These stats were padded with another chapter when the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Wild 3-2 in Game 6 Thursday night to close out the series, 4-2.

To add salt to the wound, this stat was posted from the @OptaSTATS account on Twitter/X just before midnight after the loss:

“The Wild are the first team in MLB/NBA/NFL/NHL history to make the playoffs 8+ times in a 10-year span but lost in the opening round every time.”

So yes, Minnesota sports and all that.

“We hear the noise of getting by the first round,” said Wild forward Marcus Foligno. “We understand it. We really felt like we could have done it this year, and that’s the disappointing part, right? But we always want to be a team that has commitment and will and sacrifice and comes together as a family, and that’s what our fans deserve.”

Minnesota Wild fans waved their rally towels at Xcel Energy Center during Game 6. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Writing “same old Wild” and ending the piece here wouldn’t be much of a story. Besides, it’s already been typed probably hundreds of times on social media by diehard and casual hockey fans.

While some of those franchise stats are the same when it comes to the playoffs, this season and playoff series was not the “same old Wild.” It’s okay for disappointment with the overall results – the win/loss record – while also enjoying the good chapters written along the way. Sports offer incredible moments, memories and amazing plays, along with frustration, anger and heartbreak.

“It’s tough,” Foligno said. “I mean, especially when you felt like you deserved better, right?

“It’s unfortunate we just couldn’t get our looks and get our bounces and move on like they did.”

Capitalizing on chances, miscues make or break a series
The loss absolutely stings for the Wild and their fans. Mistakes and missed opportunities are heightened during the playoffs, and this year was no exception.

In Game 4, the Wild had a chance to take a 3-1 series lead that’s eluded the franchise forever. Instead, they lost in overtime after a defensive miscue by Jake Middleton in the Wild’s zone led to the winning goal for Vegas. In Game 5, it was a goal getting overturned on a coaches’ challenge late in regulation of a tie game that will haunt the Wild – and Gustav Nyquist, who was offsides before Ryan Hartman put the puck in the net – for years to come.

Back home for a must-win Game 6, the Wild never led after giving up a power-play goal just 3 minutes, 30 seconds into the game. Vegas was also more opportunistic than the Wild and made a couple of great plays as they finally got production from a couple of their best players – Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.

Brock Faber handles the puck while Joel Eriksson Ek battles with Tomas Hertl. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

On the go-ahead goal, Wild defenseman Brock Faber pinched in from the blue line and didn’t get back once Vegas got control of the puck. It created a breakaway for Eichel, a superstar who didn’t miss the net, scoring his first goal of the series for a 2-1 Vegas lead late in the second period.

The Wild were down two goals late in the third but responded 31 seconds later to make it 3-2, the second time in the series the Wild had a quick answer in the third period. Minnesota had a flurry of chances in the final two minutes after pulling Filip Gustavsson for the extra attacker. But the clock ran out on the game and the Wild’s 2024-25 campaign.

The feeling was “raw” after the game for Wild coach John Hynes.

“I thought we worked enough and were playing well enough to be able to continue to push the series,” Hynes said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way. But I commend the guys. This was a really fun group to coach, extremely competitive group, coachable.

“It’s obviously disappointing right now because you feel like you deserve a little bit better, at least in the last few games here, and unfortunately, it didn’t go that way.”

This wasn’t the average Wild playoff series
Vegas won the series with four victories in essentially one-goal games. The Golden Knights won three in a row with a pair of overtime victories and then Thursday’s 3-2 result. Game 1 was 4-2, but that included an empty-net goal just before time expired.

Both Gustavsson and Hartman mentioned the two overtime losses in their postgame comments Thursday. Gustavsson thought a moment before answering that the Wild should have one of those overtime games was a deciding factor. It’s small details in tight games, he added.

“I think years past we had some pretty good teams, but this one, those things we went through, the way we stuck with things,” Hartman said. “This one feels like we could have gone deep.

“We battled. Two overtime losses the last two games, and a close one tonight. Felt like it could have easily gone seven, but we felt like we had what it took to go forward.”

