What is The Daily Clutter you might ask or maybe you’re not?
It’s pretty simple. We’re going to send out a daily post to update our fans, The ClutterPuckers, on anything about Minnesota Hockey or hockey in general and we might sprinkle in some other things just for fun, too.
Hopefully, you’ll come along and enjoy what we do! #Poetic…
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Minnesota Wild The Record: 16-15-4 (W-L-OTL)- 36 points, 7th in NHL Central Division
G Marc-Andre Fleury’s 1,000th Game didn’t go well so he’s still 1 game away from tying G Patrick Roy for 2nd place in Career Regular Season Wins
Next Game: Tomorrow vs Calgary Flames at 7 pm on Bally Sports North
Calgary is 15-16-5 with 35 points & 4-4-2 in their last 10 games. The Wild need to get back to winning and hopefully, they watched some film of the 2 losses to Winnipeg and realized they got away from their game.
Unfortunately for the Minnesota Wild, the 2 losses over the weekend also came with 2 major losses on the ice. G Filip Gustavsson had to leave the game after the 2nd period on Saturday afternoon due to a lower-body injury. He’s now listed as week-to-week and was placed on Injured Reserve (IR) today. They recalled G Zane McIntyre from Iowa for Sunday’s game.
Minnesota Wild F Kirill Kaprizov was also injured in Saturday night’s game in Winnipeg. He was cross-checked in the ribs twice by Winnipeg Jets D Brendan Dillon. No call was made on either of them but Wild D Jake Middleton fought Dillon not long afterward. Pat “It was…” Maroon also dropped the gloves against Jets F Adam Lowry to start yesterday’s game. It makes you wonder why these fights need to happen and yes, they might happen anyway but if a call is made like it should be then maybe the cheap shots wouldn’t happen as often. Should the league & the Department of Player Safety fine any type of cross-check to a player’s ribs? Would it matter? The Minnesota Wild’s best player is now also listed as week-to-week and the player who injured him got off scott-free. It makes a lot of sense, right?
Officiating is far from easy but a lot of these missed calls are right in front of them. One infuriating thing is officials have different interpretations of what a penalty is or is not. There are way too many hits that don’t result in any call so the players feel they have to take it in their own hands to let the other team know it’s bad Clutter to hit like that.
This hit on Minnesota Wild F Marcus Johansson wasn’t called for anything so a Wild player had to do some talking with their fists. That player… “It was… Maroon.”
Fans of the offending player’s team are usually a good barometer on whether the hit is legal or not:
Pat Maroon drops the gloves with Parker Wotherspoon for having the audacity to make a clean shoulder check in the D Zone.
It was “a clean shoulder check” even though Wotherspoon left his feet, hit Johansson in the head and… oh yeah… the puck had yet to get to either player before the hit.
Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi earned his first career Gordie Howe Hat Trick when he defended teammate Kirill Kaprizov after he was hammered into the boards by Montreal Canadiens D Kaiden Guhle and that sure looks like a boarding penalty, doesn’t it?
The Minnesota Wild are without D Jonas Brodin because of a similar situation. This hit wasn’t called for anything and Brodin has been out since December 9th.
The Department of Player Safety issued a Warning though. Yeah… that’ll take care of it!
@NHLPlayerSafety has reviewed this play, had a conversation with Evander Kane and Oilers GM Ken Holland, and this morning issued a warning to Kane. No suspension forthcoming. https://t.co/0h2p86vCr9
All of the Wild prospects in the Canadien Hockey League are doing very well with all of them averaging a point per game except D Kalem Parker. C Riley Heidt is averaging 2 points per game with 18 goals & 46 assists in 32 games for the Prince George Cougars. He’s currently at 68 points as he’s added 2 goals & 2 assists in the 2 games since the report came out.
2024 IIHF U20 World Junior Championships
If you’re not familiar with this annual tournament of the best under-20-year-old players in the world, you are missing out.
The preliminary round wasn’t as exciting as we’re used to, especially for the USA team with a couple of their games being huge blowouts (11-3 over the Swiss & 10-2 over Slovakia). The quarterfinals of the medal rounds begin tomorrow morning. Team USA plays Latvia. Here’s the schedule for the rest of the tournament:
Three players in the tournament are Minnesota Wild prospects:
Forwards Servac Petrovsky (Slovakia), Rasmus Kumpulainen (Finland) & Liam Ohgren (Sweden) who is the team captain for Sweden.
