The Minnesota Wild finally returned home after a road trip that felt like an eternity but really spanned just short of three weeks. It was a bit rough as they came home with a record of 4-1-2, not terrible but not what they were hoping for. They did add Joel Eriksson Ek to the injury list along with Zach Bogosian. Both are expected to be back sooner rather than later, as they were both listed as day-to-day.
Filip Gustavsson was back in the net, and the game started out in favor of the Wild. The Islanders didn’t give up, however, as they tied it three times, and it was tied 3-3 at the start of the final period. It remained tied through the third, and they needed overtime, where the Islanders got the final goal to take the win. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways, starting with the bright spots.
Wild’s Jones Makes Impact
With Eriksson Ek out, Ben Jones was called up, and although he’s been with the Wild off and on over the past couple of seasons, including a couple of stints already this season, he had yet to score a goal until the Islanders came to town. He got himself in front of the net and tipped a shot from the point past the goaltender and gave his team the lead just a few minutes into the opening period.
Jones has been a strong player every time he’s entered the lineup for the Wild this season, and although he hasn’t contributed a lot of points, he’s a solid fourth-line player. He’s not afraid to throw his body around, but he’s also able to do things offensively.
“Yeah, it was great, you can see kind of how elite those guys are, they see an opening. If I was up there, I would’ve panicked and probably thrown it out of the zone but you can see how good those guys are, you don’t have to do much when you’re playing with them, just go to the net and show a stick, like you see Fabes (Faber) obviously threw it right off my tape so I didn’t have to do too much,” said Jones when asked about his goal.
Wild’s Big Guns Had Chances
While it wasn’t the result they wanted, the Wild overall had a pretty decent game. Of course, they needed to stop the Islanders from answering back, but their top players did what they needed to when it came to points on the board, and they still ended up with a point for the standings as well. The Wild’s big players had a lot of chances to score, and both Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov did.
Minnesota Wild left wing Kirill Kaprizov shoots on the New York Islanders (Matt Blewett-Imagn Images)
Boldy had a number of strong chances around the net, as did Kaprizov, and Ilya Sorokin came up huge in the net for the Islanders. He was the main reason they were able to have a chance to win the game, with the number of great chances he stopped. Even Quinn Hughes had what looked like would be for sure goals, but Sorokin stopped them. However, the Wild can’t be too disappointed as their big guns did what they needed to do, and they just came up against a hot goaltender.
“It’s like Zuccy (Zuccarello) always tell me, it’s better you have chances than you don’t have chances…especially today, I…know how many breakaways I have and how many shots and it’s Ilya (Sorokin)…so many good saves…,” said Kaprizov about the chances they had throughout the game after the road trip.
Wild’s Defense Needs to Tighten Up
The one area the Wild struggled with was their defense throughout the game. They would score a goal, and then the Islanders would march back and tie it up. It seemed like they finally had it in the second when they pulled ahead 3-2, but late in the same period, the Islanders found a way shorthanded to tie the game up.
Turnovers are always a struggle for teams, but the Wild didn’t make it easy on themselves against the Islanders, especially on the goal that tied it up 3-3. It was a blind pass that went directly to the opponent’s stick, and they went the other way with a 2-on-1 and got it past Gustavsson.
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“Yeah, it was just an errant guy trying to make a play, and it didn’t work, and it turned over, and they got the odd man rush and found a way to score,” said head coach John Hynes about the Islanders’ shorthanded goal.
The Wild have to find a way to tighten it up defensively and not turn the puck over as often, again, something every team struggles with at times. The good news is they know what they need to do and can fix it before they face the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, Jan. 12, at home.