“Credit to them. They found a way to get it done,” said Wild coach John Hynes, following the Game 6 loss. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The Wild were close. They were right there. For many stretches in the series they outplayed Vegas. Gustavsson looked like the better goaltender than Adin Hill at the other end. That’s what was so different about this playoff series for the Wild, and perhaps what will make the loss sting that much more.

Minnesota wasn’t overmatched. The Wild didn’t run into a brick wall of a hot goaltender. They didn’t struggle to score goals and generate offense. Their top players didn’t figuratively disappear. All problems that have plagued this franchise for years in the playoffs.

The only game that looked similar to years past was Game 6, because of the close-but-no-cigar chances the Wild had to score more than two goals. The Wild outshot Vegas 31-23 in the game, but they left so much on the table when it came to finishing off plays. It wasn’t for lack of trying or offensive zone time.

Wild fans have seen the movie before, where a puck bounces one way, a player’s stick is just in the wrong spot, a gaping net is staring at the Wild while the goalie is out of position, but they can’t cash in, for whatever reason. That’s hockey, and no matter how many chances the Wild generated with their season on the line, the puck wasn’t finding the back of the net when they needed it the most.

“You feel a little bit gut-punched,” Foligno said. “It does feel a little bit like that. You’re feeling ‘what do we have to do in order to get by, what’s next’ type thing, that’s the game of hockey. That’s why it’s frustrating to play it, but it can give you the best thing in the world and what we all dream of, and that’s winning the Stanley Cup and that’s our goal and always will be.

“But it feels like we had something a lot better, a lot different this year.”

Hartman, goal scoring and one last moment for Flower
In Game 6, the Wild got two goals from Hartman, who played excellent – and disciplined – hockey throughout the series. He had four assists coming into Game 6 before finally getting a goal that counted with four seconds left in the first period to tie the game 1-1. Hartman also buried the puck from the side of the cage with 3:27 remaining in regulation. He had another great chance off a feed from Kirill Kaprizov earlier in the third period but couldn’t finish the play with a goal; Hartman banged his stick on the end glass in frustration.

Ryan Hartman scored two goals, both in Game 6, and four assists in the six-game playoff series. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Hartman bounced back well this season from an eight-game suspension for roughing in a game in Ottawa in early February. It left a Wild team riddled with injuries all season even more shorthanded at the time. But he was a catalyst for the Wild in this series. Hynes said Thursday that Hartman “grew a little bit” coming back from the suspension.

“I think just his mental focus really when he came back from that coming down the stretch to end the regular season and into the playoffs,” Hynes said. “Just more focused, channeled his energy the right way, played the game the right way, and he had a great playoffs for us. It was really good to see.”

Hynes added that Hartman has a competitive gene which produces an ability and mindset to play his best during a hard playoff series. But Hartman, who’s played in the last five playoff series losses with the Wild, wasn’t interested in focusing on the personal positives of his game.

“I’d rather have been out of the lineup and we’d move on,” Hartman said. “It really doesn’t (expletive) matter.”

Hartman wasn’t the only bright spot in this series. The Wild’s top line of Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy combined for 10 goals and nine assists, with Kaprizov and Boldy each scoring five goals. Though they were kept off the scoresheet in the final game, the Wild received the kind of play they needed from this trio. As a reminder, two of those players missed a combined 77 games this season due to injury. Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each returned to the lineup April 9, with Eriksson Ek scoring four goals while Kaprizov notched two.  

Boldy, who played in all 88 games this season, showed the type of skill and hustle expected of a top-line winger. Eriksson Ek’s presence is felt all over the ice, including with the level of physicality and in the faceoff circle, although he wasn’t able to get a goal in these past six games. Kaprizov is one of the best players in the league and was playing like an MVP candidate before his injury around Christmas.

One of the best plays of the series was Kaprizov’s saucer pass to Boldy up the ice for a goal in Game 2 Boldy called it the best pass he’d ever seen. Foligno quipped during that press conference that it was a “rude” thing for Boldy to say, since he assisted on Boldy’s first NHL goal.

Foligno was another player who threw his weight around in the series, both with hits and offensively. He scored three goals in the series and assisted on Hartman’s first goal of the night Thursday. Foligno came into Thursday leading the league with 38 hits in the playoffs; he finished with 42 hits in six games.

