Minnesota Wild Recap at the Toronto Maple Leafs – October 14th, 2023

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Recap at the Toronto Maple Leafs - October 14th, 2023

The Minnesota Wild went to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs last night. The Toronto Maple Leafs squeaked by the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday needing a 2-goal comeback in the 3rd to force overtime and then won in a shootout but arguably the best goal-scorer in the game, Toronto Maple Leafs F Auston Matthews had a hat trick including two goals in the final 4-32 of regulation to tie the game.

Recap vs Florida
October 12th, 2023

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Wild projected lineup

Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov — Ryan Hartman — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Joel Eriksson — Matthew Boldy
Marcus Foligno — Marco Rossi — Frederick Gaudreau
Patrick Maroon — Connor Dewar — Brandon Duhaime

Defensemen
Jonas Brodin — Brock Faber
Jacob Middleton — Alex Goligoski
Jon Merrill — Calen Addison

Goalies
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched:
Dakota Mermis

Injured:
Mason Shaw (ACL), Jared Spurgeon (upper body)

Status Report

The Wild and Maple Leafs will each use the same lineups as they did in their season openers. … Johansson will play after leaving a 2-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday with an upper-body injury.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup vs the Minnesota Wild - October 14th, 2023

Scratched:
Simon Benoit

Injured:
Connor Timmins (lower body)

Status Report

The Wild and Maple Leafs will each use the same lineups as they did in their season openers.

Game Recap

1st Period

Minnesota Wild D Brock Faber pinched down the left side then turned towards the net around the bottom of the face-off circle and was allowed to get all the way to the net and almost had his 2nd goal in 2 games. Geez! It’s going to be fun to watch Faber develop throughout this season.

Toronto then took a tripping penalty in the offensive zone getting a stick in Wild D Brock Faber’s skates. The Wild had some good chances but didn’t score on the power play. Wild G Filip Gustavsson had to make a nice glove save on Toronto F Mitch Marner.

In a pre-game interview, former Wild F Ryan Reaves, who signed for 3 years/$4.05M ($1.35M AAV), on facing the Wild:

He didn’t take long to say hello to his “pretty good friends.” On his first shift, he hit Marco Rossi and then drilled Fréddy Gaudreau so it also didn’t take long for Wild F Marcus Foligno to drop the gloves with Reaves:

They both got 5 minutes for Fighting.

Both coaches were wondering about the call. Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe wondered why there wasn’t an Instigator call on Minnesota Wild F Marcus Foligno since he went to Reaves and immediately dropped the gloves & Wild coach Dean Evason wondered if the Reaves hit on Gaudreau was to the head. It was neither although the hit was borderline for being a blindside hit, something the league has tried to get out of the game for a while now.

With the Minnesota Wild on the power play from Brock Faber being tripped by Tyler Bertuzzi, Toronto Maple Leafs F Mitch Marner used his speed to get a mini-breakaway when he chipped it past Wild D Calen Addison and beat him to it but the Gus Bus, Minnesota Wild G Filip Gustavsson, made a nice glove save. Couldn’t find a video for it but it’s the first highlight in the Game Highlights at the bottom of the article.

9:32 – Goal – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman from Kirill Kaprizov & Jonas Brodin

Minnesota Wild F Ryan Hartman tipped a shot from the right point by Kirill Kaprizov. He tipped it with his stick but it ended up going off the inside of his left skate and into the net.

Minnesota Wild 1 | 0 Toronto Maple Leafs 

Just 81 seconds later, Toronto won a faceoff in the neutral zone just outside the left of the Minnesota Wild’s defensive zone. Tyler Bertuzzi kicked it back to D Morgan Reilly and he wrapped the puck around the boards from the left side. Minnesota Wild D Jake Middleton, at the right half-wall, tried to send the puck up the right boards but the puck was bouncing &/or it hit Toronto D T.J. Brodie. That allowed Toronto F Mitch Marner to catch the puck & drop it on the ice then pass to F Auston Matthews who had cut to the net and when he received the pass, it was off his stick & into the net a split second later to tie the game at 1-1.

10:53 – Goal – Toronto – Auston Matthews (1) from Mitch Marner (2) 

Minnesota Wild 1 | 1 Toronto Maple Leafs 

This goal happens because there are 4 Maple Leafs players on 3 Wild players so Ryan Hartman had to choose to either pressure the puck or stay with Auston Matthews. He chose the puck but he was aware of Matthews position so he was lunging and extending his stick to try to take away a passing lane where he thought Matthews was and he was wrong because Matthews moved into a better passing lane.

It’s a bad clearing attempt by Middleton too or at least it looks like it now. It’s difficult because the puck was bouncing so should he try to stop it and keep possession instead of a hope play to get the puck out of the zone? Hindsight says yes and if you go back to when the puck is coming around the right corner, it was 2-on-3 favoring the Wild so keep the puck. Middleton was also the only Wild player on that side of the ice since Kirill Kaprizov pressured the puck way over to where Reilly dumped the puck in. So Hartman should move to cover Marner and Zuccarello should cover Matthews while Kaprizov could cover Reilly at the right point but they have to talk that out and Zuccarello was just watching the play develop and Kirill tried to get all the way back to his original side. That’s sloppy and it doesn’t look like there was a lot of talking between the Wild players.

12:00 – Coincidental Minors – Toronto F Max Domi & Minnesota F Connor Dewar for Roughing 

An after-the-whistle scrum in front of the Toronto net developed and Domi grabbed Dewar who was already tied up with another Toronto player and started pushing & shoving him so of course Dewar responded the same way. Whatever happened to the 3rd-man-in rule? That rule was only for fighting. Should that be enforced in all altercations?

12:23 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jon Merrill for Interference on William Nylander

Toronto F William Nylander was breaking the puck out of his defensive zone going up the right side. He tried to pass the puck to the middle but it was deflected by Minnesota F Marcus Johansson and then Minnesota D Jon Merrill kicked it back towards Nylander so Nylander chipped the puck past Merrill so he could skate to it and Merrill got in his way and also checked him into the boards and he received a 2-minute penalty for Interference for it. If Merrill just continues to skate and/or doesn’t check him, he might be fine.*
*Can the players &/or the coaches ask for an explanation during intermission or after the game so they know how they could’ve avoided being called for any infraction? Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic. 

It took Toronto & Auston Matthews just 11 seconds to score on that power play. 

12:34 – Goal (PPG) – Toronto – Auston Matthews (5) from William Nylander (2)

The Maple Leafs, now 4-on-3 due to the coincidental minor penalties went with 4 forwards on the ice to start the power play. The faceoff went back to Nylander at the middle of the blue line then waited for his teammates to set up with Auston Matthews on the right side below the faceoff dot. Nylander passed him the puck once then got it back and passed it to him again and Matthews just shot a low shot to the far side of the net or he was trying to get a tip from John Tavares in front of the net but the low shot beat the Gus Bus through the 5-hole and… just like that, it was…

Minnesota Wild 1 | 2 Toronto Maple Leafs 

The Wild and F Joel Eriksson Ek just let them set up after winning the faceoff. That seems like a good time to be aggressive because they aren’t ready to make a play yet so Ek maybe could’ve forced Nylander to rush a pass and it may have caused an inaccurate pass or a loose puck which are 2 things you want when you’re killing a penalty.

Meanwhile, this wasn’t called a penalty:

Minnesota Wild rookie F Marco Rossi got a  breakaway with 1:04 left in the 1st… Wild D Brock Faber fed him at the offensive blue line as Marco had a step on the Toronto defense and Marco was smart enough to know they were close to him so he got a shot off very quickly as he continued his quest for his 1st career goal in the NHL.

