3 Takeaways From the Wild’s 3-1 Win Over the Mammoth

The Minnesota Wild finished their five-game road trip on Tuesday night, Oct. 27, against the Utah Mammoth. Their lineup remained the same as their last game, which was a win over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday evening, Oct. 25. The road trip started out a bit difficult, but the Wild looked to finish up on a high note when they took on the Mammoth. 

Jesper Wallstedt was back in the net after having the last game off due to a back-to-back. The first ended scoreless as both teams matched each other’s aggressiveness. The penalties started to stack up in the second, and the Wild found a way to break through and got the 1-0 lead. They carried that lead into the third and added two more to the Mammoth’s one and got the win 3-1. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few takeaways for how the Wild did it, starting with special teams.

Wild Manage Special Teams

Early on in this road trip, the Wild found out their special teams had some weak spots, and they were exploited. As they continued on the trip, they found ways to improve, and although they weren’t as successful as at the beginning of the season, they kept the puck out of their net on the penalty kill even though they weren’t scoring on the power play in some of these recent games.

That changed against the Mammoth, as they scored two goals on the power play, one from Joel Eriksson Ek and the other from Kirill Kaprizov, which kept the man advantage going again, and their penalty kill stood tall. They were back to their aggressive style of penalty kill that forces opponents’ mistakes, and it worked against the Mammoth. They’re going to have rough nights with the special teams, but if they can turn it around this quickly, they’ll continue to have a strong season. 

The Wild’s power play appears to have bounced back strongly; however, it took a while for them to get it started. They had four chances before they finally got one in on the fifth try, and that was enough for them to get a second goal a little later. They did take too many penalties against the Mammoth, and although they killed them all off, they have to be careful going forward. 

Wild’s Opponent Equal

The Wild have seen better teams than them and worse teams than them in this short season, but against the Mammoth they found a team that’s pretty equal to them. They’re both fast, puck-moving teams, and although the Mammoth showed quite a bit of physicality, the Wild stepped up to return it, something they haven’t done too much this season. 

It was a high-intensity game from start to finish, and neither team backed down regardless of what the scoreboard said. The Wild had the lead later in the game, but they had to hold up against a pushback from the Mammoth. They stayed strong, and despite all the penalties to both sides, the Wild held on and got the win 3-1. 

The Wild did step up later in the game, and while it was mainly their power play that took the credit, it’s also important to note that their leading scorer, Kirill Kaprizov, continued to lead the team, and Eriksson Ek is starting to get his scoring going more consistently, while their third goal was scored by Maxim Shabanov. As he gets more comfortable in the lineup, he’s finding more success, and hopefully he’ll keep that going. 

Wild’s Wallstedt Ready

Jesper Wallstedt is currently the Wild’s number one goaltender, but it’s safe to say that, even if Filip Gustavsson were healthy and playing, they’d be battling for that number one slot. Wallstedt has found ways to elevate his game, and with every game he plays, he looks more comfortable and makes more intense saves. 

He’s a strong goaltender, but he is still quite young at 24 years old, and all four goaltenders ahead of him in stats for most wins on the season are older than him. However, against the Mammoth, he looked like a 10-year veteran, and he showed a lot of confidence. He didn’t face a ton of shots, but there were some tough ones that he stood up and stopped. Even the lone goal he did let in wasn’t completely on him, as it was a crazy deflection. 

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Gustavsson does return and if Wallstedt will continue to start most games or if they’ll rotate like they did last season. It’s likely at the beginning Wallstedt will take most of the load to allow Gustavsson to adjust back, but once he’s acclimated, they’ll have to decide how they want to move forward. 

The Wild will now head home for a game on Thursday, Oct. 29, before once again heading back on the road. They’ll host the New York Islanders, who are right in the middle of the pack and will be coming in off a shootout win over the Nashville Predators. The Wild did lose Jared Spurgeon against the Mammoth after he blocked a couple of shots; hopefully it’s nothing serious, and he’ll be able to help them battle for a win back at home.