There are also 4 Minnesota Gopher players on the Team USA team:
4 Gopher Hockey Players make the roster for the 2024 IIHF U20 World Junior Championships – Fs Jimmy Snuggerud, Oliver Moore & Ds Ryan Chesley & Sam Rinzel
Speaking of the…
Minnesota Gophers
Overall Record: 9-5-4 (W-L-T)
Big Ten Record: 5-4-3-1-0 (W-L-T-OW-OL), 17 points, 3rd place in the Big Ten
2023-24 Big Ten Hockey Standings from College Hockey Inc.
The Minnesota Gophers need to start playing better and with more consistency after the holiday break. It’s easy to say this and we always forget these players are so young and it takes a while to adjust to Division I College Hockey.
They beat the USNTDP (US National Team Development Program) U18 team today by a score of 3-2.
They start the stretch run on January 7th & 8th for a rare Sunday & Monday home series vs the Colorado College Tigers. Both games will air on FOX9+ & Big Ten+ with Sunday’s game at 5 pm & Monday’s game at 7 pm.
The Minnesota Wild took on the Detroit Red Wings tonight. They also wore their 78s jerseys or their alternate throwback uniforms so it looked like a game from 1978 within the Wales Conference or from the early 80s in the old Norris Division.
Detroit is in a similar position that the Minnesota Wild are in, just outside of the playoffs but within reach of the final playoff spot. The big difference is in how they got to that position. Detroit signed F Patrick Kane on November 29th and he played his 1st game as a Red Wing on December 7th. He’s played in 10 games and Detroit is 2-7-1 in those games. The Wild are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and are just 3 points out of the last playoff spot because Arizona would win the tiebreakers.
The Minnesota Wild were looking to continue their winning ways. Did they extend their home winning streak to 7 games and their overall winning streak to 4 games?
Let’s find out. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Status Report
Spurgeon, a defenseman, skated with the group but will not play. … Hartman returns after missing two games with an upper-body injury.
Detroit Red Wings
Status Report
Maata, a defenseman, will miss a second straight game. … Fischer was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. … Berggren, Czarnik and Edvinsson were each recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
Game Recap
1st Period
Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman is back and he wears number 38 so the Wild celebrated by scoring 38 seconds into the game when Matt Boldy tried to tip in a Kirill Kaprizov pass into an open net. He didn’t get all of it but was easily able to put the rebound in for his 10th goal of the season. That might not be a good sign for the Red Wings since those two players are the hottest players for the Wild. We’ll see how hot they get.
0:38 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy (10) from Kirill Kaprizov (20) & Joel Eriksson Ek (10)
Boldy had a chance alone in front of the net 20 seconds into the game too but the puck rolled off of his stick then Detroit F David Perron fell down in the neutral zone which knocked Moritz Seider down and then slowed Perron down too. This allowed the Wild to go in 2-on-1 with Boldy also trailing the play. Detroit #96 D Jake Walman thought the best play he could make was to go to the puck and leave Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy alone in front of his goalie while Perron & Seider coasted for at least 3 seconds while Kaprizov and Boldy tried to get the puck past G James Reimer then they decide to try to break up the play. It might be a long film session tomorrow, boys! That’s some offensive defense right there!
Let’s just say you should never be coasting while you’re backchecking. They did have the best view of the goal though! Buy a Ticket next time!
Detroit 0 | 1 Minnesota 0:38 of the 1st Period
The Wild continued to dominate and had a Marco Rossi breakaway but didn’t increase their 1-goal lead so a defensive breakdown allowed F Patrick Kane, who has scored 20+ goals in all but one of his 17 seasons in the National Hockey League, to get behind the defense for a breakaway to tie the game at 1!
6:32 – Goal – Detroit – Patrick Kane (6) from Alex DeBrincat (18)
Minnesota Wild D Zach Bogosian had to hustle to get to the puck in the neutral zone to keep Patrick Kane from getting to it first but Bogosian just threw the puck up the boards and Detroit F Alex DeBrincat got to it before anyone else and Bogo made the mistake of watching the puck instead of keeping an eye on Kane who skated behind him then skated parallel to the blue line to make himself available for a pass so he could go in alone on Wild G Filip Gustavsson who he beat to the short side just over his right pad.
Detroit 1 | 1 Minnesota 6:32 of the 1st Period
The whole Wild team was watching the puck on that goal. Is there some magic word coaches &/or teammates can say to get players to stop watching the puck?
Detroit had a couple more grade-A scoring chances but Gustavsson was up to the task on them.
