There is no better way to start the season than with a couple wins. The Wild beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Friday, scoring the second goal with only seconds left. On Saturday night the Wild had a streaky but overall positive performance in their 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Despite a sections of the Kings game where the Wild quailed under pressure, it was an encouraging weekend for a Wild fan. There are quiet a few reasons why.
The Stars Delivered
Kirill Kaprizov got two assists over the first two games. The second was a beautiful assist in the Kings game when he carried the puck into the offensive zone and made a spinning pass to Victor Rask. So far Kaprizov has not scored a goal, but he has definitely made his presence felt on the ice.
Kevin Fiala was the MVP of the weekend. He scored the Wild’s first goal of the season against the Ducks and he had an assist against the Kings. Beyond scoring Fiala produced some of the best scoring chances and he had some great defensive plays. Knowing that Fiala is only on a one year contract extension makes me uneasy. The Wild have a lot of players they need to re-sign and not a lot of cap space. Fiala is perhaps the most important of all the players that could be re-signed. If he keeps playing like this he will deserve a contract that rivals Kaprizov’s $9 million a year deal.
Continuing To Find Success with Lower Lines
Certain sports teams develop organizational quirks relating to their personnel. For many years the St. Louis Cardinals always knew how to find a gem or two among their prospects. The New York Jets cannot draft a quarterback to save Joe Namath’s life. The jury is still out on Zach Wilson but I am not optimistic. The Wild are beginning to build a reputation of finding unexpected value in fourth line forwards. NHL defenses are not safe with any Wild forward line on the ice. Duhaime’s efforts were not rewarded with a goal but he was responsible for some good pushes into the offensive zone. He was most visible when he scored a wrap around goal against the Kings that was ultimately called back. Also on the fourth line, Nick Bjugstad had the first real scoring chance of the season when his wrister went slightly too high against the Ducks.
The biggest surprise for me from the weekend was how well Freddy Gaudreau played. He scored a goal against the Kings off a pass from Fiala. More importantly that shot was not a fluke. Gaudreau made some quality offensive plays across both of the weekend games. However, Gaudreau’s defense needs some work. His faceoff win percentage sits at 37.5%, although we still have too small of a sample size to merit worrying about it. More obvious were his failures to clear the puck. One of the failed attempts at the very end of the first period in the Kings game gave the Kings one of their best scoring chances of the game. Gaudreau threw the puck from the wall straight into a King’s player in front of Cam Talbot. Thankfully Talbot made the stop and the period ended before anyone could launch a rebound shot.
Leadership Changes
With Parise and Suter gone the Wild needed new alternate captains this season. Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno were given the A’s before the season started. Foligno is the kind of leader this squad needs. Besides scoring the Wild’s second goal in the game against the Ducks with only seconds left in the third period, Foligno has provided a lot of value. He’s been tough on the ice and he has been a good teammate off of it. Against the Ducks Foligno got into a mean scuffle with Max Jones. 92% of voters on hockeyfights.com thought Foligno won the fight, with the other 8% believing it was a draw. Foligno’s encouraging comments regarding Kirill Kaprizov were memorable enough to be featured as a top story on nhl.com/ru (NHL’s Russian language site). Last year Foligno had his best offensive season ever; he scored 26 points in only 39 games. These first two games may be the head start Foligno needs to repeat his success.
Dumba has also been prominent thus far. He is tied for the lead among Wild player’s in shots (8) and some have been great scoring chances. He got an assist in the game against the Ducks as well. It is also worth noting that he has accrued four penalty minutes on two penalties, including a tripping call that led to a power play goal for the Kings.
Faceoff Problems? What Faceoff Problems?
Last year the Wild struggled to win faceoffs. Bonino led the team in faceoff win percentage at 52.8%. Nico Sturm was the only Wild regular besides Bonino with a faceoff win percentage above 50%. Wild commentators were rightfully concerned about what we would do without Bonino since he left the Wild for the San Jose Sharks. Thankfully there were no faceoff woes for the Wild this weekend. Nico Sturm leads the team with an unbelievable 86.7% face off win percentage. Bjugstad and Erikkson Ek have also stepped up and posted percentages above 50%. Mats Zuccarello even got a tough faceoff win against the Kings. Hopefully these trends hold across the season because the Wild need their centers, especially top center Erikkson Ek, to provide value in the faceoff circle.
Other notes
Cam Talbot had a great start to the season. He was forced to turn away some difficult shots and he came out of the road trip with a 1.51 Goals Against Average. That is quiet a contrast to much of the rest of the NHL where teams started the season with high scoring games. Even ruling Venzina trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury has a 7.06 Goals Against Average on after 2 games.
I am thankful that the Wild are finished with their west coast trip. Wild fans have seen enough of Anaheim and Los Angeles after they were two of the only teams we could play during the regular season last year. Also, now that the Wild are headed home for the home opener we will be able to watch them play at a more reasonable time. The 9pm CT and 9:30pm start times aren’t my favorite.