In a game that had a playoff feel, including the ill will that makes springtime hockey so fantastic, the Wild didn’t give an inch in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks. It was a game in which the Wild did not lead until Kirill Kaprizov blasted a shot past sprawling Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen with 23.4 seconds remaining in the extra session.

The win gave the Wild an NHL-leading 38 points in 25 games and served as the latest bit of evidence that this version of the Wild is different. It’s not the team that missed the playoffs last season or the ones that got bounced in the first round of the playoffs seven of the eight seasons before that.

Most, if not all, of those clubs would have disappeared against a Canucks team that entered with a 10-2-0 road record and clearly thought it could kick sand in the face of the 98-Pound Weakling, or in this case, the Wild. The Canucks dealt out cross-check after cross-check as the officiating crew said “play on.” Former Wild defenseman Carson Soucy took the Canucks only penalty of the night and that was a tripping call.

No complaints, just work
There was a time when the Canucks’ tactics would have worked. Trailing 1-0 after one period and 2-1 after two, many Wild teams would have spent the third period complaining about the non-calls that didn’t go their way before calling it a night.

Jake Middleton (pictured here in a recent game against Winnipeg) tied the game on Tuesday for his fifth goal of the season. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Instead, Jake Middleton tied the score only 1 minute, 43 seconds into the third period as goalie Filip Gustavsson provided the latest of his many fantastic performances this season. The Wild didn’t back down, they answered the Canucks on the scoresheet and didn’t hesitate to dish out the physical play right back.

“Both the teams were kind of (expletives) out there, but it was good,” Middleton said, using a word not fit for a family publication. “That was a fun hockey game. Xcel was rocking on a Tuesday. Hope you guys enjoyed it — I know we did.”

Said Gustavsson: “From the beginning, it was emotions, some very big hits and chirps back and forth. Everyone got going. Both teams just wanted to get this win so much. It was a very hard game to play.”

This was the latest step for a team that’s been answering challenges since going 5-1-1 on a tough early-season road trip.

Even after a recent loss, Wild bounce back
The most recent addition to the Wild’s expanding resume of success came in the past nine days. It started with a 4-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 25 at Xcel Energy Center. The Jets and Wild entered the game as the top two teams in the Western Conference, but Winnipeg left with its seventh consecutive victory in the series.

The Wild didn’t play poorly in defeat — the Jets final goal came into an empty net — but Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck slammed the door time and time again as he made a season-high 43 saves.

This was the type of game that would have put previous Wild teams into a funk that would have lasted for a week.

But two days later, Kaprizov scored the game’s only goal and Gustavsson made 39 saves in a 1-0 victory at Buffalo. The Wild then beat Chicago and Nashville by identical 3-2 scores on Friday and Saturday. Kaprizov set up Jared Spurgeon for the OT winner against the Predators and then scored the OT winner himself four days later against Vancouver.

The Wild are doing this without first-line winger Mats Zuccarello, who has been placed on long-term injured reserve because of a lower-body injury, and without one of their top defenseman in Jonas Brodin, who is on IR because of an upper-body injury. There was concern after Tuesday’s win about first-line center Joel Eriksson Ek, who departed the game in overtime with what looked like an injury to his leg.

Through all of this, coach John Hynes has continued to push the right buttons and somehow has turned this collection into a resilient bunch that doesn’t have any interest in looking for excuses.

“I think coming into the game we knew the style of game it was going to be,” Hynes said. “They don’t give anything for free, they’re well structured, they compete, they have good depth, they play hard, have good goaltending. You know it’s going to be one of those types of games. Tonight, I thought we were challenged in different ways, but I thought we answered the challenges the right way.”

The post Zulgad: The Wild Are For Real appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Some form of that question was likely uttered by anyone who witnessed one of the craziest, most improbable games – and third periods – in Minnesota Wild history.

In a final score that looked more like a baseball or football game result, the Wild pulled off a 10-7 victory Monday afternoon over one of the NHL’s best squads this season, the Vancouver Canucks. The final score seemed improbable for many reasons, at many points during the game.

But that was before a pair of hat tricks from Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov, plus a seven-goal third period for the home team on the way to its fifth victory in the past six games. Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov each scored three goals and three assists. They join Marian Gaborik as the only players in franchise history to record six-point games, according to Minnesota Wild PR.

