The Minnesota Wild played host to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday evening, Oct. 11, for their home opener. In honor of their 25th anniversary, the Wild had four members of the original coaching staff on the ice for a ceremonial puck drop, plus their first general manager. Doug Risebrough, Bob Mason, Jacques Lemaire, Mike Ramsey, and Mario Tremblay were all on hand to drop the first puck.
Filip Gustavsson was in the net for the Wild, and they were still without Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm. The good news on the injury front was that they did get Jonas Brodin back earlier than originally anticipated after he had surgery during the offseason.
It’s still only the second game of the season for the Wild, so there were some mistakes made, and the Blue Jackets got an early lead. The Wild found a way to bounce back thanks to their power play, but the Blue Jackets found ways to respond. The Wild continued to fight back but couldn’t overcome their mistakes and fell 7-4. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few takeaways, starting with the minor fixes needed.
Wild’s Minor Details to Fix
It’s not a great look to win in a 5-0 shutout to open the season on the road and then fall 7-4 in the home opener. However, it’s important to remember that while it’s very discouraging, it is only the second game of the season, and everything that has happened is fixable. Both teams made mistakes, but the Wild’s unfortunately cost them the win.
It’s easy to look at the goaltender when they allow six goals, but a few of those were just unlucky bounces that happen to every goaltender, every season. There were a few goals Gustavsson would like back, and he was the first to admit that after the game, but it doesn’t all rest on his shoulders. More importantly, the team knows what they need to do, and they have time to correct these issues.
“It was some tough bounces today. I would like to have that second goal back, and was it the sixth goal there, it was like a backhand tape, kinda awkward one? Other than that, some tough goals like that…,” said Gustavsson about his efforts, and he continued about the details of the game, “Yeah, no, it’s tough. It’s not big problems we’re having. I think it’s very small, and easy fixes, and it’s hard to fix something you don’t know about or haven’t seen, so it should be fine.”
Wild’s Power Play
The Wild’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Marco Rossi, and Matt Boldy was strong all night, but it wasn’t until the power play did they really shine. After struggling to get anything going in the first period, the Blue Jackets took a string of penalties in the second period, and the Wild found the back of the net not once but twice. Boldy and Kaprizov found each other twice to get their team back into the game and the building loud once again.
The Wild scored two more power-play goals as the game went on and showed how dominant their power play can really be, especially the top unit. Kaprizov scored his second goal of the game, which got his team back in the game for a short period of time, and then it was the new kid, Zeev Buium. He scored his first goal of his NHL career, and he did it on the power play.
“Yeah, I mean I think we want to be difference makers on the power play and I think we did well tonight but we also had two in the first and didn’t score on either so if you score on those you don’t know what happens, you don’t know how the game goes so I think our mentality is always to score obviously it’s not going to happen every time but we try,” said Buium about the overall efforts of the power play.
Wild Stayed Disciplined
Again, a 7-4 loss isn’t great in any aspect, but outside of the Wild’s power play, they did have another bright spot, at least until the third period. They managed to stay out of the penalty box, and when they did finally take that first penalty of the game, they held strong. Their penalty kill was solid until the final period, when they did allow a goal, but it could’ve been worse.
In a game that was frustrating from beginning to end, the Wild of the past would’ve taken a lot more penalties and been far less disciplined. This team managed to keep their heads calm, and they didn’t retaliate, which kept them in the game even if it was trailing by two goals for most of it. If they had been undisciplined, this game could’ve been much worse, and if they’re frustrated, their power play may not have been as successful as it was either, and they wouldn’t have gotten a franchise record of 52 shots on goal.
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This is something the Wild have to focus on and continue to do because they’ve found a way to be successful on the power play. If they can stay out of the penalty box as much as possible, it’ll help their penalty kill be better, too.
Wild Stay Home
The Wild will have one more game at home on Monday, Oct. 13, where they’ll host the Los Angeles Kings before heading on the road for the next five games. They’ll have to do some quick work on those minor fixes and come back stronger if they want to take down the Kings before heading on the road.