They show it here then you see Toronto Maple Leafs F William Nylander show why he should get absolutely PAID soon. He received a pass from John Tavares and both Wild defensemen stayed with Tavares which allowed Nylander all the time & space in the world and he took advantage of it. 

19:38 – Goal – Toronto – William Nylander from John Tavares 

When both defensemen stay to defend a player without the puck, that forces someone else, in this case, Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek, to go to Nylander but he was too far away to defend at that point. The Wild have to communicate better. Defense is supposed to be their strong suit.

Minnesota Wild 1 | 3 Toronto Maple Leafs

2nd Period

Minnesota Wild F Freddy Gaudreau left the ice after the hit from Ryan Reaves but returned at the start of the 2nd period.

Wild D Alex Goligoski got his stick in the feet of Toronto F Max Domi and tripped him and the Maple Leafs took advantage of the power play with a quick tic-tac-goal play when Wild D Jon Merrill decided to defend space instead of two Maple Leaf players at the side of the net. He tried to block the shot path to the net which left the passing lane open to Mattias Janmark just left of the net and he made a one-time short pass to Tyler Bertuzzi for a quick shot that beat Wild G Filip Gustavsson.

The Wild’s penalty kill with the floating forward defending the perimeter doesn’t seem like the greatest plan or, at the very least, it isn’t working very well to begin the season. Part of that is all 4 penalty-killers are watching the puck so they aren’t able to react to it in time to make a play on it. Read The Play!!! React to what you Read! The puck goes way too fast to react to it.

3:35 – Goal (PPG) – Tyler Bertuzzi (1) from Calle Jarnkrok (1) & Morgan Reilly (2)

Minnesota Wild 1 | 4 Toronto Maple Leafs 

The Minnesota Wild responded quickly when F Matt Boldy got a drop pass from Mats Zuccarello and took advantage of the time & space that was given to him by Toronto D TJ Brodie. Boldy held the puck like he was going to shoot then took advantage of the space created and took a quick shot that beat Toronto G Ilya Samsonov to the short side.

4:09 – Goal – Minnesota – Matt Boldy (1) from Mats Zuccarello (2) & Calen Addison (1)

That’s just terrible defense by Toronto D TJ Brodie (maybe TJ  No D?) because he was defending a pass to nobody instead of just going to Boldy and taking away the option to shoot:

Boldy has zero options but Brodie (#78) gives him time & space then…

He takes away a phantom passing lane that allows Boldy the time & space to shoot and beat Samsonov.

Is it too early in the season to expect a team to have the details of their game figured out?

Minnesota Wild 2 | 4 Toronto Maple Leafs 

Minnesota Wild & former Gopher D Brock Faber showed great instincts on both ends of the ice to prevent a goal when he got down on one knee and made sure to get as much in the way of a pass to Auston Matthews as possible then a minute or so later he came off the bench and used his speed to go wide around the left boards then cut to the net to create a scoring chance. Toronto G Ilya Samsonov used the paddle of his goalie stick to poke check the puck away but Wild F Marcus Foligno out-battle John Tavares to get to the rebound and shoot it. Samsonov made the save but the puck deflected up in the air and Wild F Marco Rossi, who was battling for position in front of the net, knocked it out of the air for his 1st Career NHL Goal (& Bunt) and just like that, that Minnesota Wild are back within 1 goal! 

9:51 – Goal – Minnesota – Marco Rossi (1) from Marcus Foligno* (1) & Brock Faber (1)

*Foligno grabbed the puck for his rookie linemate!

Minnesota Wild 3 | 4 Toronto Maple Leafs

Minnesota Wild D Jon Merrill hit the post moments later…. OHHHH!!!

The Wild allowed a couple of grade-A scoring chances to William Nylander but the Gus Bus stopped both of them.

The Minnesota Wild found their game after that 4th Toronto goal. Can they carry it into the 3rd & get a nice comeback win in Toronto?

3rd Period

Minnesota Wild F Marco Rossi set up Marcus Foligno for a chance off a Gaudreau faceoff win then got to the rebound from a bad angle then got another chance when Foligno fed him from behind the net as the Wild indeed have carried that 2nd period momentum into the 3rd period.

One of the officials called Wild D Alex Goligoski for Unsportsmanlike Conduct because he said something to him about Ryan Reaves grabbing him & Boldy during a shift. It’s a 1-goal game and you’re making that call? WOW! We call that… Officially BAD! 

6:43 – Penalty – Minnesota – Alex Goligoski for Unsportsmanlike Conduct for Chirping the Official about a non-call

Obviously, we don’t know what was said but as a 17-year veteran NHL player, he should have quite a bit of leeway.***
***Check out our Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic. Does talking to the officials help at all?

The Wild got a huge penalty kill to keep the game within 1-goal. 

But… the Maple Leafs got momentum from that Power Play and a minute later they used that momentum to get some offensive zone time and with the Wild doing a little bit of puck-watching and D Jon Merrill being in front of Toronto F Calle Järnkrok so he wasn’t sure where his stick was and allowed the sharp angle pass to get through to him for an easy tip-in goal to double Toronto’s lead to 5-3.

9:54 – Goal – Toronto – Calle Järnkrok (1) from Morgan Reilly (3) & TJ Brodie (1)

Minnesota Wild 3 | 5 Toronto Maple Leafs 

To pour some salt in the wound of that goal, Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy was checked into the boards and left the ice. 

Just 31 seconds later, Alex Goligoski lost a puck battle to Auston Matthews but Wild F Mats Zuccarello picked up the loose puck. He then coughed it up and Toronto F Mitch Marner beat Alex Goligoski to the loose puck to poke it back to Auston Matthews behind the net and he made this play look way more easy than it actually was as he made a slight toe drag to get the puck away from the boards then turned to go around the net on his backhand and made a turnaround backhand shot that went to the far side of the net for his 2nd consecutive hat trick to begin the season.

The Calle Järnkrok goal is on the 2nd tweet of this link:

10:25 – Goal – Toronto – Auston Matthews (6) from Mitch Marner (3)

Minnesota Wild 3 | 6 Toronto Maple Leafs

1:49 later… William Nylander made it 7-3 with a wrist shot that beat Filip Gustavsson to the short side.

The Minnesota Wild added a goal from F Brandon Duhaime to make it 7-4 but a stupid penalty/questionable call changed the momentum of the game and we’ll never know how different this game might have been if that penalty is not taken or called.

––––– CP –––––

Final

Shift Chart

Next up: 

The Minnesota Wild headed to Montreal for their next game on Tuesday, October 17th.

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

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Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Florida Panthers – October 12th, 2023

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Recap vs the Florida Panthers - October 12th, 2023

The Minnesota Wild started their 23rd season last night and they had a tough first opponent in the Florida Panthers who had an amazing run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. The Wild were also on home ice for their season opener and playing at The X “Hits Different” than anywhere else. There wasn’t a ton of change from last season for the 2023-24 Minnesota Wild so it’s up to this core group to get over the 1st-round playoff hump.

We think “They Can Get There!” Check out our Season Preview and let us know what you think.

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Status Report

Spurgeon is week to week and has not resumed skating. … Mermis, a defenseman, was recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League on Thursday.

Florida Panthers

Status Report

Samsoskevich and Balinskis each will make his NHL debut. … Bennett, a center, did not make the trip but is getting closer to a return. … Lundell, who missed practice Wednesday with an undisclosed injury, took part in the Panthers morning skate Thursday but is a game-time decision.