Ten goals in a game. Had Wild players been part of such an offensive outburst before?

“When I was maybe 5 years old,” Kaprizov said, with a laugh.

Seventeen combined goals in the game were a new franchise high for the Wild (actually, it was a franchise high at 14 goals), and the Wild also set a new franchise record for goals scored when it reached nine goals. The Wild scored their 10 goals on just 27 shots for a 37.0 shooting percentage, which marked the best single-game shooting percentage by a team with 25-plus shots on goal since the start of the 2000-01 NHL season (also the Wild’s first season), according to Minnesota Wild PR.

The Wild trailed 2-0 in the first period on Vancouver’s first two shots on goal. In hindsight, this was a sign of the save-percentage woes and shooting-percentage wins that would follow throughout the game for both teams. Although, the Wild also missed lots of opportunities – and nets – in the first period, too.

But then Eriksson Ek tied his career-high in goals for a season (26) to make it a 2-1 game at the first intermission. Halfway through the game, the Wild trailed 4-1 on the way to J.T. Miller’s hat trick. Yes, the 17 combined goals included a trio of hat tricks.

Cashing in with the two-man advantage
The Canucks kept their foot on the gas, which resulted in both goals and many trips to the penalty box. Throughout the game, the Wild had four lengthy 5-on-3 power-play advantages. Minnesota cashed in with four consecutive power-play goals, starting with Mats Zuccarello scoring with 32.1 seconds left in the second period for a 5-3 game.

Then, buckle up for the start of the third period (which also included a Wild goaltender change, bringing in Marc-Andre Fleury after Filip Gustavsson gave up five goals on 16 shots), which started with another 48 seconds of potential 5-on-3 power play time for the Wild. Only 29 seconds in, Eriksson Ek set his new career-high in goals. Then after Miller threw the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, the two-man advantage for the Wild started up again.

At 1:23 of the third, Kaprizov tied the game 5-5. Twenty-one seconds later, Eriksson Ek completed his hat trick as he gave the Wild the lead it wouldn’t give up. So, Zuccarello in the final minute of the second period, Eriksson Ek, Kaprizov and then Eriksson Ek again for the four power-play goals and a Wild lead.

“It was important for us to be able to capitalize on the power plays, cut the lead and then get to the game that, the attack game that we talked about,” said Wild coach John Hynes.

That’s a lot of goals. And boy, this game wasn’t done delivering them.

Marco Rossi scored. Kaprizov scored his second of the game. The Wild had an 8-5 lead.

Then later the Canucks pulled their goaltender with 2:20 left in regulation and an offensive-zone faceoff. It only took 12 seconds for them to make it a one-goal game again. But Jonas Brodin fired a puck into the empty net from the other end of the ice, and Kaprizov wrapped up his hat trick just barely, with an empty-net goal when only 1.9 seconds remained in the game.

“Yeah, it’s nuts,” said Matt Boldy, who scored a goal and three assists. “It’s weird. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of something like that where they just kept going, one after another, I guess.”

Add it all up, it’s a 10-7 Wild victory as the Presidents Day, matinee crowd roared at Xcel Energy Center.

Seriously though, what the Ek just happened?

By the numbers
This game was filled with notable stats, keeping the Wild’s PR social media account busy during and after the game. Here are some of the notable items:

Eriksson Ek: Six-point game (3-3—6), career-long four-game goal streak, 13 multi-point games this season (ranks second on the team), second career hat trick (Oct. 19, 2021 vs. Winnipeg).

Boldy: 20 goals in consecutive seasons, tied his career high with a four-point game (1-3—4).

Zuccarello: Four-point game (1-3—4), tying his career high.

Kaprizov: First career six-point game (3-3—6), fourth career regular-season hat trick.

Jacob Lucchini: First NHL assist on Marco Rossi’s goal to make it a 7-5 Wild lead.

