3 takeaways from Wild’s shootout win over Hurricanes – Hockey Writer – Minnesota Wild

On Wednesday night, November 19, the Minnesota Wild take on the Carolina Hurricanes for the second time this season to wrap up a five-game homestand. The Hurricanes won 4-3 in the first game on Nov. 6 at Carolina. The Wild are looking to extend their winning streak after beating the Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights earlier this week.

Jesper Wallstedt returns between the pitches after Filip Gustavsson’s last start. The Wild are again dealing with injuries as they add Ryan Hartman to the roster; he joins Marco Rossi, Zach Bogosian and Nico Sturm. The game started in the Wild’s favour, and despite the Hurricanes’ counterattack, the Wild emerged victorious. In this article, we’ll discuss some key points, starting with top-line performance.

Wild’s Yurov is perfect for the top line

Due to recent injuries to the lineup, the defensive line will obviously have to be adjusted, which means Danila Yurov is placed on the top line between Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov. While that’s a big deal for any rookie, Yurov fit in almost immediately, throwing a great pass to Zuccarello, whose shot was blocked by Brock Faber for the team’s first goal.

The top line’s success didn’t stop there, as they scored a crucial goal 15 seconds before the start of the third quarter to give the team another two-goal lead. While Zuccarello and Kaprizov will get most of the attention, Yurov also had a great game and dished out two assists for the first multi-point night of his NHL career. His second assist wasn’t as flashy as the first. The ball deflected mostly toward Kaprizov, but he made it.

“Yeah, he’s making plays, he’s very responsible, he’s always in the right spot and the offense is coming and like I said, it’s hard, it’s not easy, especially as a young guy playing center with a lot of responsibility and then playing with Zusi (Zuccarello) and Kirill (Kaprizov), who are beasts in their own right, so I thought he was great,” Boldy said of Yurov’s performance.

Wilder’s Wallstetter shines again

Jesper Wallstedt once again played an important role for his team against a tough opponent. He continues to find ways to improve his game every time he plays and sees a puck that others don’t. Although the puck did slip out of his legs, he didn’t let it affect his mental game and continued to play strong. His pace and ability to read traffic helped his team stay in front throughout the game until the final minutes.

His shutout streak may be over, but his stellar play is not. He made some big saves when his team needed him most, and even after conceding two goals in the third period, he didn’t look shaken. The third goal wasn’t his fault because it slipped under his pads and there was nothing he could do. The goal forced overtime and penalties, but Wallstetter nonetheless stepped up and made a total of 42 saves.

“No, yeah, far from it. Thanks to Wally (Wohlstetter), that game could have been a lot different, but it was one of those nights where he played great and he gave us a chance to win and he ended up winning it for us, so we knew where we had to be better, but two points is two points and we’re never going to be mad about it…” Feibel said of the game’s overall effort.

Wild’s overall performance continues to improve

There were still some shaky moments and some inconsistencies throughout the game that won’t go away overnight, but the Wild played a pretty strong game. They were more aggressive both offensively and defensively, and they forced the Hurricanes into making mistakes, especially in the first quarter. Two Hurricanes players collided multiple times, which gave the Wild scoring chances.

They did relax a little at times in the second and third quarters, but they quickly got back into the game rather than letting the game continue. They looked more like a cohesive unit and more like the team everyone was looking forward to seeing.

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“Yeah, things didn’t go the other way tonight and that’s the important part, when April comes around, a win is a win, you don’t say oh, you beat Carolina but you played bad, here’s two points, that’s all that matters, no one in this room cares , I think we’ll learn from it and we’ll use it to get better, but two points is two points, like I said, at the end of the year, it doesn’t matter how we played, we won,” Boldy said when asked about the team’s growth and how the game went the other way.

The Wild had to fight to the last shooter in the shootout, but they came away with the win and two points. They got off to a great start in the game and despite some mistakes found a way to dig deep and still get the win thanks to an overall better effort. Hopefully this will carry over into their road trip and they will come back with more wins.