Game Recap

1st Period

The Florida Panthers dominated the first 6+ minutes as they outshot the Minnesota Wild 9-2. At the 6:21 mark, the Wild had an offensive rush when F Ryan Hartman sent a pass to F Mats Zuccarello from the right boards of the neutral zone and Zuccy skated into the Panthers’ zone and was able to avoid a poke check then skated towards the right face-off dot while Ryan Hartman skated towards the center of the zone. D Alex Goligoski was trailing the play. Zuccarello curled back towards the blue line at the right half-wall and found Goligoski for a glorious chance but his shot was deflected away by Florida D Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The puck went behind the net and Goligoski was the first to it so he tried to throw it back in front of the net. It hit the back of the net and deflected to Ryan Hartman who tried a turnaround shot but that was saved by Florida G Sergei (Bob) Bobrovsky. OHHHH…. 

1:30 later, Minnesota Wild F Matt Boldy corralled a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated into the right side of the offensive zone. He was given some space by Panther D Josh Mahura so he turned to skate backward to see his options. Mahura then pressured him so he tipped the puck back toward the blue line where he knew he would get to it first then passed to Wild D Brock Faber at the right point and Faber sent a wrist shot from the point that went through everyone in front of the net and went into the left side of the net for Brock Faber’s 1st Career NHL Goal!!!

12:06 – Goal – Minnesota – Brock Faber (1) from Matt Boldy (1) & Joel Eriksson Ek (1)

One of the coolest things about a player’s 1st career goal is when a teammate knows to get the puck because it’s an important achievement that only happens once so… if you watch the video again, you’ll see it looks like Wild F Marcus Johansson is going to go celebrate the goal with his teammates but he turns back to go get the puck.

Florida Panthers 0 | 1 Minnesota Wild

With 4:41 remaining in the 1st, the Minnesota Wild had a fortunate bounce as a Florida clearing attempt went off a stanchion* and right to F Kirill Kaprizov but he couldn’t handle the puck to get a shot off so he tried to pass to Zuccarello but it was broken up by Florida F Carter Verhaeghe then deflected to Florida D Dmitry Kulikov. He made a bank pass off the left boards to try to create a 2-on-1 but the pass went a little too far and trickled past Wild D Jake Middleton. For some reason Middleton waited to turn around to get the puck and defended Florida F Evan Rodrigues. When he did turn around, he had to find the puck since it was behind him so Rodrigues got to it first and chopped at it to send it toward the front of the net. Wild G Filip Gustavsson deflected the pass to keep Verhaeghe from getting a good scoring chance.
*It’s a little crazy that the NHL or anyone has yet develop seamless glass so these crazy bounces don’t happen? Check the Game Notes section at the bottom of the article for more on this topic.

18:09 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman for Tripping Aleksander Barkov

Rodrigues then had a grade-A scoring chance from the right slot on a power play rush but he missed the net. 

Florida Panthers 0 | 1 Minnesota Wild
Shots
14 | 5

2nd Period

The Minnesota Wild killed off the remaining 9 seconds of the Hartman tripping penalty to begin the 2nd period. 

Florida rookie F Mackie Samoskevich hit the crossbar on a snapshot from the top of the right faceoff circle.

11:14 – Penalties – Coincidental – MN’s Matt Boldy for Cross-checking & FLA’s Josh Mahura for Roughing

During 4-on-4 play, Wild D Alex Goligoski hit the far post on a shot from the left top of the left faceoff circle.

1:32 into the 2 minutes of the 4-on-4 play…

12:48 – Penalty – Florida – Dmitry Kulikov for Tripping Mats Zuccarello

4-on-3 Power Play for 26 Seconds

The ensuing faceoff was at the left faceoff dot of Florida’s zone. Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek got enough of the puck on the faceoff to allow Mats Zuccarello to send it back to Kirill Kaprizov at the left point. Kaprizov passed it back to Zuccarello at the left half-wall and he tried to send a cross-ice pass to Marcus Johansson at the right faceoff dot but Florida F Kevin Stenlund got his stick on it but it deflected to the front of the net where Joel Eriksson Ek was parked in front of G Sergei Bobrovsky. Ek knew he had some time so he knocked the puck down so it would go to the left of the goalie and then he just put it into the open net. He made that look very easy.

12:56 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Joel Eriksson Ek (1) from Mats Zuccarello (1) & Kirill Kaprizov (1)

That’s a fortuitous bounce for the Wild that put the defense in a bind because they are reading where the puck is going, not if it would be deflected. 

Florida Panthers 0 | 2 Minnesota Wild

2 minutes later, Wild D Alex Goligoski saw F Marcus Foligno had a step on the Florida defense so he sent the puck into the Florida zone from the top of the right faceoff circle of his zone down the ice. Foligno negated the icing and got to Florida D Niko Mikkola in time to effect his pass around the right corner so the puck slowly went around the boards so Wild F Frédéric Gaudreau got to it first. He took a quick look and saw F Marco Rossi driving the net so he fed him the puck. It was a tough pass to handle but Rossi got enough of it to at least keep it in front of him as he crossed the front of the net. Florida G Sergei Bobrovsky went down into a reverse-vertical-horizontal position since the puck was below the goal line so when the puck came out in front of the net he pushed off from his left leg to move across the crease. Maybe he also assumed there would be an immediate shot but since the puck was bouncing, Marco Rossi finally corralled the puck then shot it into the gaping net for his 1st Career NHL Goal!!!

Florida Challenged the Play was Offside

There was a reason Foligno had a step on the Florida defense. He was also offside so NO GOAL for Marco Rossi! DOH! That sucks, huh? 

1:30 later, Florida had a great chance as Anton Lundell received a pass at the left slot and was in on Gus all alone Gus Bus made the save but the puck squeaked through to the other side and Mackie Samoskevich had a shot at the rebound but Ryan Hartman blocked it to maybe save a goal. It’s hard to tell if that shot just hit the post or if Hartman &/or Gus made the save but it doesn’t matter so Team Save!

Florida had a good push in the final minutes of the period after Jake Middleton took an Interference penalty with 2:14 remaining in the 2nd period but the Wild blocked 3 shots and Florida missed 2 as well so, after two periods, it was still…

Florida Panthers 0 | 2 Minnesota Wild
Shots (Total)
12 (26) | 11 (16)

3rd Period

It got a little chippy in the 3rd which isn’t that surprising when you consider what Florida did last season. They won’t give up but the Wild weren’t going to back down either. 

Florida had some chances on a power play off a Marcus Foligno Interference penalty that sure looked like a dive from Florida F Matthew Tkachuk.

They also forced Wild G Filip Gustavsson to make some great saves with their net empty and he was up to the task on ALL 41 SHOTS for his 4th Career Shutout! That deserves a shoutout!

Most Saves in a Shutout in Franchise History – Filip Gustavsson – October 12th, 2023

––––– CP –––––

Final
Florida Panthers 0 | 2 Minnesota Wild

Goals
Minnesota Wild: 
1. Brock Faber (1*); 2. Joel Eriksson Ek(PPG)(1)
*1st Career NHL Goal

FLA:
None 
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
Minnesota Wild:
1. Matt Boldy(1), Joel Eriksson Ek (1); 2. Mats Zuccarello (1), Kirill Kaprizov (1) (PPG)

FLA:
None

Goalies
Minnesota Wild: 
Filip Gustavsson:
41 Saves on 41 Shots, 1.000 Save% – 1st Win; 1st Shutout of the Season; 4th Career Shutout

FLA:
Sergei “Bob” Bobrovsky
19 Saves on 21 Shots, .905 Save% – 1st Loss

Shift Chart

Next Up:

The Minnesota Wild head to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Saturday at 6pm.

