1. Home
  3. Sport

Wild's special teams elite, Ohgren impresses in final preseason game: Key takeaways vs. Blackhawks

5 October 2024Last Update :
Wild's special teams elite, Ohgren impresses in final preseason game: Key takeaways vs. Blackhawks

Playing the majority of what’s expected to be their regular lineup, the Minnesota Wild closed the preseason with a 6-1 exhibition victory Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.

Mats Zuccarello scored a goal and two assists and Marco Rossi scored a goal and assist. Brock Faber, Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson each scored a goal and Jonas Brodin scored one of the sneakiest goals you’ll see from the red line.

Just four seconds after Rossi’s power-play goal, Brodin faked dumped a puck and then banked a shot off an unsuspecting Petr Mrazek when the goalie left his cage to go play the puck.

Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves as the Wild finished the preseason with a 4-2 record.

However, when playing a lineup that was close to what they likely will ice in Thursday’s opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Wild went 3-0. In two games playing much of Chicago’s expected opening night lineup, the Wild outscored the Blackhawks 13-3.

The only regulars to not play Friday were banged-up Matt Boldy and Jake Middleton, who are expected to be ready by opening night, and veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian.

Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek finished the preseason tied for the team’s scoring lead with eight points in three games. Kaprizov led the Wild with four goals in three games and had seven points. Fleury had two wins and Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson one each.

The Wild won’t practice on Saturday or Sunday. They are planning to submit their opening night lineup to the NHL as early as Monday. They have decisions to make about rookies Liam Ohgren, Daemon Hunt, Jesper Wallstedt and Ben Jones. In order to preserve cap space, they could opt to even send all four to Iowa to start the season if they won’t be in the opening-night lineup.

Elite special teams

Preseason means nothing and often doesn’t carry over, but the Wild’s special teams were dominant in the preseason. They scored two more power-play goals Friday and are tied with the Florida Panthers for a league-leading nine.

They went 9 for 17 in the preseason and lead the league in power-play percentage at 52.9 percent. Kaprizov had three of them.

More importantly, their penalty kill, which finished 30th in the NHL last season, went 4 for 4 Friday and finished the preseason 21 of 25. That was good for 84 percent, which ranks 8th in the NHL.

The Wild have spent all preseason looking for the right personnel to put on the penalty kill, which they look to be more aggressive this season.

Marco Rossi ends camp strongly

After a bad start to his exhibition season by being a team-worst minus-4 in a defeat to Dallas, Rossi finished with two goals and three assists in his past three exhibition games.

He scored a stellar-looking power-play goal Friday and assisted on Zuccarello’s goal on a four-on-three. He played the first two periods Friday between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Eriksson Ek saw most of the duty there in the third period as coach John Hynes gave looks to his three top centers.

Rossi seems to have the inside track.

Ohgren starts slow, finishes strong

Ohgren may not make the opening night lineup since he probably won’t be in the top 12, but after a ho-hum start to the camp, the Wild have to be over the moon about how much better he got during his final three exhibition games.

He was slow and indecisive early in the camp, but after a conversation with Hynes, he just got better and better. He was fast, strong on the puck and made plays like a give-and-go perfectly executed with Johansson on Friday night.

Ohgren would benefit from time in Iowa, and with Boldy expected to start the season, that probably would be the move as he was more of a placeholder on the second line down the stretch of camp.

(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Recent