The Minnesota Wild wrapped up their six-game preseason on the road against the Chicago Blackhawks, and their offense was on fire again. They started a little slow but finally got things moving seven minutes into the first period when Marco Rossi put one in the net on the power play to put his team up 1-0. Just four seconds later, Jonas Brodin bounced it off Petr Mrazek, and the Wild were up 2-0 just like that.
They held the lead through the rest of the first and nearly through the second until the Blackhawks answered to cut the Wild’s lead to one goal. However, the Wild responded less than a minute later on the power play again; this time, it was Mats Zuccarello. They once again carried their two-goal lead into the third period, where the Wild unleashed their scoring.
They scored three more goals, this time unanswered, and took the 6-1 win to end their preseason. The Wild ended their preseason with a record of 4-2 and will head into the regular season with a win. In this article, we’ll take a look at what led to this high-powered win, starting with their strong offense.
Wild Keep Offensive Onslaught
Leading the way once again, one of the Wild’s main storylines this preseason is their ability to score goals. In all four of their wins, they scored at least five goals, and even in their losses, they scored two goals a piece, which was a struggle for them last season.
While a lot of the scoring has come from their main players, like Kirill Kaprizov, Zuccarello, Rossi, and Joel Eriksson Ek, they’ve had others step up as well. Brock Faber, Brodin, Marcus Johansson, and Jakub Lauko are just a few of the names who’ve jumped onto the scoring scene.
It’s great to see the Wild scoring goals in large numbers, but it’s even better to see the scoring spread out through the lineup. Having a variety of scorers means there’s someone who can score every night. If the team relies on just a handful of scorers, they’re going to struggle to keep it up all year. Hopefully, this widespread success continues into the regular season.
Wild Figure Out Faceoffs
While the Wild were scoring, they were also figuring out how to win faceoffs. They’ve done quite well throughout the preseason regarding faceoff wins. They struggled in a few games, but overall, they’ve improved from last season. This win over the Blackhawks showed their faceoff strengths, as they won 54 percent of their faceoffs compared to the Blackhawks’ 46 percent.
The success they found on the faceoffs translated to their win, as it gave them possession, which led to goals. Brodin’s goal was a direct result of a faceoff win, as the puck was won back to him, and he took a shot that went in. Another of their faceoff wins led to Zuccarello’s goal, as they were able to win possession, pass the puck a few times, and shoot it past Mrazek.
The Wild have figured out that winning faceoffs means scoring more goals, and they have several strong centermen capable of doing the job. Again, hopefully, they can translate this part of their game to the regular season so they can keep winning games.
Wild’s Special Teams Success Continues
The final aspect of the game that made a difference was the Wild’s power play and penalty kill. They were strong on the power play, scoring two goals, which they’ve done multiple times this preseason, and their penalty kill was a perfect 100 percent. They killed off all four of the penalties they took, and while they did get close to allowing a goal, they managed to stop it.
This is an area they’ve worked particularly hard on in training camp, and it’s paying off. They had the scoring power for the man advantage, but they struggled to finish. This preseason, they’ve worked on different plays to get the puck to the net more efficiently, and it’s worked. The Wild will have to continue this hard work to bring this special team’s success to the regular season.
Wild Start Thursday
The Wild will have nearly a week off before they begin the regular season by hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday, Oct. 10. They’ll see their former head coach, Dean Evason, for the first time since he was replaced by John Hynes last season. This will be a somber game for Evason and the Blue Jackets as they open their regular season following the offseason loss of Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matt.
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The Wild plan to start the season with a full roster and no injuries. Jake Middleton, Zach Bogosian, and Matt Boldy, who all dealt with minor injuries or illness, are expected to be back, and hopefully, it will be a successful opening night for the Wild to start on the right foot with a win.
