Another Successful Road Trip | Wild Wednesday
Another Successful Road Trip
The Wild just concluded another three-game road trip and secured five of the possible six points. They had their first back-to-back of the season where they beat San Jose and Anaheim both 5-2 on Thursday and Friday. Sunday’s game against Chicago proved the Wild needed these few days off with how tired the team looked, but they still managed to secure a point in the 2-1 overtime loss. The Wild’s record is now 10-2-3 with only five of those games being played at home, which is the fewest amount for any team in the league.
Special Teams Improving
Before this road trip, the Wild’s PK ranked second-to-last in the league at 62.5%, behind the Oilers. During this road trip, the Wild did not give up one power play goal, killing all 12 chances there were during the three games. The Wild’s PK now sits at 75% and is ranked 24th in the league alongside the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 75%. There was a chance that forward Michael Milne was going to have his NHL debut sometime during this trip since he traveled with the team, but ultimately never did because Yakov Trenin, the supposedly great penalty killer, had his best three games of the season during this trip according to coach John Hynes, which secured his spot on the roster for the time being.
While the penalty kill improved, Matt Boldy also snapped the 0-16 power play drought on Thursday by scoring in the third and final chance they would have on the power play in the
second period against San Jose. They went on to score in one of the two chances they had on Friday in Anaheim, but went back to being completely shut down on the power play during Sunday’s game in Chicago where they went 0/3. The Wild’s PP has slightly improved to 20.8% since these games and currently ranks 12th in the league.
Kirill Continues to Thrill
Kirill Kaprizov is right back to being on another point streak after tallying three assists in Thursday’s game, two goals and one assist in Friday’s game and one assist in Sunday’s game. Friday’s game marked the eighth straight multi-point road game for Kaprizov, tying Steven Stamkos and Roman Josi for the record amongst active players. The only other player to have a longer streak since the 1990-91 season was Wayne Gretzky who had nine, according to Michael Russo. Kaprizov currently sits in second place for most points this season at 28, behind Nathan Mackinnon’s 30.
Kaprizov is not the only superstar on the team either as Matt Boldy has seven goals, four assists in his last 11 games. According to Russo, four of those were game-winning goals and he is on pace for 49.2 goals and 87.4 points.
Mixing up the Lines
When the Wild seem to be struggling, Hynes is not afraid to reassemble the lines mid-game and it proved to be effective in Sunday’s game. Hynes was already scrambling the lines in the first period when nothing seemed to be clicking for the Wild. In the second period, there were four straight shifts of different line combos and he started the third period reuniting last year’s dominant top line of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek and Boldy. Rossi dropped to the third line as Hynes has not been too impressed with his play lately, but still nothing was working. Eventually Matt Boldy centered with Kaprizov and Zuccarello when that line was finally able to tie the game with 4:31 left in the game.
Moving the lines around arguably secured a point for the Wild in a game they looked completely exhausted in. The line juggling was only temporary as the lines are back to normal heading into the next game, but if the Wild are ever looking slow, expect the lines to be constantly changing.
Looking Forward
The Wild are now home for two games before they head back on the road for three more games. They play the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night, the Dallas Stars Saturday night and the Blues in St. Louis on Tuesday. Jonas Brodin is currently listed as day-to-day after leaving the game early on Sunday and Daemon Hunt has been recalled from Iowa to take his place if he is not ready to return by tomorrow night. The Wild are currently in second place in the Western Conference behind the shocking Winnipeg Jets who are 15-1-0.
Kelly Rivard
Kelly is a Minnesota native and a proud Gopher alumna who enjoys making people laugh and spending time with family. Her skills include going 5/6 on parlays, managing multiple incredibly great (fantasy) sports teams and throwing 30 mph fastballs. When she’s not at the X, Target Field or US Bank Stadium cheering on her favorite teams, you can find her pouring drinks for customers at her hometown pub.
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