The Minnesota Wild officially opened their season at home, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, Oct. 10. The game opened with a beautiful tribute video to Johnny and Matt Gaudreau, followed by a 13-second moment of silence. Then it was on to hockey action, and the energy was high on both sides. There were some strong chances, but both goaltenders, Elvis Merzlikins and Filip Gustavsson, were up for the challenge.
It took until late in the first period for the Wild to break the ice finally, and it was Matt Boldy, with a no-look shot that snuck past Merzlikins, to put his team up 1-0. The Blue Jackets answered in the second to silence the building and tie things up at one apiece. It took the Wild majority of the period again and a goal reversal for the Blue Jackets before they reclaimed the lead on a Joel Eriksson Ek goal.
They built on that lead in the third, recording a goal on the power play to take a two-goal lead for the first time of the night. They may have already had the lead, but after that third goal, the Wild finally found the switch they had been looking for all night and played to expectations the rest of the period.
The Blue Jackets tried to sneak back in with a late power-play goal, but the Wild held strong and came out with the 3-2 win. We’ll look at how the Wild held on despite a not-so-great second period, starting with the second line, who stayed strong all night long.
Wild’s Second Line Best of Night
Usually, the top line leads the team in offense, but against the Blue Jackets, that honor belonged to the second line of Boldy, Eriksson Ek, and Marcus Johansson. They led the team all night with chances and energy and owned two of the Wild’s three goals. While all three linemates played outstandingly, Boldy stood out with three points on the night, including a goal and two assists.
Behind Boldy was Johansson, who recorded two assists and had a great game. He was speedy, handled the puck well, and drove to the net quite a bit. He looked like a rejuvenated player and has great chemistry with Boldy and Eriksson Ek. Hopefully, this is just the start of a strong performance by Johansson, who has had trouble with consistency.
Lastly, Eriksson Ek also had a great game and was a pest, as always. He scored the second goal of the game, which gave the team the boost it needed in the second period when the team struggled to put things together, except their line. This line stepped up when they needed them most, and hopefully, they will continue to build on this as the season continues.
Wild Look Sloppy in Second
Despite the hard work in training camp and the preseason, the Wild struggled to translate that to the regular season, especially in the second period, where they had been dominant before, but as some have pointed out, this is just game one. They had some strong chances, but they were all over the ice and couldn’t consistently get plays going. They had trouble holding onto the puck, and their passes didn’t always connect, but these are all things that can be fixed.
“Yeah, I think that some of it is we didn’t have all four (lines) going the way we wanted to but I think there’s just certain things. I don’t think it was from a lack of effort; I just think it’s understanding how the game is being played and some decisions, particularly puck decisions, I think would help those other two lines out,” said head coach John Hynes in the postgame press conference when asked about the other lines not performing, but he knows how to get better.
Sometimes, even though they’ve practiced some of these plays over and over, in game one, where it’s an actual game, they’ll make mistakes. They’ve shown in practice and in preseason that they are capable of making the right passes and keeping things together, so there is hope this was just first-game jitters. As they get comfortable playing in front of a full building once again, they’ll have fewer of these mistakes.
Wild Special Teams Rollercoaster Continues
The Wild’s special teams were up and down again, but they’ve made changes that have worked. The first that was noticed was that although the Wild made a lot of passes on the power play, something everyone is familiar with from the past, the difference was that they consistently moved as they passed. They didn’t plant themselves in one spot and pass back and forth; instead, they cycled and changed positions as they moved the puck, forcing the Blue Jackets out of position.
That tic-tac-toe passing eventually led to a goal late in their final power play, which proved to be the game-winner. They capitalized on only one of their three power-play chances, but with each power-play, they got better and had a lot of good chances that would eventually go in if they kept pressuring.
The penalty kill has also undergone some changes. The Wild are now being more aggressive in the neutral zone and trying not to allow the opposing team into the defensive zone at all. They used to stay back and wait, but not anymore. While this style of play was a bit of a struggle for the Wild, the more they use it, the better they’ll be.
Related: Minnesota Wild Roundtable: 2024-25 Season Preview
They did allow one shorthanded goal on a shot from the point, but that’s something they can fix. Someone was out of position and not able to block the shot, which is what normally would’ve happened. Once they see a video of that goal, they’ll know what went wrong and hopefully stop it next time.
Wild Stay Home
The Wild will remain at home for one more game against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, Oct. 12, before they head to Winnipeg on Sunday, Oct. 13, for their first back-to-back of the season. It’ll be interesting to see what improvements are made following this game for when they take on the Kraken who will be coming off a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
The Kraken will come into Saturday with quite a bit of rest compared to the Wild, but that can be hard for some teams trying to build a routine at the beginning of the season. Hopefully, the Wild can fix their mistakes and come back even stronger on Saturday.
