Another home opener for Minnesota Wild hockey arrived in St. Paul tonight as the home team hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets. Things are certainly different this year as many notable changes have occurred, both on and off the ice. The most significant roster change for the Wild came as widely beloved goalie, Marc Andre Fleury, retired at the close of last season – only to appear in one preseason contest for the Pittsburg Penguins, where his legendary NHL career began way back in 2003.
On and off the ice, Minnesota’s home to the Wild underwent a name change in the offseason as what was once the Xcel Energy Center at 7th St. and Kellogg Blvd., is now, the Grand Casino Arena. Nevertheless, the streets and bars of St. Paul around the arena were buzzing with excitement and Wild jerseys hours before tonight’s game.
Tonight’s contest was the second game of the season for the Wild, who went to St. Louis earlier this week and put a good ol’ whoopin’ on the Blues, winning 5-0 behind another shutout by Wild goalie, Filip Gustavsson – his second season opening shutout. Another big roster change for the Wild this year, was the addition of forward, Vladimir Tarasenko who made his return to St. Louis where he played for about ten-and-a-half seasons to begin his NHL career.
During his time as a Blues player, Tarasenko racked up 48 points in 54 games against the Wild, the most he has had against any team. Coming into this season, there were questions about his effectiveness and scoring ability but hopefully, he can be the point-scoring machine that Minnesota has been accustomed to thus far.
Pregame ceremonies showed video highlights from the first twenty-five years of Minnesota Wild hockey – from the announcement that NHL hockey would return to the State of Hockey to Andrew Brunette cementing the incredible comeback against the Colorado Avalanche in the 2003 NHL playoffs to the current day Wild. It brought chills to every fan in attendance. Also included in pregame festivities were former Wild Head Coach, Jacques Lamaire, former Wild Assistant Coach and 1980 Miracle of Ice Gold Medalist, Mike Ramsey, and other former Wild leadership.
Fans were feeling good about another season of Wild hockey as the game began, that is until Columbus scored the first goal of the game at 2:29 of the first period when Miles Wood snuck the puck past Gus Bus in net to put the road team up 1-0 early.
Columbus also tallied the first penalty of the game when Dmitri Voronkov slashed Zach Bogosian. Just under two minutes later, they took a delay of game penalty to briefly put the Wild on a 5-3 power play. Unfortunately, the Wild were unable to capitalize on neither power play as Blue Jackets goalie, Elvis Merzlikins turned away all shots by the Wild. That was the story for the first period as the Wild has a ton of scoring chances, but Elvis was in the building, and the puck did not make it in the net for the Wild. Shots on goal in the after the first period saw the Wild with the advantage 13-9, but the Blue Jackets scored the lone goal.
Just seven seconds into the second period, Columbus doubled their lead when Kirill Marchenko took a feed from the opening faceoff and rifled it past Gustavsson – not the Kirill that Wild fans came to see score, obviously. Forward, Hunter Haight played his first NHL game for the Wild tonight, playing on the fourth line. In the second, Marcus Foligno drew a Holding penalty as he was ridden down to the ice by Erik Gudbranson that, once again, put the Wild on the Xcel Energy Power Play. This time, Matt Boldy buried a rebound into the net, which sent the Wild fans into a long-awaited celebration. Finally, the good guys had scored, making it a 2-1 game. A video review confirmed it as a good goal and the Wild were on the board. Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek assisted on the Boldy goal.
After multiple delay of game penalties by Columbus, and a couple of cheap cross-checks, the Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov sniped a shot from deep in the corner into the net to even the score 2-2. This was Kaprizov’s first goal of the year, after tallying three assists against the Blues in the first game. Boldy and Tarasenko received an assist on the goal – Tarasenko’s first point as a member of the Wild. With just over a minute remaining in the second, Kirill Marchenko put back a rebound for his second goal of the night to put the Blue Jackets back in front 3-2 at the end of two periods.
Intermission report: Just looking at the Wild roster this year, once Mats Zuccarello comes back probably sometime in December or January, the Wild will likely have a Top Six consisting of Kaprizov, Rossi, Boldy, Eriksson Ek, Zuccarello and Tarasenko. Every one of those guys could score quickly and often on any given night. Ryan Hartman could also rotate into the top six as well, who can also score. On the Blue Line the Wild have Faber, Brodin, Spurgeon, Middleton and Bogosian with newcomer Zeev Buium. Wild GM, Bill Guerin, has done a nice job bringing in established talent while also developing some quality young guys. We will see how goalie, Jesper Wallstedt can share netminding duties with Gustavsson. However, the future for the Wild is intriguing, to say the least.
Back to action in the third, the BJ’s added two more goals within the first 3:01 to make it a 5-2 score, including Marchenko’s third of the game for the hat trick on the road. However, nearing the mid-point of the third, Wild defenseman, Buium took an Eriksson Ek pass from behind the net and one-timed it into the net on a Wild power play to make it a 5-3 game. Buium’s goal was his first career point and goal in the NHL. The joy was short-lived however, as the BJ’s scored a sixth goal off a faceoff in the Wild zone. It just seemed like every time the Wild would start to get some momentum, Columbus would respond with at least one goal, if not two.
In a battle of the Kirill’s, Kaprizov would score on one of the prettiest plays you’ll ever see as he was moving towards the net on Merzlikins’ blind side when Rossi fed him a pass right on the tape of Kaprizov’s stick and he simply redirected it home. Rossi and Buium picked up assists on the goal. Down two goals with 2:35 remaining in the third, Wild Head Coach John Hynes called a timeout and pulled Gustavsson from the net. Columbus would add an empty-netter with former Wild forward, Charlie Coyle getting an assist.
Tonight was supposed to be a celebration of 25 years of Wild hockey, during which they played against the team who entered the NHL in the same year as the Wild. In the end however, it was the visitors who had a reason to celebrate after securing a 7-4 road victory. Well, we can’t win them all, Wild fans. The Wild will next take on the L.A. Kings in St. Paul on Monday night with the first puck dropping at 7pm.
Cover photo credit: Pioneer Press
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