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Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek injured, but Wild shut out Canadiens: 3 takeaways

15 November 2024Last Update :
Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek injured, but Wild shut out Canadiens: 3 takeaways

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Having to play with 10 forwards after injuries to Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello four shifts into each of their nights, the Minnesota Wild still found a way to beat the Montreal Canadiens while using more than a dozen line combinations Thursday.

In a game in which defenseman Jonas Brodin was already missing, Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi and Kirill Kaprizov scored goals and Filip Gustavsson made 19 saves in a 3-0 victory at Xcel Energy Center.

Gustavsson recorded his seventh career shutout and first of the season to improve to 8-2-2 for the 11-2-3 Wild. The Wild killed three penalties and have now killed 15 in a row in the past four games.

The Wild improved to 17-1 in their past 18 meetings with the Canadiens and have beaten them in 11 consecutive games at home since an 8-1 loss on March 20, 2011.

The Wild host the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Minnesota was swept in three games last season by Dallas by a 19-5 score deficit and last beat the Stars in regulation 11 regular-season meetings ago, on Nov. 18, 2021.

Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek injured in first period

The Wild were pushed to the limits against the Canadiens after losing a pair of top-six forwards in the first period.

First, Zuccarello appeared to take a Brock Faber point shot to the nether regions. He went down in a heap and had to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel. The fact he couldn’t return is extremely concerning.

Not long after, Eriksson Ek, the Wild’s best center, got hurt on an awkward play in front of the net, where he, too, sustained a lower-body injury. He also went down the tunnel for good.

This led to a mishmash of line combinations the rest of the way — 13 total at five-on-five. Like the recent Chicago Blackhawks game in which Boldy scored the tying goal with 4 1/2 minutes left in regulation, Boldy moved from right wing to center for many of his shifts. That’s where he scored his goal, with help from Marcus Johansson, who picked up his first assist since opening night, and Kaprizov.

The injuries wreaked havoc when captain Jared Spurgeon drew a four-minute power play in the third period. Ryan Hartman and Johansson were elevated to take Eriksson Ek’s and Zuccarello’s spots on the first unit.

That led to a second unit of Rossi, Marcus Foligno, Freddy Gaudreau, Yakov Trenin and Declan Chisholm, who took Spurgeon’s spot while he got repaired for a cut. When Spurgeon came back for the last part of the second power play, he and Chisholm assisted on Rossi’s power-play goal. It was the first power-play goal by the second unit this season.

Boldy continues his tremendous play

As good as Kaprizov has been this season, when the Wild need a big goal of late, Boldy is the one delivering.

Of course, his second-period goal came off Kaprizov’s latest scintillating pass, followed by a terrific goal-mouth feed by Johansson to complete the tic-tac-toe. It was Boldy’s 10th goal, which temporarily gave him the team lead until Kaprizov’s empty-netter.

Boldy has eight goals and 11 points in his past 11 games. Five of those goals, including Thursday’s, are game winners, and one was an overtime-forcing goal. In these 11 games, he has 46 shots.

Brodin’s injury, for now, not considered serious

It’s never good when Brodin is out of the lineup, especially considering how well he has played this season and how dominant he has been alongside Spurgeon.

But Thursday night, Chisholm got second-pair duties next to Spurgeon with Brodin day to day with an upper-body injury. Brodin was hurt during Sunday night’s game in Chicago. For now, coach John Hynes is indicating Brodin’s injury isn’t serious.

Chisholm, who has played 11 of the Wild’s 16 games, filled in admirably. He had a positive Corsi through two periods, moved the puck well, walked the offensive blue line a couple of times and had a scoring chance from between the circles.

(Photo of Matt Boldy: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)

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