The Minnesota Wild hosted the Chicago Blackhawks in their second of four meetings this season and the first in Minnesota on Tuesday night, Jan. 27. Their previous match-up was a 4-3 victory for the Wild in Chicago back in late November. The Wild looked to get back in the win column at home after a rough loss to the Florida Panthers in overtime on Hockey Day Minnesota, Saturday, Jan. 24. They remained without Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin, who recently had surgery.
Jesper Wallstedt was in the net for the Wild, and it was the second night of the Foligno Face-Off, which raises money for Breast Cancer Research in honor of Marcus and Nick Foligno’s mother, Janis, who they lost to breast cancer back in 2010. Nick Foligno got the early advantage as his team scored first with two goals in the opening period.
The Wild fought back to get within one in the third, and they tied it with barely a minute left, which forced overtime and a shootout, which the Wild went on to win. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the Foligno Face-Off, for which Marcus now has two wins.
Foligno Face-Off: Marcus vs Nick
Similar to the Hughes brothers, the Foligno brothers play each other a few times a season, and they get to be on the ice at the same time since they’re both forwards. Nick is a center, while Marcus is a left wing, so they can be up close and personal throughout the game. They were on the ice together a handful of times, and while they didn’t directly confront each other, they did their best to irritate each other’s team.
Nick Foligno’s team got on the board first with two goals in the first period, and the second goal came with Nick on the ice. It didn’t get any better in the second period as the Blackhawks added a goal to make it 3-0. However, Marcus’ team fought back with a goal in the second and two in the third to tie the game and force overtime and a shootout.
“I agree, I thought in the first period they were the better team. I thought they were quicker, faster, harder on pucks…I would say that the readiness to play, I thought they had a really good first. I thought we battled ourselves back a little bit better in the second, but in the third, I thought we really got to the game that we needed to get to. So sometimes you get in situations like that but what I really like is that, we did not have a good start to the game but it wasn’t that we just faded into the night, we held serve, Wally (Wallstedt) made some big saves for us, I really liked his composure and battle level throughout the game as it went on and I particulary like our team’s response…” said head coach John Hynes about the team’s effort to battle back.
Wild Energy Shift in Second & Third
The Wild had energy when they started the game, but it was clear the Blackhawks came ready to play. They got the two quick goals and set the Wild on their heels a bit until the second period, when the Wild found their speed. They started to throw more hits and overall had more energy, which did result in a goal by Yakov Trenin, but it wasn’t quite enough to get all the way back into it in that period.
Their energy shift carried over into the third, where they scored not once but twice to come back and force overtime. Even after several missed calls that could’ve frustrated them and made them take penalties, they stayed disciplined and scored instead. Their captain, Jared Spurgeon, who took a penalty earlier in the game, positioned himself just right to knock in a loose puck and tie the game in the final minutes.
“I mean, we’ve scored more than three goals in half a game before, but you gotta stick with it. I feel like we got a different swagger, I think, and confidence in the group lately than we’ve had before, and we believe in each other, and we stick with it…” said Marcus Johansson when asked why the 3-0 deficit didn’t affect them badly.
Wild Struggle in Front of Their Net
Some will want to blame Jesper Wallstedt for the Blackhawks’ goal scoring, but it wasn’t just on his shoulders. He did clearly struggle to stop some of those shots and was visibly frustrated after the third goal, but his defense needed to do a better job of clearing out in front of the net. If the Blackhawks never got the chance to shoot, Wallstedt wouldn’t have had to make the stop.
The first goal was chaos in front of the net, and although the Wild had defense in front of the net, they couldn’t do enough to clear it out. The second goal, while Wallstedt tried to glove the shot, the player was left all alone with a clean shot at the net, which shouldn’t happen. The third goal was a turnover by the Wild’s offense, and the Blackhawks forward took off and ripped a shot that again Wallstedt wanted back, but the defense also got beaten, so it was shared blame.
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“I guess, maybe not. I like to think that the harder you work, the more bounces you earn, but I felt good personally. Obviously there’s one that I should save but the team had my back there and then got us back and as soon as we have a 3-3 game we’re right back in it and now all you see is the finish line, you just want to win that game,” said Jesper Wallstedt on if he was due for a game like this after the last three he was in net for.
The Wild will have one more game at home before a quick one-game road trip, followed by one home game and one final road game before they hit the Olympic break. Their next home game will be against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night, Jan. 29.