Wild: A new franchise record for the fastest four goals scored, in a span of two minutes, 17 seconds to erase the 5-2 deficit (previous record: 3:28 span on March 6, 2018); new franchise record for goals in a single game (previous record: 8 goals); seven goals in the third was a new franchise record for goals in a period

According to NHL Stats:

Fastest six goals by one team, NHL history:

4:24 – Montreal Canadiens (Dec. 6, 1982)

4:47 – Washington Capitals (Feb. 3, 1999)

5:02 – Pittsburgh Penguins (Nov. 22, 1972)

5:45 – Minnesota Wild (Feb. 19, 2024)

The post That Was Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Wild make a point and savor Vikings’ win

No one is thrilled when a lead with four minutes remaining turns into an overtime loss, but Wild players pretty much seized a positive attitude as the team began a five-day break for its NHL bye week.

Minnesota dropped a 3-2 decision to Vancouver Sunday night in a strange evening permeated by the Vikings’ surprise playoff win over the New Orleans Saints a few hours earlier.

The result left the Wild with six of a possible eight points in their final four games, however, as players scattered for a few days away from the rink.

“Got to look at it as a positive,” coach Bruce Boudreau said.

Player introductions were held in front of a mostly empty arena at the Xcel Energy Center as the vast majority of fans huddled in front of TVs on the arena concourse to watch the final minutes of the Vikings-Saints game.

Midway through the Canadian National Anthem, a roar went through the building that signified something good must have happened for the Vikings.

“It certainly sounded loud enough to be a good thing,” Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk said, “so I was kind of itching to get over to the bench and figure out what happened.”

What happened, of course, was a last-second touchdown that boosted the Vikings into the NFC championship game, the replay of which was shown on the Xcel scoreboard after the anthems for players and fans alike.

After many setbacks, it was the Vikings’ turn to stage an improbable comeback.

“It’s exciting for our state,” defenseman Nate Prosser said. “We’re all pumped up for them.”

A native Minnesotan like Prosser, winger Zach Parise donned a Vikings cap after the game and reveled in the victory by his favorite pro football team.

“That was awesome,” he said.

Less awesome was the Wild’s final result against the Canucks, but Minnesota took 53 points and a little momentum into the break off a record of 24-17-5.

“I think we’re starting to play better hockey overall,” Boudreau said, admitting that his guys looked a bit emotionally drained after two back-to-back series over the previous six days. “In regulation we gave up six goals in four games. What our identity’s got to be; we’re not a high scoring team this year, so quite frankly, we’ve got to defend.”

The Wild defeated Chicago 2-1 and Winnipeg 4-1 in their previous two games after an overtime loss to Calgary and ended their most recent stretch of games with a 6-2-2 record.

The point Sunday pulled them within two of St. Louis for third place in the NHL Central Division.

“We made some good movement in the standings this week,” Prosser said. “We’re definitely pushing in the right direction, that’s for sure. You can sense it on the ice; you can sense it in the locker room — we’re building it here.”

The post Tough Act to Follow appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Struggling Canucks thankful for Minnesota’s giving

This was one game Wild coach Mike Yeo says has to serve as a lesson to his boys.

At first, it appeared to have the ingredients for something different: Through 19 minutes of the first period Wednesday night, a pre-Thanksgiving turnout of 18,877 Xcel Energy Center customers had every reason to feel in the holiday mood.

After all, the Wild were an NHL-best 8-1 on home ice, led the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 courtesy of Thomas Vanek’s team-high ninth goal of the season and seemed to be controlling play.

But this opponent was Vancouver, a team that had struggled to an 8-8-6 record coming into the evening but a team that has almost never been out of it against Minnesota.

A turnover with less than 30 seconds left in the first period led to the first of Radim Vrbata’s two goals and the Canucks – outshot 13-8 until that point – shifted into high gear to thump the Wild 3-2.

Many on the Wild felt they helped jump-start the Canucks’ offense.

“Our second period wasn’t even close to good,” Wild forward Charlie Coyle commented. “That’s what killed us.”

Vrbata’s power-play goal at 11:15 of the second period gave the Canucks the lead, and Jannik Hanson got loose at 5:31 of the third period to score the winner. Coyle’s goal with 1:20 remaining and goaltender Devan Dubnyk pulled made it close, but the Wild could not rally further.

“Too little, too late,” Vanek said.

A team missing injured Zach Parise, Marco Scandella and Justin Fontaine is now 1-1 on a four-game homestand with games against Winnipeg and Dallas ahead.

“They’re obviously huge to our team,” defenseman Jared Spurgeon said of the guys missing, “but we can’t make excuses.”