The end of the Wild’s season also marks the end of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s NHL career. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Gustavsson had his own highlight reel of important saves when his team needed it. He played all but the third period and overtime of Game 5, exiting because he was sick. That gave Marc-Andre Fleury one more period-plus of NHL hockey before his expected retirement at 40 years old.

As the traditional post-series handshakes ended, the fans who remained at Xcel Energy Center started a “Fleury! Fleury! Fleury!” chant in appreciation. He gave a brief acknowledgement to the crowd before being the first Wild player to skate off the ice and down the tunnel; the rest of the Wild players and the Vegas players stayed on the ice and offered stick taps to acknowledge the future hall of famer. It was a brief moment shortened by the deflating team loss.

Still, it was an emotional scene for Foligno, though it’s safe to say he wasn’t the only one.  

“You feel for him,” Foligno said. “I think we all pushed really hard for him and trying to extend this as long as we can. The big goal was to go out a winner. That would have been the ultimate sacrifice and ultimate dream going out.

“We’re all very fortunate in this room to have played with him.”

Gallery: Wild vs. Golden Knights

The post Early Exit appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Ryan Hartman and his fellow Wild forwards found the grip of Ryan Suter and the Dallas defense too much to overcome in the series. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

“This city deserves better than what we gave them,” Hartman said quietly as he sat in the Wild’s dressing room at Xcel Energy Center following the Wild’s 4-1 loss in game 6 that ended Minnesota’s season and sent rival Dallas to the next round.

For the home fans who remained in the building following the traditional post-series handshakes between the Stars and Wild that night – though they were far outnumbered by empty green seats at that point – their cheers and applause seemingly willed the Wild players back to center ice for one final salute to the State of Hockey faithful.

“The fans, they’ve shown up for us all year, and we failed them,” Hartman said. “There’s opportunities throughout this series where we could have not necessarily put the nail in the coffin, but we could have separated ourselves a little bit more, and we failed to capitalize on opportunities throughout the series.”

Unfortunately for the Wild, not capitalizing on opportunities is the all-too-familiar refrain for a team that hasn’t stepped on the ice for a second-round playoff game since getting swept away by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015. The Wild’s last second-round playoff game victory came nearly nine years ago, with a 4-2 win in game four at home against the Blackhawks; the Wild lost the series in six games.

The similarities to last year’s first-round playoff exit for the Wild are clear. A two-games-to-one series lead before the divisional foe (St. Louis last year, Dallas this year) rattled off three consecutive victories to advance to the second round. A Minnesota penalty kill surrendering goals was something one could count one like they could of snow falling in April in Minnesota. The Wild allowed eight goals on the penalty kill last year to St. Louis and 9-for-22 this year to Dallas.

The Wild’s penalty kill actually went 2-for-2 in game six against the Stars, but that’s little consolation when the Wild still ended up on the losing end of the scoresheet. It was often touted in this series how much better the Wild were during 5-on-5 play.

In game one, both Stars goals were scored almost immediately on two power-play opportunities, for example. But unfortunately for the Wild, special teams was once again magnified in a negative light in the playoffs.

“Were they (Dallas) the best 5-on-5? I’m not so sure,” said Wild coach Dean Evason said after game six. “Our group was real good in that area. We had to be better on the power play. Obviously, our penalty kill wasn’t great. But if we could have scored on our power play and made them pay for some penalties like they made us, it might be a different series.”

Freddy Gaudreau and the Wild proved to be no match for the heroics of Lakeville’s Jake Oettinger in net for the Stars. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Could have. Might be. Yet wasn’t meant to be.

With four losses in the six games, credit to Dallas where credit is due, of course. Its best players came through when needed, they seized offensive chances and crushed special teams, not to mention a winning series from Lakeville native Jake Oettinger in net.

But so much of the poor results for the Wild were self-inflicted wounds. Or in one case, a much-discussed goaltender change.

After the Wild fought through its longest playoff game in team history to get the double-overtime game-one win in Dallas, they responded in game two with the most lopsided contest in a 7-3 loss. Fans questioned the decision to stick with the tandem system in net and start veteran Marc-Andre Fleury after Filip Gustavsson’s amazing 51-save performance in game one.

