The Minnesota Wild started their game against the Calgary Flames already at a disadvantage. With two of their best defensemen out with injury, they would have to rely heavily on Jake Middleton, a surprise on the first pairing, and Brock Faber, a rookie. Add to that the firing of the Wild’s Assistant General Manager along with an investigation that found verbal abuse allegations against the General Manager Bill Guerin as credible, and it was enough to understand a loss. But the Wild weren’t ready to roll over and die. Instead, they won an electric shootout win in front of a home crowd at Xcel Energy Center to show how much they’re committed to winning.
The Wild came out strong, dominating at the start of the game and culminating with a goal from Matt Boldy, who has seven goals in his last eight games. After an injury early in the season and time spent getting back into the swing of things, Boldy has found his game again. Head Coach John Hynes mentioned in his post-game interview that Boldy seems to be working on his 200-foot game. Lately, he’s been able to battle the opponent as well as put the puck in the net.
While the Flames tried hard to get the puck deep into the Wild’s zone, they had trouble matching the hard, physical play that the Wild brought with them. At the beginning of the second period, they were starting to grip the stick tight and force plays. Unfortunately, the Wild took their physical play too far and took three undisciplined penalties as a result. This allowed the Flames to tie up the score 1-1 as the second period ended.
The third period was an interesting back-and-forth. The Flames scored a short-handed goal, while the Wild came back to tie it up with a 5 v 5 goal. The third period ended with a 2-2 tie.
Coming into the overtime period, the question was how exactly new Head Coach John Hynes would handle it. Under previous head coach Dean Evason, the overtime 3 on 3 line would consist of Joel Eriksson Ek, Kirill Kaprizov, and Jared Spurgeon. With Spurgeon out with a day-to-day lower-body injury, it was unknown how Hynes would handle the overtime. Both Spurgeon and Brodin usually play larger parts of the overtime play. Thankfully, rookie Brock Faber stepped in, playing a team-high 30:08 minutes on the ice during the entirety of three periods plus overtime.
After the allotted five minutes of overtime with no goals, the game was headed to a shootout. Both of the first shooters (Mats Zuccarello and Yegor Sharangovich) scored. The second round of Kirill Kaprizov and Elias Lindholm both missed. In the third round of Freddy Gaudreau and Jonathan Huberdeau had their shots saved.
Finally, the fourth round decided the game. Boldy ended up scoring on Dan Vladar, Calgary’s goalie. Then, Filip Gustavsson saved Nazem Kadri’s shot on goal to win the game. Minnesota came away with two points, while Calgary came away with one.
Tonight’s win for the Wild was only possible thanks to a few players. Brock Faber played 30:08, the fifth-highest TOI for rookies in Wild history. Jake Middleton also played a career-high 26:30 minutes on the top pairing with Faber during this game. Marco Rossi, the other rookie on the team, reached ten goals tonight, the second fastest to double-digit goals in Wild history.
The Wild face the Vancouver Canucks at home on Saturday, 12/16, after a 2-0 loss one week ago in Vancouver. For more Minnesota Wild news and fun stories, check out Her Wild Side Hockey Podcast.