15:24 – Penalty – Detroit – Ben Chiarot for Hooking Brandon Duhaime
The Wild needed to clean up their defense after that period. Well… both teams needed to do that, actually.
1:37 – Goal – Minnesota – Marcus Johansson (3) from Ryan Hartman & Marco Rossi Unassisted*
*How that goal can be unassisted is beyond us! Rossi broke up the pass & started the play then passed it to Hartman who drove the net. If neither of those things happen, the goal doesn’t happen!
Detroit was a little too aggressive with the puck at the top of the offensive zone with F Lucas Raymond choosing to hold the puck when it was 2-on-5 then trying a drop pass instead of passing across to the far wall. That drop pass quickly turned into a turnover with Wild F Marco Rossi getting to the loose puck and chipping it out of the zone then allowing linemate F Ryan Hartman to grab the loose puck and lead the rush. He had 2 forwards playing defense, J.T. Compher & Lucas Raymond. Compher was giving too big of a gap so Ryan Hartman took that space and used it to move to his left and go for the net. Raymond hesitated to go to Hartman** for some reason so he had to hustle to catch up to Hartman. Wild F Marco Rossi drove the net behind as both Detroit players went to defend Hartman so Marco was ready for the rebound but Detroit D Ben Chiarot lifted Rossi’s stick to keep him from getting to the rebound. J.T. Compher poked the puck back toward the blue line but Wild F Marcus Johansson was trailing the play so he had a pretty easy shot at the net since Ben Chiarot was now screening his goalie. **A lot of teams have a defensive trait to “Kill Plays Quickly” or “End Plays Quickly!” That means they want to stop the offense immediately or as quickly as possible! Check our Game Notes article for more on this topic.
That might be worse defense than the first goal!
16:54 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jon Merrill for Holding on the offensive zone
SKATE then push! Don’t grab or even just place your free hand on the player!
Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi had a glorious chance off a great pass from Marcus Johansson in the waning seconds but Detroit G James Reimer made the save. OHHH!!!
3rd Period
1:28 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jake Middleton for Joining Dylan Larkin Should Larkin have received a Holding the Stick penalty as well?
He felt/saw Middleton’s stick on him so he clamped it down with his own stick so… Call It What You Want!
Great defensive sequence by Dakota Mermis on the Penalty Kill. He went into a puck battle in the corner and won the puck with some physicality (read CLUTTER) then made a poke check to clear the zone. His name does begin with a D! Unfortunately, seconds later the game was tied off an Alex DeBrincat one-timer.
Detroit 2 | 2 Minnesota 2:43 of the 3rd Period
Just shy of 2 minutes later, the Minnesota Wild made 2-3 great defensive plays to keep Detroit from getting a scoring chance including F Marcus Johansson who poke-checked the puck away from J.T. Compher to take a shot away then got the loose puck at the left half-wall and skated up the left side. Detroit D Moritz Seider decided to go for the puck instead of the body but Johansson chipped it by him then used his skating to create a 2-on-1 with Marco Rossi. Detroit F Lucas Raymond got back to cover Rossi but D Jake Walman didn’t go to Johansson and maybe he didn’t see Ryan Hartman trailing the play so he just tried to take away a pass to Rossi. Johansson passed it to Ryan Hartman and he shot the puck from the slot and scored his 10th goal of the season to quickly get the Wild their 1-goal lead back.
4:35 – Goal – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman (10) from Marcus Johansson & Zach Bogosian
Detroit 2 | 3 Minnesota 4:35 of the 3rd Period
Johansson battling through the check coming out of the zone made that goal happen.
The Minnesota Wild will take on the Winnipeg Jets twice this weekend with a home & home series starting in Winnipeg. Both games are set for 1pm on Bally Sports North. The Jets are 7-1-2 (W-L-OTL) over their last 10 games so this will be an interesting weekend as we’ll see two of the hottest teams & division rivals battling it out all weekend long!
Game Notes from the Minnesota Wild vs the Vancouver Canucks on December 16th, 2023 * Do players not want to score goals anymore?
Does it seem there are way more players who like to pass than shoot?
As a former defenseman who didn’t score much (Damn Goalies!), I still don’t understand why it seems like coaches & teammates have to remind players to shoot the puck. Is there anything better than scoring a goal in hockey? Or in life for that matter?* They don’t interview the player who made the game-winning pass! *Yes! There are things better than scoring a goal in life!