––––– CP –––––

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Minnesota Wild, Hockey In Minnesota, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Season Preview – They Can Get There!

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Robb
2023-24 Minnesota Wild Season Preview - They Can Get There!

The Minnesota Wild embark on season 23 tonight. They have a lot of the same players and leaders as they’ve had the last two seasons. They’ve made some changes and brought in some new players while others have left the organization for one reason or another. Every year… 

“Expectations get higher. 

Each and every year we grow a little bit, we come together a little bit, we make steps and because of that expectations get higher. It’s no different this year. Our expectation is to win the Stanley Cup,” the GM who has won four Stanley Cups as a player and executive added. 

“That’s it. That’s our expectation. I don’t care what outside noise says. I don’t care what social media says. I don’t care what anybody says. We have the ability to win the Stanley Cup. 

This is a really good group. You guys have worked so hard to build something really special. We can get there. It starts today.”

Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin

Here to stay. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/7Xn6tdQp20— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 12, 2023

The Twitter link above is supposed to show a video for the 2023-24 Minnesota Wild but it’s not coming up with the video attached so go here to see the 2023-24 Minnesota Wild Opening Night Hype Video. It’s the source for the Bill Guerin Quote above:

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Opening Night Hype Video

The Wild have always prioritized winning. They believe their fans deserve that. Every team should try to win games, not the first pick in the draft but hey, the league allows that to happen when they could probably stop it but that’s a topic for another time.

The Minnesota Wild have lost in the first round the last two seasons because of the mental side of the game. In 2022, the St. Louis Blues experience and their adjustments worked while the Wild didn’t adjust as much but it was the mental side of having the confidence to play their game and keep pushing back against the Blues. They started hanging their heads and the frustration of how the games were going after they had a 2-1 lead in the series affected their game and they lost 3 straight. Season Over!

Fast forward to 2023 and it was more of the same. They had a 2-1 series lead and they were playing a very physical game against Dallas. The officials were making terrible calls and that took the Wild off their game because they thought they had to change the way they played and not take as many penalties since Dallas’ power play was killing them. 3 straight losses. Season Over!

That’s not necessarily the same mental issue. One was the opponent and the other was the officials but the main problem was not having confidence in their game and the most frustrating thing about it is we didn’t see that in the regular season.

The playoffs are more difficult because you’re facing the same team for possibly 7 games and adjustments are made during the games and the series by the best coaches in the world. That’s why it’s so hard to win the Stanley Cup. You have to beat 4 teams 4 times in 2 months and each round is harder than the last.

The Wild have reached the 3rd round once in their 22-year existence since being an expansion team in the year 2000. Times have changed since then. The league now wants their expansion teams to have success right away so they changed the rules to make it easier to win right away and poof, 6 years later, here is your Stanley Cup!

The Wild can’t do anything about that so they’ll keep battling to get over the round 1 postseason hump and we’re here to tell you how they can still make it happen.

Who’s New? Who said, “See You”?

There wasn’t a lot of change to the Wild’s roster from last year as a whole but if you go by the Opening Night rosters, it’s a different story. The main changes for completely new players to the Wild? “It was Maroon.” Only F Pat Maroon was added when he was acquired with a prospect for a 2024 7th-round draft pick from Tampa Bay who also retained 20% of Maroon’s contract ($200K.) He replaced F Ryan Reaves (who signed with Toronto) to be the Wild’s new tough, veteran-presence, culture guy and he should help more than Reaves in our opinion because he should bring more offense while still being able to give his teammates confidence to battle as hard as they can on the ice.

The Wild have a couple of players who were on the team last season but weren’t there on Opening Night in F Marcus Johansson & D Brock Faber. Johansson was great in his second stint as a member of the Wild. He had 18 points on 6 goals and 12 assists in 2o games playing beside F Matt Boldy. D Brock Faber brought an immediate defensive upgrade to the team and should only get better in his first full season as a pro.

Unfortunately, bringing in new players means players left as well. D Matt Dumba ended his 10-year run with the Wild when he signed for 1-year with the Arizona Coyotes. F Sam Steel signed with Dallas. D John Klingberg, like the aforementioned F Ryan Reaves, also signed with Toronto. F Oskar Sundqvist signed with St. Louis. F Tyson Jost signed an extension with Buffalo.

The Wild also added Fs Juhjar Khaira, Vinni Lettieri & Jacob Lucchini to 2-way contracts.

How Do They Get Over the 1st-Round Hump?

This Minnesota Wild team has figured out the regular season. They’ve had good & bad starts and bad stretches the last two seasons but always recovered and were playing very good hockey when the postseason arrived.

Will this season be different and the bad stretches will be fewer and further between the good stretches? Consistency is the sign of a great team and this team should be ready to become that kind of team. They have everything they need to do it.

The defense is always solid and we know the goaltending should be one of the best tandems in the league with Filip Gustavsson continuing his rock-solid play from last season while Marc-Andre Fleury will for sure want to be as good as possible in the final year of his contract and what could end up being the final season of his career.

The offense should be able to get back to what they were in 2021-22 when they were 5th in the league in goals for. Marcus Foligno & Ryan Hartman can return to their form. Freddy “The Stick” Gaudreau can keep developing his offense after 19 goals last season. Matt Boldy showed the ability to score in bunches with new linemate Marcus Johansson. F Joel Eriksson-Ek gets better every year. Patty Maroon and Two Deweys might be a surprising source of offense too. Both Dewar & Duhaime have shown scoring ability and they both have a ton of speed.

They named F Kirill Kaprizov the new Alternate Captain (or Kaptain) and you know he’s more motivated than ever to help his team make a deep playoff run. 

‘His engine is what drives us’

Then we have…

Marco Goal-O!

Young prospect F Marco Rossi could be a huge part of this team taking that next step because he has so much potential to be great. It’s taken a while but he’s been through a lot with the myocarditis scare during the Covid-19 pandemic then having to return to hockey and figure out professional hockey to then figuring out how to deal with struggling at the NHL level. This summer, he stayed in Minnesota over the summer and worked with Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Harder and Skills Coach Andy Ness. He put on 15 pounds and worked on a new skating stride.

“We’ve seen some great stuff already from him and how he’s conducted himself. Probably more than the physical end of it is his maturity level. He’s been more vocal. He’s been more involved. He’s been kind of more of a presence on and off the ice. So, yeah we’re just hoping that continues to progress.”

Minnesota Wild Head Coach Dean Evason from the Minnesota Wild Season Preview

Marco Rossi had 51 points (16 goals, 35 assists) in 53 games with the Iowa Wild last season and he started to shoot the puck more as the season went on but the big thing was the confidence he started to play with. He was named the Player of the Week for the week ending on March 19th:

But maybe the biggest thing that could help the Wild become an Elite team in the NHL is…

The Power Play & the PK!

The Wild hired new assistant coach Jason King over the summer after being an assistant coach in Vancouver for the past 3 years. “He ran a Canucks power play the past two that averaged 23.1 percent (ninth-best in the NHL). The Wild were 16th in the league over the same stretch (21.0 percent) and have struggled at the man advantage in the playoffs (17.4 percent over the past two postseasons).”*
*Get The Athletic! It’s just $2/month right now & there still might be offers for $1/month on X/Twitter!

