The Minnesota Wild hosted the New York Islanders on Saturday, Feb. 8, in their first season meetup on their Black History Month celebration night. The Wild’s roster was going to be the same as the game prior until, during warm-ups, it was announced that Joel Eriksson Ek was out with a lower-body injury. They didn’t have any extra forwards, so they played 11/7 with Filip Gustavsson back in the net.
The game started in favor of the Wild but the Islanders found a way to not only answer back but took the lead early in the second. Then, a power play redirection goal got the Wild going, and they stormed back to take the lead late in the period and carried it into the third. They added to it and took the win 6-3. In this article, we’ll look at how they did it, starting with how they scored their goals.
Wild Capitalize on Deflections & Tips
Just when the Wild looked out of the game as the Islanders took a 3-1 lead, the Wild deflected the puck into the back of the net off of an Islanders player, changing the whole momentum of the game. The Wild did have a specific energy for most of the night except when the Islanders scored their goals, but it came back with a vengeance after that goal. The Wild were still down, but they finally had something swing their way after having quite a few chances not go in.
Following that goal, the Wild had two goals go in off of tips, and then another deflected off an Islanders player. The Wild found the sweet spot to beat the goaltender, and that was tipping and deflecting right in front of the net. Typically, they haven’t been in front of the net a lot this season, but they figured it out against the Islanders, and it worked.
“Yeah there was a lot of that, that was something that we definitely had talked with the team about this morning and re-emphazied it again before the game. I thought the first we got there, but on the second we were there more, and we delivered pucks faster,” said head coach John Hynes about creating scoring chances in front of the net.
Wild’s Special Teams Strong
The Wild’s special teams stepped up big against the Islanders as their power play and penalty kill did well. They only had two chances on the power play and made the most of their second opportunity. That lone goal was enough to swing the game their way, and once they found their game again, they kept their foot on the gas.
As for their penalty kill, they took just two penalties themselves but killed them both off for a perfect night. They were tested a lot on the penalty kill and had a middle approach of being aggressive but also slightly defensive, and it worked. They’ve been working hard on both sides of their special teams, which paid off big against the Islanders.
“Just played the way we really needed to play; I thought we got more emotionally engaged in the game and played a little bit more north and direct and got some momentum and got more attached to the game than we were. I thought the first was kind of a 50/50 period, and then obviously we weren’t great to start the second but got to it and got rewarded for it,” said Hynes about the overall effort.
Wild Get Everyone Involved
Marco Rossi may have scored the game’s first goal, and Matt Boldy had two more, as would be expected of the top players, but they also had some others who aren’t on the scoresheet as often step up and contribute. Those players were Yakov Trenin, Marcus Foligno, Frédérick Gaudreau, Liam Öhgren, and Marat Khusnutdinov, who were all on the stat sheet in either the goal column or assists. If the Wild want to continue to win games, they need to keep this kind of production going from all over the lineup.
“Just that long shift in the second there where guys survived, and we got out of it, and then we went to work from there on, so some big shifts and obviously to get those quick goals there to come into the third with the lead and then just keep going is good for us,” said Jared Spurgeon about the effort switch in the second period.
Wild’s Honorable Mention
While Vincent Hinostroza didn’t factor directly into the scoring, his presence on the ice was noticed. From the start of the game, once again, he was all over using his speed, which earned him time on the power play, where he was even more noticeable. He was all over the zone, from in front of the net to behind and around the top of the circles.
Since he may be on the roster for some time, hopefully, he can keep this up. If he does, it’ll be hard to send him back down because he’s been more noticeable than some players have been all season.
Wild Get Break
The Wild will have almost two full weeks off for the 4 Nations Faceoff, and hopefully, they can continue this winning mojo. They finally figured out how to win at home, and while they weren’t the most pretty wins, they were wins. They dug deep and had to grind it out, proving to themselves and their fans that they can win the game. It’ll be interesting to see how they return after these two weeks off, but it would be great to see the team from the beginning of the season again.
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