Some players do seem to enjoy passing more than shooting for some reason. Is it the feeling they get from setting up their teammates and helping them score goals? It’s probably a stretch to call it a big problem but players should know when it’s better to shoot than pass most of the time. There have been times where I’ve thought a player should shoot and they passed for an easier goal and maybe that’s just me being more of a shooter than a passer. It would be difficult for me to have the chances described in the first 5 minutes of this game and not take the shot on both of them.
The biggest reason this bothers me is because, like those two examples above, a shot never happened and it is extremely difficult to score a goal if you don’t shoot the puck.
So… if you get that chance, take the shot more often than not. This is a good life motto too. Bring The Clutter Every Day in Every Way!!!
** A New Voice in the Room
The Minnesota Wild played their 2nd home game in a stretch of 8 of 11 games at home. It’s a great chance for them to get back into the thick of the playoff race! They are now 7-2 since head coach John Hynes took over for Dean Evason. That includes allowing just 13 goals in those 9 games!
Confidence in their game has put this team back in the mix and they’re now getting results with points. Even if those points are coming in shootout wins, it’s still two points and that is all they want. They’re learning how to win again, something that every team has to re-learn every season because of changes to the roster. Rookies & or new players have to figure out what it takes to win in this league or on a new team. The education of how to win might take a while or happen fast depending on how many new players there are on the team and how the team’s culture is.
The strange thing about the 2023-24 Minnesota Wild is they had a training camp that focused on taking care of business so they’d be ready to start the season the right way. It didn’t work out that way because that start ended up with a coaching change. Injuries may have played a part in the bad start but this team is supposed to have the depth to deal with injuries and keep winning. So was it scheme changes that had the defense and penalty kill playing without confidence and giving up too many goals? The goalies are blamed but they are only as good as the team in front of them allows them to be. A goalie shouldn’t have to face a ton of grade-A scoring chances to help their team win.
Just look at how different this team looks now. They have confidence in their game and the system. That came from a few changes made by the new coaches but you also have to realize a coaching change gave every player a new life or a blank sheet (or space for you Swifties! HA!). It sucks to be a player when the coach isn’t high on your skills or your ability to play the way they want you to play. That makes it seem like a larger hill to climb or with more weight to carry up the same hill.
This game is hard enough to play with confidence. Take that confidence away and add worrying about making mistakes or thinking you have to be perfect and you see how that would cause hesitation and bad play. You can’t play scared. Coaches have to allow their players to play and make mistakes because failing is how you get better at anything. Early or easy success breeds laziness because you think you don’t have to work on your skills to get better or you think you don’t have to get better at all.
*** Stick Penalties – Change Your Instincts
One reason (of many) why coaches have gray or no hair!
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello took a hooking penalty at the end of the first period. With just one hand on his stick, he put his stick under the hands of Ilya Mikheyev & was called for hooking. He was trailing the play so he reached because he thought it was the only way to disrupt the play. Could he have skated harder to catch up to the player and avoided that reach? Yes. Probably. So how do you get players to know that and make that their second-nature response to that kind of a play instead of reaching? How long does it take to change instinctive reactions?
You have to build a new habit to change it so it’d have to be done in practice. Show them how to do it differently so they don’t have to reach. An interesting experiment would be to have any or all players watch one of their shifts or any player’s shifts and have them count how many times they would say “move your feet” or “skate” during that shift. One way that would probably work wonders is to have them practice playing without a stick so the only way they can defend is with their feet. They still have the use of their hands so you would whistle the drill dead if they reached and grabbed with their hands because it might be a penalty and that’s not good either.
The players have to do better at not making the same stupid stick penalties meaning Hooking, Slashing, Tripping, High-Sticking and Cross-Checking. Stick awareness should be taught early & often. Control your stick and move your feet. Don’t reach and stop skating. Don’t stop skating until you’re even with the player you’re trying to reach or defend.
Other Notes * The IIHF World Junior Championships are Here Once Again!
Or what we call… International Clutter!
It might be the Greatest Hockey Christmas Present we get Every Year!!!
This year’s roster has 4 Minnesota Gophers (2 defensemen & 2 forwards): #71 Ryan Chesley, #8 Sam Rinzel, #11 Oliver Moore & #81 Jimmy Snuggerud
Here’s the schedule with all games on the NHL Network again:
Next up:
The Minnesota Wild will try to get above .500 when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins to start a 2-game road trip on Monday night at 6pm on Bally Sports North!
The Minnesota Wild tried to extend their winning streak to 3 which would also end the Vancouver Canucks 4-game winning streak, a streak that began when they beat the Wild on December 7th. The Wild dominated the majority of the 1st period of that game but didn’t score a goal then allowed the Canuckleheads to score late so they got back to their game and won 2-0.
