Wild Open Season With a “W”

It’s mid-October in Minnesota, which means a few things. Fall colors, tater tot hotdish and best of all, Minnesota Wild hockey returns to the Xcel Energy Center in beautiful downtown St. Paul. Thursday night, the Wild began their 2024-25 season with a matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets – now coached by former Wild Head Coach, Dean Evason. The X was filled with over 18,000 Wild fans that had been waiting for this day since mid-April.

The night began on a somber note, however, as a tribute to Matthew and Johnny Gaudreau who were killed by a drunk driver on August 29, 2024. Both Boston College alums and Johnny, a member of the Blue Jackets, died as they were riding their bicycles on a road the night before their sister’s wedding. It was a devastating and senseless tragedy, the likes of which we hear about far too often across our country.

A tribute video to both brothers was played followed by a 13-second moment of silence. Not a voice was heard in the building as this was a loss not only for the Gaudreau family and Blue Jackets, but the entire NHL and hockey community. RIP to Matthew and Johnny. Faith and strength to the Gaudreau family.

The first period began with Filip Gustavsson in net for the Wild. Both teams had some good scoring chances. Marcus Foligno got his name on the board as the first penalty of the game/year for the Wild with a two-minute minor for tripping. Just 30 seconds later, Cole Sillinger of the Blue Jackets was caught red-handed hooking, right there on the ice in front of everyone. Both penalties expired and the score remained 0-0 until the 17:51 mark when Matt Boldy picked up the puck from the left side of the Blue Jacket goalie Elvis Merzlikins and without even looking at the net, Boldy fired a shot that found the back of the net. Marcus Johansson and Jonas Brodin, each picked up their first assist of the year. The Wild finished the first period with a 1-0 lead.

Just two minutes into the second period, Kent Johnson got Columbus on the board with his first goal of the year and the score was tied 1-1. Minnesota was then later called for too many men on the ice and shortly after Marcus Foligno had entered the sin bin to serve the penalty, James Van Reimsdyk fired a shot past Gustavsson for a 2-1 Blue Jackets lead.

Minnesota appealed to the zebras and after further review, they determined there was, in fact, goalie interference. Wooo!!! No goal and back to a 1-1 tie. With just over three minutes left in the period, Joel Eriksson Ek took a feed from Marcus Johansson and Matt Boldy to give the Wild a 2-1 lead and that would be the score going into the second intermission.

Mats Zuccarello would add his first goal of the year on the power play in the third period with assists to Boldy and BFF, Kirill Kaprizov. The Wild hold off a rush in the final minutes to secure the win. Despite giving up two goals, one of them on a Columbus power play, Gustavsson was brilliant in net, stopping wide-open looks and shots from just outside the crease. His anticipation and reaction to cross-crease shots was on-point.

Overall, a good win to start the season. The Wild had a couple of bad penalties on the night and some lapses in defensive coverage, but a win is a win – even if they aren’t pretty. In the post-game press conference, I asked Wild head coach John Hynes about Brock Faber. Faber being only 22 years of age yet having the skills and poise of a veteran, I asked Hynes about what areas of Faber’s game he would like to see him improve this season.

“Continuing to be a guy that can play against top players and when he’s in defensive situations, use his strengths to his advantage”, Hynes replied, and “from an offensive perspective just understanding the ability to move the puck at the right times and to use his skating ability to impact the game from an attack standpoint.”

The Wild are taking on the Seattle Kraken at home tonight before heading out on a brutal seven-game road trip thereafter. For your Minnesota Wild and all NHL news, follow The Morning Skate and find our podcast on all your favorite streaming services. Go Wild!!!!