The Minnesota Wild hosted the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon, Mar. 2, to kick off a heavy home-filled month. The Wild will play 11 home games in the month of March, with four on the road. They had a day off in between games, while the Bruins were in the second half of a back-to-back. Their previous matchup on the road against the Bruins was a 3-0 loss, and they were looking to get out of a current three-game losing streak.
Both lineups were riddled with injuries. The Wild were still without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, and they added Jonas Brodin to that list as well. Luckily for them, they did get Zach Bogosian back, and their trade acquisition, Gustav Nyquist, also joined the lineup against the Bruins.
The game was very back-and-forth, with neither team taking control at first. In the second period, the Wild found the back of the net, and thus, control swung their way. They were able to hold on and took the 1-0 win. In this article, we’ll look at what happened in the game to swing it in the Wild’s direction, starting with their net presence.
Wild’s Front of the Net Efforts
The Wild have finally started putting someone in front of the net, something that has been an issue on and off all season. Normally, Eriksson Ek occupies that space when he’s in the lineup, and for a while, Marco Rossi followed suit, but then they gravitated away from it. However, in these last few games, they’ve started to try it again, and it’s worked. Against the Bruins, that’s how they scored their goal.
They tried things from the perimeter, but having someone in front of the net, screening the goaltender, and tipping shots is what worked. This is something they need to do not only at 5-on-5 but also on the power play, even more so on the power play, as they’ve shown some promise there recently, but it hasn’t been enough. They were skunked against the Bruins, and this game could’ve gone a different way if the Bruins found a way through.
“For us, we love these games, wish we could play all the games like this, and now I think the fans at least are happy with two points, saw one goal so..,” said Filip Gustavsson about getting a gritty win and he continued about the past games, “And that’s the problem with this league, you can’t play good, you have to be great and otherwise you’re not winning unless the guys are really having their A game out there and that’s just how tough this league is.”
Wild’s Gustavsson & Penalty Kill Strong
For Gustavsson, this game wasn’t big shot after big shot, but he did have to almost stand on his head a few times, especially on the penalty kill. He wasn’t consistently tested throughout the game, and in a way that can almost be harder on a goaltender because their focus can shift if they aren’t continuously tested. Regardless, Gustavsson kept his head in the game and was ready to make the save even when it looked like the puck went the other way; he wasn’t caught out of position.
“I thought Gus looked good tonight; as I said, I don’t think he’s been bad. It’s just you need a game-changing, a game-winning save here or there. Tonight he did it, he held serve when we needed saves he came up with some big ones. I thought he was competitive in the net, and that’s what we need from him,” said head coach John Hynes about Gustavsson’s performance.
Not only did Gustavsson do well, he recorded a shutout, but so did the penalty kill. They killed off both penalties they took, and it made the difference. While their penalty kill wasn’t perfectly executed, it did the job, and hopefully, they can build on that going forward.
“It’s something we spent a lot of time on, but it was good for the guys to be able to come in, and as you said, we had to kill those, and we did. So we keep building on it and maybe some different guys (Nyquist), some tweaks. So we’ll go from there, but it was good to stabilize it tonight,” said Hynes about their penalty kill.
Wild Add Nyquist
Again, this game was a bit sloppier than expected, and possession changed a lot, but Nyquist was still noticeable. He was involved in the play and was on the top line alongside Rossi and Matt Boldy to start the game. It was easy to see a few issues at the beginning due to Nyquist joining the lineup, but that went away as the game continued.
He used his speed well on the top line with at least one breakaway that didn’t result in a goal but he did draw a penalty. His ability on offense wasn’t the only noticeable part of his game either as he helped out on defense too. He had his head on a swivel and when he saw his defensive linemate go low, he went high to cover the open spot and didn’t leave a hole in the defense.
Related: Minnesota Wild’s Injuries Force Their Hand in Nyquist Trade
“Good, smart player, good hands, understands how to play… You know he’s been around; he’s been in this situation as well where he’s been able to play for different coaches and different teams and come in and be an effective player, so I’m excited. I think he brings a lot to our lineup, a high character guy. I think he’s really well liked, I talked to some people in Nashville, he was really well liked when he was here prior…to coming back but what he brings on the ice I think is really going to help our team,” said Hynes about bringing in Nyquist.
Wild Head on Road
It’s the month of March, which means the Wild will head on the road for another weekend due to their home, the Xcel Energy Center, hosting another state tournament, this time, it’s the boys’ state hockey tournament. The Wild will head out west to face the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, Mar. 4 Hopefully, they can use this game as a jumpstart to get back on the winning track.