Did the Minnesota Wild redeem themselves from that December 7th loss & get back to .500?
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Status Report
Spurgeon will be a game-time decision; the defenseman skated on his own but did not practice with the Wild on Friday. … Gustavsson made 35 saves in a 3-2 shootout win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Vancouver Canucks
Status Report
Demko made 36 saves in a 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
Game Recap
1st Period
The Minnesota Wild gave up a glorious chance in the first minute to Vancouver Canucks F J.T. Miller and he decided to try to pass it instead of taking the shot. The pass didn’t get all the way through to Elias Pettersson so they didn’t even get a shot on goal.
Just shy of 3 minutes in, Minnesota Wild F Brandon Duhaime had the puck behind the net, went around the left side and took a bad-angle shot that snuck through Canucks G Casey DeSmith and landed in the crease but Canucks D Filip Hronek was there to grab it and start breaking out of the zone. OHHHH!!! So close!
The Minnesota Wild did the same thing J.T. Miller did earlier when D Jake Middleton had a point-blank shot but tried to pass it to Joel Eriksson Ek but it didn’t connect either.* *SHOOT THE PUCK! Is it good they’re looking for their teammates? Yes! Is it good they’re giving up a great scoring chance to a pass that might not get through and result in no chance at all? NO! Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
18:05 – Goal – Minnesota – Frederick Gaudreau (2) from Marcus Foligno (8) & Pat Maroon (9)
On a breakout, Vancouver F J.T. Miller was backing up in the neutral zone and read the pass from Wild D Zach Bogosian but he only got a piece of it so it still got through to Wild F Pat (It was…) Maroon on the left boards at the blue line. He brought the puck in the zone and passed it across the ice to Marcus Foligno while Freddy Gaudreau skated to the front of the net. Foligno one-timed a pass to Gaudreau and Freddy tipped it past G Casey DeSmith for a 1-0 Wild lead.
Vancouver Canucks 0 | 1 Minnesota Wild
The Vancouver Canucks were watching the puck the whole time, every one of them. Brock Boeser was coasting back with his stick in both hands. J.T. Miller thought he was going to get the loose puck so he was going the wrong way. Nils Hoglander was watching the puck while keeping an eye on Zach Bogosian. D Filip Hronek had to go to defend Maroon and D Quinn Hughes moved toward the center of the zone & Gaudreau which left Foligno open on the right boards. He made an effort to break up the cross-ice pass but missed which allowed Foligno to feed Gaudreau. That’s terrible defense compounded by a lack of effort from the forwards and a lack of communication from everyone. It allowed what appeared to be a nothing play to turn into a goal.
First of all, coasting with your stick in both hands is never a good sign. You’re waiting for a play to happen and reacting to it. That makes it extremely difficult to defend because that little vulcanized piece of rubber can move very fast. Second, an offensive player should never be allowed to skate to the front of the net without someone covering him. It’s a 3-on-2 once the puck got past J.T. Miller so Boeser should see Hronek going to Maroon and get to Gaudreau. Quinn Hughes should’ve told his backchecking forwards where to go either verbally or by pointing with his stick or glove.
That should make for a fun film session tomorrow! It looked like they were going through the motions of a drill or their system. Geez! That’s ugly!
Remember the saying about watching the puck? “If you’re watching the puck, you will watch it go into your net!” READ THE PLAY!!! REACT TO WHAT YOU READ!!!
Wild G Filip Gustavsson had to make a big save on Boeser in the waning moments of the 1st period to keep his team up 1-0!
2nd Period
An odd-man rush resulted after Wild Fs Brandon Duhaime & Ryan Hartman were too aggressive on a lost faceoff in the Vancouver zone.
3:50 – Goal – Vancouver – Teddy Blueger (3) from Dakota Joshua (5) & Conor Garland (9)
Duhaime got back but only got within reach of goalscorer Teddy Blueger’s stick so he couldn’t defend the play well enough as he was still behind Blueger when the pass got to the front of the net.
Minnesota Wild Rookie D Daemon Hunt didn’t get his stick in front of the puck to disrupt the centering pass. That’s a huge defensive detail to learn. Force that player to get the puck through you.
The Wild had a great response on the ensuing shift with 2 great scoring chances from Daemon Hunt & Marcus Johansson.
The Wild took 3 penalties & Vancouver took 1 but both team’s penalty kills & their goalie were up to the task each time.
3rd Period
Neither team was giving up much for time & space in this game so this one headed to…
OVERTIME!
