Resilient Effort Allows Wild to Rally to 5-4 Road Win Over San Jose

The Wild’s winning streak ended at 12 games, and maybe I’m alone in this but I’m kind of relieved.  Minnesota had been playing sloppy and on Saturday it caught up to them in a 4-2 loss to Columbus.  At times the Wild’s mistakes were derived from players trying to do too much and for others I think fatigue seems to have settled in.  Now the team has had a few days to relax and recharge before a California-road swing.  It doesn’t mean it will be easy as its first opponent is the Sharks who just happen to be leading the Pacific Division.

Led by former Wild defenseman Brent Burns the Sharks have given prime time assignments to its young players and have been rewarded for it.  San Jose wants to get back to the Stanley Cup finals, and Minnesota wants to show that its December winning streak wasn’t a fluke.  Can the Wild get back to their winning ways in 2017 or will the Sharks make them wish they could live in the past?

1st Period Thoughts:  I think I was like most Wild fans and only having watched maybe a few minutes of the Wild game only to be more riveted by an exciting overtime period in the U-20 World Junior Championship game between Canada and the United States.  Since this is a Wild-focused blog I guess it will give me a chance to talk a bit more about two Wild prospects in this game for Team USA in Luke Kunin and Jordan Greenway.

Kunin had good hustle and seemed to be more of a set up man in overtime.  He had some chances to jam home a puck from in close but his line along with fellow Wild prospect Greenway and Jeremy Bracco were pretty pesky.  Jordan Greenway was a beast.  He used his 6’5″ frame very effectively and it was clear the Canadians just couldn’t hand his strength.  Greenway had a bunch of opportunities late in the game.  Ultimately the Americans won in the shootout and it was a crazy end to an exciting tournament.  Still, I think its foolish to end any high stakes game like this with a shootout.  Stick tap to both United States coaches, players as well as those of Canada for a great finish.

2nd Period Thoughts:  The 2nd period would have the ice tilt against the Wild as the Sharks team speed seemed to put Minnesota on its heels.  The Wild were standing and watching a bit and Devan Dubnyk started to be peppered with shots.  San Jose would break the stalemate as Joonas Donskoi took a pass from Kevin Lebanc and he’d race in clean down the slot and beat Dubnyk with a nice wrist shot.  Dubnyk would stay busy as he denied Michael Haley on a breakaway chance.  San Jose would add to its lead a few minutes later as Brent Burns stepped into a slap shot that was redirected on goal by Joe Pavelski that Dubnyk stopped but Pavelski followed up his redirection and then chipped home the rebound.  2-0 Sharks.  At this point it looked like the Wild were about to be the Sharks’ most recent rout but fortunately they would turn it around in the later portion of the 2nd.  Dubnyk’s great poke check save on a Donskoi breakaway appeared to settle the Wild down a bit.

The Wild had some good chances on its first power play as Mikko Koivu did a nice job of setting up a redirection play for Nino Niederreiter that Martin Jones kicked out to Jared Spurgeon who then fanned what looked looked like a golden opportunity.  To Minnesota’s credit, they kept after it and they’d cut the Sharks lead in half with a power play goal by Eric Staal that appeared to fool Jones after a nice drop pass by Zach Parise.

3rd Period Thoughts:  Minnesota would tie the game just two minutes in as Zach Parise had a nice follow up chance off an initial shot by Nino Niederreiter.  It was the kind of goal that we haven’t seen from the Wild alternate captain all season, where he just wills it into the back of the net.  As great as that moment was some defensive errors nearly derailed just a few minutes later.  It started with Joel Ward crashing the net after a Brent Burns point shot and he shoveled it by Dubnyk.  Just a minute after that the Sharks would extend their lead to two, when Patrick Marleau flew by a flatfooted Mikko Koivu and then rifled a shot by Dubnyk who appeared to be frozen in place as the puck found the twine.  Then Minnesota would simply take over the game.  The Wild would win nearly ever race for loose pucks and this would start turn into scoring chances.  Minnesota would answer back a minute after Marleau’s goal as puck sort of was swept up in the slot by Parise who put a shot on goal that was stopped by Jones but he couldn’t stop Staal on the rebound as he cut the Sharks’ lead back to one.  The Wild would then tie the game a few minutes later as Mikael Granlund set up Jason Zucker for a shot from in close that Jones stopped but Koivu swept in and then gathered the puck and get a shot around the Sharks netminder.  4-4 game.  Minnesota wasn’t done there as the Granlund, Zucker, Koivu line had an incredible shift where they passed and moved the puck with tremendous precision where Granlund ultimately set up Koivu for a one-timer that beat Jones giving the Wild its first lead, 5-4.  The Wild continued to apply offensive pressure down the stretch and the Sharks just didn’t have any push back.  Beyond one or two flurries the Wild were in control and they’d skate away with a 5-4 victory in front of a stunned and dejected San Jose crowd.

