The Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks faced off on Wednesday night, Apr. 9, in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a big night for the Wild as earlier that afternoon, they activated Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek from long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Kaprizov hadn’t played since Jan. 29 following an injury and then surgery, while Eriksson Ek had been out since Feb. 25 also due to injury.
The Wild were still without Jake Middleton while the Sharks were without Vincent Desharnais, Jan Rutta, Shakir Mukhamadulin, and Logan Couture. The goaltending battle was between Marc-André Fleury for the Wild in what was likely his final home start in the regular season and Alexandar Georgiev for the Sharks.
Related: 3 Takeaways From the Wild’s Overtime Win Over the Stars
The game started out favoring the Sharks, but the Wild responded, and it was a back-and-forth effort all night. At one point, the Wild had a three-goal lead but couldn’t hold it, and the Sharks forced overtime, but the Wild got the final goal and took the 8-7 win. This moved the Wild’s record to 43-29-7 and the Sharks’ to 20-47-11.
Game Recap
Both sides had quite a few chances to start the game, but the Sharks found the back of the net first. Tyler Toffoli scored the goal and was assisted by William Eklund and Alexander Wennberg to take an early lead. The Wild answered back as Marcus Johnasson scored to tie the game, it was his second goal in the past four games. He was assisted by Frédérick Gaudreau and Gustav Nyquist. Brock Faber scored to end the period and put his team up 2-1. Matt Boldy assisted him, and the Wild took the 2-1 lead into the second.
Macklin Celebrini scored to start the second period and tie the game for the Sharks, 2-2. Jack Thompson and Will Smith assisted him. The Wild responded to retake the lead on a goal by Eriksson Ek, his first since Jan. 26, and Marcus Foligno and Boldy assisted him. The Sharks answered back with two consecutive goals. The first was scored by Carl Grundstrom, whom Cam Lund assisted.
Celebrini tallied the second goal and his second of the game to put his team up 4-3. Smith and Timothy Liljegren assisted him. The Wild then added two goals to tie it and retake the lead. Kirill Kaprizov scored the first goal on the power play, his first goal since Dec. 23 to tie the game 4-4. He was assisted by Mats Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek. The final goal of the period was scored by Eriksson Ek, his second of the game, also on the power play to put his team up 5-4. Boldy and Rossi assisted him.
The Wild continued to add to their goal total in the third period as Eriksson Ek recorded his second power-play goal of the night and third overall for a hat-trick in his return from injury. Kaprizov and Zuccarello assisted him. Eriksson Ek wasn’t done yet either; he added a fourth goal barely a minute later to put his team up 7-4. Boldy and Foligno assisted him. The Sharks responded with a goal by Nikolai Kovalenko to get his team back within two goals. Celebrini and Henry Thrun assisted him.
Celebrini also recorded a hat-trick as he scored towards the halfway point of the third to get his team within one goal. Smith and Thompson assisted him to make it 7-6. Smith scored with under a minute to go to tie the game 7-7, and Liljegren and Celebrini assisted him. That goal was the final of the period, and overtime was required where Kaprizov scored the game winner for the Wild. Zucccarello and Jared Spurgeon assisted him to take the win 8-7. With that win, Fleury also took over the most overtime wins in NHL history with 70.
The Wild will head on the road to face the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks in a road back-to-back on Friday, Apr. 11 and Saturday Apr. 12. The Sharks will remain on the road as they head north to face the Edmonton Oilers also on Friday.
