The Minnesota Wild returned home on Sunday evening, Nov. 9, to face the Calgary Flames after a quick back-to-back on the road that ended in a split. The Wild looked to keep building off the added boost to their roster from the return of Mats Zuccarello during their quick road trip. Jesper Wallstedt got the start in net, his first consecutive starts this season.
The Wild did announce prior to puck drop that Jake Middleton was a late scratch due to illness, which meant David Jiříček was in. The game started scoreless despite some strong opportunities for both sides, but late in the second period, the Wild got on the board first. They held the lead into the third and kept it all the way to the end as they won 2-0. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the second line.
Wild’s Second Line Heroes
The Wild’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi, and Mats Zuccarello had some strong chances most of the night, but it was the second line who were the heroes on the scoreboard. They also had a number of chances, but they finally broke through late in the second period, and it was contributions from the entire line that got the goal.
Joel Eriksson Ek got the puck into the zone, dropped it to Marcus Johansson, who then sent it across to the open Matt Boldy, who shot it past the goaltender. While all three contributed to the play, it was Johansson who had most of the spotlight because it was his 1,000th game played as well.
“I mean, it’s fun obviously, but what makes it better is winning. That’s always number one, and you can enjoy it a little bit more, and then everyone’s happy and smiling, so that’s the main thing. That’s what it’s all about,” said Johansson when asked about how gratifying it is to be playing the way he has and reaching this milestone.
Wild’s Wallstedt Earns Shutout
While the Wild struggled to get the scoring going until the later part of the second period, their goaltender, Jesper Wallstedt, kept them in the game with quite a few strong saves. Sometimes a team needs to help out their goaltender, and sometimes the goaltender needs to help out the team, and Wallstedt stepped up big for his team.
He was smart with his saves, but he didn’t shy back into his net either. He was aggressive when necessary and stayed put when he needed to. He didn’t put his team in any bad positions and was ready even when the puck was turned over right around his net. He kept things going on the penalty kill and made the big saves when his team’s lead was on the line and went on to earn his first shutout of the season.
“Yeah, he was great, just looked so confident, ready for every play, and… his game’s been really good, so just gotta keep it going,” said Boldy about Wallstedt’s play against the Flames.
Wild Passing Too Much
The Wild got the win, but started falling into old habits when they faced the Flames, and the one that hurt them was passing too much. They were able to get offensive zone chances, but instead of taking the clean shot when they had the chance, they passed it. While sometimes that works better than taking the shot, in these cases, they actually lost the chance because the player was caught in a bad spot to get the shot.
The Wild have to be more selfish and take the shot when they have it, and then be ready for the rebound. The more times they shoot, the better chances they have of getting a rebound, even if the initial shot doesn’t get through. They have to simplify their game and get the shot to the net. Once they start doing that, then they can try being more advanced, but they have to get the simple down first.
Related: Keys to the Minnesota Wild Continuing to Win Games
“Yeah, I thought we bent, but we didn’t break tonight. I think they had a lot of push and we had to fight back a bit and we weren’t shooting pucks enough but again Wally (Wallstedt) was there and he’s doing his job when he has games and I think the PK stepped up tonight, that was big and from there, I think everyone just kinda did their job and grinded it out and got two points,” said Daemon Hunt about the overall play of the team, especially on defense.
The Wild still have things to work on and faced a struggling Flames team, but they came out with the two points in regulation, something they really needed to keep themselves heading in the right direction. Overall, things have started to improve, but they have to keep going in that direction if they want to keep the wins coming.