Seemingly proving all the naysayers correct, Fleury had a rough night in goal. But his teammates in front of him certainly didn’t make his job any easier. The sloppy defense hung him out to dry, the penalty kill units were on the ice six times helping to allow three more goals. The Wild actually got within a goal after Marcus Johansson and Freddy Gaudreau goals 11 seconds apart. But the goals Fleury would like to have back came after, and the game ended with a 7-3 defeat.

In front of a rocking Xcel Energy Center for game three in a tied series, the Wild played their most complete game of the series. Zuccarello scored a pair of goals, briefly giving fans hope that his recent slide in his offensive play was in the rearview mirror (spoiler: it wasn’t). Foligno – who will be known in this series as either a player who got screwed on poor penalty calls or as a goon who was tossed from a game, depending on which fanbase you align with – was all over the ice playing a solid game and scored a power-play goal.

The Wild grabbed the series lead again with the possibility of taking a 3-1 lead in the next game. Something they’ve never done.

Game four turned out to be a preview of some of what was still to come in the series. The low-scoring affair started out with an odd-man rush for the Wild seconds into the game, but they couldn’t connect for a goal. Put that on repeat a few more times throughout the game as Oettinger turned in his best performance of the series.

This was the game that got away for the Wild, allowing two pesky goals on the penalty kill as the Stars evened the series 2-2 with a 3-2 victory. The Wild played well enough to win but just didn’t – all together now – capitalize on their chances. Meanwhile, the Stars were opportunistic.

In a pivotal game five, someone was going to take a 3-2 series lead. But in order to lead, a team first has to score. The Wild did not, taking a 4-0 loss back home for a must-win game six. With Kirill Kaprizov scoring only the team’s first goal of the series way back in game one, and Matt Boldy still scoreless, Evason said he had “no doubt” these players would show up for game six.

But Kaprizov, though visible and not without chances in the series, only had that lone goal to show for this playoff series. His performance was the opposite of thrilling. It’s a role reversal from last season when he scored seven goals and an assist in the series against the Blues.

Boldy, a forward who signed a seven-year, $49 million deal during the season and went through a stretch in March with multiple hat tricks where nearly every shot he took was a goal, recorded only two assists in the series. In 12 career playoff games this season and last, he has one goal and two assists to show for it.

Those are the two most glaring examples of where the Wild’s offense was lacking.

Miro Heiskanen (4), Tyler Seguin (91) and the Dallas Stars kept Kirill Kaprizov in check throughout the series. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

But the Wild still had a chance to force a game seven. They buzzed around the rink early in game six, and Hartman found himself at the goalmouth with a grade-A chance to take a 1-0 lead. Somehow in the scramble, the puck stayed out of the net. Seconds later, the Stars Roope Hintz went down and popped a goal for his fifth of the series on the first Dallas shot on goal.

“I put the puck from my backhand to my forehand and I mean, I’ve watched it 100 times in slow motion between periods and a rolling puck as soon as I go to push it into the net it bounces over my blade and their defenseman whacks it off their goalie’s foot and then it goes and hits the post,” Hartman said. “And they [expletive] score right after.”

Wyatt Johnston made it 2-0 in the second period on a bang-bang play getting a puck in the slot. And there isn’t more of a series dagger than the goal Mason Marchment scored with less then a second left on the clock in the second period, making it 3-0 on a breakaway after the Wild had another scoring chance.

In the third period, as the math was done to see just how long the shutout streak was for Oettinger, Gaudreau at least gave the fans something to cheer about (a twist from booing both the team’s penalty kill and power play) when he scored at the 12:53 mark to get within 3-1 before a late empty netter from Dallas had fans flooding the exit doors.

Reflecting on yet another failure to advance to the next round was still fresh for Wild players Friday night.

“It’s so frustrating,” said captain Jared Spurgeon. “We had spots in the series where we could have won games and put them away and we didn’t do that. That’s something we’ve got to focus on next year and years out. That when we get those opportunities, we do finish them. It’s just frustrating every year when it ends like this.”

The post ‘Sick’ in Game 6 appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Tougher, more playoff-tested, everything that the Wild wasn’t last season when they flopped in a six-game opening-round loss to the Blues.