Not a lot of chances allowed in the OT either so… to the…
SHOOTOUT!
Minnesota Wild F Mats Zuccarello went first. He’s known to go five-hole a lot and he usually comes in and tries to wait out the goalie then snaps a quick wrister. You have to assume all teams know this which makes it even more impressive when he’s able to score on it.
He indeed did go five-hole as he snuck a shot past the heel side of Casey DeSmith’s stick.
Vancouver Canucks F Andrei Kuzmenko missed the net on his shot attempt.
Matt Boldy tried to go to the 6-hole above the right pad and under the right armpit of DeSmith but it hit his blocker. DeSmith appeared to go down before the shot.
J.T. Miller tried to deke out Gus to no avail as Gus waited him out and gave him pretty much zero chance of scoring on that attempt.
Kirill came in fast and tried to go to his backhand with a quick move but he sent it over the net.
Elias Pettersson came in with some speed and tried to shoot blocker side but Gus the Bus stopped that attempt too and the Wild won and are now back to being .500 for the first time since October 24th.
The Minnesota Wild will try to get above .500 when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins to start a 2-game road trip on Monday night at 6pm on Bally Sports North!
The Minnesota Wild were looking for redemption from a 4-7 loss in Toronto on Saturday night. How will they respond to their first loss of the season? We get to see where this team is early in the season. They want to be an elite team and elite teams respond to losses so they don’t turn into losing streaks. It was also G Marc-Andre Fleury’s first start of the season so the team surely wanted to play well in front of him.
Also, F Matt Boldy (Upper Body) & D Alex Goligoski (Lower Body) were both out with injuries and the Wild played with just 19 players due to salary cap restraints. Their next game is on Thursday at home so we’ll see if they’ll be able to call someone up because they played a man short or if an injury turns out to be bad enough to put someone on long-term injured reserve. (LTIR)
Alright. Enough words. Let’s…
Drop the ClutterPuck!!!
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Here’s how the teams lined up:
Minnesota Wild
Wild projected lineup
Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello Marcus Johansson — Joel Eriksson Marcus Foligno — Marco Rossi — Frederick Gaudreau Patrick Maroon — Connor Dewar — Brandon Duhaime
Defensemen Jonas Brodin — Calen Addison Jacob Middleton — Brock Faber Jon Merrill — Dakota Mermis
Goalies Marc-Andre Fleury Filip Gustavsson
Scratched: None Injured: Matthew Boldy (upper body), Alex Goligoski (lower body), Mason Shaw (ACL), Jared Spurgeon (upper body)
Status Report
Fleury is expected to start after Gustavsson started the Wild’s first two games. … Minnesota will dress 11 forwards and six defensemen due to NHL salary cap restraints and Goligoski, a defenseman, being injured during practice Monday.
Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens projected lineup
Forwards Rafael Harvey-Pinard — Nick Suzuki — Josh Anderson Josh Anderson — Alex Newhook — Juraj Slafkovsky Tanner Pearson — Sean Monahan — Brendan Gallagher Michael Pezzetta — Jake Evans — Jesse Ylonen
Defensemen Mike Matheson — David Savard Kaiden Guhle — Johnathan Kovacevic Arber Xhekaj — Jordan Harris
The Canadiens held an optional morning skate Tuesday. … Newhook will move to center on the second line after Dach was injured in a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. … Harvey-Pinard said Monday he would play on the first line, which would likely move Anderson to the second line. … Pezzetta will make his season debut. … Montembeault will start his second straight game after making 28 saves Saturday.
Game Recap
1st Period
The Wild hit 2 posts early and Montreal also had a good scoring chance.
6:11 – Penalty – Montreal – Josh Anderson for Interference on Mats Zuccarello
That’s a stupid penalty by Montreal F Josh Anderson. The puck was in the offensive zone on a Wild stick and he put his arm around & in front of Zuccarello to get body position for really no reason whatsoever.
The Wild didn’t score on the Power Play then…
8:44 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Tripping Josh Anderson
Wild F Ryan Hartman got in the way of Josh Anderson and he fell down. Did Hartman make him fall? That’s arguable. Should that be a penalty? Maybe not but it looked like a penalty. Don’t force the official to make a call there by getting in his way or don’t make it look so obvious.
