Fresh off their first win in two weeks, the Minnesota Wild were looking to keep the good times going when they flew into Tennessee to take on the Nashville Predators on Hockey Fights Cancer Night, Thursday, Nov. 30. The arena held a moment of silence in honor of those lost to Cancer and the players held signs for who they fight for to cap off a very nice moment before the scoring commenced.
The Wild have a couple of connections to the Predators, including former Wild player Andrew Brunette, who is now the Predators’ head coach. He took over from the Wild’s newest head coach, John Hynes, in May 2023. This was the first time Hynes had been back to Nashville since being let go, and his team didn’t waste any time getting on the board first.
The Wild got on the board early in the first and didn’t stop as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the period ended. They continued to add to their lead in the second with two more goals to take a five-goal lead into the final frame. The Predators tried to mount a comeback in the third with an early goal, but the Wild added one more goal to finish things off and take the win 6-1.
In their win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday (Nov. 28), they played a strong, gritty, disciplined game and did the same against the Predators last night. However, this time around, their offense made a big splash with many players contributing, and that’s where we’ll start.
Wild’s Dewar Leads Offense
The first of what would eventually be three goals came off the stick of fourth-liner Connor Dewar. It was the first time he had scored a goal since the fourth game of the season in October, and it sparked his scoring magic. He scored the fourth and sixth goals of the game for his first career hat trick and a four-point night, as he also assisted on a goal.
While Dewar tallied the most goals of the night, three other players also scored. Another player who isn’t known for scoring jumped onto the board with a great backhand shot: Jake Middleton. After Middleton came the Wild’s star, Kirill Kaprizov, who scored on the power play to extend the lead to three goals.
The final player to get a goal, whose name wasn’t Dewar, was another guy who’s typically on the fourth line in Pat Maroon. He joined the team during the offseason as some extra muscle, but he’s also shown some savvy puck handling and scored his third goal of the season. The Wild got offensive production from all over the lineup, and that’s precisely what they need to continue to win games.
Wild’s Gustavsson Looking Stronger
The offense was strong, but they couldn’t have secured the win without help in the net from Filip Gustavsson. He’s struggled to find his game after having a spectacular shutout win in game one of the season. He hasn’t played at 100 percent like last season just yet, but this performance was a big step forward.
He had a shutout throughout the first two periods of the game, but it was taken away early in the third on a deflection he couldn’t see until it was too late. Besides that, Gustavsson came up with some big saves to keep his team in it at first and then to keep their lead going.
Gustavsson ended the night with 26 saves and a save percentage of .963 for his third-best percentage of the season and just the fifth time out of 13 games that he’s been above .900. He even helped them redeem their penalty kill that went 100 percent.
Wild’s Special Teams Bounce Back
The Wild were a team whose penalty kill couldn’t kill off a single penalty, and now they’ve gone 100 percent in back-to-back games, something that seemed almost impossible a week ago. They were starting to figure it out before Dean Evason’s departure but couldn’t get it to stick. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep this going long-term now that they have a plan in place that works.
Not only did their penalty kill succeed, but so did their power play, which has had the same struggles. They had four opportunities and scored on one of them for their third power-play goal in the past five games. They’ve started to force more shots rather than passing too much, so they’re becoming more successful.
Wild Face Blackhawks
The Wild have one more game at home before they head out on their longest road trip of the season so far when they’ll head out west for four games. However, before they head out of town, they’ll take on the Chicago Blackhawks, and Connor Bedard will make his first regular-season appearance at the Xcel Energy Center.
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They’ll have Ryan Hartman back in the lineup from his suspension, but as of the timing of this article, they may be without Kaprizov. He threw a hit in their game against the Predators that the NHL may take a second look at, and we’ll have to wait and see what they decide.
Obviously, the Wild will have to be on the lookout for Bedard and his teammates, Jason Dickinson, Philipp Kurashev, and former Wild player Ryan Donato. If they can keep those guys off the scoreboard, they’ll also have to figure out a way past Petr Mrázek or Arvid Söderblom in net. Regardless of who they face, if they continue to play the way they have, especially with the extra offense, they should snag their third straight win.