It was an impressive 3rd period rally for the Wild where the team’s legs and offense came to life which allowed Minnesota to steal 2 points away from the Sharks.  Offensively the Wild continue to show great confidence and this time it was its veteran group that carried most of the load which is another sign of the team’s improved scoring depth.  The kids have done a lot of heavy lifting beyond Eric Staal but this time Parise played like the pre-back injury Parise and Koivu is relishing the chance to be the shooter.

Defensively the Wild have to feel as though they’ve been off script as they’ve given up 4 goals in 4 of their last 5 games.  I don’t think Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau, nor should the team be comfortable with that.  Part of this is a slight drop in Devan Dubnyk’s game and the other part is defensive zone coverage which has been a little inconsistent and that has resulted in more pucks finding the back of the net.  Boudreau said in his post-game press conference that Darcy Kuemper will play in at least one of the next two games and I wouldn’t even mind seeing him in both just to give Dubnyk a rest and a chance to refocus.  The Wild need to get control of this, and soon because I don’t think we can rely on scoring 5 goals a night in order to win games.  Yet, its certainly fun to watch.

Wild Notes:

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

~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Mikko Koivu, 2nd Star Eric Staal, 3rd Star Zach Parise

~ Attendance was 17,562 at SAP Center.

Iowa Wild Report:

Iowa 5, Grand Rapids 6

The Wild have not had a lot of luck playing up in Grand Rapids and that would continue Wednesday night.  Grand Rapids got off to a fast start with two goals in a span of about 2 minutes as former University of Wisconsin stud Ben Street lit the lamp twice against Alex Stalock.  Iowa would answer back with a goal (on the power play) of its own just 30 seconds after Street’s 2nd goal when Zack Mitchell found the twine behind the Griffins’ Eddie Pasquale.  Grand Rapids would then add another early goal in the 2nd to put themselves up 3-1 on Tomas Nosek‘s goal.  Iowa would then respond with two goals of its own as Zac Dalpe and Christoph Bertschy scored tying the game at 3-3.  Unfortunately the Griffins were able to regroup and score two more goals late in the period as Dominic Turgeon and Nosek gave Grand Rapids a 5-3 lead going into the 3rd.  In the 3rd Iowa would make it interesting as former Grand Rapids star Teemu Pulkkinen would score his 12th goal of the season for Iowa cutting the Griffins lead to one.  Grand Rapids would then get a key insurance goal as Joe Hicketts’ point shot found its way behind Stalock to put the Griffins back up by two.  Iowa would score a minute later as Grayson Downing tallied his 6th goal of the season but unfortunately the Wild could not add another and they’d fall 6-5.  Stalock had 27 saves in the loss.

Wild Prospect Report:

LW – Brandon Duhaime (Providence, H-East) ~ playing on the 2nd line the Florida-native tallied an assist and 2 shots on goal in the Friar’s 3-1 win over Denver on Saturday night.  Duhaime has 2 goals, 6 points, 16 PIM’s, -4 in 18 games.

C – Dmitri Sokolov (Sudbury, OHL) ~ the skilled Russian sniper added two more goals to his total, as well as 5 shots on goal in Sudbury’s 3-1 win over Barrie on Saturday.  Sokolov has 24 goals, 34 points, 4 PIM’s and is a -20 in 33 games.

LW – Jordan Greenway (USA, WJC’s) ~ the big power forward was a force for Team USA as he had a goal and two assists in the Americans’ 3-1 win over Canada on Saturday afternoon.  He then added the game winner in a 3-2 victory over Switzerland in the medal round.  The Boston University sophomore then had an assist in Team USA’s 4-3 shootout win over Russia.  Greenway has 3 goals, 8 points, 2 PIM’s and is a +3 in 7 games in the tournament.

LW – Kirill Kaprizov (Russia, WJC’s) ~ the Russian team captain continues to have one of the best performances of the World Junior Championships as he opened the medal round with 2 goals, 4 shots on goal in Russia’s 4-0 rout of Denmark.  The Salavat Yulaev Ufa star had a goal in Russia’s 4-3 shootout loss to Team USA in the semi-finals and then had another goal in Russia’s bronze medal winning 2-1 win over Sweden.  Kaprizov has 9 goals, 12 points, and is a +6 in 6 games.

C – Joel Eriksson Ek (Sweden, WJC’s) ~ the Wild’s top pick from 2015 had a big day in the opening day of the medal round at the World Junior Championships as he had 2 goals, 6 shots on goal in their 8-3 thrashing of Slovakia. The Farjestads winger had a goal in Sweden’s 5-2 loss to Canada in the semi finals.  Eriksson Ek has 6 goals, 8 points, and is a +8 in 6 games.

C – Luke Kunin (USA, WJC’s) ~ Minnesota’s top pick from 2016 is serving as captain on Team USA and he had a goal in against Switzerland.  The University of Wisconsin sophomore had a goal in Team USA’s 4-3 shootout win over Russia.  Kunin has 2 goals, 4 points, 25 PIM’s and is a +3 in 6 games.