the puck, too.

This game started with a Flyers goal, though. James van Riemsdyk came down on a 2-on-1 when a loose puck in the neutral zone is chipped past D Brad Hunt. His defensive partner D Brennan Menell takes away the pass leaving G Alex Stalock to take the shot. James van Riemsdyk shoots and the puck catches the tip of Stalock’s glove and deflects into the net for a 1-0 Flyers lead just 1:34 seconds into the game. The shot actually looks like it’s going wide but still, that’s a save Al probably expects to make.

Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Philadelphia Flyers - December 14th, 2019

Is this shot going wide as it hits Alex Stalock’s glove?

Not the most ideal start but they have 58+ minutes to come back to score 2 or more goals and they’ve been good at doing that recently. About 5 minutes later, Kevin Fiala tried a wraparound attempt to tie the game and it fails but Zach Parise’s stick is there to tip it in for a 1-1 tie. It first tips off Flyers D Shane Gostisbehere blade then off Parise’s blade and in. 1:45 later, D Ryan Suter got the puck at the right point and passed it to D Jonas Brodin at the left point. Brodin then used the ice in front of him to skate in and force the defense to move which opened up a passing lane to F Eric Staal at the right side of the net, who tried for the tip in but it hit Staal’s own skate and deflected behind him but he had enough time to turn, get to the puck and shoot a backhand past sprawling Flyers G Carter Hart. The 1st period would with the Wild up 2-1. Halfway into the 2nd period, a turnover by a Flyers D Ivan Provorov at his own blueline allows Wild F Jason Zucker to take the puck and head up the left boards into the corner then makes a centering pass to Matt Dumba coming up the slot. Dumba makes a quick move to his backhand and shoots but it’s blocked and the rebound is heading out towards an open Eric Staal but Zucker had skated behind the net and intercepts the rebound and shoots but it’s saved. That rebound is just laying there where Mats Zuccarello is standing so he passes back to a still waiting Eric Staal for another try and it gets past Carter Hart for a 3-1 Wild lead. The 4th goal was an empty netter from Carson Soucy with over 2 minutes left in the game but he shot is from behind his own goal line all the way down the ice to seal another win for the Wild and a 12-game point streak at home. They’ll head to Chicago for their 4th back-to-back games of the season but their first home-road back-to-back. They are 1-2 in the 2nd game of their other back-to-back games so far this season, all road-road back-to-back games. If you’re curious, they have 6 more back-to-backs this season, 1 home-home, 2 home-road & 3 road-road. I wonder how that compares to the rest of the league. Wild vs Blackhawks highlights coming soon!

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