So what happened?

After an outstanding series against the Blues a year ago, Kirill Kaprizov has been neutralized by the Stars through five games, faring only slightly better than fellow 30+ goal scorer Matt Boldy. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The Wild will enter Game 6 of their first-round series against Dallas looking very much like the team general manager Bill Guerin attempted to retool to avoid a repeat.

Just like a year ago, the Wild won Game 3 by a 5-1 score to take a one-game lead and then dropped the next two. The Blues closed out the Wild in St. Louis in Game 6. The Stars will attempt to do the same on Friday night at Xcel Energy Center.

There are many disturbing similarities in the series’. This includes the Wild giving up nine power-play goals to Dallas in five games, after surrendering eight in six games against St. Louis. That was an area the Wild vowed to improve on.

Winger Kevin Fiala, one of the Wild’s key offensive players in 2021-22, had no goals in six games after scoring 33 in the regular season. Winger Matt Boldy has played the Fiala-role this postseason, failing to score a goal through five games after having 31 in the regular season.

Star winger Kirill Kaprizov, who had seven goals in six games against the Blues, has only one this postseason and disappeared in Game 5. Yes, the Wild are playing without their top center, Joel Eriksson Ek, but many teams have injury issues this time of year. 

The best teams find a way to win. The others hit the golf course in April.

That gets us to the most important part of this discussion. Assuming the Wild doesn’t rally from two games down, the postseason postmortem on this team must include a long look at the common denominator in the two playoff ousters: Coach Dean Evason.

Evason was out coached by the Blues Craig Berube, leaving many to wonder if that again would be a problem. The Wild’s message was that everyone learned from that defeat and would benefit from the lessons. 

That hasn’t been true. The advantage goes to Stars coach Peter DeBoer, whose Vegas Golden Knights, with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal, beat Evason’s Wild in seven games in the opening round in 2021.

DeBoer seemed to get under Evason’s skin, and by extension his team’s, after the Stars evened the series in Game 2 with a far-too-easy 7-3 victory. “When you pre-scout them, Minnesota takes penalties,” DeBoer said of the Stars’ power-play success. “They’re the sixth-most penalized team in the league. We’re ready for that.”

Evason countered: “We felt that they had some bigger people go down pretty easy in that hockey game. We’ve talked about this before, and it’s a fine line, because we don’t dive.”

While there have been some questionable calls in the series, Dallas has only been given two more power plays than Minnesota. The Stars are an incredible 9-for-22 and have four power-play goals from Tyler Seguin; the Wild are a feeble 4-for-20.

Dallas captain Jamie Benn (14) and Tyler Seguin (91) celebrate Seguin’s power-play goal in the second period of Game 4 for a 1-0 Stars lead. It was the second of Seguin’s now four power-play goals through five games of the Stanley Cup first-round series which the Stars lead 3-2 over the Wild. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

It was noted throughout the season that Evason’s objection to almost every penalty against his team didn’t set the greatest tone. But he was grumbling again in his postgame press conference on Tuesday after his team completely fell apart following winger Marcus Foligno’s 5-minute kneeing penalty and game misconduct early in the first period. The Stars scored only 8 seconds after Foligno was sent to the dressing room.

Evason needed to calm the Wild, instead they fell apart. 

There have been other odd decisions. Last season, Evason was questioned for not switching from Fleury to Cam Talbot until Game 6, when the Wild found themselves trailing 3-2 in the series. This time, Evason made the right move by starting the more productive Filip Gustavsson in goal in Game 1. Gustavsson stole that game as the Wild escaped with a 3-2 victory in double overtime.

His reward was watching Fleury stop only 24 of 31 shots in Game 2. Evason had decided to stick with his goalie rotation as if this was a regular-season game in January, instead of going with the hot hand. There’s nothing wrong with playing both goalies in the playoffs, but you usually wait until one guy loses a game, or, in this case, doesn’t stop 50-plus shots.

Then there is the issue of Evason’s almost complete refusal to juggle lines during games, unless he’s forced to because of injury. Kaprizov’s goal came late in the first period of Game 1. Meanwhile, his linemate, Mats Zuccarello, has two goals and five points in the five games, but often has been ineffective. 

