The Minnesota Wild played game number 82 to finish up the regular season on the road against the Nashville Predators on Thursday, April 13. In terms of points, the game didn’t matter for the Wild who had already sealed up third place in the Central Divison. As for the Nashville Predators, they were officially eliminated from the postseason thanks to the Wild’s loss to the Jets on Tuesday, April 11.
Explore everything hockey with THW’s Hockeypedia pages.
Despite the game not mattering, both teams came to play hard and get one more win before the end of the regular season. The Wild have gotten in a bad habit of allowing the other team to score first and the same happened against the Predators. The Wild were on a power play when the Predators capitalized and scored while shorthanded to take the lead.
However, the Wild found their motivation quicker than in previous games as they scored to tie it just six minutes later. The scoring wasn’t done yet as the home team snuck in one more goal before the end of the period to take back the lead 2-1. The second period was rather quiet with just a lone goal by the Wild to tie things up. The third period is where things got interesting as the Predators scored to take the lead for the third time but the Wild weren’t done as they scored to tie it and force overtime.
The Wild may have performed a comeback but they weren’t able to finish as Juuse Pärssinen threw one between his legs and beat Filip Gustavsson in overtime to take the 4-3 victory. While there weren’t any postseason positions on the line in this game, it was a good experience for many young Wild players to show what they have and also get some ice time just in case someone gets injured during the playoffs.
Wild’s “Freddy Hockey”
The Columbus Blue Jackets have “Johnny Hockey” who also goes by Johnny Gaudreau but the Wild have “Freddy Hockey” or Frédérick Gaudreau who was on fire against the Predators. He had just re-signed for another five years earlier in the day and then went on to score two of the Wild’s three goals. He scored their first goal of the game that tied things up at one and gave his team a boost of momentum that it greatly needed.
Then in the second with his team down by one again, he scored the Wild’s next goal and tied things up a second time. He didn’t play the third period due to “maintenance issues” according to Dean Evason in a tweet by The Athletic’s Michael Russo. However he’s been playing great lately and has really proven himself as the center to be paired with Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson. He’s also great on the penalty kill which will really help with the absence of Joel Eriksson Ek who remains week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Wild’s New Faces
The Wild didn’t bring Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, or Marcus Johansson on their road trip to get them some well-needed rest before the playoffs start next week. That meant they had to bring some newer faces along like Brock Faber, Marco Rossi, Nic Petan, Sammy Walker, Damien Giroux, and Nick Swaney.
Related: 3 Things Wild Need to Improve on Before 2023 Postseason
Latest News & Highlights
Petan stepped up with help from Walker and Giroux to tie things up in the third. The goal was his first of the season while the assists were the first-ever NHL assists for both Walker and Giroux. While it’s unlikely any of these players will be on the roster come playoff time, it is possible they could slide into a spot if someone else gets injured or can’t play.
Whether they play in the playoffs or not, these young players are the future of the Wild and they will be fun to watch as they progress in their future careers. The Wild are very lucky in the depth of their lineup especially this bunch they brought against the Predators.
Wild’s 4th Line Magic
The Wild’s fourth line of Brandon Duhaime, Connor Dewar, and Ryan Reaves continued to show off their chemistry when they took on the Predators. They didn’t record any points but they came very close a number of times and the entire line spent time on both the power play and special teams. Without their top players in the lineup, the fourth line tried to step up behind the second line and they did, just without any points.
They did deliver physically with a combined nine hits but Duhaime was responsible for a team-high seven of those. With the top line resting it may take the Wild a little time to get adjusted in that first postseason game and they’ll need the fourth line to help set the tone early once the playoffs get started. It would be great if they could contribute both physically and offensively to give them an extra edge.
Wild’s Next Opponent
The Wild officially finished the regular season with a record of 46-25-11 for 103 points and will face either the Dallas Stars or the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the 2023 Postseason. As of now, it’s unknown which team will take the Central Division but they’ll obviously have to be ready no matter who they face.
If they face the Avalanche they’ll obviously have to find a way to shut down players like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, J.T. Compher, and numerous others. The Avalanche will continue to be without Gabriel Landeskog who will miss the entire playoffs due to ongoing knee issues that kept him out of the regular season. The Wild will also have to figure out the goaltending tandem of Pavel Francouz and Alexandar Georgiev if they want to get past the Avalanche.
If they face the Stars they’ll have to stop Jason Robertson, Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, and the rest of their talented lineup. However, the Stars also have a strong goaltending tandem in Jake Oettinger and Scott Wedgewood.
It doesn’t matter who the Wild face they’re going to have to play the best they can to get out of the first round. They’ll have to control their penalties, have strong goaltending, plus good offense and defense. If they can do those things they’ll give themselves the best chance to win.
