ST. PAUL, Minn. — Nobody likes to leave their home barn without 2 points, especially against a Central Division powerhouse the Minnesota Wild could meet again in the playoffs.
But in the eyes of the Wild, after Saturday night’s latest defeat to the Dallas Stars, this first meeting of the season was at least progress.
In a hard, competitive hockey game in which there was little room on the ice, the Wild, for a change, didn’t get their doors blown off by the Stars, and this was with three huge cogs — Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin — missing from the lineup.
Almost exactly one year ago, the Stars set foot in Minnesota for the first meeting with their division rival since dispatching it from the previous playoffs. Dallas humiliated the Wild 8-3 with the help of five power-play goals en route to a three-game season sweep by a 19-5 goal margin.
This time, the Stars left with a 2-1 win after tensely holding on to a lead late that easily could have been lost had Matt Boldy not hit the post with 66 seconds left and Jake Oettinger not made a series of clutch saves in the waning minutes.
Kirill Kaprizov’s team-leading 11th goal off a redirection of Jared Spurgeon’s shot made it a game with 5:50 left, but the Wild could not get the equalizer before losing to Dallas for the eighth time in their past 11 meetings. The Wild have now gone 12 regular-season meetings since beating the Stars in regulation.
“We got some guys out that could have helped tonight, but we, for the most part, didn’t open up this game like in the past,” veteran Marcus Foligno said. “So I think that’s the biggest thing is we stuck to our game. We worked really hard. … I just think that there’s some little takeaways you can take from this game that are positive.”
The biggest is that against an elite team, the Wild managed to be right there at the end after a solid third period.
“You’re trying not to open up the game for them,” Foligno said. “They’re a very connected team. And when you’re missing Brodes, Ekker and Zuccy, it’s big losses, and they add a little bit more of an offensive punch. So not that you got to play a little bit stingier, but it’s no different when Kirill’s out of the lineup, right?
“You got to put your work boots on and go. So we kept it close, and we had a fighting chance at the end. And you never want to be satisfied with losing. But there’s some things in this game where, as a team, we didn’t open up with a track meet or anything like that where we got uncharacteristic and didn’t listen to the coach, didn’t listen to our systems and (did) what we’ve seen in the last season against this team, for sure.”
The Wild didn’t have much going offensively in the first two periods; they were outshot 27-11, with Filip Gustavsson making several saves to allow them to be only a shot away from tying.
In the first, especially, they were sloppy with the puck and looked a step slow in their defensive zone. It led to shoddy counterattacks and lots of one-and-dones in the offensive zone.
With Eriksson Ek out and coming off a pair of games in which he scored big goals playing center, Boldy played the first two periods in the middle. Faceoffs were going to be the biggest issue for a player who has played his entire NHL career at wing and seldom played center at Boston College. Boldy lost five of his first seven draws, including one that led to Mason Marchment’s first of two goals with 1:17 left in the first period. In the third period, coach John Hynes moved natural center Marco Rossi to the middle of the Kaprizov-Boldy line, and it was Rossi’s won faceoff against Matt Duchene that led to Boldy passing back to Spurgeon before Kaprizov’s tying goal.
Kirill Kaprizov’s redirect finds the back of the net, bringing the Wild within 1!#mnwild pic.twitter.com/NxRIOC0jgz
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 17, 2024
Hynes is hoping Eriksson Ek and Brodin can return Tuesday when the Wild open a three-game trip at the St. Louis Blues.
Hynes, for the most part, was happy with the Wild’s performance.
“Like I told our team, I think coming into the year, we know we want to play our best against good teams,” he said. “I thought that our structure and discipline were good tonight. I thought we got inside. We got good looks. We didn’t win the game, obviously, but … seeing the guys last year in this style of games, this year seeing the Tampas, the Floridas, this game, it’s right there. I thought our best period was the third period. One-nothing game, didn’t get away from it. Pushed it. Better team in the third.”
Unfortunately, despite believing they were the better team in the third, Marchment’s second goal with 8:36 remaining gave Dallas the insurance it needed.
That’s NINE points in the last 3 GAMES for Mason Marchment 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Y63CKnkp9u
— Spittin’ Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) November 17, 2024
As for the shot deficit in the first two periods and the 40-23 margin for the game, Hynes took umbrage with this being a focal point.
“Second period, (Brock) Faber breaks his stick (on a chance), (Jake Middleton) hit the post. We’re on it,” Hynes said. “I don’t look at shots. I look at chances. I look at danger zone, chances, things like that. It was a hard-fought game on both teams. They happened to have more shots than us early in the game.
“You come out in the third period, you’re not turning pucks over. You don’t get away from it. You put them under duress. … I look at the style of game, the mindset, the discipline, things like that. You’re going to win more of those opportunities. … I like where we’re headed, for sure.”
Added Stars coach Pete DeBoer: “That was a heavy, hard, playoff-type game out there. There was a lot of physicality, a lot of battles, not a lot of room. Both goalies were great. This is always a tough building to come in and win. We knew that, and they’ve been playing really well. It was a good 2 points for us.”
Still, Wild players are tired of losing to the Stars. And the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche, for that matter. The Wild went 0-10-1 against those three teams last season, and in the divisional playoff format of the NHL, the Wild can’t get to where they aspire to if they don’t beat those teams in the playoffs.
So it’d be nice to start doing it once in a while in the regular season. This season, they’re 0-1-1 against the Jets and Stars.
“You got to beat these teams,” Foligno said. “You got to be the top of the league. It just puts doubt going into the playoffs in the opposition, right? So, yeah, they come into our rink and they steal 2 points, and we’re not pleased with it. But for the most part, lines weren’t the same. To come into this game with those guys out, I give credit to a lot of guys. (Mikey) Milne played great (in his NHL debut), and (Liam Ohgren), and it’s not easy. I’ve been in that position before. So we’re talking about three huge pieces of our team that are not in the lineup against one of the best teams in the league. So you gotta love a lot of work out there from the guys we had today.”
Gustavsson was terrific with 38 saves and leads the NHL with a 2.08 goals-against average and is tied for first with a .927 save percentage. But in the end, Oettinger left with the win and 22 saves. Including the playoffs, the Lakeville native is 6-1-1 in his home state with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. He had a large contingent of family in the building, including his dad, stepmom and little brother, Thomas, who skated with the Stars during Saturday’s morning skate after his big brother attended his squirt game in Stillwater.
He stood strong at the end despite a strong push by the Wild.
“I’ve seen that before,” former Wild defenseman Matt Dumba said. “Fans get behind it. That was great. We bent, and we didn’t break. Guys bared down when we needed them, and Otter played a helluva game. Without him back there, I don’t think we’re in this one.”
(Photo of Jake Middleton and Stars left wing Mason Marchment: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
