Big 2nd Period Powers the Wild Past the Jets, 4-3

The NHL is still buzzing from the big nights a number of highly touted young players had on opening night.  Whether it was Toronto’s Auston Matthews 4-goal performance, or Edmonton’s Connor McDavid who impressed with 2-goal, 1 assist night, the future looks bright for some NHL teams.  The Winnipeg Jets are one of those teams and their 1st round pick (2nd overall) from 2016 Patrik Laine got off to a good start with a goal and an assist in his NHL debut.

It has been a while since the Wild have had an impact rookie in their lineup and after Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to St. Louis it no doubt wishes it had one of its own.  Will the Wild have Joel Eriksson Ek make his NHL debut?  The talented Swede has been solid through the pre-season, but the regular season is a whole different level pace all together.  Will the Wild earn their first win of the season over the big, confident and young Jets squad?

1st Period Thoughts:  Listening on the radio it didn’t seem like the Minnesota Wild had much jump or life, but after watching the game I thought they looked pretty good.  The team was moving its feet well and making plays with speed and looking to counter attack quickly against the Jets.  The only real consistent flaw in their game was their passing which was all too often off-target or to the skates which at times compromised a potential scoring chance.  A great example of this was a nice play to win a battle for the puck off the wall by Eric Staal only to have the pass go to Zach Parise‘s skates instead of his stick where he was in good position to get off a quick shot on Michael Hutchinson.  Even with the bad passes the Wild had some great chances in close as Erik Haula, Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker and Mikael Granlund had golden opportunities to light the lamp and were either denied by Hutchinson or the pipe.  I thought Minnesota was dictating the pace of play and I felt they had better puck support than they had against the Blues on Thursday.  Defensively, the team was again aggressive on the penalty kill in preventing the Jets from getting much of anything going on the man advantage.  The Wild looked as though they were going to skate into the 2nd tied up at 0-0 but then a horrendous cross-ice pass deep in his own end by Jonas Brodin went right to the stick of Nikolaj Ehlers and the Danish-born forward wired a shot off the pipe and in.  It was a total rocket that beat Devan Dubnyk cleanly.  Unlucky, but the next goal was worse as the team seemed to let up a bit in its puck pressure and allowed Dustin Byfuglien to carry the puck from the goal line out to the point where he unleashed a wrist shot that was redirected up and over Dubnyk’s shoulder by Blake Wheeler.  2-0 Jets going into the 2nd, as the team was serenaded with boo’s from the home crowd for the defensive let down.  I know some people think the boo’s are tacky, but there was no excuse for that last goal.  A little more attention to detail and you’re probably only down by one instead of two.  Nino Niederreiter still looks a bit lost on the 3rd line, he needs someone to work with so he can be more prominent offensively.

2nd Period Thoughts:  The Wild brought the same energy in the 2nd period they had in the 1st.  They were moving their feet well and winning most of the races for the loose pucks, but most notably showing a willingness to pay the physical price to make the play and having a bit of snarl to their game too.  On a number of occasions, the Jets would try to get away with their normal assortment of slashing after the whistle but Minnesota held its ground a pushed back.  Minnesota’s effort resulted in a power play early in the 2nd period and I thought the team had decent puck movement and I liked the unit of Haula, Niederreiter and Jason Pominville.  I thought they moved the puck well and they looked hungry even though they came up empty on the man advantage.  The Wild would get the equalizer after a foolish cross-checking penalty by Chris Stewart, and as he left the box he was found on a long pass and he’d skate in and take a shot that was stopped by Hutchinson but his 2nd chance would just trickle over the goal line.  2-1 Jets much to Stewart’s delight who looked as though he was feeling a little guilty after his bad penalty.  Minnesota would then get the equalizer a few minutes later on the power play as they won the initial draw and it was Mathew Dumba blasting a slap shot by Hutchinson.  2-2 game and the crowd was roaring.  You could really feel the momentum and Minnesota continued to pour it on with great puck pressure that continued to result in turnovers.  Ultimately it was a turnover in the Wild zone that turned into a 3-on-3 rush and it was Coyle making a perfect cross-ice saucer pass to Staal for a pretty finish just beyond the leg pad of Hutchinson.  3-2 Wild and Staal and the sellout crowd were pumped.  Even after Staal’s go-ahead goal, the Wild seemed to be hungry and looking for opportunities as even the 4th line of Zac Dalpe, Jason Zucker and Teemu Pulkkinen were taking chances to fire shots on goal and the team earned a standing ovation to end the 2nd.  Everyone was fired up as Stewart finished his ‘Gordie Howe hat trick’ by fighting the Jets’ Chris Thorburn to a win as he managed to pull the jersey over the Winnipeg enforcer’s head but showing class he didn’t maul him while he was helpless either.  Dubnyk also looked sharp as he was absorbing pucks well and not giving the Jets any 2nd chance opportunities.

3rd Period Thoughts:  It wasn’t the prettiest of periods, but the Minnesota Wild didn’t just sit back and play rope-a-dope and defend its lead as it often did in previous seasons.  The Wild continued to outhustle and outwork the Jets, and were also sacrificing their bodies by working themselves into shooting lanes too.  Mikael Granlund was particularly pesky and I was impressed by his defensive play that really helped disrupt the Jets’ attempts to rally back.  There were moments were it got a bit scrambly in the Wild zone, but for the most part Minnesota stayed calm and under control as they circled the wagons around Devan Dubnyk.  Mark Scheifele’s goal made things a little interesting in the closing 30 seconds but overall a nice first effort at home.  I thought Christian Folin had a solid game on the 3rd pairing and I felt his physical play was a welcome addition to Minnesota’s blue line.

Wild Notes:

~ The Wild roster tonight was as follows: Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville, Eric Staal, Zach Parise, Charlie Coyle, Erik Haula, Nino Niederreiter, Chris Stewart, Jason Zucker, Zac Dalpe, Teemu Pulkkinen, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin, Mathew Dumba and Christian Folin.  Darcy Kuemper backed up Devan Dubnyk.  Mike Reilly and Nate Prosser were the healthy scratches.

~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Chris Stewart, 2nd Star Eric Staal, 3rd Star Jared Spurgeon

~ Attendance was 19,024 at Xcel Energy Center.

Iowa Wild Report:

Iowa 3, Mantoba 2 SO

Wild Prospect Report:

RW – Jordan Greenway (Boston U., H-East) ~ the power forward had a strong freshman season, and he’s off to a reasonable start playing on the 2nd line as he scored his first goal of the 2016-17 season with a tally against Denver in a 4-3 loss.

D – Braydyn Chizen (Kelowna, WHL) ~ the towering defenseman (6’6″) is not known for being a big point producer but he chipped in an assist in the Rockets’ 4-2 loss to Saskatoon on Friday night.  Chizen has 2 assists in 7 games this season.

C – Dmitry Sokolov (Sudbury, OHL) ~ when the Minnesota Wild drafted Sokolov, they felt they may have a late round steal on their hands and so far that hope looks promising.  Sokolov had a hat trick and an assist (8 shots on goal) in Sudbury’s 6-4 win over Hamilton on Friday.  Sokolov has 4 goals, 5 points in 4 games.

D – Louie Belpedio (Miami, NCHC) ~ the stocky defenseman lit the lamp for the first time this season on Saturday night with a blast from the point against Ohio State as the Redhawks battled to a 1-1 stalemate.