Yeo was singing the same tune a few minutes later, noting that injuries offer other players a chance to make positive impressions. As well, he added, losing their one-goal lead and heading into the second period tied was no reason for his boys to cave.

“It’s a 1-1 hockey game,” he explained. “You’d think we should come out with a little more attitude to start the second period than we did.”

Asked what happened, Yeo warmed to the subject.

“What happened,” he said, “is we came out with half speed, half intensity, and made hope plays just to give the puck to them. The intensity part is the main thing, because when that’s not there, everything else is following suit.”

Yeo was not finished.

“Why it happened?” he said. “Probably because we spent all week talking about what a great home team we are, and tried to talk our way through that second period.”

The Canucks might not be Stanley Cup favorites at this point, but goalie Ryan Miller made 31 saves including some big ones during a final flurry, and they still have players named Sedin and Burrows and Edler and – of course – Vrbata.

Coyle asserted that that’s not enough reason to tip your hat to those guys.

“We kind of gave it to them. We weren’t even close to playing our game, winning battles. No sense of urgency,” he said.

The Wild came in after a 4-0 home win over Nashville and riding an 11-5-3 overall record, but players headed to their respective Thanksgiving dinners with sour tastes in their mouths.

The night seemed especially sour to Yeo.

“I want to see us show some maturity; I want to see us show some attitude that we’re not going to be satisfied being a team that stumbles and finds their way into the playoffs,” he said. “We’ve got to demand more.

“At the beginning of the year, it’s easy. Right now you have to be on top of your game. These are important points and it’s an important time to build your team and to trust your game and trust your teammates. Every time you are out there and you’ve got a shift, you’re either showing them that you’re trying to do things the way that we want to do them, or you’re not.”

Intensity and hard driving are contagious, Yeo added.

So is coasting.

“It’s one game we lost,” he said, “but we’ve got to bear down here and collect ourselves. There’s a lot of distractions this being home – you’ve got family – but we’re professional and we’ve got to find a way to make sure you prepare mentally.”

As Yeo talked, fewer than 42 hours remained before Minnesota’s 3 p.m. game Friday against the Jets. During those hours, it will be no surprise if he reminds his players of all those things more than once.

The post Yeo not happy with Wild after loss appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota’s sixth straight win a costly one

Though they may no longer be division rivals, bad blood runs deep, and tonight certainly had that old rivalry feel to it as the Wild topped the Canucks, 5-3, for their sixth win in a row.

It was a hard-hitting, chirp-filled affair and while the Wild walked away with the win — and made up some ground in the playoff picture — the Canucks left a crucial mark as both Ryan Carter and Jason Zucker left the game early due to injury. Wild head coach Mike Yeo noted after the game that both sustained upper-body injuries and will not return to the lineup in the near future.

Playing with only ten forwards, guys stepped up as needed, including Nino Niederreiter who saw a significant up-tick in ice time and made the most of it. Niederreiter gave the Wild a 3-1 lead in the first, firing home a Mikko Koivu centering pass in the slot on his first shift with the jumbled lines.

“When that happens you need guys to step up,” Yeo said. “We had a number of guys step up tonight.”

While Nino stepped up when called upon, Jordan Schroeder made an impression early against his former team. The Canucks were buzzing from the drop of the puck, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in shots on goal. But it was Schroeder who scored first at the 5:05 mark, registering the Wild’s first shot on goal, and swinging momentum heavily in Minnesota’s favor. The goal was the first the former Golden Gopher netted in a Wild sweater and he finished the night plus-2 with three shots on goal and 12:30 TOI.

“It was great,” Schroeder said. “I was really excited, especially to pop one early against them.

“I saw (Charlie Coyle) down the middle and I knew I had a lane to the net. I yelled at him to give me the puck. It was a great play, a great pass, and I was fortunate enough to finish it.”

Overall the win allowed the Wild to keep climbing the ladder in the playoff picture, sitting in ninth in the Western Conference with 58 points, just three behind Calgary in eighth. The Wild get right back at it tomorrow night against the Jets, who currently hold that top wild card spot with 64 points.

“That’s a huge game,” Yeo said. “Now we get to look forward to another huge one tomorrow.”