In the preseason, the Wild’s power play was showing a shoot-first mentality and a shoot-quick-and-often mentality. Here’s what The Athletic had for the Power Play Units back in late September:

“The No. 1 unit looks familiar because it’s the same one that was solid for much of the 2022-23 regular season until Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek were injured and Calen Addison wound up a press-box fixture. Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, Matt Boldy and Addison were reunited while the No. 2 unit was Marco Rossi centering Marcus Johansson, Ryan Hartman, Freddy Gaudreau and Jared Spurgeon.

Marcus Foligno, a No. 2 unit mainstay last season, Pat Maroon and Alex Goligoski also saw reps so they get used to some of the new systematic stuff being installed by King, who coached a top-10 power play during his three years in Vancouver.”

The Penalty Kill (PK) needs to be better at getting clears and taking away passing lanes. It’s easier said than done but they know what they need to do and they know they need to be better.

Deep in the Wild

Another thing the Wild still has is a lot of depth. They have Fs Sammy Walker, Nic Petan, Vinni Lettieri, Adam Beckman, Jacob Lucchin, Steven Fogarty and Defensemen Dakota Mermis, Carson Lambos, Ryan O’Rourke, Daemon Hunt & Simon Johansson. They also have a veteran goalie in Zane McIntyre and a stud prospect in Jesper Wallstedt, too.

One of those forwards would’ve likely made the team if the salary cap had gone up more than just $1M. Of course, there’s that little elephant in the Cap Room, the $14,743,588 dead cap from the Ryan Suter & Zach Parise buyouts. Are we sure there isn’t another 99 cents on both of those too? That’d be another $1.98 added on!

More from Billy G before we leave…

“I’m just going to leave you with this. A lot of guys can play in the National Hockey League. Anybody that’s in training camp right now, we can take you and put you in the NHL and you’ll do fine. You can play. You can probably play for a long time.

What we’re looking for are guys that can help us win. It’s different. Just playing isn’t enough. We want guys that are going to help the Minnesota Wild win a Stanley Cup.

So, when you get out there, make a difference. Make an impression. Make something happen. Play a role that you’re not used to playing. Do something that brings you out of your comfort zone. And show us that you are the player that will help us win. Because that’s what we need, that’s what we want, and that’s what we’re going for.”

It’s up to them to Bring the Wildest Clutter!

They know what they need to do. They just need to do it. They also know their general manager is behind them 100% and if they’re in a position to make a run, he’ll do whatever he can to give them some more firepower in the postseason. The Minnesota Twins just broke an 18-year & 21-year streak and a lot of the Wild players watched that happen in the city across the river so now it’s their turn!

The goal is to make the playoffs and see what happens but they’d for sure rather get a higher seed so they have home-ice advantage.

It’s going to be a fun, CLUTTER-FILLED season! We hope you follow along at ClutterPuck.com! Bring the Clutter on us if we aren’t Bringing enough Clutter!

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

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Minnesota Wild Playoff Recap vs the Dallas Stars – Round 1 Game 3 – April 21st, 2023

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Playoff Recap at the Dallas Stars - Round 1 Game 3 - April 21st, 2023

The Minnesota Wild  earned a split in the first 2 games in Dallas so now they had to win at home to take advantage of stealing home ice advantage. Win the next game and take a series lead. We expect them to respond to that disappointing Game 2 with a lot of energy and just great detailed play in all aspects of the game.

Game 1 Recap HERE

&

Game 2 Recap HERE 
if you missed them!

The joint was jumping:

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Scratched:
Jon Merrill, Alex Goligoski, Calen Addison, Sam Steel , Oskar Sundqvist

Injured:
None

Roster Report

F Sammy Walker was reassigned to the Iowa Wild who are also playing tonight in their 3-game playoff series having lost in Overtime so it was must-win time in Iowa.

Dallas Stars

Scratched:
Joel Hanley, Nils Lundkvist, Fredrik Olofsson, Riley Tufte

Injured:
Joe Pavelski (concussion)

Let’s Play Hockey, Mason Shaw!!!

Game Recap

1st Period

Minnesota Wild F Joel Eriksson Ek returned and started the game but he lasted only 20 seconds before leaving the ice and heading (& limping) down the tunnel to the locker room. 

Then Wild D Jake Middleton was called for a holding penalty when Dallas F Evgenii Dadonov ran into him and fell down. 

The Wild killed it off then got back to work and Marcus Foligno drew a penalty when Dallas F Max Domi cross-checked him in the face. 

14:39 – Penalty – Dallas – Max Domi for Cross-Checking Marcus Foligno

The Wild had some pressure and had a few good chances but it was still scoreless. 

10:06 – Penalty – Dallas – Ty Dellandrea for Tripping Marcus Johansson

The Wild again had some chances and the power play looked better than it has all series.

After a whistle, Dallas F Max Domi ran into Kirill Kaprizov just to try to mess with him and 8 seconds later…

The Wild won the ensuing faceoff back to D Brock Faber at the middle of the blue line. He skated to the right half-wall and passed the puck to D John Kingberg and he sent to the puck to the net and it deflected off Dallas D Esa Lindell’s skate towards the right boards but Wild F Ryan Hartman turned his skate to try to send it to his own stick but it went back towards the left boards. Wild F Matt Zuccarello was in front of the net and he caught the puck on his backhand with his back to the net and he quickly turned to his left to try to get around Dallas G Jake Oettinger…

3:15 – Goal – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello from Ryan Hartman & John Klingberg

The puck was a pinball wizard that went off 2 skates before Zuccarello caught it and made a quick move. Oettinger was going to his right so he tried to extend his leg to make the save but his momentum wouldn’t let him get back to make the save.

1-0 Wild

2:26 – Penalty – Minnesota – Ryan Reaves for Roughing

Ryan Reaves received a 2-minute minor for roughing for who knows what. After a whistle when Wild G Filip Gustavsson froze the puck, Wild F Jake Middleton shoved Dallas F Wyatt Johnston so Dallas F Jamie Benn grabbed Middleton and Wild F Ryan Reaves grabbed Benn and somehow the official only gave a penalty to Reaves. That’s strange and hard to understand. Referees, man. Referees!

No dice on the power play for Dallas.

Wild lead 1-0 after 1 and outshot Dallas 9-6.

2nd Period

Just 2:14 into the 2nd period and Wild F Matt Boldy forced a turnover on the forecheck then fed Marcus Johansson and he made Colin Miller look like a traffic cone by putting the puck behind him then skating around him and picking it up on the other side. Then he completed the amazing play by beating Dallas G Jake Oettinger to put the Wild up 2-0! WOW!

17:46 – Goal – Minnesota – Marcus Johansson from Matt Boldy 

This magnificent move by Marcus Johansson may make the play by Boldy look smaller than it actually is but make no mistake about it, Matt Boldy created something out of nothing just by getting to D Colin Miller’s stick and, even though Miller was still able to clear the zone, Boldy deflecting the puck by forcing Miller to move it quicker than he wanted to made it difficult for Dallas D Thomas Harley to control it as he brought the puck back into his own zone.* Then Boldy makes another great play to steal the puck from Harley and find Johansson flying into the zone.
*The play isn’t considered offsides because the Dallas player brought the puck back into the zone.

Turnovers are the toughest plays to defend because you’re usually going the wrong way so you have to try to change direction and also make a good defensive play and going for the puck is usually the wrong play because you only get one shot at that tiny piece of vulcanized rubber. If Miller plays the body here, he likely kills the play.

