The Minnesota Wild hosted the Los Angeles Kings on Monday evening, Oct. 13, before heading on a five-game road trip. The injuries remained the same, with Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm still out. They also made some lineup switches, which involved taking out Hunter Haight and bringing in Danila Yurov to make his NHL debut. They also switched up Marcus Foligno and Marcus Johansson, with Foligno dropping to the third line and Johansson bumping up to the second line.
Jesper Wallstedt made his season debut in net, and the Wild stood tall in front of him. They jumped out to an early three-goal lead in the first period thanks to their power play, and they held it into the third. That’s when things got tricky, and the Wild let the Kings back in, but in head coach John Hynes’ 750th game coached, they came out with the shootout win. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few takeaways from the game, starting with the power play.
Wild’s Power Play Steals Show
For the second straight game, the Wild’s power play stole the show when it came to scoring. They had some decent chances at 5-on-5, but once they got the man advantage, the Wild came alive. They scored three straight power-play goals in the first to jump to a 3-0 lead that the Kings struggled to come back from at first.
The second unit got things started with a goal from their captain, Jared Spurgeon. Then it was all about the top unit as both Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy got on the board 20 seconds apart. Vladimir Tarasenko assisted on both with Zeev Buium and Joel Eriksson Ek getting the secondary assists. The power play accounted for every goal the Wild had in regulation and continued to be strong.
“Yeah, exactly, I think, and that’s what we need, the power play, like I said, when you have that much talent on the ice, I think to me, it’s they’re so competitive on the puck, and then they do have a shot mentality. They’re not overpassing or trying to play a little bit too cute, so that’s why the power play has had success, and I think just 5-on-5 we gotta get a little bit more of that,” said Hynes about the efforts on the power play and even strength.
Wild’s Wallstedt Steps Up
With the Wild on the first half of a back-to-back, Wallstedt got his turn in the net, and he didn’t disappoint. Although he did let some in in the final period, he kept his head up and didn’t let it affect him. Giving up a three-goal lead can be mentally tough on anyone, especially the goaltender, but he did his best to hold strong. It also didn’t hurt that he had some good defensive blocks in front of him as well.
Throughout the game, he stayed focused and didn’t try to do too much, as many goaltenders get caught doing, especially when they’re young. He made the stops when necessary and kept the puck in play as well. He played smart and stable, and was ready even for the odd bounces that catch any goaltender off guard. Then, despite all that happened, he came up huge in the overtime and shootout, something he hadn’t had to face just yet in his career, and he got the win.
“Yeah, all the games and all the experience you can get is, of course, good for you. I know my dad used to tell me that 3-0 is the hardest lead in hockey when I was young, and seemed like there was something to it, but…as long as we get the two points and win, I’m going to be happy…,” said Wallstedt about how he faced a lot of different experiences in one game.
Wild Stay Hang On
The Wild continued to do their best to stay composed and not let the other team get into their heads. The Kings tried to rattle the Wild and get them to retaliate, and there were a few close calls, but the Wild stayed relatively calm. They took just one penalty through the first two periods, but the one they took in the third cost them as the Kings scored to get within one.
The Wild locked it down following that penalty and focused on playing keep away with the puck to dwindle the time down. Unfortunately, the Kings knocked one more in with under a minute to go to force both overtime and then the shootout. Through all of that, the Wild kept their heads up and maintained their competitiveness instead of getting frustrated, and it helped them secure the win.
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“I don’t know…but maybe a little bit more focus and play a little better at 5-on-5’s,” said Kaprizov about what changed throughout the game and he continued about the 5-on-5, “It’s just three games, well first game we scored 5-on-5 but last two games we don’t score yet but we have time and we just need to figure out how we need to score and play better at 5-on-5.”
Wild Head on Road
It’ll be a bit before Wild fans get to see their team in action in person again, as their next five games will be on the road. However, they won’t have to wait as long for the next game broadcast, as they’ll be right back at it on Tuesday, Oct. 14, against the Dallas Stars in the second half of this back-to-back. Hopefully, this win will give them momentum to know that even when they allow goals, they can fight back and still get the win.