The chemistry that made Kaprizov and Zuccarello so effective together, hasn’t been present for much of this series. Splitting them up would seem like a good wake-up call for both and yet it hasn’t happened. Why not try Boldy on a line with Kaprizov, or promote Gustav Nyquist to a top six position among the forwards? 

Nyquist had four points in the first three games against Dallas, as the Wild took a 2-1 series lead. There’s more. The Wild acquired two-time Stanley Cup winner Oskar Sundqvist from Detroit at the trade deadline for a fourth-round pick but have played him in only one game against Dallas. He scored a goal.

Sundqvist had three goals and seven points in 15 games with Minnesota after being acquired and unless he’s injured it makes little sense not to work a 6-foot-3, 220-pound playoff veteran into the mix more often. Instead, Evason stuck with third-line center and frequent scratch Sam Steel on Tuesday.

We don’t know if more moves by Evason would have made a difference, but we do know that doing little to nothing this time of year isn’t an acceptable coaching tactic. Things won’t simply work themselves out because they did in November or December.

Lakeville’s Jake Oettinger is just the latest in a long line of goaltenders to stymie the Wild in the postseason. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

As noted in this space at the beginning of the series, Evason’s playoff track record doesn’t provide much confidence. He’s has lost his first three first-round series’ as the Wild’s coach, if you include the 2020 qualifying tournament; he went 1-12 and had four first-round exists in six seasons as coach of the Nashville Predator’s top minor league affiliate in Milwaukee; and only won two first-round series in six seasons in the Western Hockey League. Those two teams didn’t get past the second round.

Maybe Evason can rally the Wild from their no-show performance on Tuesday to a pair of wins in Games 6 and 7, the finale being in Dallas. Maybe Kaprizov and Boldy will find their missing scoring touch and put a few past Dallas’ red hot goalie, Jake Oettinger. It will help if the Wild can establish possession and take away Oettinger’s vision by causing chaos in front. 

That’s done with desire and grit, a word the Wild elected to use as their playoff slogan because it’s so essential to how they win games.

But if the Wild does bow out, looking as poor as they did in Games 2 and 5, this can’t be ignored. This isn’t a 1 vs. 8 matchup. This is a 2-3 matchup between the 108-point Stars and 103-point Wild. Guerin didn’t make deals at the deadline hoping they might help, he made them because he was confident that a tougher team would be built for a playoff run.

Getting run out of the building twice, including once in a pivotal Game 5, was never part of that plan.

(MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

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Morrissey’s game-changing cross check warrants NHL action

St. Paul — One of the amazing things about sports is how many ways one significant event in a game can be interpreted. No matter how many replays are shown from a multitude of camera angles, at least 20 people in a building of 20,000 can cast doubt upon what they reveal, no matter how unreasonable it may seem.

Exhibit A in Game 4 of Minnesota’s first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series with the Winnipeg Jets came late in the first period of the Wild’s 2-0 loss on Tuesday night and, in the words of Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, “It cost us the game.”

With Minnesota in the midst of a power play, Wild center Eric Staal positioned himself between the circles in front of the Winnipeg net. That’s when Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey blatantly cross-checked Staal in the side of the neck, dropping Minnesota’s regular-season scoring leader to the ice.

Rather than goaltender Devan Dubnyk leaving the ice for an extra attacker in anticipation of a 5-on-3 man advantage, Staal struggled to his feet before slowly making his way to the bench as play went on.

Staal was rightfully upset after the game that Morrissey did not receive even a minor penalty on the play when a major and an ejection would have reasonably fit the crime.

“I’m the tallest guy in the ice, he cross-checked me right in the neck,” Staal said. “There’s not much more you can say, everyone saw it. I don’t know how no one with stripes saw it but that is what it is.”

Staal was also cross checked in the neck by Winnipeg’s Ben Chiarot in Sunday’s Game 3 win, but Chiarot at least took a seat for his infraction that night.

Asked for his take on the play, Boudreau didn’t pull any punches.

“My take is it’s the same take that everybody in the building saw it is the refs looked at it and decided not to call it because we were already on the power play,” Boudreau said.

