3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 4-1 Win Over the Sharks

The Minnesota Wild were back at home for a quick back-to-back with the first game on Friday, Nov. 6, when they hosted the San Jose Sharks. While there were no changes to their lineup from their win over the Philadelphia Flyers earlier in the week, they did get some good news on the injury front. The Foligno brothers may return in the second half of this back-to-back on Saturday, Nov. 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

That was great news for the Wild, who have clearly missed the Foligno presence in the lineup, but Brock Faber’s news was even bigger. He returned to practice on Thursday, Nov. 5, for the first time since he was injured back in September, and while he’s cleared to play, they’re giving him time to get his skating and conditioning back to where it needs to be. However, he is joining the team on their upcoming road trip to eastern Canada this coming week. It’s unclear if he’ll play, but that’s still awesome news for Faber. Jared Spurgeon was not going to play in their back-to-back but will also be joining them on this next trip. 

Jesper Wallstedt was back in the net, and the Wild got off to an early start with a power-play goal that gave them the 1-0 lead they took into the second period. The Sharks tied the game up 1-1 in the second, but the Wild responded a short time later and re-took the lead. They added two more goals in the third to take the win 4-1, and they became the first NHL franchise to win 1,000 games prior to playing their 2,000th game, according to the NHL stats page. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few takeaways on how they did it, starting with the special teams. 

Wild’s Special Teams Lead the Way

The Wild’s special teams opened the season on quite a hot streak before they hit a bit of a road bump when they went to western Canada a couple of weeks ago. They struggled for a couple of games before getting it somewhat back on track, and that meant one was successful while the other wasn’t. They haven’t had as many games recently where both the power play and the penalty kill had strong performances until their game against the Sharks. 

The power play got things started, and of course it was their star Kirill Kaprizov, who has been a scoring machine this season, who scored the first goal. They weren’t done, however, as Maxim Shabanov scored on the power play in the second period, and that took the lead back for the Wild, 2-1. Those were the only power-play goals scored for both teams, as the Wild’s penalty kill held strong as well and killed off all three penalties they took.

“Yeah, can’t say it enough; just feel like we can tilt the ice when they’re out there, and yeah, I mean, there’s been games where I feel like we’ve completely dominated. Today I feel like we have two or three shifts where we dominate, but yeah, so I mean it’s been good, I think it’s helping us win games, and I think the coaches have done an unreal job getting us out there and see like Edmonton does it with Bouchard and McDavid and those guys, Colorado’s done it for a bunch of years so I think we’re doing it and it’s helped us be successful,” said Quinn Hughes to the media after the game when asked about the top line with Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. 

Wild’s Hughes & Wallstedt Shine

Hughes continued to do what he’s been doing all season, and that was assist on goals and then score one himself. He has a respectable number of goals for a defenseman at this point in the season, but what’s more impressive is his ability to set them up. He’s more than tripled his goal count with the number of assists he’s amassed, with 19 on the season and six goals. 

While Hughes was working his magic at one end of the ice, his goaltender Jesper Wallstedt was doing the same at the other end. He didn’t get tested a lot, but when the Sharks did have some nice chances, Wallstedt was ready, and the only goal that did make it past him was a deflection that he had no chance of stopping. He had his typical game, and it was enough to get them the win. 

“Well he’s like a fourth forward out there, he’s so agile and he’s moving well with his skates and he’s always a threat offensively and as much he takes a lot of care of it the defensive zone as well, but those four out there and they just create a lot and they keep the puck a lot in the zone, they generate offense, they work it down and I would guess that it’s hard as the other team to play them because you just get exhausted in your own zone,” said Wallstedt to the media after the game when asked about how strong Hughes is with the top line. 

Wild’s Third Period Wake Up

It wasn’t the most flashy game despite having players like Macklin Celebrini, Kaprizov, and Hughes on the ice, but it was one that didn’t have a lot of whistles. The puck went back and forth down the ice quite a bit between the two teams, but there weren’t a lot of cute plays- rather simple, to-the-point passing plays and some strong goaltending when the chances did make it through. 

That was until the third period, when the Wild started to tilt the ice their way more, and it looked like both teams woke up. There was a bit more energy in the third from both sides, but the Wild were able to add two goals and really pull away from the Sharks. There were a couple of chances that almost made it through, but the defense and Wallstedt were ready. The Wild have been a decent team in the third period when it comes to goals, but against the Sharks it was their best period. 

“Yeah, I thought, San Jose came out hard, but I talked with our guys about playing to our standard regardless of who we play, and I really liked the mindset that we played with tonight. I thought we played with the right intentions. I thought the first couple periods it was a good game, 50-50 game by both teams, but I really liked we came out in the third period, and it was very direct north. I thought we checked hard and we were able to increase the lead, so from a mindset perspective, and I think obviously the win is the number one thing, but I just feel like the approach to the game I really like that from our group,” said head coach John Hynes to the media in his postgame interview when asked about how the team took over in the third. 

The Wild won’t have much time at all to digest this win before they’re right back at it for the second half of this back-to-back. They’ll host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, Nov. 7, and it’ll be Calvin Pickard’s turn in net. Hopefully the Wild can continue to get the early jump in scoring and get another win before they head back on the road.