The Minnesota Wild hosted their division rival and likely first-round playoff opponent, the Dallas Stars, on a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, Mar. 21. They had to do so without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, who remain day-to-day, and Marcus Foligno was still out as well. They held a pregame ceremony for Jared Spurgeon, who recently hit the 1,000-game mark, where he was presented with a silver stick with his family on the ice.
Filip Gustavsson was in the net, and the game started out in favor of the Stars. It was a tight back-and-forth game, and the Wild found a way to tie it late in the second. It remained tied throughout the third, and overtime was needed. The Wild pushed through and took the win in overtime, 2-1. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the player who’s been on fire for them lately.
Wild’s Tarasenko Comes Up Big
When the Wild brought in Vladimir Tarasenko, quite a few scratched their heads because he was not who they were expecting, but he’s proven to be very valuable, especially in the last few games. He’s a strong third-line player who can move the puck and has a wicked shot that many talked about in training camp, and now have gotten to see how good it truly is.
His contributions are more behind the scenes than front and center. He’s proven to be strong on the power play, and he provides quite a few blocked shots as well. He’s had four goals in the past five games, and although they haven’t always been wins, he’s getting on the board at the right time, which will hopefully carry over into the postseason.
“Well we’ve used him a little bit prior to tonight, I think that he adds some elements, obviously his ability to score, he’s a really smart player, so I’ve added him in I’d say over the last 10 games where he’s had some opportunities 3-on-3 and you know tonight he made good on it so it’s another guy I think we can add in here down the stretch and continue to play, and allows us to maybe use a few more guys and a few different combinations…,” said head coach John Hynes to the media after the game about Tarasenko’s efforts.
Wild’s Penalty Kill Ups & Downs
The Wild’s penalty kill has been pretty strong this season, especially lately, but against the Stars, it has always been a weakness. The Stars scored just 11 seconds into their first power play of the game, which gave them the early lead. However, after that goal, the Wild locked their penalty kill in and were able to kill the next one off without any issues. They even killed off a double-minor late in the third that kept the game tied, and they nearly scored a shorthanded goal.
Since this is likely going to be a first-round matchup in the postseason, the Wild have to be able to kill off penalties against them. For those who remember, a few seasons ago, the penalty kill was basically what broke the Wild when they faced the Stars in the postseason. Hopefully, they can use what they learned in this game and improve it as the season moves into its final regular-season games.
“Oh, it’s huge, you take a lot of pride in that as people that are on it and you can hear the bench and how excited they are for us but the guys that go over the boards and know it’s a job that we have to do right to give ourselves a chance to win so you need that, you need that now and you need that going forward…,” said Nick Foligno to the media after the game when asked about the penalty kill’s efforts.
Wild’s Newcomer Steps Up
Everyone was pretty excited when the Wild brought in Minnesota native Bobby Brink at the trade deadline. He’s proven to be a solid third liner and, prior to this game, had a goal for one point, but against the Stars, he came up big with a breakaway goal that beat goaltender Jake Oettinger and tied the game for the Wild.
He’s fit in pretty seamlessly, and although he missed a few games after a rough crash into the boards, he’s bounced back well. It’s good to see others produce besides the top players, especially against a top team like the Stars. Hopefully, it can continue, and the Wild can go into the postseason with everyone rolling. He nearly had a second goal in the game as he led the charge in the final minutes of the third.
Related: Wild Can Handle Kaprizov’s Day-to-Day Injury; Need Him Healthy for the Playoffs
“I mean, it’s a little bit of adrenaline, first game back home, it’s the type of thing where yeah, maybe you kind of struggle with it, but…you kind of find it in moments, luckily I found it there,” said Brink to the media after the game when asked about how he scored his goal.
This win was the final Wild home game for just under two weeks. They’ll be on the road for their next three games, and when they return, they’ll have four days off before they play again. Their first match-up on this road trip will be against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night, Mar. 24. Hopefully, they can keep heading in the right direction and record another win.
