Johansson & Wallstedt Lead Wild to 2-0 Win Over Ducks

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday evening, Nov. 15, in the first half of a home back-to-back. Both teams were coming off losses in their most recent games; the Ducks lost 6-3 to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, Nov. 13, and the Wild fell in overtime 2-1 to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, Nov. 11. 

The Wild’s roster did change slightly; they were still without Nico Sturm and Zach Bogosian, but they lost Marco Rossi and also Vladimir Tarasenko to injuries. While the Ducks were without Radko Gudas and Ryan Poehling. Jesper Wallstedt was in the net for the Wild, and Petr Mrazek was in the net for the Ducks. The game started out scoreless, but the Wild got the lead early in the second. The Wild added to their lead late in the third and took the win 2-0. This moved the Wild’s record to 8-7-4 and the Ducks to 11-6-1.

The first period saw chances for both sides, but none made it past the goaltenders, and it ended scoreless. The Wild took the lead in the second period on a goal from Marcus Johansson. He was assisted by Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman. That was the only goal of the period, and the Wild took the lead into the final period. 

The Wild held the lead through the rest of the period until the final minute when Matt Boldy scored on the empty net to make it 2-0. He was assisted by Jake Middleton and Kirill Kaprizov. That was the final goal of the game; the Wild took the win, and Wallstedt got his second straight shutout of the season.

The Wild will remain home to host the Vegas Golden Knights in the second half of this back-to-back on Sunday evening, Nov. 16. The Ducks will head back home to host the Utah Mammoth on Monday, Nov. 17.