Wild Continue to Impress | Wild Wednesday
Wild Continue to Impress
The Wild started the two-game home stand strong by shutting out the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on Thursday, but once again fell short to the Dallas Stars on Sunday in a 2-1 final. The Stars now have an 8-0-3 record against the Wild in their last 11 regular season matchups. They rebounded with a strong win in the first matchup of a three-game road trip in St. Louis where they beat the Blues 4-2. Even though there have been some setbacks along the way, the Wild are proving to be the real deal this season with a current record of 12-3-3.
Wild Persevere in Montreal
Goaltender Filip Gustavsson recorded his first shutout of the season where he stopped 19 shots on Thursday against Montreal. Although that was exciting to watch, the team unfortunately loss Mats Zuccarello to a busted nut, and not the good kind. A little more than halfway through the first period, Brock Faber fired the puck from the point and it hit Zuccarello directly in the groin causing him to leave the game immediately.
He eventually went to the hospital where he had surgery for a ruptured testicle. Zuccarello will be sidelined for three to four weeks and was placed on the injured reserve.
Shortly after this incident, Joel Eriksson Ek seemed to reaggravate a lower-body injury that he was playing with and also had to leave the game. Luckily in this case, Ek only missed the one game against Dallas, but was back in the lineup on Tuesday and seems to be completely fine.
Zach Bogosian was also battling a sickness throughout the game that had him puking in the tunnels between shifts and Jared Spurgeon suffered a high stick in the third period that had him gushing blood all over the ice. So, while the Wild still managed to shut out the Canadiens, it certainly was not an ideal game for the team, especially when they were without two of their top players for more than half of the game.
Key Takeaways Heading into Next Week
After the 4-2 victory over St. Louis on Tuesday night, Kirill Kaprizov now has nine multi-point road games in the last 10 after scoring two goals in Tuesday night’s game. According to Russo, the Wild are now tied with Washington for second most points (27) in the NHL and have the most road points (18) out of any team. The Wild have yet to lose consecutive games in regulation and they lead the league with the fewest number of five-on-five goals allowed (24) through 18 games, according to Russo.
The Wild had their 17 for 17 PK streak snapped halfway through the third period of Tuesday night’s game when Jake Neighbours found the back of the net. The Wild’s power play is still struggling after only converting in one of the seven chances they had in the last three games. Declan Chisholm replaced Faber on the first PP unit in Tuesday night’s game, but the Wild still went 0/2 with the one-man advantage, so I don’t expect this to be a long-term move.
Gustavsson continues to be rock solid and has the lowest GAA (2.07) of any other goalie in the league currently. Through 14 starts, Gus has a .926 save percentage and nine wins. Brodin returned to the lineup Tuesday night after missing two games with a lower-body injury and secured the game winning goal in his first game back. So, besides Zuccarello, the Wild are fully healthy.
Now, the Wild are in Canada for a few days where they will face Edmonton on Thursday and Calgary on Saturday. According to coach Hynes, Fleury will start in one of these games. The Wild return home Monday where they will face the Winnipeg Jets for the second time this season.
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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