36 seconds into the Montreal Power Play, Montreal F Nick Suzuki was coming up center ice but the Wild had good coverage in the neutral zone leaving only one passing option. There was the option of dumping the puck in or the chip & chase from Suzuki who had speed & space on his side but they did neither of those and Wild D Jacob Middleton read the play, broke it up and Brandon Duhaime picked up the loose puck and headed the other way on a 2-on-1 with Joel Eriksson Ek on his right. He decided to take his shot and he beat Sam Montembault to the upper right to put the Wild up 1-0!
9:20 – Goal (SHG) – Minnesota – Brandon Duhaime (2) from Jacob Middleton (1)
Montreal F Nick Suzuki brought the puck up on the Power Play for the zone entry but the Wild clogged up the neutral zone…He still took his only passing option of Josh Anderson and… That didn’t turn out well for Montreal.
Minnesota Wild 1 | 0 Montreal Canadiens
Montreal still had 1:24 remaining on their power play though. They are missing their top player on the power play in F Kirby Dach, their top player overall. So are Montreal players trying to do too much to make up for him being out for the season?
Montreal F Alex Newhook had the puck at the left half-wall and he was being pressured by Wild F Brandon Duhaime. Newhook made a move around Duhaime then took a look at his options and must’ve forgotten Duhaime was now behind him because he tried to send a pass to D Arber Xhekaj* at the left point and Duhaime got his stick on it and he went the other way on a 2-on-1 again. This time he had F Connor Dewar on his left as he skated down the right side of the ice. Montreal F Tanner Pearson got on his horse to get even with Dewar to take away the pass but Xhekaj gave Duhaime room for some reason. Duhaime slowed down and took a shot from about 5 feet in front of the top of the right faceoff circle and used Xhekaj as a screen. Montreal G Sam Montembeault made the save but left a rebound that ended up in the feet of Tanner Pearson who was focused on taking Connor Dewar’s stick away. The loose puck changed Pearson’s focus to trying to find it so now Dewar could use his stick to battle for the loose puck so he tried to get to it from behind Pearson. Xhekaj tried to quickly clear the puck below the goal line but as he did that, Dewar’s stick got in the way and the puck deflected up in the air over Montembeault and his attempt to save it with his blocker and dropped to the ice and bounced into the net. Now… THAT is one Magic Loogie! *pronounced AHR-buhr JAK-igh
*Has Marco Rossi figured out how to play in the NHL? Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.
2nd Period
1:25 – Penalty – Montreal – Juraj Slafkovsky for Tripping Marco Rossi
2:01 – Penalty – Montreal – Kaiden Guhle for Slashing Marcus Johansson
2:17 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek (2) from Mats Zuccarello (3) & Kirill Kaprizov (3)
Just a simple quick pass to Ek in front of the net for a one-timer that was saved but Ek was there for the quick rebound as the Montreal penalty-killers were trying to take his stick away.
Wild F Mats Zuccarello has the puck on the left side of the above picture. There are 3 Montreal Penalty Killers around Joel Eriksson Ek in front of the net but none of them have their stick in front of his stick so he’s free for a quick pass and one-timer & the first to the rebound.
It’s a 5-on-3 but you see Montreal D Mike Matheson (#8) worried about Kaprizov behind the net. He’s behind the net. Worry about him when the puck is passed to him. Ek is in the spot where the majority of goals are scored in hockey. Maybe someone should cover that guy.
Matheson could cover Ek and the other two could back up or spread out to cover more ice. They’re all within reach of Ek but he’s still open. That’s just bad defense there.
Still 1:44 of power play time…
5:46 – Penalty – Montreal – Cole Caufield for Tripping Brock Faber
Montreal & former Wisconsin Badger F Cole Caufield got his stick in the feet of Wild & former Gopher D Brock Faber and tripped him. Oops!
Kirill Kaprizov threw the puck in front of the net. Montreal G Sam Montembeault had trouble with it and Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek almost got another goal out of it.
Later, a Kirill Kaprizov attempted shot was blocked & turned into a 2-on-1 with Tanner Pearson having the puck on his stick. Wild D Dakota Mermis was the “1” for Minnesota and he tried to take away the pass to allow Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury to take the shot but Pearson fired it just over his left pad but under his glove.
9:47 – Goal – Montreal – Tanner Pearson (Unassisted)
That was Montreal’s 6th shot of the game just 13 seconds from halfway through the 2nd period.
Tanner Pearson brings some life to the home crowd with his second of the year. 👏 pic.twitter.com/n9WFGOFr52
14:10 – Penalty – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek for Interference on Nick Suzuki
Weird call as both Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek & Montreal F Nick Suzuki went to hit each other but since Ek is bigger it looked like he did more so he got the penalty. Who knows why that’s called? It’s scary to try to get in the mind of a referee.