2-0 Wild

Well, that great feeling of being up 2 goals only lasted 11 seconds as they took advantage of about 5 favorable bounces to get back within one immediately.

17:35 – Goal – Dallas – Luke Glendening from Joel Kiviranta & Radek Faksa

The puck was wrapped around the right side and it hit the ice coming around the left corner so it hopped over Jared Spurgeon’s stick to get to Dallas F Radek Faksa and when he tried to dump the puck behind the net it went off of Wild D Jared Spurgeon then off of Wild F Connor Dewar’s glove then his skate then towards the net where Dallas F Luke Glendening shot it and it went off of Wild D Jake Middleton’s skate and into the net. That is a Magic Loogie.

2-1 Wild

10:06 – Penalty – Dallas – Ty Dellandrea for Tripping Matt Boldy

Wild F Matt Boldy received a pass at the top of the right faceoff circle and he was pushed from behind by Dallas F Mason Marchment which may have got Boldy a little off balance. He tried to turn and Dallas F Ty Dellandrea hit his right leg with his stick which may have caused Boldy to go down. It’s hard to tell but like the Jake Middleton holding penalty just over a minute into the game, it looked like a penalty so it was called. Looks like it’s even now with each team getting a break on a penalty call. Dallas wasn’t able to capitalize on their power play. Did the Wild?

The Wild seemed to be gaining confidence as this game went on or maybe Dallas was losing confidence. The Wild moved the puck around well. Jared Spurgeon had it at the right point and passed to Gustav Nyquist at the left point and he sent it to the net…

8:36 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Marcus Foligno from Gustav Nyquist & Jared Spurgeon

3-1 Wild

3rd Period

The Wild had the puck in their own zone and Dallas D Ryan Suter was forechecking. Wild F Ryan Hartman had the puck in the right corner so he passed it to Wild D John Klingberg behind the Wild net. Klingberg sent it back to Hartman in the corner and he sent a bank off the boards all the way to the red line for a breakaway. He started coasting when he got to the faceoff circle then fired a shot…

5:53 – Goal – Minnesota – Mats Zuccarello from Ryan Hartman & John Klingberg 

We’ll assume this was a bad change from Dallas but the replay doesn’t really show it.

4-1 Wild

Dallas pulled their goalie with 4:53 remaining in regulation since they were down 3 goals. The Wild were still playing great defense to keep the puck out of their net and trying to clear the zone. Dallas F Wyatt Johnston stopped a clearing attempt at the right point and took a shot that was blocked by Wild D Jake Middleton. The puck almost went right to Wild F Ryan Hartman but it got by him and went to the left boards/corner. He was able to get to it first and he took a quick shot at the empty net…

1:50 – Goal (ENG) – Minnesota – Ryan Hartman from Jake Middleton

Dallas had all 6 players on the right side of the ice so maybe that wasn’t the best time to take a shot from the point or there was some kind of miscommunication.

5-1 Wild

What a performance by the Minnesota Wild! They were on their game from the start and really gave Dallas nothing for the majority of the game to take a 2-1 series lead!

––––– CP –––––

Final
Dallas Stars 1 | 5 Minnesota Wild

Goals
MN: 1. Mats Zuccarello(1), 2. Marcus Johansson(2), 3. Marcus Foligno(1)-PPG, 4. Mats Zuccarello(2), 5. Ryan Hartman(2)-ENG
DAL: 1. Luke Glendening(1)
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Ryan Hartman(1), John Klingberg(1), 2. Matt Boldy(2), 3. Gustav Nyquist(4), Jared Spurgeon(2)-PPG, 4. Ryan Hartman(2), John Klingberg(2), 5. Jake Middleton(1)
DAL: 1. Joel Kiviranta(1), Radek Faksa(1)

Goalies
MN: 
Filip Gustavsson
23 Saves on 24 Shots, .958 Save% – 2nd Playoff Win

DAL:
Jake Oettinger
2o Saves on 24 Shots, .833 Save% – 2nd Playoff Loss

Shift Chart

Next up: 

GAME 4 on Sunday night at 5:30pm on TBS &/or Bally Sports North!

Be There! Get Wild! Be Wild! STAY WILD!!!

Thanks for Reading!!! 

Bring the Clutter in the comments &/or on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn…

AND…as always…

Posted in Hockey In Minnesota, News/Transactions, NHL Hockey, Wild Game Recaps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Minnesota Wild Playoff Recap at the Dallas Stars – April 19th, 2023

Posted on April 21, 2023 by Robb
Minnesota Wild Playoff Recap at the Dallas Stars - April 19th, 2023

The Minnesota Wild went into Game 2 looking to go up 2 games to none in a series for the first time in franchise history. The Wild will likely try to play the same game of disciplined defense they played in Game 1 but that won’t be easy as everyone knows the Dallas Stars will bring a ton of energy right from the drop of the puck. They will make some adjustments from game one as well & it’s always easier to adjust after a loss than it is after a win. 

Will the Wild be able to get to their game to play a similar game to Game 1? Let’s find out!

Game 1 Recap HERE if you missed it!

Alright. Enough words. Let’s…

Drop the ClutterPuck!!!

––––– CP –––––

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Minnesota Wild

Wild projected lineup

Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov – Sam Steel — Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Matt Boldy — Marcus Foligno
Gustav Nyquist — Frederick Gaudreau — Oskar Sundqvist
Brandon Duhaime — Connor Dewar — Ryan Reaves

Defensemen
Jake Middleton — Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin — Matt Dumba
Jon Merrill — Brock Faber

Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury 
Filip Gustavsson

Scratched:
Calen Addison, Damien Giroux, Alex Goligoski, Hunter Jones, Nic Petan, Marco Rossi, Nick Swaney, Samuel Walker

Injured:
Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body), Ryan Hartman (lower body), John Klingberg (lower body)

Roster Report
F Sammy Walker was recalled from the Iowa Wild.

Dallas Stars

Stars projected lineup

Forwards
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Mason Marchment — Max Domi — Ty Dellandrea
Joel Kiviranta — Radek Faksa — Luke Glendening

Defensemen
Ryan Suter — Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpää
Thomas Harley — Colin Miller

Goalies
Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood

Scratched:
Joel Hanley, Nils Lundkvist, Fredrik Olofsson

Injured:
Joe Pavelski (upper body)

––––– CP –––––

Obviously it also hurts the Wild to lose Ryan Hartman for this game especially after he was the hero in Game 1. They recalled F Sammy Walker but decided to put F Oskar Lundqvist in the lineup instead. 

Dallas was still without F Joe Pavelski so F Joel Kiviranta took his spot in the lineup.

Game Recap

1st Period

Good start to the game and the Minnesota Wild get the first power play after they generated a good scoring chance off the rush as Kirill Kaprizov went down the right side with speed, cut to the middle and took a shot then was the first to the rebound as the Wild had a good 30 seconds of time in the offensive zone with a few shots and a couple of scoring chances. Dallas eventually cleared the zone up the left boards and past the red line. 

Wild F Sam Steel beat Dallas F Wyatt Johnston t the puck and was just going to send it back up the boards when Johnston hooked him to make him fall down. 

16:22 – Penalty – Dallas – Wyatt Johnston for Hooking Sam Steel

Johnston stopped skating then put his stick up and in on Sam Steel. He should’ve done the opposite, keep skating and get your stick to the puck. 

The Wild had some zone time to begin the power play then Wild F Mats Zuccarello tried to make a pass through a defender and turned over the puck.

