The Minnesota Wild hosted the Buffalo Sabres for the first time this season but second overall meeting on Saturday afternoon, Mar. 22. It was an early start due to the Xcel Energy Center also hosting the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff Championship game that evening. Wild prospect Zeev Buium was in town with the Denver University Pioneers to defend their title against the Western Michigan University Broncos.
The big, good news of the day for the Wild was they got one of their most potent defensemen, Jonas Brodin, back after missing the past nine games with an injury. Filip Gustavsson continued his hot streak as he started his sixth consecutive game, a new career high. The game started scoreless until the second period when the Wild ripped off three straight goals. The Sabres tried to answer back in the third but fell short, and the Wild took the 4-1 win. In this article, we’ll look at how they did it, starting with finding the scoring once again.
Wild Find Scoring Again
The Wild have hopefully found their scoring groove again as they put three up on the board for the third game in a row and second with four goals. Just like their recent 4-0 win over the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday night, Mar. 19, they had scoring from all over their lineup. The first line accounted for two of the four, but other members were also involved.
While Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello had goals, Matt Boldy had assists, and fourth-liner Justin Brazeau got his first goal in a Wild jersey. Third-liners Yakov Trenin and Vinnie Hinostroza each tallied assists throughout the game. While they need the first line to continue to produce when they’re struggling to score, they need the entire lineup to get involved, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
“Definitely wasn’t the prettiest, but happy it went in,” said Brazeau about his goal, and he continued about his arrival in Minnesota when he was traded, “Yeah, it was definitely a crazy start, but it was obviously really nice to play the last five, six, seven games here at home and kind of be able to get situated and get a spot to live and everything like that so it’s been really good. A little bit of a crazy turnaround but sometimes just hopping right into it is a good play.”
Wild’s Brodin Back
Aside from his lone assist at the end of the game, he wasn’t noticeable on the scoresheet, but that doesn’t mean Brodin didn’t make an impact on the ice. He was back to normal, clearing the puck out of the zone and getting in the way of shots. He recorded two blocked shots, had a hit, and helped take some of the ice time that was being shouldered a lot by Brock Faber, Jake Middleton, and Jared Spurgeon while he was out.
The other area of impact he had was the lineup itself. When he’s out, the defense does okay, but it’s clear they miss his presence. The Wild need his calmness and control night in and night out, and when he adds a point, it’s a bonus. It also can’t be forgotten that he is a big part of their penalty kill, which has done well without him but will get even better with him back.
“It’s been pretty unlucky here lately but I hope now I can stay healthy for the rest of the season and playoffs when the fun starts. Got some big games left, and I think the team playing good now; it’s fun to be back and happy to get a win tonight,” said Brodin about his return, and he continued about how good the defense has been, “I think we’ve been defending really good, every d-man and we feel like we play together in the d-zone and I think Gus and Flower have been really good too, like defending really good and we want to score more for sure. Nice to get a couple today.”
Wild’s “Gus Bus” Keeps Rolling
One of the major reasons the Wild have been winning games lately, outside of finding their scoring again, has been the man between the pipes, Filip Gustavsson. He has stood tall in every game, and that’s why he had his sixth consecutive start. He’s the hot goaltender, and although some have gotten past him, he’s kept his mental game in check and kept his team going when it seemed like they couldn’t turn it around.
Even when Gustavsson is knocked over and forced completely out of position, he knows where the puck is and manages to make the save. This has been crucial to the success of their penalty kill as well. Their defense has done well on the kill, and he’s been there to back them up if a puck gets through.
“It’s good to see him being really consistent, I think when you look at the year, great start to the year, and then you know it was a little bit up and down, and he has regained his footing, and this is the time of year where you need your goaltenders to step up and play well regularly in the tight playoff race that we’re in and he’s done a great job of that,” said head coach John Hynes about Gustavsson’s strong play.
Wild Head on the Road
With how the Wild have played on the road versus at home this season, many were worried about having 11 home games in the month of March. Although they struggled at home, they started to turn it around and wrapped up their recent seven-game homestand with a record of 4-2-1. Now they’ll head back on the road for the first time in two weeks to face the Dallas Stars on Monday, Mar. 24. Hopefully, they take this scoring magic with them and continue their strong play on the road that they’ve had all season and come home with a big win.
