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!!!
––––– CP –––––
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!!!
––––– CP –––––
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
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.
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
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:
Quote machine Ryan Reaves on facing the #mnwild: “Sometimes when you’re better friends with them, you want to lay them out a little more. Unfortunately for them, I became pretty good friends with all of them.” pic.twitter.com/KExDJP99VL
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:
Marcus Foligno drops the gloves with Ryan Reaves following a hit on Frédérick Gaudreau. 🥊 pic.twitter.com/XwqM6OASfy
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.
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)
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…
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.
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)
Matt Boldy and the Wild answer right back. 👀
Watch the Wild take on the Maple Leafs live on Sportsnet and stream on Sportsnet+! pic.twitter.com/aJzXcUFUET
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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…
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
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.”
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:
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.
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.
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.”
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…
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!
