Wild’s Marco Rossi heroics save late-game point, save PK’s bacon: 3 takeaways against Utah
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Wild’s Marco Rossi heroics save late-game point, save PK’s bacon: 3 takeaways against Utah

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

SALT LAKE CITY – The Minnesota Wild’s penalty kill reared its ugly head once again, but Marco Rossi’s heroics with the extra attacker also came to the fore.

In their first trip to the Utah capital to play against the new Utah Hockey Club, the Wild allowed two power play goals in the third period to blow scores of 2-1 and 3-2. But after Utah took a 4-3 lead, Rossi scored six-on-five for the second time in nine games with 43 seconds left to force overtime.

The Wild got the extra point in the shootout on Matt Boldy’s only goal for a 5-4 win.

Clayton Keller scored two power play goals in the third period. Meanwhile, Marcus Johansson responded less than a minute later to put the Wild back in the lead.

But after the Wild allowed their second power-play goal, third-pair defenseman Juuso Valimaki scored on his own rebound after Filip Gustavsson was stunned and unable to handle his first shot high.

The Wild’s penalty kill has been a thorn in their side since the 2022 playoffs, when they conceded nine goals against the Dallas Stars. Last season they finished 30th with 74.5 percent. This season they have allowed 19 goals on 67 chances (71.6 percent), which also ranks 30th in the NHL.

Marat Khusnutdinov scored his first goal of the season in the second period. Kirill Kaprizov followed shortly afterwards with his 178th career goal.

The Wild went 2-1 on the road and return to open a five-game homestand against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Khusnutdinov finally lights the lamp

With the Wild desperately needing a spark, they failed to gain momentum when Dylan Guenther’s goal for a 2-0 lead was canceled out after John Hynes successfully challenged Logan Cooley to play the puck back into the offensive zone after it came out, said Khusnutdinov made something out of nothing by not intercepting Mikhail Sergachev’s pass to anyone.

Despite being out since his NHL debut on April 12, Khusnutdinov made it look easy by ending a 27-game losing streak with his first goal in 25 games of the season.

Of 325 NHL forwards who played at least 235 minutes at five-on-five, Khusnutdinov scored the fourth-fewest expected goals per 60 minutes (0.24), according to MoneyPuck.

That started the party for the Wild, who at one point beat Utah 22-6 but trailed 1-0.

Just 36 seconds after his compatriot’s goal, Kaprizov scored his 18th goal, giving him at least a point in 14 of his last 15 away games.

Kaprizov and Johansson fought through a fence at the blue line, and Johansson pushed the puck forward for Kaprizov to skate in.

Wild tries to avoid track meets

With forwards Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek injured and mobile defenseman Jonas Brodin also injured, the Wild have tweaked their style on the trip.

Hynes indicated that the Wild are trying to avoid road matchups, especially against fast teams like Utah, because having two offensive forwards and a human breakout from the lineup makes scoring very difficult.

It is understandable that the Wild’s second through fourth lines started the game like this:

Marcus Foligno-Ryan Hartman-Johansson
Jakub Lauko–Freddy Gaudreau–Yakov Trenin
Devin Shore-Khusnutdinov-Ben Jones

Tuesday was a good example of the Wild controlling much of the game and generating shots, but not being able to create many scoring opportunities from them. Minnesota had 27 shots through two periods, but Natural Stat Trick recorded five high-danger chances.

To add a scorer to the second line and spread the wealth, Hynes moved Boldy to the second line in the second period. The result was two goals for the newly designed top formation Kaprizov-Rossi-Johansson.

Jiricek was sent to Iowa

This was always the plan unless there was an injury, but David Jiricek’s first stint with his new organization will actually be in Iowa. More than a week after the Wild acquired him and a fifth-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets for prospect Daemon Hunt and four draft picks, including a first- and second-rounder, Jiricek joined Cameron Crotty as the Wild’s additional defenseman swapped.

The Wild also planned to use Jiricek in Iowa since he has only played 10 games this season, six of them in the NHL. But to begin his career in Minnesota, the Wild decided it would be beneficial for him to spend his first week practicing with the coaches and getting to know his future teammates along the way.

“It’s important for David to play,” Hynes said. “We had a good meeting with him. Gave him some things we’d like to see. But it was important for him to come here, come to a new organization, see everyone here, meet everyone, coaches, the players, spend some time, get a feeling – “Okay, this is how they practice, this is how they manage They hold meetings.” “That’s the feeling of the team, that’s how it’s managed, that’s the expectations of the way you train, the way you play.”

“I think it was really good for him, and admittedly that was nice. But he also wants to play, and it’s important for him to go and play, work on some things he needs to implement, but start playing hockey again.”

Crotty, 25, was signed as a deep free agent this summer. It was cool that his first recall with Minnesota was against Utah – the former Coyotes. Crotty was drafted in the third round by Arizona in 2017 and played four years for its AHL affiliate in Tucson. He played his only NHL game last season with the Coyotes.

(Photo: Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

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