To add insult to injury, Morrissey assisted on Mark Scheifele’s first goal of the game less than three minutes later in the waning moments of the first period.

“We go from what should be a 5-on-3 to a goal against eventually, and that’s the game winner,” Staal said. “I’m sure he’s going to say he didn’t mean to, but you still have to be aware of your stick.”

As Staal predicted, Morrissey insisted he hit Staal where he did purely by accident saying, “He’s a big guy and my stick ended up getting up a little bit on him.”

“I watched the video afterwards, and we’re battling in front of the net on the penalty kill,” Morrissey added. “I’m actually looking at the puck on the wall, trying to box him out.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice defended Morrissey saying he’s as clean a player Winnipeg has.

“He’s not even really looking where his stick is at the time he does it,” Maurice deadpanned.

It’s not clear which video Maurice and Morrissey watched, but it certainly wasn’t this one:

The evidence is clear that Morrissey was indeed looking right at his target area and, despite the fact that the on-ice officials failed miserably in this case, some form of punishment is required.

As Wild center Matt Cullen quite accurately said, “I thought that was pretty cut and dry, that was extremely dirty.”

The Wild responded with some solid scoring chances in the second, but Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, as he did all night, stymied Minnesota each time. But it was the chance that Hellebuyck didn’t get a chance to stop that had Boudreau fired up after the game.

“Nino has a breakaway, it’s Morrissey  that breaks it up,” Boudreau said. “He should be out of the game. I’m still a little heated about it but I’ve got to watch what I say. But they were looking right at it and they told us they didn’t see it so you make up your minds.”

Morrissey was asked if he expected to hear from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety regarding potential disciplinary action for the hit. He said it’s out of his control but he was happy to see Staal was OK and able to finish the game.

“I pride myself on playing the game really hard and competing. It’s the playoffs. Everyone’s really aggressive. It was a complete accident. My stick got up a little bit. That’s all I can really say at this time.”

The post A Pain in the Neck appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Offense sputters putting Minnesota on the brink of elimination 

St. Paul – Is it too soon to suggest that the undermanned Wild — they are missing $196 million worth of talent in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter — are simply no match for the Winnipeg Jets?

Coach Bruce Boudreau says no.

Yes, the Wild dropped a 2-0 home ice decision to the Jets Tuesday night and trail 3-1 in the best-of-7 playoff series, but Boudreau insisted that the Wild are not finished.

“They’ll regroup,” he said.

He has to be optimistic; he’s the coach.

Game 5 is Friday in Winnipeg, where the Jets have won 34 of 43 games since the start of the 2017-18 season, and after they shut down Minnesota in Game 4 in front of 19,277 antsy Wild fans, the Wild will need to win three straight to advance.

It’s a tall order without Parise (broken sternum) and Suter (broken ankle), who signed twin $98 million contracts in 2012 as free agents.

The Wild outshot Winnipeg for the first time in the series Tuesday, but were unable to muster a goal againt Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who was pulled after two periods in Minnesota’s 6-2 win two nights earlier.

Hellebuyck made 30 saves.

“You knew five or 10 minutes into that game that he was ready and feeling good,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said.

In Parise’s absence, someone needed to pick up the slack. Well, Jason Zucker, Mikael Granlund, Jordan Greenway and Tyler Ennis each managed just one shot on goal while Marcus Foligno, Matt Cullen and Daniel Winnik each had zero.

Nevertheless, Boudreau pointed out, the Wild battled their tails off and might have taken the game into overtime if not for what Boudreau and everyone in Minnesota’s dressing room called a blatent missed call.

The Wild were controlling the puck on the power play late in the first period with the score 0-0 when Eric Staal, stationed between the circles, got flattened by a cross-check to the neck from Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrissey.

Staal lay on the ice for a moment, finally got up on one knee, then skated slowly off the ice as play continued.

“He cross-checked me,” Staal said. “Everyone saw it. I don’t know how no one with stripes saw it.”

“My take,” Boudreau said, “is the same take that everybody in the building saw. The refs looked at it and they decided not to call it because we were already on the power play.

“It cost us the game.”

A five-on-three manpower edge might have enabled the Wild to score first, but two additional factors stemmed from the non-call, Boudreau noted, because Morrissey very likely would have been ejected.

