The Minnesota Wild came up big on a very important night for hockey in Minnesota when they took on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, April 8. The Wild were playing for playoff position, while the Minnesota Gophers were playing for the NCAA Championship, which they unfortunately lost 3-2 in overtime to the Quinnipiac Bobcats. One of the Wild’s prospects, Brock Faber, was amongst the second-place Gophers and now that his college career is over, it’s planned that he’ll join the Wild roster this coming week.
Switching back to the Wild, for the third game in a row they got behind early in the first. Despite some early chances for the Wild, the Blues were the ones who scored just over five minutes into the game. While the Blues were riding the momentum of that goal, the Wild put themselves in a tight spot by taking a penalty, but it turned out to be in their favor.
The Wild went on to score back-to-back shorthanded goals and went from behind 1-0 to a 2-1 lead in a matter of 20 seconds. They ended that crazy first period with the lead and added two more goals in the second to take a 4-1 lead. However, the Blues fought hard and made a partial comeback with two goals of their own to get within one in the third, but the Wild sealed the deal with an empty netter and left with a 5-3 win.
Hartman Oh Hartman
In the Wild’s game against the Blues a little over a month ago, Ryan Hartman was caught in the middle when he clipped Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington’s leg after scoring a goal. Binnington responded by punching Hartman in the face with his blocker still on and after nearly getting in a fight with Marc-André Fleury, Binnington was ejected and received a two-game suspension. This time around, things were a little bit quieter but Hartman was still right in the middle.
Binnington was in net for the Blues, but the Wild’s rotation put Filip Gustavsson in net instead of Fleury, and while the goaltender fireworks weren’t ignited, the Hartman and Binnington ones were. While the Blues were up 1-0, the Wild took a penalty and things didn’t look great until Hartman expertly poke-checked the puck away from the Blues player and took it down on a breakaway. Binnington came out to challenge Hartman, missed on his poke-check attempt and Hartman carried it in to score shorthanded.
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Hartman’s celebration included a slight mock towards Binnington and he wasn’t done being a pest yet. He did almost the exact same poke-check with a little more physicality on a Blues forward under a minute later and made a beautiful backhand pass to a waiting Sam Steel who put it away for their first lead of the game. Hartman almost singlehandedly tied the game and got the Wild their lead when they were in a bit of a rough spot. Hopefully, he’ll be able to keep this up especially with Kirill Kaprizov back in the lineup.
Kirill the Thrill Is Back
Probably the biggest news of the day besides their win was that after being out for nearly a month, Kaprizov was back. He was injured in their game against the Winnipeg Jets when Logan Stanley tried to check Kaprizov and fell on him, which resulted in Kaprizov being out for 3-to-4 weeks. Obviously, no one expected him to be back 110 percent like normal but he of course surprised everyone and looked phenomenal.
Kaprizov was up to his normal antics of constantly being on the move and outskating nearly everyone around him. Did he look a little bit off compared to his above-human capabilities? Sure, he maybe wasn’t exactly himself from before, but he was still leagues above others.
Kaprizov wasn’t able to put up any points in his return, but he did have some chances with his three shots on goal plus a takeaway. He was also back to his familiar spot on the power play that has desperately needed his presence since he was gone. Hopefully, he’ll be back to scoring goals soon since he didn’t have any trouble re-joining the lineup.
Gaudreau, Spurgeon & Penalty Kill
While Hartman was ripping it up on the penalty kill, Frédérick Gaudreau snatched a power play goal. Gaudreau is normally the magician while shorthanded, but his power-play unit found a way to get one by Binnington and increased their lead to two goals. Gaudreau’s power play unit included Wild newcomer Gustav Nyquist who was making his Wild debut after missing most of the season with an injury. Nyquist not only assisted on Gaudreau’s goal for his first Wild point, but he also assisted on the Wild’s fourth goal by Jared Spurgeon.
Nyquist recorded two assists, one hit, and one blocked shot in his first game and proved he can fit in with Steel and Marcus Foligno. His arrival in the lineup along with Kaprizov’s was nearly perfect timing with the new absences of Joel Eriksson Ek, Oskar Sundqvist, and Mason Shaw. Eriksson Ek and Shaw are big losses to the penalty kill as well but it stepped up big this game.
Thankfully, the Wild cleaned up their penalties compared to their previous games and their penalty kill stepped up to take care of the two penalties they did take. They went above and beyond by scoring not just one but two shorthanded goals and now have 13 shorthanded goals for the season, just behind the Vancouver Canucks with 15 and the Edmonton Oilers with 17. If the Wild can keep getting these results while on the penalty kill, they will be in very good shape.
Wild vs Blackhawks
The end of the regular season is fast approaching as the Wild have just three games left and their next one is on the road against another division rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks won’t be in the postseason but that doesn’t mean they aren’t competitive. The Wild are going to need those two points and to do that they’ll have to stop Andreas Athanasiou, Seth Jones, Jonathan Toews, and Tyler Johnson.
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The Wild’s offense will also have to find a way past either Alex Stalock or Petr Mrazek to continue their winning ways. They’ll have to make sure their offense hits fast and early to not allow the Blackhawks to get any foothold on the scoring. They’ll also have to continue to watch their penalties, and if they can do those things, they’ll get by the Hawks and add two more points for a crucial playoff spot.
