Welcome to a random 2pm start time. Fans should probably get used to this. There are so many games that need to be rescheduled across the league. It wouldn’t be a shock if there are some random start times in the near future. They might be early due to building availability. Or early due to available flights. It’s anyone’s guess at this point. At least today’s early start is due to it being a holiday. Matinee games, are not the Wild’s best friend. It’s like the early start times confuse the team.
The first half of the opening period, it felt like this might be the Wild’s game. Players seemed to be where they needed to be and they were out-shooting the Avalanche. Yet, when you start to feel good about this team,the opposition seems to find their legs and shooting lanes. Well at least Nathan MacKinnon found his shooting lanes. Thankfully the posts and Kaapo Kahkonen came to play as well.
Unfortunately, penalties would be a theme today. First it was Brandon Dumaime heading to the box, quickly followed by Ryan Hartman. A 5-on-3 power play goal by Mikko Rantanen is how the scoring would start. Colorado’s Alex Newhook would also score just after the second of the two penalties ended. Two goals late in the period in what started off relatively positively, is not how you wanted to head into the locker room.
It would take just over 30 seconds for Minnesota to halve the lead with a goal by Kevin Fiala. Sadly though, just after that goal, Marcus Foligo would take his first penalty of the game. Colorado gets the most power play opportunities in the league, so this is not a team you want to go a man down against. Strangely enough though, with all that experience, they’re not the best in the league when it comes to actual success. Kirill Kaprizov would come close to tying the game, but would go wide.
It appeared like Minnesota would go down a man again when Jordan Greenway was going to get tagged for goaltender interference and fighring. However, it would be a 5-on-5 situation, as Kurtis McDermid would get called for instigating, fighting, and a game misconduct. Former Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper would be sent down the tunnel for possible concussion protocol. I’m sure the Avalanche faithful will be waiting to see how long they’ll be without Kuemper.
Yet power plays continued to pile up for the Avalanche, as Ryan Hartman would get called for delay of game for laying on the puck. Kind of hard to get off of the puck, when you have an opposing player laying on top of you. Now, we’re not ones to call out officiating, but there clearly appears to be two different standards for what gets called in this game.
During the early parts of the third period, the Avalanche did a great job of keeping Minnesota to the boards when they got into the offensive zone. Just when you think that’s going to be the way of the period. then some hard work by Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, end up being the tying goal by Kaprizov.
That goal seemed to wake the Wild up. We saw more of the smart play from the early minutes of the first period. The Wild would keep pushing, but that pushing would come to naught. MacKinnon would score what would ultimately be the go-ahead, after an extensive goal review. Dean Evason would pull Kahkonen with just over three minutes remaining. That bet would pay off, with a second game-tying goal by Kaprizov.
The game would go to both overtime and ultimately a shootout. There were moments in the overtime, where either team could have ended it. Honestly, it was a decent overtime by Minnesota. Players were smart about line changes. Matt Boldy should get an award for being calm under pressure. The lone shootout goal would be tallied by Rantanen, the guy who started the scoring in the first period.
To be 100% honest, this game could have gone much worse. With those two Colorado goals in the first, I know I was worried. This is a team that occasionally falls apart when they get scored on like that. Thankfully, we got the team that fought back and kept fighting back. It had to be one of the better full effort games we’ve seen in a while. At this point, I’ll take the one point and move on to the next game.
What did you think of the Minnesota Wild’s games this week? Tell us what you think on Twitter at @MNSOTA24!
Cody McLeod plays in 1,000th game and Eric Staal joins the Iowa Wild
For many years, Minnesota Wild fans probably hated Cody McLeod. Afterall, he was the annoying enforcer of the Colorado Avalanche who always seemed to have a cheap shot for one of Minnesota’s skilled players. As his career has wound down, the 37-year old has played the last 2 seasons with the Iowa Wild.
Last week, he recently reached the 1,000 professional games played milestone and that was finally honored on Friday night in a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Wolves. McLeod played in 776 NHL games over his 12-year NHL career with Colorado, Nashville, and New York. He is currently the Iowa Wild’s team captain and has been a good leader both on and off the ice.
He still is playing the role of enforcer for the Iowa Wild, but his contribution to the team goes beyond just protecting his teammates. The Binscarth, Manitoba-native’s work ethic on his shifts and his dedication off he ice really help set a good example for Minnesota’s young prospects to follow.
No one will be surprised that he leads the team in penalty minutes or hits, but what may surprise fans is his jovial attitude. He’s playing in Iowa because he wants to play there. He’s not some mopey veteran thinking he should be in the NHL and that he’s just wasting his time as he collects another paycheck. McLeod provides an NHL-level example of expectation for them to follow.
McLeod was recently joined by another long-time NHL veteran and familiar face to Minnesota Wild fans in the addition of Eric Staal to Iowa’s roster. Staal is in Iowa to get back into game shape as he hopes to lead the 2022 Canadian Olympic Men’s hockey team in Beijing. Or perhaps open some eyes and get another NHL contract in the process.
So it may be a temporary assignment, but in the meantime he helped contributed a goal and assist on Friday night over the Wolves. He followed that up by serving up the overtime game winning goal to give Iowa back-to-back victories over division leader Chicago.
