The Minnesota Wild were looking to keep their first win streak alive when they took on the Calgary Flames in the first of a four-game road trip on Tuesday, Dec. 5. They started things right with the game’s first goal for the fourth straight time and under two minutes into the game. They held the lead through the first period and into the second, where they added two unanswered goals to go up 3-0.
The Flames responded towards the middle of the second to get on the scoreboard, but the Wild returned to retake the three-goal lead to end the period. The Flames came out in the third ready to fight their way back into the game with an early goal that put the Wild on their heels for just a bit. However, they quickly found their stride again, added a fifth goal to seal the deal, and won 5-2. Four out of their five goals came from their big scorers, and that’s where we’ll start.
Wild’s Big Guns Back
Throughout the beginning of the season, a lot of the Wild’s misfortune was due to their big guns, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy not scoring. While Kaprizov was getting points, it wasn’t in goals as everyone wanted, and he was turning the puck over an embarrassing number of times. However, in the past week, his actual game has come around, and his mistakes have decreased dramatically. His success started with his power-play goal, plus an assist for a two-point night against the Flames.
Even stronger than Kaprizov’s game was Boldy, who struggled this season until new head coach John Hynes showed up. He scored two goals and an assist for three points for his first three-point night of the season. He, like Kaprizov, seems to have found his game, and both players are back to smiling when they play.
Hopefully, this is the start of outstanding play for these two, as the Wild will rely on them a lot throughout the season. Games aren’t going to be easy all the time, and when things get hard, these two need to shine.
Wild’s Special Teams Full Speed Ahead
The Wild’s power play and penalty kill have been an absolute rollercoaster this season, but thankfully, it’s been on the way up again since Hynes took over. They did show some hope before Hynes arrived, but it came crashing back down as fast as it went up. In this game, however, both the power play and the penalty kill were successful.
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They scored on one of their three power-play chances, and on the opposite side, they killed off all three of their penalties. It’s clear the Wild made strides to fix their penalty kill as they even changed their formation from a box to a diamond, and it’s worked. They’ve also been more aggressive, forcing things to happen, and it’s helped them clear their zone.
Their power play hasn’t been successful lately because they waste too many chances by passing the puck and allowing the opposing defense to set up. This time, they passed a lot but took shots as well, and they were finally rewarded with a goal that put them up 4-1. Hopefully, the Wild have learned what works and will stick to it as they play through this road trip.
Wild Can Still Improve
The Wild have looked like a whole new team these past few games, and their most recent win was no different. Even though they’ve improved, there are still areas of their game they need to fix to continue this success. The first item on this list won’t surprise anyone who’s been a fan in the last few seasons; their faceoff percentages are an almost constant struggle.
They did fix the next area by the end of the game against the Flames, but they need to be ahead throughout the whole game, and that’s in blocked shots. Again, the Wild came out on top at the end, but they need to focus on blocking shots from start to finish, not just during certain areas of the game, like the penalty kill.
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The final item on the list is clearing the traffic in front of their net. Both Flames’ goals resulted from their goaltender being screened and the defense not doing enough to push the forwards out of the slot. They’ll make their next win easier if they can fix these areas.
Wild’s Next Opponent
The Wild will stay in western Canada to continue this road trip as they travel to Vancouver to face the Canucks on Thursday, Dec. 7, in their first night of a back-to-back. The Canucks have been on a sort of Cinderella story themselves after struggling greatly last season. They’ve turned a corner and are dominating play, so the Wild will have their hands full.
They’ll have to keep J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, and Elias Pettersson off the scoreboard if they hope to win, but they’ll also have to solve the goaltending of Thatcher Demko, who’s led the way for the Canucks this season. Hopefully, the Wild will continue to play strongly and fix their areas of improvement. They can add to their win streak if they can do those things.
