The Minnesota Wild were looking to continue their winning momentum as they went on the road to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday evening, Oct. 14. Things started a little heated with Ryan Reaves throwing his weight around against some Wild players and then taking on Marcus Foligno in a heavyweight contest.
The hits settled down, and that’s when the scoring opened up. The Wild may have gotten the first goal, but the Maple Leafs showed their power with three straight goals to take the lead 3-1. Two goals isn’t an impossible comeback, and the Wild attempted to show that in the second as the Maple Leafs got one to start the period but answered with two of their own to make it 4-3.
Going into the third down one, the momentum should’ve been in the Wild’s favor, but it wasn’t. The Maple Leafs continued to dominate the scoring department with three more goals, including Auston Matthew’s third goal of the game for his second hat trick this season. The Wild added one more before time ran out to make things closer and try a comeback but lost 7-4.
Wild’s Defense Struggles
In the first game of the season, the Wild’s defense looked pretty strong despite not having Jared Spurgeon in the lineup. The same can’t be said for this game. They mixed up the pairings throughout the night, but it didn’t help. Half of the defense had a rough night, while the other half tried to keep things going.
Jonas Brodin, Brock Faber, and Calen Addison did their best to hold things together and had several scoring chances. The other trio of Alex Goligoski, Jon Merrill, and Jacob Middleton struggled to keep the puck out of their end and out of their net. Middleton had been playing pretty well, but now that he lost his partner in Spurgeon, he couldn’t find the same success.
Together, the defense struggled to block any shots, and that’s partially why the Maple Leafs were so strong. No one, except Filip Gustavsson, tried to get in front of the puck, and it showed with just 10 blocked shots. The Wild need to find a partner for Middleton until Spurgeon can return because breaking up Faber and Brodin is not the answer.
They do have Dakota Mermis as the extra defenseman, but unfortunately, they may not be able to use him if Matt Boldy is hurt, and they have to call up a forward instead. Hopefully, their defensive issues get fixed, or they will continue to struggle.
Wild’s Special Teams Falling Back
Last season was a rollercoaster for the Wild’s special teams; they’d do well for a while, and then a short time later, everything collapsed. In the season opener, it seemed like all their special teams issues had been fixed; their penalty kill was strong, and their power play scored. However, in this one, it wasn’t meant to be.
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They let in not just one but two shorthanded goals and their power play was unsuccessful on their one chance. Being it’s just two games into the season, it’s likely not a cause for alarm. They were going against one of the best offenses in the NHL. However, the Wild need to keep a close eye on their special teams from now on and look for fixes before they get worse.
Wild’s Bright Spots
The first bright spot has to belong to Marco Rossi. After 23 games in the NHL, he scored his first NHL goal. It may not seem long for most NHL players, but Rossi has been highly touted since his debut during the 2021-22 season to be the Wild’s number-one center who can contribute a lot of points. It likely felt extra special since his original first goal in their win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday, Oct. 12 was reversed due to an offsides call.
However, Rossi wasn’t the only goal scorer for the Wild as Ryan Hartman got on the board with a pretty deflection off a Kirill Kaprizov shot. The first line looked strong all night with some great set-ups and shot attempts, but only one goal to show. However, this is hopefully just the start of some strong chemistry for the top line.
Hartman was the second player to score his first goal of the game, with the third being Boldy. The excellent news about Boldy is he scored on a tight shot between the goaltender and the pipe, but the bad news was he was injured in the third period, and his status was unknown following the game. The final bright spot for the Wild was Brandon Duhaime, who scored his first goal and tried to get his team on the road to a comeback that would fall short.
Wild Need to Recover
The Wild’s road trip isn’t over yet. They’ll head to Montréal next to try to salvage their first trip of the season with a split. They’ll have to find a way to start the game with a more upbeat pace and get on the board first. The Wild had many chances to tie the game against the Maple Leafs and take the lead, but they couldn’t convert. Hopefully, they’ll be able to solve those issues when they take on the Canadiens this Tuesday, Oct. 17.
