The Minnesota Wild played host to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday evening, Nov. 4, which ended their homestand. The Wild finally got in the win column on Saturday, Nov. 1, against the Vancouver Canucks and looked to make it two wins in a row, something they hadn’t done yet this season. The injury list remained the same, but Mats Zuccarello continued to get closer to returning to the roster.
It was another 25th anniversary celebration night for the Wild, and they had special guests, former goaltenders Niklas Bäckström, Devan Dubnyk, and Josh Harding, on hand for the puck drop. The game started out in favor of the Wild, and although the Predators forced overtime, the Wild took the 3-2 win. In this article, we’ll look at some takeaways, starting with the power play.
Wild’s Power Play Continues Success
Two of the keys to the Wild continuing to win games was scoring first and continuing to have production from the power play. They did both against the Predators, with their first goal of the game being on the power play. Kirill Kaprizov scored the goal, and Joel Eriksson Ek made it possible with his screen of the goaltender.
That wasn’t the only goal for the Wild’s power play either. In the second period after the Predators tied the game up 1-1, the Wild’s second unit got on the scoreboard to retake the lead. Zeev Buium tipped a Brock Faber shot past the goaltender at the end of a very rough power play.
“I think we always talk about good power plays. Everyone can play everywhere, can’t be uncomfortable playing spots you maybe never played before. I mean, when you’re moving, and you’re just playing off instinct and just feeling for each other, things like that can happen, and Brock (Faber) made a great play. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a net front guy,” said Buium after he was asked how he found himself in the slot for his goal.
Wild’s Gustavsson Steps Up
Outside of the Wild’s power play doing what it needed to, the main reason the Wild stayed in this game was because of their goaltender, Filip Gustavsson. Numerous times throughout the game, he had to be ready as the puck slipped past his defense, and he made the big save. Even through the second power play, they eventually scored on, he had to be ready.
In the second period, especially if it hadn’t been for Gustavsson, the Wild could’ve been trailing 5-1 instead of up 2-1. He repeatedly made save after save when his team seemed extremely lost and struggled to get the puck out of the zone. There was even one save where the puck knocked the stick completely out of his hand. When his team needed him the most, he was there.
“…It was a bad sequence of hockey but if you look on the positive side of it, we got key saves when we needed them when we were under duress which is going to happen at times and I like that fact that the guys dug in and didn’t just..didn’t give in and take a hook or a slash or a penalty to be able to kill the momentum and then it gains with them. So there’s things why we got caught in that situation but when you’re in that situation I felt that the guys dug in in a positive way,” said head coach John Hynes about when the Wild got caught in their zone for an extended period of time during the second period.
Wild’s Win Not Pretty But Still a Win
Although it wasn’t the prettiest game by any means and the team has a lot of work ahead of them, it’s still two points that they desperately need to give themselves a shot at the postseason. It’s clear the Wild still have a lot to fix if they want to continue to get wins this season, but right now, it’s one game at a time, and a win is a win.
The two goals the Wild scored were strong, but they have to figure out a way to clean up their game. They did show some signs of improving their play, but again, they struggled to keep it consistent, something that has to come if they want to get more “pretty” wins. However, this is the first time the Wild have strung together two wins in a row all season, so it’s hopefully a start in the right direction.
“I feel like that was a little bit the theme even last year, too. We won a lot of low-scoring games and especially after Christmas, and that’s just the team we are. We’re hard-working and just a team like that,” said Gustavsson about how the margin of error for him has been pretty slim this season.
Related: Wild Need to Focus on Positives & Negatives to Win Games
The Wild will head on the road for a quick back-to-back out east. The first game will be against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday evening, Nov. 6. They’ll have to find a way to step their game up quite a bit if they want to get a win over the Hurricanes.