15:46 – Penalty – Montreal – Juraj Slafkowsky for Interference on Marcus Johansson
Montreal F Juraj Slafkowsky knocked Marcus Johansson’s stick out of his hands and received 2 minutes of alone time in the box to think about what he did. Should they make him sit in the corner and face the wall, too?
The Wild had 1:36 of power play time once Ek came out of the penalty box.
Mats Zuccarello had the puck at the right point and he moved in a little then sent a quick pass through to Kirill Kaprizov at the bottom of the right faceoff circle for a one-timer and a 4-1 Wild Lead!
Zuccarello made a no-look pass there as he was looking at the net when he sent that pass to Kirill. No big deal. I’ll just float a pass right into Kap’s wheelhouse. Hey, maybe Kirill should start a restaurant and call it that? Hmmm…
Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was even getting punched by the linesman!!!
Wild F Brandon Duhaime hooked Xhekaj on the forecheck and he’ll get 2 minutes to think about that too. “What am I doing? I just need to move my feet. That’s why the coaches keep saying it!”
20:00 – Penalty – Montreal – Arber Xhekaj for Roughing Marcus Johansson
Montreal D Arber Xhekaj took out his anger by checking Johansson into the board after the whistle had blown to end the 2nd period. He’ll get to spend 15+ minutes of the intermission then TWOOOOO MINUTES in the box thinking about it.
3rd Period
0:35 – Penalties – Coincidental Minors – MN’s Joel Eriksson Ek for Slashing the goalie? & MON’s Mike Matheson for Roughing Joel Eriksson-Ek
How this ends up as coincidental minors is beyond belief. As Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek was attempting to go after a loose puck with his stick, it was slashed from behind by Matheson so when Ek leaned on his stick, it broke so where’s the slash? Then Matheson pushed Ek down and jumped on his head. Ek had an angry response but to call him for a slash is a joke. It should’ve been Ek for roughing and Matheson for slashing & roughing & a Wild Power Play.
Fleury stacked the pillows on that Short-Handed chance and the Canadiens fans started a FLEURY chant!!!
All He Does is Score on the Power Play!!! He’s like Vikings Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Cris Carter because all he did was “Catch Touchdowns!”
Ek made a great play to win a puck battle in the left corner so Johansson could send it around to the boards to Mats Zuccarello at the right point. Zuccy then fed Kaprizov around center ice & the top of the right faceoff circle and he proceeded to dangle around 2 Canadiens then passed to Ek at the right side of the net and Ek made a quick move to the net while simultaneously shooting the puck lot to the far side for his 2nd goal & PPG of the night and a 5-1 Wild lead.
We had a DIVING FOLIGNO as Wild F Marcus Foligno dove to lift the stick of Montreal D Johnathan Kovacevic to take a good scoring chance away. Ahh…. The Diving Folignos were a great act from back in the 70s or at least it sounds like they would’ve been.
Wild D Jon Merrill got blasted by Pezetta so Merrill’s defensive partner Dakota Mermis immediately went to Pezetta and dropped the gloves with him. He lost the fight but that will make his team proud, sticking up for him like that. He ended up getting an Instigator penalty attached to his 5-Minute Major for Fighting and a 10-Minute misconduct too. That’s automatic with the Instigator penalty.
52 seconds later, Wild G Marc-Andre Fleury made a great save on Cole Caulfield. He took an extra slash at the Wild goalie so Joel Eriksson Ek pushed him which was met by Montreal F Josh Anderson punching Ek a few times. Anderson hadn’t done anything else so maybe he was trying to redeem himself for his terrible game.
Assists MN: 1. Jake Middleton (2) (SHG); 2. Unassisted*; 3. Mats Zuccarello (3), Kirill Kaprizov (3) (PPG); 4. Mats Zuccarello (4), Calen Addison (2) (PPG); 5. Kirill Kaprizov (4), Mats Zuccarello (5) (PPG) *Duhaime sent the puck to the net & Dewar go the rebound but the scorer didn’t give Duhaime an assist. Wow! MON: 1. Unassisted; 2. David Savard (1), Cole Caulfield (1)
Goalies MN: Marc-Andre Fleury 27 Saves on 29 Shots, .931 Save% 1st Win of the Season, 545th Win of his Stellar Career
Marc-Andre Fleury was great between the pipes and got plenty of help from the offense.#WildBreakaway presented by Kia of Bloomington. pic.twitter.com/S023txUgAm
