ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nine years to the day after a former Winnipeg Jets coach sarcastically said “It was just an honor to be in the same building” with the Wild after an 8-1 exhibition pounding, the Wild lit up Connor Hellebuyck in Minnesota’s first home preseason game Friday night.
After a 1-1 first period, the Wild scored seven second-period goals on the reigning Vezina Trophy winner. Hellebuyck gave up eight goals on 29 shots through two periods and Wild coach John Hynes intentionally hit the brakes with many of his big guys in the third period before an 8-5 victory at Xcel Energy Center.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored two goals and three assists, including four points in the second period. Kirill Kaprizov scored two power-play goals, Mats Zuccarello scored a goal and assist and Marat Khusnutdinov helped create two short-handed goals, including one highlight-reel goal of his own.
Ben Jones and Liam Ohgren also scored for the Wild, Brock Faber was plus-4 and had four takeaways and Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves in the first start of his 21st NHL training camp.
The Wild, 2-1 this exhibition season, will hold two practices on Saturday, then host the Dallas Stars in a preseason game at 5 p.m. (CT) on Sunday.
Ben Jones shorthanded goal. Marat Khusnutdinov with the assist #mnwild pic.twitter.com/UnheDwdSFh
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) September 28, 2024
Khusnutdinov should help the penalty kill
Wild fans know all too well how much the team’s penalty kill, well, killed the team last year. It finished 30th in the league and let the Wild down from start to finish.
The hope is they’ll be more aggressive and much more daunting this season, and a full year of Khusnutdinov should help. Against the Jets, the speedy, gritty centerman wasn’t on the ice for a power-play goal, assisted on Jones’ short-handed breakaway goal with a fabulous pass and then outmuscled Nikita Chibrikov, for his own breakaway goal while the young Jets winger was draped all over him.
“It’s Russian guy, right?” Khusnutdinov said, proudly, of the Jets player he victimized.
Maybe most importantly, the 22-year-old rookie, who got a 16-game look last season after his KHL season in Sochi ended, passed his driver’s license test on Tuesday, so Kaprizov will no longer have to chauffeur him around town.
“Kirill’s so happy,” he said, laughing.
Khusnutdinov said earlier in camp that last year’s taste of the NHL showed him how much faster and stronger he needed to get this offseason. He was alarmed by how much less time and space a player had compared to the KHL. That’s why he arrived in Minnesota around July 1 and spent the rest of the offseason working out and skating with members of the Wild staff and many of their players.
“It was good for me,” he said. “Rent apartment, train with NHL guys. It’s so good for me.”
MARAT KHUSNUTDINOV SHORTHANDED OH MY WORD. 8-2!! #mnwild pic.twitter.com/2agXPMBNO7
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) September 28, 2024
Eriksson Ek is a beast
Eriksson Ek, coming off a career-high 30 goals and 64 assists, just dominated in 14 1/2 minutes of ice time. He started things in the first period by having the secondary assist on a signature Zuccarello to Kaprizov power-play goal, then scored two goals and two assists in the second period in a span of 11:31. As is his norm, he cemented himself around the goal crease to make life miserable for Winnipeg’s defensemen and Hellebuyck, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner.
“Ekky looks great,” Hynes said. “Obviously, he’s such a highly-conditioned guy but his timing looks good. His details look good. He’s the consummate pro and that’s why he’s as good as he is. When he comes into camp, he’s ready to go. He’s great in practice, drives play in practice, comes tonight and plays the same way. So, it’s good to see. That’s why he’s a leader, as well.”
Joel Eriksson Ek’s second goal and fourth point of the night makes it 6-2 Minnesota #mnwild pic.twitter.com/CiaUZJblda
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) September 28, 2024
Ohgren looks much better
Ohgren, a roster hopeful after playing three games at the end of last season, hadn’t been all too pleased with his camp up to this point. He got off to a sluggish start and was part of a top line against Dallas two nights earlier with Marco Rossi and Travis Boyd that never got any traction.
Friday, playing with Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin, Ohgren looked much more like himself and scored a goal. Hynes met with him in the morning and told him to quit worrying about playing the system correctly and start showing the brass what he could do if he wanted to make the team out of camp.
“Sometimes I think when guys come in like he did where he got some NHL games last year, he had a great summer, and his mind is all about making the team and sometimes you forget about just playing the game and not putting too much pressure on yourself,” Hynes said. “He’s not going to make the team because he’s the great system player or even if he has to score, it’s just we want to see his speed, his competitiveness, his ability to make plays, and he was good. I thought tonight he looked more like himself, so that’s a step in the right direction.”
Ohgren concurred.
“I felt better today,” Ohgren said. “Kind of nice to get that first game out of the way and then move forward. It was better today, I had good support from Ekky and Trenin as well.
“Obviously, I didn’t feel that good the first game, so I just wanted to play a little bit simple, get the pucks deep and go to the net. Obviously, I scored a goal, and that always helps with the confidence. So, it was better today.”
Three stars
Couldn’t be stopped 😤#mnwild pic.twitter.com/m5TetamMFk
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) September 28, 2024
1. Joel Eriksson Ek, Wild: Scored two goals and three assists, had four shots and won 9-of-15 faceoffs.
2. Kirill Kaprizov, Wild: Scored two power-play goals, and had five shots and three takeaways.
3. Marat Khusnutdinov, Wild: Had two short-handed points, one with an assist and the other with a breakaway goal. He also won 8-of-16 faceoffs.
(Top photo of Marat Khusnutdinov: Nick Wosika / Imagn Images)