Another player who is back is leading scorer Marco Rossi, fresh off his ‘cup of coffee’ with the Minnesota Wild. Like Staal, the team’s top pick in 2020 provided instant offense delivering two clutch goals in back-to-back games. No doubt Iowa Wild Head Coach Tim Army is happy to have both of them in the lineup.
Iowa Wild (record): (14-13-2-2) 32pts 5th in the Central
20.3% Power Play (8th in the AHL)
85.8% Penalty Kill (4th in the AHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #23 Marco Rossi ~ 8G 17A = 24pts
2. #13 Nick Swaney ~ 9G 12A = 21pts
3. #42 Kyle Rau ~ 9G 12A = 21pts
4. #27 Joe Hicketts ~ 7G 12A = 19pts
5. #18 Mason Shaw ~ 7G 11A = 18pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #55 Cody McLeod ~ 91 PIM’s
2. #18 Mason Shaw ~ 47 PIM’s
3. #19 Joey Cramarossa ~ 42 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #70 Zane McIntyre (3-3-0) 3.22GAA .898%SP
2. #30 Dereck Baribeau (4-7-1) 3.10GAA .903%SP
3. #92 Hunter Jones (2-2-1) 2.77GAA .910%SP
Where Are They Now? Ex-Minnesota Wild High School Coaches
This Where Are They Now feature is going to be a little different than previous editions. This time we’re going to profile a few ex-Wild players who have settled down in the Twin Cities (most of them not originally from Minnesota) to coach various high school programs.
We will have a brief summary of where they are coaching and how their respective teams are doing presently.
Holy Family Fire (Boys) – The southwest metro area private school has had a few ex-Wild players as coaches over the years including Stephane Veilleux. Presently, the Fire’s head coach is former Golden Gopher Erik Westrum who was a key player for Wild’s former American Hockey League Affiliate the Houston Aeros. One his assistant coaches was the longtime line mate of Wes Walz, speedy left winger Antti Laaksonen, who was one of the original Wild players during their formative years. Current record: 6-11
Chaska Hawks (Boys) – The Hawks Head Coach is former Wild winger Matt Cooke (pictured above) who took over the job from former Minnesota Golden Gopher great Dave Snuggerud. Current record: 8-5
Edina Hornets (Boys) – Many people probably know that former Minnesota North Stars defenseman Curt Giles is the Hornets’ head coach, but what perhaps as not is well-known is that their goaltending coach is former Wild puckstopper Josh Harding. Current record: 10-5
Stillwater Ponies (Boys) – The Ponies’ head coach the last few seasons has been former Wild defenseman Greg Zanon. I wonder if he mandates that all of his players must block shots like he did. Current record: 10-4
Wild Prospect Report:
D – Ryan O’Rourke (Sault Ste. Marie, OHL) ~ The Bowman, Ontario native had an assist and was a -1 in Sault Ste. Marie’s 10-4 loss to Windsor on Sunday. On Saturday, he’d add another power play goal to his credit and two helpers in the Greyhounds 5-2 victory over Owen Sound. O’Rourke has 4 goals, 20 assists, 24 points, 33 PIM’s and is a -1 in 25 games.
C – Marat Khusnutdinov (SKA St. Petersburg, KHL) ~ The speedy center had a goal on 1 shot and went 9-for-9 on his draws in SKA St. Petersburg’s 2-1 victory over HC Sochi on Thursday. Khusnutdinov has 5 goals, 7 assists, 12 points, 8 PIM’s and is a +4 in 32 games.
D – Simon Johansson (Ilves, Sm-Liiga) ~ The lanky cousin of the Seattle Kraken’s Alexander Wennberg is starting to pile on the points in Finland’s top leagues as he scores on a slap shot in a 4-3 loss to Kalpa. The goal extended his scoring streak to 4 games. Johansson has 5 goals, 13 assists, 18 points, 12 PIM’s and is a +9 in 36 games.
C / RW – Pavel Novak (Kelowna, WHL) ~ The shifty winger earned 2nd star honors as he had a goal and two helpers on 3 shots in Kelowna’s 6-4 win over Victoria. He also went 11-for-21 on his draws. On Saturday, the Tabor, Czechia-native added two goals, an assist on 3 shots and went 8-for-12 on his draws in the Rockets’ 9-1 thrashing of the Royals. Novak has 16 goals, 24 assists, 40 points, 8 PIM’s and is a +14 in 29 games.
C / LW – Caeden Bankier (Kamloops, WHL) ~ The lanky forward had two assists on 2 shots in the Blazers’ 5-4 loss to the Tri City Americans on Friday. He went 4-for-10 on his draws. On Saturday, he would earn 2nd star honors by tallying a goal and assist on 8 shots and went 7-for-9 on his faceoffs. Bankier has 12 goals, 18 assists, 30 points, 14 PIM’s and is a -1 in 33 games.
D – Carson Lambos (Winnipeg, WHL) ~ The skilled defenseman had two goals and a helper as Winnipeg dominated Moose Jaw 5-1 on Saturday night. Lambos has 7 goals, 14 assists, 21 points, 24 PIM’s and is a +22 in 20 games.
D – Daemon Hunt (Moose Jaw, WHL) ~ The Warriors captain had an assist on 2 shots in Moose Jaw’s 7-1 loss to arch rival Regina. Hunt has 9 goals, 8 assists, 17 points, 19 PIM’s and is a +3 in 25 games.
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