The Minnesota Wild hosted the Seattle Kraken for the second time this season and their third meetup overall on Wednesday night, Mar. 19. It was a late start for the local Minnesota fans, as the game didn’t start until 8:52 p.m. CT, but that didn’t seem to affect the Wild, who started the game with a jump.
They were still without Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jonas Brodin, but they also added Marcus Foligno, who missed his second game due to an upper-body injury. Marcus Johansson was scratched at gametime due to illness. Late in the first period, they added Marco Rossi to the list of injured, as he left the game due to a lower-body injury after getting hit by a Matt Boldy shot.
Filip Gustavsson was in the net, and once again, he looked strong as he helped lead the team. The Wild started out with three first-period goals, and they held that lead to secure the 4-0 win. In this article, we’ll look at how they did it, starting with them digging deep and finding that scoring again.
Wild Find Their Scoring
Over the past month or so, the Wild became known as the team that couldn’t score a goal despite having a lot of shots on net. “Puck luck” wasn’t going their way, “gripping the stick too tight,” etc., were all reasons behind the lack of scoring, as well as the fact that they were missing two key offensive players, Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek. However, over the past two games, they’ve started to show they may be getting out of that funk.
They put up two goals on the power play in their win over the Los Angeles Kings, and they started with an early three-goal lead at 5-on-5 against the Kraken. It wasn’t their top line who began the scoring, but the third line with Ryan Hartman. The second goal was the top line, with Boldy ending an 11-game scoreless streak. Then, finally, the second line got on the board as Liam Öhgren scored to put the Wild in a strong three-goal lead.
“It’s always fun to score. I was happy to see one go in for sure, some relief, but it is what it is. I think the more you build it up, the more stress you create about yourself; you try to stay away from it and keep it off your mind I think I’ve done a decent job with that and just tried to play good hockey and help the team win but obviously it’s fun to score goals,” said Boldy about how good it felt to get a goal on the board.
Wild Proactive Instead of Reactive
Following their rough loss to the St. Louis Blues just a few games ago on Saturday, Mar. 15, the Wild’s Jake Middleton made it clear their team was more “reactive than proactive” and needed to work on being the first to the puck rather than waiting and reacting to what happens. They definitely did that these last two games, more so against the Kraken as they kept pushing and forced three goals in.
All night, they were beating the Kraken to the puck, and it wasn’t just offensively, either. They worked hard defensively to keep the puck away from Gustavsson, but even he was proactive. He worked hard to poke-check the puck away when he could, and he made the big stops when things got a little dicey with the defense. It was truly a full-team proactive effort that led to this big win for the Wild, who’s been in a tough spot.
“You know what it was, the messaging more was, we’re a team, we have to stay focused, and we have to stay disciplined and intense in the way we play. We’re not a group that can get loose and start getting into a track meet type of game, that’s not what our identity is and regardless of what the score is, let’s make sure we play the game the right way,” said head coach John Hynes about not letting the Kraken back into the game.
Wild’s Öhgren Shines
Due to Johansson’s illness and Foligno’s injury, the Wild brought up Öhgren, and he ran with the opportunity. From the start of the game, he had a high level of energy, and he was rewarded as he registered the game’s third goal for the Wild. He continued to play with that energy as he beat opponents to the puck and stepped up when Rossi went down.
Due to his speed, he had multiple scoring opportunities. He fit right in on the second line alongside Frédérick Gaudreau and Gustav Nyquist, who matched his speed. He made his presence known all night, both offensively and defensively, and hopefully, he can continue to step up if the Wild continue to need him in the lineup.
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“Yeah for sure, like I’ve said in previous interviews I think it’s been great for me to go down there (Iowa) and play a lot, a lot of offense and put up some points. So yeah, for sure, it helps my confidence,” said Öhgren about being sent to the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League in between stints with the Minnesota Wild. He continued about scoring his first goal at home, “It was great. I love to score, and it’s a special feeling to score at home.”
Wild Have One More at Home
The Wild will finish up this seven-game homestand on Saturday afternoon as they host the Buffalo Sabres on Mar. 21. They’ve put together two straight wins with three goals and hopefully they’ll add their third against the Sabres and keep heading in the right direction.
