The Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets faced off on Saturday evening, October 11, at the Grand Casino Arena for the Wild’s home opener. While the Blue Jackets came into the game healthy, the Wild did not. They were without Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm; However, Jonas Brodin returned to the lineup after missing just one game. He was originally expected to miss more time but recovered faster than expected.
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Filip Gustavsson was in net for the Wild after posting a shutout to open the season against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday evening, October 9. Elvis Merzļikins was in net for the Blue Jackets; it was his season debut. The Blue Jackets took an early lead, and although the Wild fought back, it wasn’t enough as the Blue Jackets won 7-4.
Summary of the game
The game started off pretty quickly with a few missed passes in both directions, but once the players settled down it was the Blue Jackets who took the first lead. Miles Wood scored his first goal of the season to give his side a 1-0 lead early in the period. He was assisted by Zach Aston-Reese. That was the lone goal of the first, and the Blue Jackets took the lead in the second.
The Blue Jackets started the first matchup of the second period with a goal from Kirill Marchenko after seven seconds. He was assisted by Dmitri Voronkov and Ivan Provorov to give their team a 2-0 lead. The Wild stormed back with consecutive goals on the power play. The first goal was scored by Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov assisted him. The second goal was scored by Kaprizov and the assists went to Boldy and Vladimir Tarasenko to tie the match: 2–2.
The Blue Jackets responded with barely a minute left, taking a 3-2 lead on Marchenko’s second goal of the night. He was assisted by Voronkov and Zach Weresnki. That was the last goal of the period and the Blue Jackets took the lead in the final period.
The Blue Jackets extended their lead early in the third period with a goal from Werenski, making it 4-2. He was assisted by Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger. A few minutes later, Marchenko scored on the power play, his third of the game, to make it 5–2. He was assisted by Weresnki and Boone Jenner. The Wild responded with their own power play goal scored by Zeev Buium. It was the first goal of his NHL career and he was assisted by Eriksson Ek and Boldy to make it 5–3.
Before the Wild could end the celebration, Fantilli deflected a Jenner shot past Gustavsson to give his team a 6–3 lead. He was assisted by Jenner. The Wild answered back late in the period on a power-play goal from Kaprizov. His second goal of the match, assisted by Marco Rossi and Buium, made it 6-4. The final goal of the game was scored by Jenner on an empty net, making the score 7–4, and the Blue Jackets won.
The Wild stay at home to host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, October 13. The Blue Jackets return home to also host the New Jersey Devils on Monday.
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