Opportunistic Penguins Edge Wild in 3-2 Victory

The ‘A-ha moment’, not to be confused with the Norwegian pop music band of the 1980’s.  Its a moment where enlightenment is witnessed or realized by one’s self or others, at least that’s my definition for it.  I thought the Wild had their ‘A-ha moment’ during their last game against the Winnipeg Jets where they realized keeping it simple and making sure shots went on goal were a good way to put a pretty decent team on its heels.  It was hustle and a focus on a simple strategy that allowed the Wild to pull off an upset on the road in Winnipeg.

New Year’s often provides an opportunity to reflect on one’s past mistakes or faults with the possibility for improvement.  No doubt the Minnesota Wild and the Pittsburgh Penguins have plenty to reflect on as they enter the new year.  Will the Wild pick up from where they left off on Saturday with another solid performance against the Penguins?

1st Period Thoughts:  The pace was cautious at the start as the Penguins looked to get an early jump on the Wild with its top line.  Minnesota did a decent job of keeping the Penguin’s top line to the perimeter.  The Wild would counter attack and Luke Kunin would draw a holding penalty on Riley Sheahan.  On the power play, the Wild were taking whatever the Penguins’ penalty kill was going to give them as they let loose a few shots from the point.  Later in the power play, Nino Niederreiter would drive deep into the Pittsburgh zone before dropping a pass back to a trailing Mikko Koivu who skated into the high slot before he wired a shot just underneath the arm of Casey DeSmith and it trickled in.  1-0 Wild.  The Penguins top line would go back to work as Crosby tried changing direction multiple times as he tried to open up a shooting lane for Jake Guentzel that was broken up before the Woodbury-native could reach the puck.  A few shifts later the Penguins’ Derick Brassard set up Phil Kessel for a close range chance that was denied by Devan Dubnyk.  The Penguins continued to attack and they’d come dangerously close to tying the game as a long range shot trickled through Dubnyk and off the post and after a scramble in the crease he was able to snow angel the puck underneath his arm for a whistle.  Matt Cullen would make a nice move to walk around Nate Prosser who tried to trip up the 42-year old forward giving the Penguins a power play.  The penalty would prove costly as Kessel set up with a pretty diagonal pass to Crosby for an easy tap in goal.  1-1 game.  The Wild would get a bit sloppy as Mikael Granlund was cross checked by Brian Dumoulin and the Penguins raced into the zone as Kessel set a shot on goal that went off the stick of Ryan Suter and by Dubnyk in the closing seconds of the period giving Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead going into the intermission.

2nd Period Thoughts:  The Wild seemed to want to commit to a more physical style of game as they were finishing their checks with great frequency through the first half of the period.  Luke Kunin and Jordan Greenway were throwing their weight around and the pressure would eventually create a prime scoring chance as a Kunin hit yielded a turnover that Zach Parise pounced on.  DeSmith would make the save but he’d give up a rebound that was swept up by Charlie Coyle who rang a shot off the post.  Minnesota continued to hit and separate Penguin skaters from the puck and it led to more scoring opportunities as a hit by Greenway had a puck make its way to Koivu for a quick shot that DeSmith stopped with a leg pad save.  The Wild would appear to tie the game as Kunin deflected a puck by DeSmith but it was waived off as a high stick after a review the official would literally yell to the sellout crowd that it was a ‘no goal’ to a chorus of boo’s.  Perhaps a bit frustrated, Marcus Foligno would get into it with Zach Aston-Reese after a whistle and both would get two minutes for roughing.  Minnesota would go back on the attack as Granlund and Jared Spurgeon nearly cashed in off the rush.  Minnesota continued to control the puck and Eric Staal had a near goal of his own.  The Penguins would counter attack as Sheahan went top shelf on Dubnyk to make it 3-1 Pittsburgh at about halfway point of the game.  The Wild would have a number of quality chances over the last half of the period but time after time DeSmith would make the save whether it was a breakaway chance by Jonas Brodin or an off the rush bid by Greenway.  On an officiating note, on a few different occasions the Penguins’ defenseman were guilty of interference infractions that were not called.  Either way the Wild would go into the 2nd intermission trailing by two.

3rd Period Thoughts:  The 3rd period would sort devolve into a series of rushes between each team as the Wild tried to claw into the Penguins’ 2-goal lead.  The Penguins appeared to be comfortable with the up-tempo play as they continued to grab and tackle where necessary to slow the Wild down.  Evgeni Malkin would tackle Dubnyk to no call as he tried to reach for a puck near the crease.  Pittsburgh was content to just skate along side the Wild and whenever they tried to pass the puck they’d make a simple stick check and knock it away forcing Minnesota to waste valuable time trying to get the puck back.  The Wild were unable to establish any sustained level of attack in the period.  Late in the period, Parise made a nice little move to the middle of the ice before letting go of a shot to beat DeSmith with about 4 minutes left cutting Pittsburgh’s lead to one, 3-2.  The Wild would pull Dubnyk for an extra attacker with about two minutes left in the game in search of the equalizer.  The Penguins nearly sealed the deal as a Guentzel chance missed just wide.  The Wild’s best chance with the extra attacker came off a Granlund redirection that was fought off by DeSmith and Minnesota came up short 3-2.

Wild Notes:

~ The Wild roster was as follows: Mikko Koivu, Nino Niederreiter, Jordan Greenway, Zach Parise, Charlie Coyle, Luke Kunin, Eric Staal, Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, Eric Fehr, Marcus Foligno, Matt Hendricks, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Greg Pateryn, Matt Bartkowski and Nate Prosser.  Alex Stalock backed up Devan Dubnyk.  J.T. Brown was the healthy scratch.

~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Casey DeSmith, 2nd Star Phil Kessel, 3rd Star Mikko Koivu

~ Attendance was 19,163 at Xcel Energy Center.

~ Matt Bartkowski wore #44 for the Wild joining Andrei Nazarov, Chris Stewart, Justin Falk, Tyler Graovac and Aaron Gavey in sporting the number for Minnesota.

Iowa Wild Report:

Iowa 3, Milwaukee 1

Wild Prospect Report:

C – Damien Giroux (Saginaw, OHL) ~ The Spirit’s captain went 3-for-4 on his draws and chipped in a goal in Saginaw’s 6-4 win over Erie on Saturday.  He would add another goal on 5 shots and went 4-for-6 on his draws in Saginaw’s 5-0 win over Flint.  The Hanmer, Ontario-native has 16 goals, 28 points, 14 PIM’s and is a +9 in 35 games.

G – Dereck Baribeau (Baie-Comeau, QMJHL) ~ The 6’6″ goaltender earned his first win with his new team on Saturday with a 22 save effort in a 4-2 victory for the Drakkar.  Baribeau has a 10-9 record, 2.44 goals against average and an .904% save percentage.

C – Connor Dewar (Everett, WHL) ~ The Pas, Manitoba-native had an assist, 9 shots on goal and went 5 of 9 on his draws in Everett’s 6-1 rout of Prince George on Saturday night.  Dewar has 26 goals, 48 points, 48 PIM’s and is a +15 in 34 games.

LW – Kirill Kaprizov (CSKA Moscow, KHL) ~ the skilled Russian is heating up as he had 2 goals on 8 shots in CSKA’s 4-2 victory over Ak Bars Kazan.  Kaprizov has 19 goals, 29 points, 10 PIM’s and is a +19 in 39 games.