Wild Hang On to Beat Hurricanes 4-3 in Shootout

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Carolina Hurricanes in the final game of their most recent five-game homestand on Wednesday night, Nov. 19. Both teams were coming off wins, the Wild over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, Nov. 16, and the Hurricanes took down the Boston Bruins 3-1 on Monday, Nov. 17. 

The Wild’s injured list grew again as they added Ryan Hartman to injured reserve prior to their faceoff against the Hurricanes. Also on the injury list were Marco Rossi, Zach Bogosian, and Nico Sturm, but both Bogosian and Sturm are close to returning to the lineup. The Hurricanes were without Jalen Chatfield, who was injured the last time they faced the Wild, as well as Juha Jaaska, Charles Alexis Legault, Jaccob Slavin, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi. 

The goaltending battle was between Jesper Wallstedt for the Wild and Frederik Andersen for the Hurricanes. The game started out in the Wild’s favor, the Hurricanes pushed back, but the Wild got the win in a shootout. This moved the Wild’s record to 10-7-4 and the Hurricanes to 13-5-2. 

Game Recap

The Wild got things started early in the opening period on a goal by Brock Faber. He was assisted by Mats Zuccarello and Danila Yurov to make it 1-0. The Wild added to their lead later in the period with a shorthanded goal by Matt Boldy, and he was unassisted. Those were the only goals of the period, and the Wild took the 2-0 lead into the second. 

The Hurricanes got on the scoreboard later in the second period with a goal from Jackson Blake that ended Wallstedt’s shutout streak at 175:12. He was assisted by Sean Walker and Logan Stankoven. That was the lone goal of the middle period, and the Wild took the 2-1 lead into the final period. 

The Wild scored 15 seconds into the third period with a breakaway goal from Zuccarello, his first of the season. He was assisted by Kirill Kaprizov and Yurov to make it 3-1. The Hurricanes responded with a goal from Sebastian Aho. He was assisted by Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis to make it 3-2. Blake scored his second of the night for the Hurricanes with 1:05 left in the third to tie it 3-3. He was assisted by Nikolaj Ehlers and Shayne Gostisbehere.

The game stayed tied, and overtime was required; however, no one scored, and a shootout was needed. There was only one goal scored in the shootout, and it was Boldy who gave the Wild the 4-3 win while Wallstedt finished the game with 42 saves.

After a lengthy homestand, the Wild will head on the road to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, Nov. 21. The Hurricanes will remain on the road as they head north to face the Winnipeg Jets on Friday as well.