The Minnesota Wild’s road trip started off on a high note with a huge overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, Dec. 27, and they looked to extend that on Monday, Dec. 29, when they faced the Vegas Golden Knights. The Wild’s roster remained healthy with the exception of Daemon Hunt, but the Golden Knights had quite a few injuries.
Filip Gustavsson was back in the net, and the Wild started things off quickly, less than 30 seconds into the game. They built on that lead throughout the first and second periods before the Golden Knights were able to take Gustavsson’s shutout away late in the second. The Wild protected their lead the best they could and came out with the 5-2 win. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with Marcus Johansson’s efforts.
Wild’s Johansson Shines Bright
Whenever the Wild score five goals or more, it’s typically a good night, and for Marcus Johansson, it was exactly that as he had a hand on four of those goals, including scoring one of them. He opened the scoring for the Wild just 26 seconds into the opening period and gave the Wild a big shot of energy that led to four more goals.
With those four points, he’s just two points from beating his 34 points from last season, the highest he’s had in his Wild career, and he still has half the season to go. He’s found a way to up his production, and his play has been outstanding this season, something the Wild needed from him, especially when they went through all their injury issues.
It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep this going, but playing on a line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy has really suited him. Their line was one that didn’t get shuffled because it was succeeding, and the Wild will rely on it to continue.
Wild’s Defense Steps Up
While Johansson was shining with all of his points, the Wild’s defense found ways to contribute offensively as well. It wasn’t Quinn Hughes either, as everyone probably expected, but Jared Spurgeon, Brock Faber, and Jonas Brodin all produced points, whether it was goals or assists. Faber and Spurgeon had a goal each, while Brodin had two assists.
The Wild had to step up defensively in the third period as the Golden Knights found some momentum to try and mount a comeback. However, the Wild were ready, as was Filip Gustavsson, and together they kept the Golden Knights to two goals total and got the win. It is rough when a team that’s up by five goals allows two in a row, but they held on and stopped the comeback.
As long as the Wild can continue to get production from both their offense and defense, they’ll be able to continue to win games. Again, their defense isn’t going to produce like this all the time, but this could help jumpstart some players who were a little slower in the offensive production.
Wild Look Like Team They Should
With the amount of talent the Wild have, it was hard to believe they had the record they did in October. November through December was what everyone expected to see, and against the Golden Knights, it became even clearer that the Wild can win consistently. They’ve struggled against the Golden Knights a lot in the past, but this time it was all Wild.
The Golden Knights were missing quite a few key pieces of their lineup, but they still had players like Mitch Marner, Ivan Barbashev, Pavel Dorofeyev, Mark Stone, and others, so it wasn’t an easy match-up. The Wild jumping to that big of a lead that early ensured they were able to protect it and get through the Golden Knights’ scoring efforts.
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Adding Hughes seemed to be exactly what the Wild needed to have some extra momentum. He may not have any points against the Golden Knights, but his play was still impactful, and he did a lot of work behind the scenes that didn’t always get noticed.
After having a rough couple of games prior to the NHL’s holiday break, the Wild have now won two straight games and have five games left on this road trip. The Wild will have their hands full with the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Kings over the next week and a half. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep their win streak alive when they face the Sharks on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday, Dec. 31, to end 2025.