On the ensuing zone entry, Matt Boldy was coming up the left side and he fed Kirill Kaprizov at the blue line. Kaprizov pulled up just inside the offensive zone and went around Dallas D Jani Hakanpää and tried to make a pass to Jared Spurgeon near the blue line but Dallas F Joel Kiviranta got his stick on it. Spurgeon just missed knocking the puck off of his stick so Kiviranta sent the puck past Spurgeon into the neutral zone where Dallas F Roope Hintz could skate into it and maybe get a scoring chance. Wild F Marcus Johansson had circled around the Wild’s defensive zone to be the player to receive the drop pass for the power play zone entry so he was right there but for some reason he decided against going for the loose puck and curled wide thinking he could chase down Roope Hintz…

8:40 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas  – Tyler Seguin from Jason Robertson & Miro Heiskanen

So that penalty being a double-minor penalty played really helped the Dallas Stars. Should that shot be blocked and/or should Tyler Seguin be covered instead of being wide open at the side of the net? Wild D Jonas Brodin went to Hintz to get his stick so he wouldn’t be able to make a play on it but he was battling for position with Seguin right before that. Pick your poison? Dewar(#26) should probably be closer to Robertson as he’s in the middle for no reason but Brandon Duhaime(#21) was chasing the puck then settled down and they were too close together in the middle.

2-0 Dallas

Wild F Matt Boldy got a breakaway but he had to go to his backhand to protect the puck from the defender chasing him down so he didn’t have a great angle and didn’t get much on the shot.

20 seconds later, the Wild won a faceoff in their own zone. The puck eventually got to Oskar Sundqvist at the right half-wall and he made a little pass to D Matt Dumba to allow him to start a rush up the ice with Gustav Nyquist on his left. Sundqvist then got on his horse to get to the net. Dumba passed the puck to Nyquist right after he crossed the blue line and Nyquist made a move to his backhand to get around Jani Hakanpää then shot a backhand towards the net and the puck went off of Dallas G Jake Oettinger’s left pad then off of Oskar Sundqvist’s right skate and into the net as he was stopping in the crease.

3:49 – Goal – Minnesota – Oskar Sundqvist from Gustav Nyquist & Matt Dumba

It was 2-on-2 but Dallas had two backchecking forwards in Jason Robertson & Roope Hintz but they were both puck-watching and not looking for someone to cover so Sundqvist sneaks by Hintz who took a quick look when Sundqvist was behind him but either didn’t see him or wasn’t worried about him. Minus 1, boys! Oops!

2-1 Dallas

The Wild got some momentum from that goal but also needed a save from Fleury to keep the game at 2-1 before the end of the period.

2nd Period

The Wild started the 2nd period with some good jump but 3:48 in they took a penalty that somehow wasn’t nullified with a Jamie Benn dive:

3:48 – Penalty – Minnesota – Jon Merrill for Cross-Checking Jamie Benn

Roope Hintz was the zone entry guy and as he got close to the blue, he either fanned on the pass to Jamie Benn or it was a fake. It’s hard to tell. Jared Spurgeon reacted to that fanned pass so he got neither the puck nor the player and Hintz passed the puck to Benn right after he passed Spurgeon and Benn took a shot. Wild D Jonas Brodin had to think about stopping the pass as well as the shot so he didn’t get over far enough to block the shot. Sam Steel gets his stick to Benn’s stick as he’s shooting and the way Fleury reacts makes you wonder if something affected his read of the shot.

A couple of different angles at the 31-second mark below: 

15:53 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Jamie Benn from Roope Hintz & Miro Heiskanen

3-1 Dallas

1:15 later, Wild F Marcus Johansson used his speed to get in the Dallas zone to take a shot from the left faceoff dot but it was deflected by the stick of Dallas D Jani Hakanpää and it went all the way around the glass & into the neutral zone past pinching D Jared Spurgeon (on the right half-wall) and Matt Boldy at the blue line near the bench to create a 2-on-1 with Dallas F Evgenii Dadonov with the puck & F Jamie Benn on his right. Dadonov passed it to Benn and instead of one-timing a shot, he one-timed a pass back to F Wyatt Johnston who was trailing the play. Johnston did take a one-timer that went off of Matt Boldy’s stick then off of Marc-Andre Fleury’s chest and then the rebound went right to Dadonov who stopped at the side of the net.

14:26 – Goal – Dallas – Evgenii Dadonov from Wyatt Johnston & Jamie Benn

WOW! What a crazy play! Wild F Marcus Foligno didn’t see the puck come off the glass and he thought Spurgeon caught it while Matt Boldy was going for a change then had to try to backcheck. Wild D Jake Middleton was giving too much of a gap so he didn’t take the pass away and ended up losing an edge. If Foligno would’ve seen the puck he could’ve backchecked to maybe keep Johnston from being available for that shot. You can see the 3 trailing Wild players start to coast as Johnston is getting the pass. 

4-1 Dallas

It also looks like Dallas had too many men on the ice:

Rule 74 - Too Many Men on the Ice from the 2022-23 NHL Rulebook
Rule 74 – Too Many Men on the Ice from the 2022-23 NHL Rulebook
Minnesota Wild at Dallas Stars - 2022-23 Stanley Cup Playoffs - Round 1 - Game 2 - Should this have been called for Too Many Men on the Ice?
Weirdly. We haven’t heard anyone bring this up yet.

9:29 – Penalty – Dallas – Jani Hakanpää for Holding Jake Middleton

Wild F Sam Steel intercepted a clearing attempt that took a bad bounce off the boards and he tried to get a pass through to Mats Zuccarello but it was broken up. The puck came back out to the Wild in the neutral zone and D Jake Middleton went up the left boards with the puck and Hakanpää held him as he was trying to get to the puck.

After losing the faceoff it took the Wild about 40 seconds to get set up then Matt Boldy had the puck at the right half-wall and he sent a pass to Marcus Johanson beneath the goal then got it back but D Ryan Suter had moved towards the goal line to pressure the puck so now Boldy had more room so he moved to just above the center of the faceoff circle and shot the puck. Johansson had moved in front of the net to screen G Jake Oettinger and the puck hit his left glove but dropped down between his legs but he quickly kicked it to his stick then lifted a backhand into the net.

8:06 – Goal (PPG) – Minnesota – Marcus Johansson from Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello

Kirill Kaprizov moving to the front of the net to force Dallas D Esa Lindell helped free Johansson up to have the time to get to the puck and the little pass back & forth from Boldy & Johansson helped create enough space for Boldy to get a shot through to just create a loose puck that made Oettinger panic a little and try to find it so he wasn’t quick enough to get over when Johansson corralled the puck.

You could add that Dallas F Radek Faksa was just defending space and watching the puck the whole time. 

4-2 Dallas

The Wild won the ensuing faceoff to the right boards where Matt Dumba tried to dump it in but he didn’t get all of it as he was pressured by Stars F Wyatt Johnston so Stars D Thomas Harley sent it back into the neutral zone but he didn’t get a lot on it because he was pressured by Wild F Oskar Sundqvist to create a loose puck in the neutral zone as Dumba knocked it away from Johnston. Wild F Gustav Nyquist got the puck and turned into the offensive zone and 3 Dallas players pursued him to try to end the play but they all made weak poke check attempts that didn’t reach the puck so he got around Stars D Colin Miller and fed Freddy Gaudreau for a mini-breakaway…

7:55 – Goal – Minnesota – Freddy Gaudreau from Gustav Nyquist & Matt Dumba

Teams say they want to “kill plays” as quickly as possible which is why 3 Dallas players went to Gustav Nyquist so fast but none them did enough to kill the play and Nyquist is making Minnesota Wild GM Billy Guerin look really good as he has points in every game he’s played in a Wild sweater so far. That includes 3 assists in 2 playoff games and he also had a goal & 4 assists in the last 3 regular season games.

