For the second game in a row, the Minnesota Wild will face the New Jersey Devils as part of a very strange home-and-home that gifted both teams a full three days off in between contests. The previous meeting saw the Wild give up three goals in the second period to the offensively gifted Devils, which would ultimately doom them to another loss, dropping them to 3-4-2 on the season. Ryan Hartman, along with Joel Eriksson Ek, continue to carry the Wild’s offense on their backs, while both Pat Maroon and Jake Middleton managed to collect their first goals of the season.
A few days’ rest and some solid practices may be exactly what the Wild need in order to turn their season around. It may still be early but there have been some worrying trends that, if left unaddressed, could cause the team to have a much more difficult path to the playoffs than most thought they would. With a home record of 2-1-1, the Wild will also hope to use their home-ice advantage to gain an upper hand against the now third in the Metropolitan Division Devils and use that as a springboard to string a couple of good games together.
Minnesota Wild Lineup
A pair of recurring themes have developed early this season for the Wild with injuries and inconsistency causing a myriad of troubles for a team that was expected to easily be a top-three team in the Central Division. While the defensive issues may last a while longer before Jared Spurgeon makes his return, Matt Boldy is expected to play for the first time since the 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 14. With Boldy back in the lineup, the Wild not only get one of their top offensive weapons back but also the reformation of lines that have proven to be effective in the past.
The following forward lines are based on their Nov. 1 practice, but defensive pairs and goaltenders are guesses at this point. Daemon Hunt is with the team once again so he may slide into the bottom pairing.
Kirill Kaprizov – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Marcus Foligno – Marco Rossi – Pat Maroon
Brandon Duhaime – Connor Dewar – Vinni Lettieri
Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber
Jake Middleton – Calen Addison
Jon Merrill – Dakota Mermis
Filip Gustavsson – Marc-Andre Fleury
Key to the Game: Try Playing Defense
For a team that used to make its living by producing the best defense night-in and night-out, the 2023-24 version of the Wild have been awful defensively across the board. The loss of Spurgeon is obviously a big blow, but it should not have caused the mayhem that they are currently experiencing. They are currently tied for the most goals allowed this season with 37, but they have one less game played than the teams they are tied with. According to Natural Stat Trick, the only player that has a Fenwick for percentage (FF%) above 50% is Calen Addison, but he averages the least amount of ice time per game.
Related: Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi Finally Playing Like Top 10 Pick
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There is no way around it, if the Wild want to win games this season they have to make drastic improvements to every aspect of their defense, and they have to do it fast. The forwards need to be committed to back-checking hard, the penalty kill needs to do basically anything other than what they are doing now (they are second worst in the league) and while the goaltending is not always to blame, the expected elite tandem of Gustavsson and Fleury has been a shell of what they were in 2022-23.
The Devils have a veritable plethora of offensive weapons, led by superstar Jack Hughes, that can cave in even the best defensive groups in the NHL. So if the Wild’s game is even a little off, it could get ugly really quick, similar to what the Wild experienced in the second period of their last game. An offensive explosion from the Devils can easily put a game out of reach.
Next on the Dockett
The Wild will continue their fight against the Metropolitan Division as the New York Rangers come to St. Paul on Nov. 4 before another three-game road trip gets underway. The trip will see them right back to the Eastern seaboard to take on the New York Islanders before meeting up with the Rangers once again, only this time at Madison Square Garden. As we close in on Thanksgiving, the next couple of weeks could be critical in deciding what type of season the Wild will have.