The post Shorthanded Wild top Canucks appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota lacks urgency, Canucks’ Lack makes 29 saves as Wild fall at home.

SAINT PAUL—Coming off of a solid come-from-behind road win in Detroit on Sunday, the Wild was presented with an opportunity to come home and face a team beneath them in the standings and win a game to put some distance between them and those trailing them in the wild-card playoff chase.

Instead, Minnesota allowed five Vancouver goals on just 19 shots and had all sorts of trouble putting the puck past Canucks’ goaltender Eddie Lack in Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to its former Northwest-Division rivals at Xcel Energy Center.

“In Detroit [on Sunday] we talked about amping up the urgency level and I felt tonight it slipped back a little bit,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “You could see that, last game, there was another level to our urgency.”

The Canucks entered the game in desperation mode, essentially playing for their playoff lives. With Wednesday’s win and now 78 points, 10th place Vancouver closes the gap on eighth-place Phoenix to four points and pulls within one of the Dallas Stars with just eight games left on its schedule.

Minnesota failed to earn at least a point for the second straight game at home after snapping a 10-game home points streak in Saturday’s loss to the Red Wings. The Wild hold steady at 85 points to maintain a slim three-point cushion over the Coyotes and stay a half dozen ahead of Dallas, both of which were idle on Wednesday.

Vancouver assumed control of a 1-1 contest in the second period, scoring twice on goals by David Booth and Zack Kassian to carry a 3-1 lead into the third. it all began when Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon fanned on a cross-ice pass attempt to Jonas Brodin and Booth pounced on it between the circles, scoring his second of the game and eighth of the season at 11:57.

“I looked up to make a pass and … just felt it roll off the heel of my stick and, too late, bad play by me,” Spurgeon said.

Vancouver extended its lead with just under a minute to play in the middle stanza off of a Brad Richardson faceoff win in the Minnesota zone. Kassian picked up the puck in the left circle, spun off of a Charlie Coyle check and fired through a screen for goal No. 12 of the season.

Sandwiched between them at 14:49, the Wild’s Zach Parise raised his arms in the air thinking he had scored when he slapped the puck under and behind Lack. But Canucks’ defenseman Alexander Edler swooped in and plucked the puck off the goal line to make what became the save of the game.

“We’ve got to score, our line in particular,” Parise said of his line with Jason Pominville and Mikael Granlund which was shut out after combining for 45 points (18-27–45) in 17 games leading up to Wednesday’s tilt. “We had some good chances, some good looks and we’ve got to be better; we’ve got to score.”

“They capitalized on their chances pretty good and we just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Wild captain Mikko Koivu added. “That’s the difference tonight, I think. When you fall behind like that, it’s tough to get the momentum back.”

After allowing three goals on just 12 shots through 40 minutes, Kuemper was replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov to begin the third period and he surrendered Vancouver’s final two goals while facing seven shots.

Kuemper was last pulled from a game when he was replaced by Niklas Backstrom on Jan. 30 in Colorado.

Minnesota has allowed just 35 shots on goal over its last two outings but eight of them have crossed the goal line for a miserable .771 save percentage.

But the team’s coach and its captain understand there is more to the problem than who happens to be standing in the crease.

“I’m not saying we can’t be any better between the pipes but, at the same time, there’s some quality chances that we’re giving up,” Yeo said. “I know it’s not just about the shots, I know that our team has another level to our defensive game, that’s not there right now.”

“It’s tough to find a reason right now why we didn’t score but, obviously we’ve got to work on that,” Koivu said. “But you can’t allow five goals either. We’ve got to be better in front of our goalie and try to make it harder for [opponents] to score those goals.”

The Wild nearly grabbed the game’s first lead with 4:29 to play in the first period when Koivu drove along the wall behind Lack and slipped a backhand pass by Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa to Matt Moulson at the doorstep. But Lack made a huge glove save which became magnified just eight seconds later.

Off the ensuing draw, Canucks’ winger David Booth chased down a puck in the Minnesota zone and his shot from the right faceoff dot split the legs of Wild defenseman Jonathon Blum and beat Kuemper at the 15:39 mark making it 1-0 Vancouver.

But the Wild responded less than two minutes later with Koivu playing a key role once again to register his 17th point (2-15–17) in his past 17 games.

