The Minnesota Wild took on the Colorado Avalanche at home on Friday, November 28, after being on the road for the past week. It was Native American Heritage Night, and in celebration the Wild had their typical broadcast, but they also offered a broadcast in Ojibwe for the first time in Minnesota, courtesy of FanDuel Sports Network.
The Wild got Ryan Hartman back from a lower-body injury, but they also lost Marcus Foligno to a lower-body injury. While the Wild had a good run throughout November, they met the best team in the NHL in the Avalanche. It was an even first period that ended with the Avalanche taking the lead, but the Wild fought back to take the lead in the third.
However, the Avalanche are the best team in the league for a reason and they fought back to force both overtime and a shootout. The wilderness scored twice for the Avalanche’s once and won 3-2. In this article, we’ll look at a few findings, starting with how this was a big test for the Wild.
Wild’s true test
This was considered the Wild’s ‘measuring stick’ game as they faced the number one team in the league and were strong. Their overall effort was much better than their previous game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, November 26. They did win that game, but their effort was all over the place and almost came too late.
Against the Avalanche, the Wild were strong from the start with both speed and aggressiveness. They didn’t back down, and even though the Avalanche got on the board first, the Wild pushed back harder. They made some mistakes, as any team does, but instead of getting dejected or frustrated and conceding more goals, they sharpened up and played their game.
“Yeah, these games are fun. They’re the best team in the NHL right now. So it’s a test, I mean you’re going to play them all year long, you’re going to play a lot of really good teams, and that’s one. We play them a handful of times, so for us to come out and just show up, I think, and be ready to find a way to win, that’s huge,” Matt Boldy said of how fun this game was.
Wild’s Kaprizov & Wallstedt Heroes again
When a team plays the best team in the league, it needs a superstar to step up, and he did that. Kirill Kaprizov got to play against one of the heroes of the game when he scored the equalizer and the go-ahead goal for the Wild. The first goal came off his skate or the skate of an Avalanche player, but either way, because of Kaprizov’s positioning, that puck went into the net and gave his team the motivation to do it again.
The second goal was also thanks to Kaprizov’s positioning. He saw Ryan Hartman attempt a turnover and went straight to the front of the net, where he was in the right spot to receive a pass and send it past the goalkeeper.
While Kaprizov did his part in scoring, Wallstedt did his job in the net. Everyone now knows how strong he is as a goalkeeper, but he has really found another level. He made stops against Cale Makar, Martin Necas, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon. who has 41 points in 24 games played. He’s earned his nickname “The Wall of St. Paul,” and he keeps getting better and more aggressive. Even against the Avalanche he didn’t flinch when they started shooting; he stepped up and cut them off when he could.
“I think exactly what you said, he has a high skill level, he can hurt you in a lot of different ways. He can one-time the puck, he can shoot, he can make a touch, even the second goal. The first goal was pretty much him driving into the net, hitting it and going in, and the other goal he ends up where he gets a great pass and he activates the puck… if you want to be a top scorer in the league you have to be able to do it in multiple ways and that’s possible,” head coach John Hynes said of the type of player Kaprizov is.
Wildly finding ways
Once again, the Wild found a way to get past a team despite not consistently playing their best hockey. They looked like the better team for most of the match, but there were some bigger mistakes that could have cost them a lot of money. Their turnovers are still an issue that needs to be addressed, and their power play is struggling after getting off to such a good start. While the power play was expected to slow down a bit as it would be impossible to maintain the pace, it has struggled to stay consistent.
Regardless of the lingering issues, the Wild are finding ways to win even against the top team in the league. They found themselves up against a very strong Avalanche team early, but instead of staying on their heels, they dug deep and pushed back, something the October Wild probably wouldn’t have done.
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“It kind of says that we’re a better team than them. We beat them, so that felt good. But no, that’s true. Since we’ve turned it around a little bit, I feel like the style that we’re playing has been very successful. Even the games and the times where we deviated from it a little bit, we still find a way back, we still stick to our structure and we kind of know that our game plan is successful if we execute it and I think we’ve done that lately,” said Wallstedt on the win and how far the team has come to get here.
They don’t have long to savor this win as they’ll be ready again on Saturday, November 29, to host the Buffalo Sabers and complete their home stretch before hitting the road for an extended road trip. They still have some things to fix, but they came back against the number one team in the league, and hopefully that confidence will help them get some more wins.
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