First, Morrissey got an assist on the only goal of the first 59 1/2 minutes late in the first period, and second, he made a sterling defensive play to knock the puck off the Nino Niederreiter’s stick to prevent a breakaway later in the game.

An empty-netter capped the scoring with 11 seconds remaining.

“It should have been a 0-0 game going into overtime,” Boudreau moaned.

The first goal — both Jets goals were scored by Mark Scheifele — was all the Jets needed on this evening as their defense yielded hardly an inch all night.

“We didn’t give them a whole lot of ice tonight to stretch out on,” Maurice said.

Especially in the third period, when the Wild tried to push the pace but managed just nine shots on goal.

“They really dug in,” Boudreau said. “They were really good in the third period.”

Staal, Dumba, Granlund and one or two others had Minnesota’s best chances, but Cullen said the team needed to play with a bit more desperation and “we didn’t have enough.”

Parise and Suter are still out. Game 5 is in Winnipeg, where the Jets practically toyed with the Wild in the first two games of the series. Is it over?

“We’ve just got to re-focus and try to get a win,” rookie defenseman Nick Seeler said. “It’s far from over.”

He has to say that, but actually, it’s very close to over … unless the Wild can spring an upset in Game 5 and force a Game 6 back at the X on Sunday night.

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Four-goal second-period blitz shifts momentum Minnesota’s way

St. Paul – Suddenly, we have a series.

In the eyes of many disenchanted Minnesota hockey fans, the Wild looked like they would be unable to do anything in the Stanley Cup Playoffs but absorb four straight playoff losses to the muscular Winnipeg Jets.

Until Sunday night.

With heaps of snow bringing back memories of February — they went 9-4-3 that month — the Wild executed a quick 180 to snuff out the high-flying Jets 6-2 in front of 19,175 at the Xcel Energy Center.

“We got a life, now,” winger Zach Parise said.

After the Jets dominated the first two games in Winnipeg, they grabbed a 1-0 lead on a softy that squirted past goalie Devan Dubnyk 4:50 into the first period Sunday.

“It didn’t defelate us by any means,” Parise said.

Apparently not.

Wild forwards Eric Staal and Jason Zucker celebrate Staal’s first goal of the series on the second period of Minnesota’s 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Game 3 of there first round Stanley Cup Playoff series on Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Mikael Granlund banged in the rebound of a Mikko Koivu shot on a Minnesota power play midway through the first period, and the Wild netted five of the ensuing six goals to pull within 2-1 in the best-of-7 series.

“We needed that — a little pushback on these guys that we knew we were more than capable of,” Dubnyk said. “And we needed to win the game, plain and simple.”

Three games down and things have changed.

“We were good in the first two, and they didn’t like their game,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “They were good tonight and we didn’t like our game.”

The win was a team effort for a Wild lineup that at times appeared unable to keep up with the Jets during the two games in Winnipeg.

“I thought we got really good games from our big players,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Go down the line: Eric Staal scored his first goal of these playoffs and added an assist, Parise scored his third, Koivu was a force and tallied two assists, Granlund had a goal and an assist, Nick Seeler picked up two assists and a few key blocked shots, Matt Dumba netted the game-winner and an assist, Marcus Foligno got his first goal of the playoffs plus three big hits, and Jordan Greenway bagged his first goal as a pro.

“That shows a lot of good things about our team.” Greenway said. “We got scoring from our top two lines and we got secondary scoring, too. Everyone’s pushing in the right direction.”

Factor in an air-tight defense that blocked 20 Winnipeg shots compared to eight blocks by the Jets and you have the recipe for a win.

Hits — such a factor in Winnipeg — were 26-19 in favor of the Jets but did not seem to faze the home team.

“It’s a physical series,” Granlund said. “It’s fun to be out there — there’s a lot of contact and a lot of emotion.”

Midway through the final period the result became so obvious that some in the big crowd took note of the four-goal lead and the wintry weather and chose to exit the premises a little early for what they expected to be a snow-slowed ride home.

Like the Wild, they could look forward to a rematch two nights later at the X.

One more Minnesota win and the series will come back to the X for Game 6 next Sunday.

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