The Minnesota Wild played their final home game before the Olympic break on Monday evening, Feb. 2, when they hosted the Montréal Canadiens. They had some good news as they got Zach Bogosian back from injury and Nico Sturm back from illness, but Marcus Foligno was out with an illness, as was Jesper Wallstedt, so Cal Peterson backed up instead. They did lose Daemon Hunt in the first period after he was hit with a puck, but head coach John Hynes said after the game that Hunt was okay and wasn’t expected to miss their next game.
Filip Gustavsson was back in the net, and the game started out in favor of the Wild. They scored in the first minute of the game, which gave them an early lead, and they added to it later in the period. The Canadiens answered back to get within one going into the second. The Canadiens responded again in the second period, which tied things up 2-2 going into the third.
Regulation ended tied 3-3, and overtime was needed. The Wild got a power play in overtime and snagged the win 4-3. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with how they hung on.
Wild Hang On
Once again, the Wild found themselves in a hole after getting an early lead, only to dig deep and get the win in overtime. They looked to be in control during the first period as they jumped to a two-goal lead with a goal in the first 38 seconds and another late in the period. However, the Canadiens aren’t a team to back down, and they surged back late in the first and late in the second period to tie the game 2-2.
Then they scored early in the third, and it looked like the Wild may be in some big trouble, but they found a way to tie it and force overtime. Then they drew a penalty, which rarely happens in overtime, and their hero, Kirill Kaprizov, got the game-winner as he’s done so many times over his career. It was the Wild’s 22nd game that went into overtime, and their 15th game at home.
“Yeah, finding ways to win, that’s what you gotta do, and they got a really good team over there obviously. Last one we were coming off a back-to-back, and they took it to us, so I thought it was a pretty even fight tonight, and thankfully we came out on top,” said Brock Faber about the hard-fought effort to get the win.
“Yeah, it’s deadly, you have those four guys on the ice, you know you’re going to get some good looks, and you know they’re going to get chances, you just hope the goalie doesn’t stand on his head. The thing that could stop it obviously is if you get some big-time saves in the critical moments, as we saw the last time we were down 4-on-3, we got two huge saves on that to be able to kill it off, and that’s usually what you get,” said head coach John Hynes about the power play game winner in overtime.
Wild’s Top Scorers Contribute
The Wild jumped to an early lead with a goal 38 seconds into the game from Joel Eriksson Ek, who has seven points in his last six games since returning from injury. He started off hot at the beginning of the season and was very up and down in terms of points, but his behind-the-scenes work was always top-notch regardless of point production.
Eriksson Ek’s teammate, Kirill Kaprizov, scored his 31st goal of the season later in the period to give his team the 2-1 lead. He’s moving his way up the scoring ranks for the Wild, but he’s already their top point-producing defenseman outside of Quinn Hughes, and that’s Brock Faber. He scored early in the third to get his team back into the game after falling behind just 12 seconds into the final period.
“Yeah, I think…4-on-3 is easier than 5-on-4 for sure and it’s nice to have 4-on-3’s,” said Kaprizov about the power play in overtime and continued on being tired of overtimes, “I don’t know, it’s a part of the game and rather go into overtime I think if you have puck control more it’s easy to play, because without puck it’s a little harder to play 3-on-3 defensively…”
Wild’s Defense Needs to Step Up Defensively
The Wild had a solid first period that was followed by a not-so-great second period. They allowed the Canadiens to push their way back into the game. While the first goal was just a spectacular effort by Brendan Gallagher, the second goal was one the defense should want back. All of the Wild players on the ice were too concerned with the player carrying the puck; they forgot about the weak side.
Ivan Demidov snuck right past the defense and was waiting wide open for the pass he eventually sent past Gustavsson to tie the game up 2-2. The Canadiens’ third goal of the game early in the third was also a result of a defenseman being caught out of position, which left a forward to chase down the Canadiens’ forward.
“Well, yes and no, I guess we have the puck more, and usually more in the offensive zone so I do less but then you know [we’re] giving up a few different chances than before when we’re spending a lot of time in the o-zone and then when we try and make plays, it hits a stick or something and they come on a two-on-one or a three-on-two so those are the type of chances [we’re] getting more against us now and have to work on them,” said Filip Gustavsson about the different type of play that happens when Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber are on the ice.
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“No, I thought they were great, I’m glad that we won the game because I would say that those two goals in particular are great opportunities I think to teach managing the game, your shift length, your attention to detail particularly at those moments in the game, I think we could have done a better job in those siutations,” said Hynes about the first two Canadiens goals that allowed them to climb back into the game.
The Wild have one more game on the road against the Nashville Predators before they take off for the Olympic break. That game will be on Wednesday evening, Feb. 4, and then they’ll be off until Thursday, Feb. 26, when they take on the Colorado Avalanche on the road.
