The Minnesota Wild returned on the road for a quick stop out east to face the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday, Nov. 27, the eve of American Thanksgiving. They were coming off a tough loss to the Winnipeg Jets at home on Monday, Nov. 25, and were looking to return to the winning track. They added two more to their injured list, with Jonas Brodin and Jakub Lauko being hurt following their game against the Jets. They were also still without Mats Zuccarello and Marat Khusnutdinov, who were injured against the Edmonton Oilers.
The game didn’t start with a bang, but the Wild did get the lead later in the first period and held it throughout the rest of that period, through the second into the third. Both sides had numerous chances, but the Wild prevailed and took the 1-0 win for Filip Gustavsson’s second shutout. In this article, we’ll look at how the Wild held onto that lead, starting with their shot totals.
Wild’s Quality Shots vs Quantity
The Wild have had a love/hate relationship with their shots on goal this season. They’ve won with minimal shots on goal and lost with higher shot numbers. Against the Jets, they led in shots on goal all game, outshooting the Jets 22-7 at the end of the first period, and they went on to lose 4-1. However, the game was closer than the score made it appear.
Regardless, the Wild initially put up minimal shots against the Sabres, and that’s all it took to win. They’ve proven this season that quality shots are more important than quantity. While more shots on goal equals more chances to score, they won’t go in if they aren’t strong enough shots.
The Wild have worked hard this season to be more accurate with their shots, and so far, it’s worked in their favor. Not every game will go in their favor, and as they saw against the Jets, sometimes the high number of shots doesn’t matter when they come against a hot goaltender, and they have to find a way to adjust. Hopefully, they can continue to pull out wins with minimal shots if they face more hot goaltenders.
Wild’s Top Line Finding Mojo
The line combination of Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek was strong last season when head coach John Hynes paired them up. However, at the beginning of this season, they went in a different direction by putting Kaprizov with his pal Zuccarello and Marco Rossi. That line had strong performances until Zuccarello was knocked out due to injury.
The Wild had to shake up their lines, and although the top line struggled a bit to get things going, off and on against the Sabres, they picked up where they’d left off last season. While the top line earned the credit for the goal, it’s important to note Brock Faber’s efforts to get it started. He intercepted the Sabres pass and rushed down the ice to hand it off to the forwards, who took care of the rest. Had Faber not stepped up, that goal wouldn’t have happened.
After the goal, the Wild’s top line continued to showcase their talents with several chances, but Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stood tall following that goal. Hopefully, this is just the start of many more goals for the Wild’s reunited top line, as Zuccarello will still be out for some time.
Wild’s Defense Structured
The final reason the Wild came out on top was their defense, which had 31 blocked shots, a season-high, and they did so without one of their top defensive players, Brodin. When the Sabres had scoring chances, the Wild’s defense stood strong and kept to its structure. Even when they were out of sorts for a few minutes, they quickly calmed down and stayed disciplined.
The same can be said about their penalty kill, even without Brodin plus Lauko, who’s proven himself worthy while shorthanded. The Wild have struggled recently with their penalty kill; it was very strong, hit a rough patch the last few games, and has been up and down since. Against the Sabres, it was 100 percent as they killed off both penalties they took, and they stuck to their defensive structure once again.
One small note about their power play struggles: the Sabres weren’t called for any penalties, so the Wild couldn’t get their power play back on track yet. They’ll need this defensive structure to stick around if they want to keep winning games as the season continues.
Wild Stay Home
The Wild will head home for a back-to-back against division opponents, the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators. This is an important opportunity for the Wild to secure more points against their division and move towards a playoff spot at the end of the season. Hopefully, they can build on this win and their defensive play and work to implement that into their next games.