GUUUUUSTAV!!!

4-3 Dallas

2 goals in 11 seconds set a new Minnesota Wild franchise record for the fastest 2 playoff goals in Wild history and we had a brand new game in Dallas.

11 seconds after that… it was still 4-3! DOH! COME ON!!! 🤣

Wild F Matt Boldy almost got a breakaway as he came on the ice for a line change but it was ruled offsides. Dallas D Miro Heiskanen may have deflected the pass but there wasn’t a great view of the play.

About 4 minutes later Dallas got the puck in the offensive zone and got a point shot from Miro Heiskanen that Fleury saved and Spurgeon cleared the rebound to the left boards but the Wild lost a puck battle that went back to Heiskanen at the blue line and the Wild players in that puck battle all pursued or watched the puck. Sam Steel went to Heiskanen. Spurgeon picked up Jamie Benn but nobody covered Evgenii Dadonov so he was free for a shot pass that he tipped up into the upper right corner.

3:52 – Goal – Dallas – Evgenii Dadonov from Miro Heiskanen 

Marc-Andre Fleury had a bunch of players in front of him that he had to try to see around and he saw Heiskanen send the puck to the right side so he went down but probably picked up the puck a bit late so Dallas was up by 2 goals again.

5-3 Dallas

30 seconds later the Wild had the puck in the offensive zone and Marcus Johansson tried to feed Matt Boldy for a one-timer near the blue line but Roope Hintz read the play and deflected the pass to create his own breakaway…

<iframe src=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/hintz-lights-lamp-again/t-343580050/c-16721012?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″></iframe>

Marc-Andre Fleury went for the poke check which usually tells you that the goalie isn’t very confident in their game because it’s a prayer play to try to stop a goal. If it doesn’t work it’s most likely going to be a goal so after the Wild scored 2 goals in 11 seconds to get the game within 1 goal, just 4 minutes later the Dallas Stars scored 2 goals in 48 seconds to rebuild that 3-goal lead!

6-3 Dallas

2:09 – Penalty – Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov for Tripping Radek Faksa

Kirill Kaprizov tried to defend Faksa and got his skate behind Faksa’s right skate and he went down. 

Wild F Connor Dewar was hooked by Dallas F Tyler Seguin to force a turnover in the neutral zone but there was no call.

The Wild killed off the penalty and the period ended.

You had to think the Wild were thinking about pulling G Marc-Andre Fleury but you also know he wouldn’t want to come out of the game

3rd Period

Did the Wild have another comeback in them for the 3rd period?

Wild F Brandon Duhaime had a scoring chance around 3 minutes in but he didn’t have enough time to lift the puck.

The Wild got a couple of power play and on the 2nd one the puck ended up beneath the goal line and against the boards so Dallas tried to hold it there while time just kept ticking off the clock. The official said, “Keep playin’!” a couple of times and Dallas F Radek Faksa shoves Wild F Kirill Kaprizov about 5 times to which Kaprizov brings his elbow up. You’re not going to see Kirill Kaprizov back down.

Wild F Ryan Reaves got a slashing penalty and we never saw any of it as it was away from the puck.

While on the Penalty Kill, Wild F Freddy Gaudreau got a tripping penalty when he pushed Mason Marchment behind the Dallas net but he fell because his skates hit the boards. Good call, ref!

Dallas scored a power play goal when F Jason Robertson fed F Roope Hintz at the side of the net for a tip in for the hat trick.

7:44 – Goal (PPG) – Dallas – Roope Hintz from Jason Robertson & Miro Heiskanen

7-3 Dallas

There were seven 10-minute misconducts given out by the officials in the last 5:33 of the game as the officials tried to keep the game from getting out of control physically that started with Kaprizov and Max Domi.

Then Wild Fs Marcus Foligno, Ryan Reaves & Brandon Duhaime & Dallas F Jamie Benn & D Ryan Suter.

The Wild didn’t really play that bad as a whole. They still competed as hard as they always do. They just made too many mistakes and it seemed like Dallas was getting all of the breaks. We’ll see how they respond on Friday night.

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Final
Minnesota Wild 3 | 7 Dallas Stars

Goals
MN: 1. Oskar Sundqvist(1), 2. Marcus Johansson(1), 3. Freddy Gaudreau(1)
DAL: 1. Roope Hintz(2)-SHG, 2. Tyler Seguin(1)-PPG, 3. Jamie Benn(1)-PPG, 4. Evgenii Dadonov(1), 5. Evgenii Dadonov(2), 6. Roope Hintz(3), 7. Roope Hintz(4)-PPG
*PPG=Power-Play Goal, ENG=Empty-Net Goal

Assists
MN: 1. Gustav Nyquist(2), Matt Dumba(1), 2. Matt Boldy(1), Mats Zuccarello(1)-PPG, 3. Gustav Nyquist(3)
DAL: 1. Joel Kiviranta(1)-SHG, 2. Jason Robertson(1), Miro Heiskanen(2)-PPG, 3. Roope Hintz(1), Miro Heiskanen(3)-PPG, 4. Wyatt Johnston(1), Jamie Benn(2), 5. Miro Heiskanen(4), 6. Unassisted, 7. Jason Robertson(2), Miro Heiskanen(5)-PPG

Goalies
MN: 
Marc-Andre Fleury
24 Saves on 31 Shots, .774 Save% – 1st Playoff Loss
DAL:
Jake Oettinger
23 Saves on 26 Shots, .885 Save% – 1st Playoff Win

Shift Chart

Game Notes
*
Net Profit, Surplus or Losses?
(Are you selling Flowers or Busses*)

*You could deliver Flowers in Busses or have a Flowerful Bus, too!

Everyone will question the Minnesota Wild’s decision to go with G Marc-Andre Fleury instead of Game 1 winner G Filip Gustavsson but the Wild have been doing this for the majority of the season and they’re both great goalies. Only 22 times this season did the same goalie start the next game. 13 of those happened in the 1st 26 games as they were finding out how good Gus was in their net. There were also 16 before the All-Star break (January 30th – February 5th). That’s 13 times in the first 26 games, 16 times in the first 48 games and only 6 times in the last 34 games. Their record was 13-11-2 (28 points), 27-17-4 (58 points) & 19-8-7 (45 points) in those stretches, respectively. That’s comes to points percentage stats of .538, .604 & .662.

Goalie Starts during the Minnesota Wild’s 2022-23 Season Marc-Andre Fleury-45; Filip Gustavsson-37
Goalie Starts during the Minnesota Wild’s 2022-23  Season
Marc-Andre Fleury-45; Filip Gustavsson-37

**
Both Coaches Playing “The Game”, too:

Other Notes

Other Links you might be interested in:

Fleury laments ’embarrassing’ performance in Game 2 for Wild
&
Boldy building confidence to become key piece for Wild in West 1st Round
by Tracey Myers @Tramyers_NHL / NHL.com Staff Writer 

NHL Network to premiere ‘NHL Regular Season Awards Show’ on Saturday
by NHL Public Relations @PR_NHL

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Next up: 

Game 3 on Friday night at 8:30pm or sometime around that time since the Wild are the 2nd game of the night on TBS. It will also air on Bally Sports North.

Thanks for Reading!!! 

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AND…as always…

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