There probably isn’t a bad time to score your first NHL goal, but there’s little doubt that Brock Faber’s came at a great time.
In their regular-season opener, the Wild were battling against a tidal wave of forechecks and rushes from defending Eastern Conference champion Florida — the Panthers were outshooting them 10-2 — and hanging largely on the strength of goaltender Filip Gustavsson when Faber snapped a shot through traffic from just beneath the blue line.
“I saw far side, and kinda just hoped,” Faber said.
The shot sailed untouched past a screened Sergei Bobovsky and found the corner to give the Wild a quick lead and some breathing room in what ended as a 2-0 victory in the regular season opener for both clubs.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored in the second period, and Gustavsson stopped 41 shots for the Wild, who started last season with three consecutive losses.
Faber, a rookie playing his ninth NHL game since leaving the University of Minnesota last spring, gave the Wild time to catch their breath after playing most of the first 7 minutes in their own end.
After his goal, Minnesota began to find its legs.
“It was more just a shot to get it down there than to pick a corner, but (I) got lucky,” Faber said. “Everyone just kinda started skating towards me, so I figured something good happened.”
The Panthers never really stopped coming, but the started to match their intensity in the second period and finally got their forecheck going midway through the period. They took a 2-0 lead when Eriksson Ek scored with a 4-on-3 advantage.
Mats Zuccarello, tripped in the high slot by Dmitri Kulikov to set up the man advantage, sent the puck toward the crease with either a pass or a shot. Eriksson Ek stopped it with his stick, corralled it and poked it into an empty corner to give the Wild a 2-0 lead at 12:56 of the second period.
Asked if he thought it was a shot or a pass, Eriksson Ek said, “I think he was trying to pass it to his buddy Kirill (Kaprizov).”
The Wild seemed to take a 3-0 lead moments later on a forecheck by the third line. Marcus Foligno won a battle in the corner, and Freddie Gaudreau passed to the slot, where Marco Rossi grabbed it.
The center took it wide, turned and fired for a top-shelf goal, but Florida challenged offsides after the goal, and replay showed Foligno had entered the zone before the puck.
It was a disappointing reversal for Rossi, who made the club out of camp last year before being sent to AHL Iowa after going scoreless in 16 games.
“When I went to the bench, Moose told me right away, ‘I might be offside,’ ” Rossi said. “But nothing happens; it’s important to stay positive and not overthink anything. I mean, it’s going to come, and you just have to keep going.”
The Wild’s penalty kill withstood a late barrage in the second period after Jake Middleton was sent to the box for interference, the only penalty called after a long, multi-player fracas near the Wild net with just more than 2 minutes left in the period.
The defense stood stout in the final 2 minutes of the game, as well, when Florida coach Paul Maurice pulled Bobrovsky.
“I think some of our best chances never got to the net,” Maurice said. “They did a really good job blocking shots.”
Playing without top pair defenseman Jared Spurgeon (upper body injury), the Wild finished with 26 blocks.
“It’s not going to be like that every night, that’s for sure,” said Gustavsson, who pitched a shutout in his last preseason game, as well. “It’s on the limit a few times. It’s very close to (being) that the puck goes by me. But sometimes you’re lucky, and you create your own luck.”
The Wild leave Friday for Toronto, where they’ll play their second game Saturday night, then move on to Montreal for a Tuesday night game.
Briefly
Wing Marcus Johansson left Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury after playing 12 minutes, 3 seconds. Evason did not have an update on his condition after the game.
