Highlights:
- Wild edge Canucks 3-2 in the first win of the season that does not feel like a photo finish
- Kraken dominate Wild 4-1 during Wild’s first ever game at Climate Pledge Arena
- Avalanche beat ailing Wild team 4-1 in Colorado
- COVID protocols force the Wild to bench Zuccarello & Pitlick. Greenway and Goligoski placed on injury reserve before Colorado game
- Last week’s games were the season debuts for Minnesota Wild forwards Rem Pitlick, Connor Dewar, Adam Beckman, Kyle Rau and defensemen Jon Lizotte and Calen Addison.
Oct 26: Wild edge Canucks 3-2
Tuesday’s game against the Canucks may be the Wild’s best game of the season. The game ended with a one goal difference, but the Wild were the better team throughout, and the Canucks only closed the gap late in the third. The Wild could have scored more with the chances they created. Coming into the game the Wild led the NHL in penalties per game. They only allowed three penalties against the Canucks which, sadly, was a major improvement from other games.
The fourth line, including Rem Pitlick in his first regular season game with the Wild, had another stellar performance. Pitlick went to the box for hooking in the second period, but he almost scored on a breakaway when exiting the penalty box. He provided the key assist to Matt Dumba for the Wild’s third goal at the beginning of the third. Brandon Duhaime also had an assist on the play. The fourth line might have had the Wild’s best chance of the game that did not result in a goal with three minutes left in the third. Dean Evanson once again displayed his trust in his bottom six forwards by playing Duhaime, Freddy Gaudreau and Nico Sturm to protect against the extra man when the Canucks pulled their goalie. Duhaime even led the team with five hits, two more than the Wild’s reliable muscle, Jordan Greenway.
Zuccarello, Dumba and Jonas Brodin all scored in the win over the Canucks. The Wild gave up a goal during a power play for a Nick Bjugstad penalty in the second period. The Wild had a decent kill, but Alex Chaisson was still able to score. Canucks’ captain Bo Horvat scored late in the third to put the game within one.
Jonas Brodin was the hero of the game. His stalwart defense was critical to the win, and he scored a goal off a rebound from his own shot. Brodin and Kaprizov led the team with four shots each. Kaprizov’s scoring diffculties continued against the Canucks, but he always finds a way to contribute. He was responsible for a few good opportunities and he drew an interference call against the Canucks.
Oct 28: Kraken dominate Wild 4-1
Mats Zuccarello and Rem Pitlick were placed on COVID protocol before the Wild’s game against the Seattle Kraken. Connor Dewar and Jon Lizotte played their first regular season games with the Wild to help compensate. The Kraken sparred with Wild in what felt like a close game until an untimely Kraken goal by Brandon Tanev in the third period. The Wild scored first for the second consecutive game when Kaprizov got on the ice with the Wilds’ big line. Foligno passed the puck behind the net to Kaprizov who made a great pass to Ryan Hartman in the slot. Hartman caught the Kraken defenders sleeping and put the Wild up 1-0. Foligno seemingly scored a second goal only seconds later, but it was called back for kicking the puck into the net. After that, the game fell apart for the Wild.
Haydn Fleury scored Seattle’s first goal later in the first period and all the momentum went Seattle’s way. Foligno was called for a high stick in the waning seconds of the first period and the Wild were forced to start the second period with a four minute penalty kill. They did manage to prevent any goals in those four minutes, but after the power play Minnesota could not regain any control of the game. With roughly 12:30 left in the second Fleury scored again on a wrap around. Talbot was the only one keeping the Wild in the game with a number of fantastic stops.
In their first game of the season Connor Dewar and Jon Lizotte both committed stick penalties that sapped what little momentum the Wild had. Minnesota’s penalty kill had a perfect game, but the Wild were playing from behind and time spent killing penalties is taking away from time the Wild could spend on offense. Minnesota’s power play unit made some good plays when they were given the chance in the third. Joel Eriksson Ek narrowly missed on a would-be equalizer goal twice during the power play.
Any hope the Wild had was snuffed out by Seattle’s Brandon Tanev. Tanev, a great hockey player who frequently makes expressions reminiscent of a victim in a horror film, scored an empty net goal on the Wild in the game’s closing minutes. Kraken captain Mark Giordano also scored an empty net goal on the Wild which put Seattle ahead 4-1.
Oct. 30: Avalanche beat ailing Wild team 4-1
It was the day before Halloween but no one told the Wild. What Minnesota fans experienced on a Saturday night was a veritable hockey house of horrors. Penalties, bad offense, streaky defense, whatever scares Wild fans the most – their team had plenty in store. The Wild were beaten up entering their game against Colorado. Zuccarello and Pitlick were still out because of COVID, and Alex Goligoski and Jordan Greenway were out with injuries. Adam Beckman, Kyle Rau and Calen Addison were called up from the Iowa Wild to fill out the lineup. Thankfully Dmitry Kulikov returned to round out the defensive corp, but the Wild needed much more than a third line defenseman.
Colorado’s Landerskog scored his first of two goals to give Colorado the lead with 6:57 remaining in the first period. From there on it was Colorado’s game. It is rough to watch the Wild get dominated, but Colorado can play some smooth, beautiful offensive hockey. Landerskog’s first goal came off a three-way attack where the puck moved effortlessly between forwards.
However, Colorado is not the same offensive powerhouse they were last year. Their power play unit is pretty weak, and they only managed to score one goal on a Wild team that committed a lot of penalties. Kulikov was called for holding in the first period. Duhaime accrued seventeen (Yes, SEVENTEEN) penalty minutes in one play by cross-checking Cale Makar into the boards then fighting Nathan McKinnon. The additional minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and instigating were bad calls, but the major call on the hit gave the Avalanche a five minute power play. Nazem Kadri scored a power play goal on the Wild twenty-nine seconds in but Colorado was unable to score afterwards. With a tripping call on Hartman the Wild found themselves in a five on three situation but managed to avoid giving up another goal.
The Wild’s only goal came from Ryan Hartman on a near identical play to the one he made against Seattle. On a power play he scored from the slot off a behind the net pass from Foligno. Cam Talbot had a good game with twenty-seven stops on thirty shots, but he was outplayed by ex-Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper who only allowed one goal on the same number of shots. Jared Spurgeon played great defense throughout, especially in the five on three penalty kill. Kaprizov tried to make some magic late in the game, but once again his opportunities and shots did not translate into a goal. For all the great small plays by Kaprizov and Fiala, the Wild need their stars to shine. The overreliance on the fourth line came back to bite the Wild as multiple top nine forwards were sick or injured and the replacements from the AHL could not replicate Duhaime and Gaudreau’s earlier success.
Silver Lining
The faceoff numbers for the Wild improved over last week. The Wilds’ centers struggled against the Canucks with Eriksson Ek winning seven of nineteen faceoffs and Sturm leading the team in faceoff win percentage by winning five of nine faceoffs. However, the Wild’s centers did find a way to beat the Kraken in the faceoff circle with Eriksson Ek (8 of 16), Gaudreau (10 of 13), and Sturm (5 of 8) each winning at least half of their faceoffs. Eriksson Ek (13 of 22) and Sturm (4 of 5) also performed well against the Avalanche, but Bjugstad, Dewar and Gaudreau all struggled. Wild fans should remain cautious because they have been streaky. Eriksson Ek has played well enough in some big games, but he has also put up some abysmal performances such as his 5 of 23 faceoffs game against the Predators last week. Nevertheless, the Wild are performing better on faceoffs so far this year; they have won 50.3% of their faceoffs compared with 46.5% last year.