DALLAS — The fact Kirill Kaprizov didn’t even make the trip to Dallas on Friday morning was already an ominous sign.
The Wild superstar is the team’s engine, an early Hart Trophy candidate for a reason.
So with Kaprizov out — at least day to day — with a lower-body injury, this showdown with the Stars, which the Wild won 3-2 in overtime, had trouble written all over it.
And for the first two periods, this game followed the predictable script: the outmanned Wild struggling to muster much offense, including a middle six with players who are pretty much all in droughts. Filip Gustavsson played well enough to keep it close. But Minnesota looked headed for a second straight shutout loss on the road.
But the Wild flipped the game in the third with two goals in a 57-second span — one by Jonas Brodin (his first since Nov. 19) and a Marcus Foligno redirection — to tie the game.
y’all see that??? pic.twitter.com/gPsk3UlTlG
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 28, 2024
And that’s when Brock Faber stole the show.
On the first shift in overtime, Faber delivered a highlight-reel goal on a wraparound to give Minnesota arguably its biggest win of the season. Faber took the puck in the slot, made a slick move to dart around the net, getting Jake Oettinger to slide out of position, before putting it into the empty net. The Wild mobbed him in celebration near the boards.
BROCK CALLED GAME#MNWILD | #NHL pic.twitter.com/MLOEgDORzf
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 28, 2024
This one wasn’t pretty, not even close. The Wild were outshot and outplayed for good portions of the game. But it was a gutsy effort to manage to force overtime and get a point. Minnesota had entered having lost six of their last nine, with their win over Chicago Monday snapping a four-game losing streak. They were without Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jake Middleton, Jakub Lauko too. They flew the morning of the game in a rare show-and-go following Christmas break.
If the Wild end up going anywhere in the playoffs, they might look back at this one.
Penalty kill steps up
We know the Stars’ power play hasn’t been as good as they have in previous years (26th in the league at 15.9 percent).
But you have to give credit to the much-maligned (and deservedly so) Wild penalty kill, which went 3-for-3 on Friday to enable the comeback. That included Minnesota giving up just two shots on goal in those stretches. A key one came in the third period, with the Wild down 2-0 and Matt Boldy going to the box. A goal there and the game is pretty much over.
Minnesota’s penalty kill entered Friday 30th in the league at 72.6 percent.
In no rush
Filip Gustavsson gave the Wild a chance in a game where the Stars could have pulled away early. It seemed like every shot was through traffic or tipped. Dallas out-attempted Minnesota 32-12 through the first two periods, for example.
The two times the Stars beat Gustavsson were off the rush. The Wild’s second line of Marcus Johansson-Freddy Gaudreau-Ryan Hartman was on the ice for both of them. Evgenii Dadonov scored on a partial breakaway midway through the first period. The Wild forwards were slow to get back on the backcheck, and Dadonov split defensemen Faber and Jonas Brodin to go in all alone on Gustavsson.
The Stars’ second goal, by Wyatt Johnston, came with five minutes left in the second. The second line had the puck in the offensive zone, but Gaudreau turned the puck over up the wall near the Stars blue line. Dallas went quickly in transition. Johnston cruised into the slot after a pass and had too much space to shoot, with Declan Chisholm at least partially screening Gustavsson while backing up.
Drop it like [the line’s] hot 🔥 pic.twitter.com/JPpI46yH7O
— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) December 28, 2024
Power(less) play?
The outmanned Wild had a golden opportunity to tie the game just five minutes into the second period. But what happened next might have been the worst power play of Minnesota’s season.
The top unit had a much different look with Kaprizov (and Joel Eriksson Ek) out, as Mats Zuccarello, Marco Rossi and Boldy were joined by Marcus Foligno and Jared Spurgeon. But there was nothing going on with this man advantage. The Stars held possession for a good chunk of it, playing keep-away, sparking cheers from the crowd. At one point, the Wild iced the puck.
There wasn’t enough urgency, enough execution, for the Wild on that power play, resulting in zero shots on goal — and failure to gain at least momentum from it.
(Photo: Tim Heitman / Imagn Images)
