The Minnesota Wild hosted the St. Louis Blues for their first game at home since before the Olympic break. They returned from a road back-to-back over the weekend that resulted in a win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night, Feb. 26, and then a hard loss to the Utah Mammoth on Friday night, Feb. 27. They looked to redeem themselves against the Blues in front of their hometown crowd, where they held a quick ceremony for their returning Olympians.
Filip Gustavsson was back in the net, and while they remained without Jonas Brodin, they added Marcus Foligno to the injured list. It was unclear how long he will be out for, but he was unavailable against the Blues after playing in their loss to the Mammoth. In the good news department, Joel Eriksson Ek was back in the lineup after taking a high stick to the eye, also against the Mammoth.
The game started out scoreless, but the Wild jumped to a lead late in the second. The Blues answered back a couple of minutes later to end the period 1-1. It was a more active battle in the third, but the Blues scored twice in the third to take the 3-1 win. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways from the game, starting with their sluggish start.
Wild Started Out Slow
For the second straight night, the Wild had a number of chances to start the game but struggled to get anything going. Both teams lacked a jump in their game, and although there were glimpses of speed, they disappeared quickly. They started to show more of their game throughout the third and nearly took the lead a number of times until the Blues put in the empty net goal to seal the win.
With eight guys competing in the Olympics and three of them winning gold, it’s expected that there would be some hiccups when they returned after being away for two weeks. However, it starts to get frustrating because they were able to scrap together a win against the Avalanche, and although the loss to the Mammoth wasn’t great, it wasn’t completely surprising because bad games happen. Now, to this loss against a struggling team in the Blues, and they couldn’t play consistently to get past them, it leads to frustration.
“I think there’s got to be a little more physicality to our game. I think that our first guy coming in is guessing a little bit, where he’s gotta be a little bit more direct on the first guy and I think it’s a little bit too easy coming out, the structure is there but structure doesn’t, you can be in good structure but there’s gotta be a little bit more I think edge and physicality arriving with some ill-will more than we did. I would say probably particularly the last two games, I thought the second period we did a better job of that. I feel like we were in, we were more physical…” said John Hynes to the media after the game about the overall effort.
Wild’s Kaprizov Sets Record
It was no surprise Kirill Kaprizov caught Marián Gáborik for franchise goals all-time, but it doesn’t take away any of the excitement. Gáborik scored his final Wild goal back in 2009, and the record held for 17 years before Kaprizov tied it. He’s broken a number of Wild records already, and for him to reach this one, it just shows how strong of a player he is.
With the arrival of Quinn Hughes, Kaprizov hasn’t been in the spotlight as much, but that hasn’t stopped his production. He’s continued to do well, and Hughes has been a big part of that. He’s assisted on many of Kaprizov’s goals, including the record-tying goal against the Blues. While they didn’t get the win, it’s still something for Wild fans to celebrate as Kaprizov continues to produce for the Wild even when they don’t come out on top.
“Yeah, I mean you see him(Kaprizov) everyday so you just know how good he is, I think it was just a matter of time when he was going to break it so yeah, the more he scores the better chance we have to win a game so it would be good if he kept going,” said Joel Eriksson Ek to the media about Kaprizov tying the record.
Wild’s Power Play Needs to Continue
Since the week before the Olympic break began, the Wild’s power play has continued to find success. They’ve scored a power play goal in seven straight games, including against the Blues, and it’s made a difference in their record. They had six straight wins prior to their loss against the Mammoth, which also saw a shorthanded goal scored against the Wild, but outside of that, it’s been pretty smooth sailing for the power play.
Clearly, the loss is disappointing, but if their power play can continue to be successful, it will make a difference, as it has all season. It nearly made the difference in their game against the Blues, as it was the first goal the Wild recorded and gave them a slight jump that quickly went away. With this being the second loss in a row, hopefully, they can shake it out of their system and get their game back from before the Olympic break.
“That was a heck of a play, I think even by Bolds (Boldy) he got, you know Kirill (Kaprizov) did a great job going to the net and then I think it was a little bit of a tip play but for Bolds to gather it and then Kirill goes right to the net, it was a heck of a play,” Hynes said during his press conference about the power play goal Kaprizov scored.
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The Wild will remain at home for one more game on Tuesday, Mar. 3, against the Tampa Bay Lightning for a late-night puck drop slated for 8:30 p.m. CT. They will then head out on the road for a quick trip to Vegas and Colorado as Grand Casino Arena hosts the Minnesota boys’ state hockey tournament. Following the tournament, the Wild will be back for four straight home games and will hopefully be able to string some wins together.
