It took a massive comeback and a lucky bounce in a shootout for the Minnesota Wild to end their four-game losing streak by beating the New York Rangers on Nov. 4. There is no way to downplay how momentous that win is for the Wild. The entire team seemed to be floundering and looked like they were destined for a devastating season, especially after dropping down 3-0 early in the first period, but a goaltending change seemed to flip the entire attitude of the game and potentially the season. The new-found confidence will be tested tonight when they take on the New York Islanders in the first game of a three-game road trip.
The Islanders are an extremely difficult team to get an accurate read on. They are 5-2-3 on the season, good enough for fourth in the Metropolitan Division, but most of their games have been low-scoring tight affairs due to their elite goaltending tandem of Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov. They carry a five-game point streak into tonight’s contest with the Wild, during which they have shut out an opponent twice. Defenseman Noah Dobson leads the team with 10 points, while Brock Nelson has collected the most goals with five.
Minnesota Wild Lines
The Wild’s head coach Dean Evason is not known for his willingness to alter lines mid-game or pull goaltenders who are struggling, yet both of those events occurred in the last two games and the impact has been significant. A string of bad performances from a worrying number of players to start the season finally forced Evason’s hand in the Nov. 2 game against the New Jersey Devils when the lines were thrown out the window during the first intermission. What resulted were completely new top nine combinations that caught fire immediately despite the eventual loss.
Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson – Ryan Hartman – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno – Joel Eriksson Ek – Pat Maroon
Brandon Duhaime – Connor Dewar – Vinni Lettieri
Nic Petan
Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber
Jake Middleton – Dakota Mermis
Daemon Hunt – Calen Addison
Jon Merrill
Marc-Andre Fleury – Filip Gustavsson
Those lines carried through to their next game against the Rangers and are expected to be on display again tonight with the caveat being a questionable Marcus Johansson. If Johansson is unable to play, recently called-up Nic Petan should slide into his spot. Marc-Andre Fleury had to come into the game against the Rangers after Filip Gustavsson was pulled just seven minutes in after allowing three goals on four shots, so it is a given that Fleury will be back in the net again tonight.
Key to the Game
It really doesn’t matter who the Wild’s opponent is tonight, the key to winning this game will be exactly the same: play with the desperation-driven dominance that was shown in the last two periods of the game against the Rangers. Despite the game being decided in a shootout, the Wild were far and away the better team for most of that game, holding the Rangers to less than ten shots in any period and giving them just 18 total on the night. Every single Wild player was sold on winning every board battle, blocking shots, driving play to the outside, and holding the offensive zone at all costs. The things they need to do to win hockey games.
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They know they have a good team, and they have shown that they are capable of dominating even one of the current top teams in the league, so there are no excuses as to why that same energy and drive can’t be brought to every game. The new lines have instilled a new energy into the team and they need to use that to make up for their early season flops if they want to work their way back into playoff contender status. If they can avoid falling flat on their face in the first five minutes against the Islanders tonight, Wild fans should allow themselves to be cautiously optimistic again.
On the Dockett
It does not get easier for the Wild moving forward as they are right back at it against the Rangers on Nov. 9, only this time at Madison Square Garden where they will have less control over the line matchups. They then move on to the enigmatic Buffalo Sabres who have both lost to the Montreal Canadiens and beaten the Colorado Avalanche, before heading back to St. Paul to take on the Dallas Stars in their first inter-divisional game of the season.