Koivu’s bank pass from the neutral zone hit Charlie Coyle just as he crossed the Vancouver line and he let go of a blistering wrist shot from the top of the left circle which eluded Lack’s outstretched glove for his third goal in three games.

The goal comes on the heels of Coyle’s big weekend against the Red Wings when he followed up his penalty-shot goal on Saturday with another goal, a plus-2 rating, three shots and a game-high five hits on Sunday. Prior to his current streak, Coyle had never scored in back-to-back NHL games.

Things don’t get any easier for the Wild moving forward. In fact, the road ahead gets much tougher with games at St. Louis, Phoenix and Los Angeles on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, respectively. The Blues have won eight straight meetings against Minnesota.

“We feel kind of down on ourselves right now from [the Vancouver] game,” Parise said. “We have to shift our mindset to tomorrow because we know it’s going to be a tough game and we can’t lose two in a row right now.”

The post Wild Take a Step Back appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

I vaguely remember ranting about a topic similar to the one I am about to embark on, but this was something that I just could not ignore.

Last Saturday the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks orchestrated hockey version of a bar-room brawl.

[youtube id=”vIcdbxzrtbI” width=”620″ height=”360″]

8-misconducts were given out and a total of more than 200 penalty minutes were assessed. But this was not a ‘heat-of-the-moment, talk-about-your-mother impromptu throw-down. This was orchestrated. The fourth lines from each team started the game, which in hockey consists of guys whose strength is—well not hockey (think Happy Gilmore with a bit more talent). After the opening whistle punches were thrown, although if you watch the video it seemed that not everyone was up for this, and guys beat each other’s brains in. Fans cheered, guys got tossed and I’m fairly certain NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan’s phone rang off the hook … it was only 2 seconds into the game.

This was not only a train wreck and a huge black eye for hockey (see my earlier column on senseless violence in the NHL) but it was far from over.

In between periods Vancouver head coach John Tortorella tried to go into Calgary’s locker room to get into a fight of his own and keep this going. Think about this: A COACH TRIED TO GO FIGHT A WHOLE TEAM! My only regret is that one of the Flames didn’t take a shot at Torts and bust his nose.

There are so many things wrong with this series of events, so I’ll start at the top: This was orchestrated, not by a player, but the player’s coaches! The same guys who are supposed to win games, but also keep the best interest of his players at heart. In the NHL road teams submit their roster’s first which means Flames coach Bob Hartley felt like he wanted to send his guys out there to get punched in the face—all in the name of a game that hadn’t even started yet. Yes, Vancouver is a huge rival but I think it’s a little irresponsible for a coach, who by the way doesn’t have to worry about concussions, to send a group of his guys out to risk getting one. And if you scoff at the idea that fights can cause that—concussions are only the beginning. In 2009 a junior hockey player died after his head hit the ice during a fight.

Did Tortorella or Hartley consider this when they sent their players out? I certainly hope not, because in a sick way that would make this even worse. It’s a cowardly move. This is a hockey game, not war gentleman. You’re not Napoleon.

Tortorella is also a repeat offender. It seems General Tort’s did the same thing in March 2012 as coach of the Rangers, calling out Devils coach Peter DeBoer before a line brawl.

You might be thinking, “Hey Dave, these guys are grown men, they can speak up and say no”. Sure they could. And with it they’d get a one way ticket to Abbotsford, BC or Utica, NY, while being placed on the ‘not a team player’ black list. Imagine if your boss asked you to do something that you didn’t want to do and you declined. They have a term for that, it’s called insubordination and many professions see it as a fire-able offense.

Featured Image:
Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella yells at the Calgary Flames bench holding players and head coach Bob Hartley in the first period at Rogers Arena.
(PHOTO: Gerry Kahrmann/Postmedia News)

For Tortorella’s latest antics he got … a 15-DAY suspension without pay while Hartley got a $25,000 fine. That’s it. Keep in mind that in our legal system this would have been the second time Tortorella had organized an assault and would face jail time. The fact that he lost just six games for this second offense is deplorable. And it undermines everything the NHL should stand for. This is not the 1980’s or 1990’s. We know now the correlation between hits to the head and brain damage and because of that there should be fewer fights, while organized brawls should have no part in the game. It brings nothing to the game, but has the potential to do so much harm. This was a teachable moment for Brendan Shanahan. The right thing to do was make an example of Tortorella and Hartley so that not only would they never do it again, but so that any other coach thinking about doing this in the future, would not.

