The Minnesota Wild are about a fifth of the way through the season. They have played 15 games so far and have a record of 10-2-3. They’ve had some big tests this season; some passed with flying colors, and others they should’ve done better at. They’ve beaten the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and others but have fallen to the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks.
In this article, we’ll examine a few lessons learned about the Wild from these 15 games. These include goaltending, special teams, specific players stepping up, etc. We’ll start with goaltending because it has been the biggest difference-maker so far this season.
Wild’s Gus Bus Is Rolling
One of the biggest keys to the Wild’s recent success has been their man between the pipes, Filip Gustavsson. He’s taken a big step forward this season in confidence and skills, and it’s won games. When his team has struggled, he’s been the one to steady things and come up with the big save that changed the momentum. It also hasn’t been just one save at a time, but save after save, things he couldn’t do before.
While it was expected he would try to step up and be better than last season; he blew by those expectations within the first week of the season. He showed more confidence in his play, with more acrobatic saves and joining the play more often. He would join the play occasionally in the past by making a small pass, but this season, he’s beating players to the puck and launching it halfway down the ice to waiting teammates.
That aggressiveness has helped his team with offensive chances and ensured the puck doesn’t get shot back at him. Gustavsson has earned the starting spot and will hold that role for quite some time. Marc-André Fleury has also filled his role well. The Wild have a strong tandem, and if one goes down, Jesper Wallstedt is waiting in the wings for his time to shine.
Wild’s Special Teams Failing
This issue was discussed most of the offseason as something the Wild had to fix going into this season. In the beginning, it seemed like they’d done what they needed to regarding the power play, as they registered goals in four out of their first five games played. Overall, they’ve been held scoreless on the power play in six of their 15 games.
The problem with those six games is that most have been in a row recently. It wouldn’t be concerning if they were sporadic, with one game here and one game there. However, once they become multiple in a row, it can become a pattern that’s hard to break. Thankfully, the Wild didn’t let the pattern go too long, but they must ensure it doesn’t start again.
With the power play possibly heating up again, it’s time to talk about the penalty kill, which started rough. It looked like the penalty kill would follow the difficulties it had the previous season, but the Wild tightened it up quickly. They struggled again midway through these 15 games, but as of late, they’ve had a perfect penalty kill. Hopefully, they can keep this pattern from the past three games and keep their perfect streak going.
Wild’s Mentality
It’s been easy to notice the team’s overall composure and Gustavsson’s confidence level. In years past, they would get easily frustrated at calls going against them, and this season, they’ve had several calls go against them, but they’ve remained composed. It starts with their head coach, John Hynes, who rarely shows anger by yelling, instead, he stares referees and the competition down.
His team has followed his lead and doesn’t get frustrated when they head to the penalty box, or when the other team should but doesn’t. They have had a few times where they’ve gotten close to crossing the line and maybe have crossed it once, but overall, they’ve done very well regarding composure.
Staying out of the penalty box has also helped their composure levels. The fewer penalties they’ve had to kill off, the less stress the penalty kill and the rest of the team have experienced. Hynes has been a big part of enforcing that discipline level, and it’s done them well. They’ll need to keep that mindset, as the season will only get tougher the more games they play.
Wild’s Kaprizov Doing Kaprizov Things
Kirill Kaprizov has truly stepped up this season and shown his true talents that have been hidden behind injuries the past couple of seasons. Many likely aren’t surprised by his high numbers because they’ve known he was capable all this time, but it’s still fun for Wild fans to see his name amongst the NHL scoring leaders.
He’s been held back by injuries but still put up strong numbers for how many games he missed. However, now that he’s fully healthy and has found his groove, he’s unstoppable between setting up goals and scoring them himself; he’s up to 28 points, just two points behind points leader Nathan MacKinnon.
Related: Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov Exceeding Lofty Expectations Early This Season
If the Wild want to keep winning games, they’ll need Kaprizov to keep up his scoring ways. Teams who can rely on their star players tend to be the teams that stand out from the rest, and that’s what the Wild will need going forward.
Wild Start Strong
While there are always things to improve, and for the Wild, that is mainly their special teams, they’ve had a great start to their season. If they can make some slight improvements and build on their strong areas, they’ll be able to keep up their winning ways.
