Going into Saturday, December 11th’s game against the LA Kings, the Wild were riding on a eight game winning streak. Looking to add their ninth, they were facing the Kings for the second time this season, beating them 3-2 back in October.
This game was also the third of their four game road trip and the first game of back-to-backs as the Wild were set to face the Vegas Golden Knights the following night. Going into the road trip I predicted that the streak would end with one of these two teams and I could not have been more right… unfortunately.
Minnesota Wild @ LA Kings, December 11th
Starting Goalies: Kaapo Kahkonen (Wild) and Jonathan Quick (Kings)
The first period started off slow with a total of 5 shots in the first 5 minutes of the game with Kings outshooting the Wild 4-1. The Kings continued to control the puck and dominate the first period despite no goals being scored. The Wild gave the Kings three power plays after a hooking call for Kaprizov, slashing for Eriksson Ek, and a delay of game for Kahkonen which was served by Zuccerallo. The first period ended 0-0 with Kings leading in shots 13-8.
The second period was met with a little more back-and-forth play as the Wild found some energy they were missing in the first. The Wild found the penalty box again with a slashing call on Gologoski but it was the Kings who were giving the Wild more power play chances with two penalties from Doughty in the period. The Wild were able to capitalize on the second power play opportunity at the 6:49 mark with a tip-in goal from Marcus Foligno (12) assisted by Matt Dumba (11) and Kevin Fiala (14). The Kings evened things up 1-1 just 1:18 later with a goal from Phillip Danault (4) from Drew Doughty (10). The second period would end in a 1-1 tie.
The third period began similarly to the other two as it started off slow but eventually heavy in control by the Kings. After more back-and-forth play, the Kings took the 2-1 lead after a goal from the pesky Brendan Lemieux (5) slapped one home past Kahkonen. The Wild, looking to keep their winning streak alive, needed to go full force to tie things up but just couldn’t get anything done. The Kings continued to dominate on both ends of the ice with great stops from goalie, Jonathan Quick. The third period and game would end 2-1 Kings, ending the Wild’s streak. The Wild were outshot 37-31.
Minnesota Wild @ Vegas Golden Knights, December 12th
Starting Goalies: Cam Talbot (Wild) and Robin Lehner (Golden Knights)
Looking to forget about the previous night’s loss, the Wild were facing one of the tougher teams in the league, the Vegas Golden Knights. The first period started off slow with Knights outshooting the Wild 3-1 in the first 5 minutes and one penalty to each team. The Knights were the first team to get things going as they took the 1-0 lead at the 11:07 mark with a goal from Zach Whitecloud (4). That lead lasted just 5 minutes as Alex Gologoski (3) tied things up 1-1 with about 6 minutes left in the first period. The Knights didn’t lose momentum as they continued to create scoring chances and dominate the puck. They broke the tie with 2:45 left in the period as Evgenii Dadonov (8) got one past Talbot for the 2-1 lead. The Wild, again, were able to tie things up with just 0:01 left on the clock with a goal from Zuccarello (8). The period would end tied 2-2.
The Wild were ready to go for the second period as Nick Bjugstad (4) kicked things off 0:09 in, which gave the Wild a 3-2 lead. Game flow, for the most part, was fairly even as both teams were creating scoring chances. The Knights eventually tied things up 3-3 with 14:14 left in the period as Whitecloud (5) got his second of the game. This tie would only last about 8 minutes as Max Pacioretty scored a nice breakaway goal for his 10th goal in 10 games played. The period would end in a 4-3 lead for Vegas.
The third period kicked off similarly to the second period with an early goal from the Wild as Foligno (13) scored just 1:12 into the period to tie things up 4-4. This tie, again, wouldn’t last much longer as Mark Stone (4) gave the Knights the 5-4 lead just 4:30 after Foligno’s goal. Looking to not lose on back-to-back nights, the Wild were desperate to tie things up. Unfortunately for the Wild, the game was put away after Alex Pietrangelo (5) got the empty netter with 0:28 left in the game to give the Knights a 6-4 lead. The game would end 6-4 with the Wild now with their second straight loss.
Back Home
Now back in Minnesota, the Wild were set to face the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, December 14th but with Covid-19 issues from the Hurricanes, the game has now been postponed. The next scheduled game for the Minnesota Wild is Thursday, December 16th at home against the Buffalo Sabres.
Minnesota has a great chance of getting back in the win column as they are 10-2-0 at home and 19-8-1 this year. The Sabres started off hot but have since entered today at 8-15-4. With Talbot set to start against now postponed game against the Hurricanes, I would assume he is the starter for Thursday as well.
The Wild hope Kirill Kaprizov can get going again as he was left without a point in their previous two games. He currently sits tied in 5th place in points with 32 on the year in only 28 games. Stay tuned to see if Kaprizov and the Wild can find the magic they had on their 8-game winning streak.
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