There was a time that an old joke would perfectly encapsulate this incident: “So I went to a boxing match last night and hockey game broke out”. But there is nothing funny about what happened in Vancouver. The only punch line here were the ones that players involved were forced to throw and the only joke was the so-called discipline that came from it.

The post Schwartz: NHL Too Easy on Maestros of Mayhem appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Featured Image:
Mikko Koivu registered his team-leading 19th and 20th assists in Minnesota’s 3-2 SO win over Vancouver on Thursday night in St. Paul.
(MHM File Photo/Jeff Wegge)

On a night where Minnesota returned home for the only time in a 21 day stretch to face an old division foe, the Wild took a bit of the road back with them to the Xcel Energy Center.

Charlie Coyle scored the game tying goal with 11:13 remaining in regulation Tuesday and Jason Pominville was the only player to beat either goalie in a shootout for a 3-2 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks. It was second consecutive game Minnesota came back to tie and win the extra point. Three days earlier the Wild did the same at against Colorado.

Despite the comeback, head coach Mike Yeo thought it took a bit for his team to adjust against the Canucks.

“I thought in the first couple periods we had a little residue from the road. We looked a little bit flat at times, didn’t have the same jump at times, but our guys dig deep and two games in a row where we’re down after two periods to come back and get a win,” Minnesota’s head coach said. “It says a lot about our group.”

Still, Tuesday’s game saw a solid performance from Wild captain Mikko Koivu. The Canucks got on the board first when Jannik Hansen took advantage of a three-on-two break and one-timed a Daniel Sedin pass past Josh Harding 8:46 into the game, but Zach Parise tied it three minutes later when Koivu found him on the backdoor for a power play goal.

He also set up Coyle on the team’s second goal for his 20^th assist of the season.

“It was a great play,” said Charlie Coyle, who once again is thriving offensively while playing on Minnesota’s top line alongside Koivu and Parise.

Vancouver, playing Minnesota for the first time since the two teams, whose rivalry was heated during the Wild’s early years, left the Northwest Division last season, entered the game on a seven game winning streak. It didn’t feel like the rivalry picked up outside of the shootout, where the sellout crowd of 18,531 just wanted to see a hard-fought win. Instead the Canucks looked like a team playing hot hockey for most of the first two periods.

Roberto Luongo normally struggles at the Xcel Energy Center yet made 30 saves for Vancouver. Maybe it was the end of being division foes, but he appeared to be getting the monkey off his back

If it wasn’t for Josh Harding and Minnesota continuing to find something deep in the third period, that is.

“Hards made some big saves and it really brings a lot of life to the bench,” Jason Pominville said of his goalie making 29 saves. “We feed off that, off the energy that he brings.”

The Wild out-shot Vancouver 11-5 in the third period while both Mikko Koivu and Marco Scandella had scoring chances in the extra session. It felt as if the longer the game went on, the more chances Minnesota was able to generate.

“We started shooting more for sure,” Yeo said. “It’s something we talked about in the morning before the game and didn’t seem to fully grasp it until intermission. We have to be like that. I think it helped to create a lot more for us. “

By the time the shootout came, where Koivu and Mike Santorelli both hit the crossbar before Pominville beat Luongo on a shot he decided on at the last minute, the transformation was complete. Minnesota is a league-best 14-3-2 at home and for one night, got the chance to, like the win at Colorado, build upon it.

Now comes the hard part. The Wild leaves for four games on the road beginning Thursday in Pittsburgh. While the play has improved, the wins haven’t. Minnesota went 1-2-0 in the previous three game road trip with only the comeback victory against the Avalanche. Maybe keeping Parise, Koivu and Coyle together with Pominville spending time on the second line is a recipe for more success.

Regardless, for one night Minnesota was able to treat what could be another road game as a possible spark for the real thing.

“It’s nice to get back here for sure,” Pominville said. “We’ve had success at home throughout the season, so anytime we come here we feel confident to win a game and tonight was a good example of it. We were down and stuck with it and found a way, but obviously we’re going to have to sharpen up on the road and try to improve our road record.”

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