In a Saturday night tilt between two Western Conference teams, the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks took to the ice looking to add another win to their season. The Canucks were coming off a big shootout win against the St. Louis Blues, and the Wild were looking to avoid losing a sixth straight game. With this being both teams’ first games in November, they definitely wanted to start the month off with a win.
Game Recap
Both Minnesota and Vancouver aimed to draw first blood in this game. The Canucks and Wild had several chances to earn the first goal, but were unable to be the first team to put one on the board in the first 15 minutes of the game. Then a power play chance sent the Wild to the man advantage, and they looked to capitalize. On the advantage, Joel Eriksson Ek batted the puck out of mid-air and sent it to Vladimir Tarasenko, and he slid the puck to his backhand, beating Thatcher Demko five-hole to go up 1-0. Vancouver attempted to tie the game before the end of the period but was unable to beat Filip Gustavsson, and both teams headed into the first intermission with Minnesota leading 1-0.
The Canucks found a way to answer back in the second period. Vancouver broke into the Minnesota zone, and Mackenzie MacEachern took a shot on Filip Gustavsson. The rebound popped out perfectly to Drew O’Connor, and he deposited the puck into the back of the net to tie the game 1-1. Near the six-minute mark of the period, the Wild got the lead back with a goal by Marco Rossi. Tarasenko took a shot from the point that found its way to Demko, and the rebound came right to Rossi, and he roofed the puck to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead. After gaining the lead back once again, the Wild continued to shut down the Canucks offence for the remainder of the period, and the score remained 2-1 after two periods.
Shortly after the final period began, Minnesota added to its lead. Ryan Hartman was sprung on a 2-on-1, and he shot a puck off of Demko’s glove and into the net, giving the Wild a 3-1 lead near the start of the frame. Then, over a minute later, Demko let in a bad goal by Jonas Brodin. Brodin came off the left wing boards and shot the puck from a bad angle, and it somehow beat the Vancouver goalie to put the Wild up 4-1. The Canucks fought back with a goal off the draw from O’Connor that brought the score to 4-2.
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With the Canucks down by two goals, they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker to try to pull to within one goal. The Canucks tried to gain control in the offensive zone to pull closer to the Wild. Minnesota forward Ryan Hartman got the puck near his own goal line and fired the puck down the ice and into the Canucks net to lead 5-2. The Wild held on from that point on and ended their five-game losing streak with a 5-2 win.
The Wild now look to continue their winning ways in their next game against the Nashville Predators, and the Canucks look to get back to their winning ways in their next one, which is also against the Predators.
