3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 3-2 Overtime Win Over the Blackhawks

The Minnesota Wild opened their preseason schedule on Saturday evening, Sept. 19, when they hosted the Chicago Blackhawks. It was both teams’ first game of the preseason, and the majority of both lineups were young players looking to earn spots on their respective teams. The few players who played and are expected to be on the opening night roster for the Wild were Nick Foligno, Nico Sturm, Olli Määttä, and Calvin Pickard. 

Pickard was in the net for the Wild as Filip Gustavsson was still recovering from offseason surgery and William Rousseau was Pickard’s backup. The game started out in favor of the Wild, but the Blackhawks answered back, and they went into the second period tied 1-1. 

The Blackhawks took advantage in the second and grabbed their first lead of the game 2-1, it remained that way going into the third. The Wild found a way to tie it later in the third and forced overtime, where they found a way to come out on top with a deflection. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways from the game, starting with their scorers. 

Before the Wild, Rieger Lorenz showcased his talents with the University of Denver Pioneers for four years, where he won two NCAA championships. He was drafted by the Wild back in 2022 in the second round, and he’s now getting a chance to show what he can do at the professional level. He’s a strong skater with a great shot, and he used that against the Blackhawks. 

He put the Wild on the board first with a breakaway goal that he snuck past the goaltender, and he later went on to help them tie the game up as well. Veteran Nico Sturm scored the goal, but Lorenz helped set up Maatta, who got the puck to Sturm, who waited at the open post to knock it in. 

“Yeah, I just think all the NHL guys, there’s something to their game that obviously put them there…the top line guys its their skills, the pace they play with that’s pretty cool to see Kaprizov and Boldy, and then Faber and those guys play and then obviously like the bottom depth guys, they’re super reliable so I just think that’s kind of going to be my role as I go up the ranks so kind of learning as much as I can from those guys which you know Foligno (Nick) and Sturmy have been great for that,” said Lorenz to the media after the game when he was asked what has stood out to him in camp so far. 

Heidt & Stramel Showcasing Skills

Besides Lorenz, another player that drew some attention was Riley Heidt. He’s been with the Wild organization for a few seasons now, and he’s been improving his game with each season. He’s known for his speed and puck-handling skills as well, which he tried to put on display against the Blackhawks but couldn’t get one past the goaltender despite some good attempts. 

Of course, a lot of eyes were on the Wild’s prized prospect Charlie Stramel. He had a decent night with some shots on goal, a couple of hits, and some faceoff wins. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get anything past the goaltender either, but that wasn’t for lack of trying. 

“Yeah, absolutely, you know what, I look at these games and, particularly for a guy like him (Stramel), who comes in and plays his first game, young guy, I think he did some good things. I think there’s things that you know like every player out there, I think there’s getting used to certain things. So to me, I thought he was physical, I thought he moved pretty well, he competed hard, he made some plays, he had good opportunities, I think, to see him a little bit on the power play, five-on-five, I thought he did a nice job killing penalties, so I think there was lots of positives to his game,” said head coach John Hynes to the media after the game about his thoughts on Stramel.  

Wild Utilizing Preseason

The first game of the preseason may not have been very flashy for the Wild, but that’s not what it’s meant to be. This game was filled with mostly players looking to earn a spot, while the few players who basically have a spot already were getting in some ice time while also providing some veteran presence.

They had an up-and-down game, but they found a way to push through in the end and get the win. Preseason games are interesting as it’s a time to evaluate players, but it can be difficult because time is limited and it can be tough to get the full picture of a player when they only play a game or two; however, these players have been scouted, and the staff knows what to expect for the most part. 

“Yeah, I think it helped evaluate guys, you know, get some present footage on some of those situations, you know, with the penalty kill. I would say in particular the penalty kill, but I thought overall… guys competed hard; we played with some good pace. I thought the first and third were pretty good. I thought they had a little bit of momentum in the second, but overall I really like the competitiveness of the group. I thought we played fast and the concepts that we really installed in the first couple of days and then this morning for the most part it was good execution,” said Hynes to the media after the game about being able to evaluate players. 

With only four games total for the preseason, coaches have to make roster decisions fairly quickly so they can get their NHL guys game-ready as well. Although the majority of them don’t need a lot of ice time to be ready, it’s always good to get them into a game situation and make sure they adjust well. Hopefully the Wild can hit the ground running and start with some wins.