The Minnesota Wild hosted the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday evening, Jan. 23, in their third meeting of the season. After being injured, they welcomed Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon back to the lineup, but they were still without Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson. Filip Gustavsson was in the net after Marc-André Fleury had the past two starts.
Utah started the game with the first goal and kept it going. They had the upper hand, and while the Wild tried, they couldn’t get any traction. Utah went on to win the game and took away two valuable points from the Wild. While it wasn’t the game the Wild wanted, there was something to celebrate as Spurgeon played in his 900th career game. In this article, we’ll look at what happened and a couple of bright spots despite the loss, starting with how the Wild lacked energy.
Wild Lacked Energy
Even with having Kaprizov back in their lineup, the Wild lacked energy. They had little spurts, but they played really flat-footed and reached for the puck more than they skated. It was clear Kaprizov was a little rusty after missing nearly a month of hockey; he did make some strong plays once he got his feet back under him. However, his team struggled to gain any momentum.
As the game went on, the Wild struggled and couldn’t get anything going their way. They couldn’t get control of the puck, and when they did, they lost possession almost as fast as they gained it. Utah had the faster feet and hands despite both teams having the same number of days off between this game and their previous one. Hopefully, this was just a fluke game that every team has, and now that it’s out of their system, they can get back to the style of play everyone expects.
While it’s easy to expect Kaprizov to take the reins and get a goal or two, it’s just as important to remember this was his first game back after missing the past 12 games with an injury that was initially expected to keep him out a few days. His teammates needed to step up and get things going as he eased himself back into the game, but they couldn’t convert.
“Well it’s just what you talked about, we weren’t emotionally engaged in the game. We didn’t have the energy, the required competitiveness that you need to have, the execution, the speed. We can go down the list of what it is; it wasn’t a good night,” said head coach John Hynes about the overall effort.
Wild’s Special Teams Chaos Continues
The Wild continued to lack consistency on their penalty kill and power play against Utah. They allowed a goal on their first penalty kill of the game and gave Utah the energy they needed to keep them off the board. The Wild’s penalty kill did sort itself out as the game went on, and they kept the puck out, at least while they were shorthanded after that initial power play goal for Utah.
Despite having their top combination back on the power play, they didn’t convert on any of the three chances they had. Their setup was strong, but they could not get the puck to the back of the net for the second consecutive game. Again, with the talent level in their power play between Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, Joel Eriksson Ek, Brock Faber, etc., they should be getting a goal per game.
Wild’s Home Ice Woes
In the past, the Wild have always been known as a strong home team, but this season, they’ve been everything but. Their road game has been solid, and it’s been hard to beat them on the road, but at home, they almost play the opposite of their normal game. Whatever is causing this, they need to figure it out and fix it before they start to lose position in the standings.
“I just don’t know; it feels like we play more difficult here at home, and it just doesn’t work. On the road, we play simple, fast, and it’s been working for us, and it sucks for the fans to not see us win,” said Gustavsson when asked about the home ice struggles.
“Maybe we’re just trying to do too much. I think we got guys, maybe offensive-minded, yes, but we were fighting it. I thought we were just fighting it. We didn’t seem to have our legs, and that’s when you gotta have the smarts take over, and it was disappointing. I think in this game, it’s a team that just beat Winnipeg, you gotta get pucks and pound their d; we didn’t do that we were trying to finesse things and really looked a little bit lost and fatigued in the first, and it bit us, ” said Marcus Foligno on the home ice woes.
Wild’s Rookies Show Promise
The one area that did shine and had energy was the Wild’s rookie pair of Liam Öhgren and Marat Khusnutdinov. While they’ve both received their fair share of criticism early this season, as of late, they’ve been some of the only players on the Wild giving all their effort consistently. They’ve been handling the puck smoothly and being speedy on their feet.
Of course they’ve made their mistakes, but rookies do, it’s expected. Regardless, they stood out in a game that nearly the entire team struggled. They were faster, and they each had at least one shot on goal. Neither player is big in the hits department, but they still tried to be involved defensively. If they keep playing like they have the last couple of games, they’ll make it a difficult decision to take them out of the lineup.
Wild Face Flames
The Wild will be back in action on Saturday evening, Jan. 23, to host the Calgary Flames on Hockey Day Minnesota. It’s one of Minnesota’s best days of hockey season, with outdoor games all day leading up to the Wild in the evening. Hopefully, the Wild can get a better effort on Saturday and get themselves back in the win column where they need to be.
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