The Minnesota Wild faced the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, January 31, in a quick one-game road trip to close out the month. They were hopeful that Zach Bogosian could return to the lineup, but he wasn’t quite ready and remained out, and Nico Sturm was also out due to an illness. Jesper Wallstedt was then back in the net Filip Gustavsson was inside for their most recent win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday, January 29.
The Wild started out on the back foot but fought back twice during the first period before taking their first lead early in the second period. They added to that late in the period, giving them a two-goal lead. The Wild continued to score through the third period and took the 7-3 victory. In this article we will look at a few points, starting with their goaltending.
Wild’s Wallstedt made the stops
Although he allowed two goals early in the game, Jesper Wallstedt was solid throughout the game. He started the game with a huge save on a Connor McDavid breakaway attempt, and he was solid from there. Once again, some goals went past him, but that’s going to happen when you play a team like the Oilers.
He gave up 42 shots and made 39 saves, the fourth most of the season for him. He made strong saves against all the big names, from McDavid to Leon Draisaitl to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and everyone else. He also stepped up and helped his team offensively when he got the secondary assist on the first power play goal of the game.
Allowing the first goal five minutes into the game to a team like the Oilers could be enough to derail a goaltender’s mentality, but Wallstedt stuck with it. It also helped that his team responded quickly, not once but twice, and was behind him the entire game.
Wild’s big guns step up
In their recent win over the Flames, the Wild started with players not normally on the scoresheet; against the Oilers it was the opposite. They got back into the match after taking an early lead following a goal from Joel Eriksson Ek. When the Oilers then took the lead again, Wild star Kirill Kaprizov answered to tie the game again.
After Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov it was Mats Zuccarello’s turn. He took it a step further after a faceoff win, timing the puck right past the goaltender to give his team its first lead of the game early in the middle period. That wasn’t the ultimate goal either; their next goal was scored by their latest big weapon in Quinn Hughes.
The next two goals came from Vladimir Tarasenko and Tyler Pitlick, both players are not on the list of top scorers, but they gave the Wild the cushion they needed. Their final goal was scored by another big name on the list, and that was Brock Faber, who started contributing more and more to the lineup. The Wild needed a lot of names on the scoresheet to get past the Oilers, and they did.
Wild’s Power Play makes a difference
Although the Wild scored seven goals all night, it was their first two goals that made the difference, and they were both on the power play. They fell behind early, but instead of chasing them, they fought back and used their man advantage to get back into the game, not just once, but twice.
There have been several games this season that could have had different outcomes had the Wild found success with their power play. That was also true against the Oilers. If the Wild hadn’t found a way to respond on consecutive power plays, the game might have gone the other way and the Oilers could have taken the lead.
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While their power play made a clear difference on the scoreboard, their penalty kill also increased to keep the Oilers off the board, which was just as important. The Wild only gave the Oilers two chances on the power play, and they stopped both, which also helped them get the win on top of their own power play.
The Wild return home to play their final home game before the Olympic break on Monday evening, February 2 against the Montreal Canadiens. After that game, they have one more on the way before they’re done until the end of the month.
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