COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dean Evason watched every second of John Hynes’ debut win against the St. Louis Blues just after Thanksgiving last year.
He saw Matt Boldy, who had one goal at that juncture, score on a breakaway. He saw Freddy Gaudreau finally score his first goal of the season. He watched the penalty kill, which ranked dead last in the NHL, go a perfect 4-for-4. He watched a team that was the league’s worst in the first period at that point get off to a good start with a quick Joel Eriksson Ek goal and cruise to the finish line. And he saw a team that was bleeding goals against under him get a terrific 23-save outing from Filip Gustavsson.
Evason, who had been fired the day before along with assistant coach Bob Woods, texted Woods: “Go figure.”
Saturday night, for the second time in five games, Evason watched his new team, the injury-battered Columbus Blue Jackets, succumb to his old team. Nine days after a 3-2 opening night loss in Minnesota, the Blue Jackets dropped a 3-1 decision to the Wild at Nationwide Arena.
Gustavsson, who didn’t have a good start for Evason last season and never was able to right himself, was outstanding once more with 23 saves, losing his shutout bid with 1:25 left.
That penalty kill that turned out to be Evason’s undoing last season went 3-for-3, including a double minor that started 64 seconds after the Wild had what they thought was a 2-0 lead reversed back to 1-0 when Evason correctly challenged for goalie interference.
And in what had to be even more frustrating for Evason, the team that chased almost every game and only won five of 19 games before he paid the piper, once again scored first and once again never trailed to improve to 3-0-2 this season.
The Wild haven’t trailed in 300 minutes of regulation hockey this season. It’s the fourth-longest streak in NHL history to begin a season without trailing.
“It feels like it wouldn’t have been that much of a difference if we would have went down 0-1 or something in these games because we worked so hard,” Gustavsson said. “Maybe we don’t play good all the time, but we’re just there working, working, working — and that’s why we score one, two, three goals. It’s just because we outwork the teams we play against so far.”
Marco Rossi, Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello scored the goals in this one, but the Wild are getting decent play up and down the lineup and have yet to lose in regulation despite the fact they’ve been without significant players in the past four games. Captain Jared Spurgeon has missed the past three and counting. Eriksson Ek returned Saturday but missed the previous two. Marcus Johansson missed the last game in St. Louis. Ryan Hartman didn’t play Saturday because of an upper-body injury.
One game after Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin played their strongest match of the season in St. Louis, they teamed up on Rossi’s goal. Defenseman Jake Middleton continues to improve and was simply dynamite again Saturday. And the Wild’s penalty kill came through when it mattered. Trenin took a four-minute high-sticking penalty with the team still stunned when the league ruled that Jakub Lauko shoved Jordan Harris into Daniil Tarasov to wipe out Middleton’s second goal of the season.
Jake Middleton tucks home his own rebound and gives the Wild a 2-0 lead. Columbus challenging #mnwild pic.twitter.com/EutDTVsv47
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) October 20, 2024
“Don’t really know the rules for goalie interference, but they’re almost like quarterbacks now,” Middleton said. “You can’t touch them at all. So, yeah, it sucks it got overturned.”
But Gustavsson made seven saves on the two Columbus power plays and the Wild got into shooting lanes to get a handful of their 20 blocks.
Now, the Wild weren’t exactly great the rest of the period, but for the second game in a row with the lead, they were suffocating in the third period in large part because of an aggressive forecheck.
“We’re smarter, more mature, we don’t make unnecessary plays,” Rossi said. “We have good puck management. I think that helps us a lot getting into the O-zone and obviously when you’re leading it always helps you to win games.”
Look, it’s early. The Wild’s game can still be choppy.
But considering how bad of a start the Wild got off to last season, this has a different feel. The Wild just seem better equipped to deal with adversity, whether that’s guys out of the lineup, or simply in-game.
Let’s be real: It’s a good bet that last season the Wild would not have handled properly having to kill a double minor 64 seconds after a goal was overturned. Sure, the Jackets are thin, but the Wild’s penalty kill last season was thinner than shaved deli meat.
“We’re being junkyard dogs,” Middleton said of the penalty kill. “That’s our mentality we got going into our meetings and into the kills right now. So far so good.”
It sure helps they’re getting great goaltending from Gustavsson.
He is 3-0-1 with a 1.49 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage. And one game and four days after scoring an empty-net goal in St. Louis, he remembered that his most important gig is saving goals, not scoring them.
“Scoring goals isn’t really my job description, so I just had to stick to what I’m supposed to do and it worked out today,” Gustavsson said.
He credited his teammates in front of him, noting that for the second game in a row, the opponent had next to nothing in the third period when it came to offensive zone pressure.
“I think we as a team have played really good defensive hockey and we trust each other back there,” Gustavsson said. “Everyone’s doing their part of the job and when you trust each other, it makes you comfortable and then you play your best.”
Kaprizov makes the Blue Jackets pay on the 5-on-3 with a booming one-timer 💥 pic.twitter.com/oB7cmpFLBT
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 20, 2024
And it also helps that Kaprizov has gotten off to a solid start with eight points in five games. His scorching one-timer five seconds into a five-on-three for a 2-0 lead in the third was downright special.
“Not many guys can do that, that far out, too, outside the dot over there,” Hynes said. “He’s always working on that stuff, 30 to 40 minutes after practice and that’s why he’s a great player because he puts the work in.”
The Wild flew to Ft. Lauderdale after the game for two off days and then a date with the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Then, a day off in Tampa before playing the Lightning, a day off in Philadelphia before a matinee with the Flyers and 2 1/2 days off in Pittsburgh before it’s anticipated Marc-Andre Fleury makes his final start of his career in his old home of Pittsburgh.
This is a weird schedule you don’t often see in the National Hockey League.
Five games in 16 days? As Middleton said, they’ll pay for it in a 15-game March, but for now, they’ll enjoy the time together on the road.
Typically, the Wild take a few days in training camp to get away for a bonding trip. They’ve gone to Duluth, Des Moines and Vail in the Bill Guerin era.
But with a seven-game road trip to start the season after their initial two home games and so many days off on this trip, the Wild decided to do their bonding on this trip rather than camp. They even took a pit stop back home for a team Halloween party and outdoor practice.
But the sunshine and beach hotel in South Florida could just be what the doctor ordered as long as the team doesn’t lose its mojo after such a pleasant start.
“I think we’re getting to Florida at a good time of year,” Middleton said. “It’s nice and warm there still.”
Of course, Middleton’s wife, Natalie, is due with their first child any day, so there’s a chance he’ll have to bail early and hurry back to Minnesota.
“I’m on call a little bit,” he said. “We’ve been given the heads up that it could be any day now. I’m good until I get the text that I’ve got to be home. Then s— will probably hit the fan, but right now it’s just day by day.”
(Photo of Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson making a save against the Blue Jackets: Russell LaBounty / Imagn Images)
