CHICAGO — You’ve got to admit, the moment looked really strange.
Here was Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson skating over to the bench at a TV timeout with around six minutes to go in the third period against the Blackhawks Tuesday night. Gustavsson hopped over the boards and headed straight down the tunnel. There was a puzzled look from coach John Hynes, Vladimir Tarasenko and Matt Boldy as Gustavsson left toward the dressing room. Teammates didn’t know what to think.
“I don’t even know if (Gustavsson) knows what’s going through his mind sometimes,” Mats Zuccarello joked.
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Gustavsson, who had puked in his crease a week ago in Colorado before leaving the game, insists this time it wasn’t an illness.
“No, I had a problem with the gear,” Gustavsson said. “I knew it would take longer than a TV timeout, so I rushed in, got it fixed and waited to get back in.”
Gustavsson only missed three minutes of game action and gave up the tying goal with just under two minutes left. But the Wild found a way to win 4-3 in overtime on Zuccarello’s goal, snapping a three-game winless streak. Minnesota had lost four of its last five heading into this St. Patrick’s Day showdown, with president of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin demanding more urgency after a “not acceptable” stretch.
“(Wins) haven’t been easy to come by as of late,” said Zuccarello, who is tied with Kirill Kaprizov with five game-winning goals this season. “We played good enough hockey to get it. We played a really good first period; second period was so-so. And the third, we stopped making plays and played a little bit too easy. But it’s an important two points to get back into the winning column for us. Hopefully we get some momentum and confidence from this.”
The Wild extended their point streak vs. Chicago to 19 games (18-0-1), the longest active point streak by one NHL team against another and the longest versus a team in Wild history; per STATS Perform. Minnesota took a 3-1 lead after a dominant first period (15-2 edge in scoring chances, 10-0 in high-danger ones, per Natural Stat Trick).
But the Wild had to hold on from there, even after a slick Connor Bedard to Frank Nazar two-on-one goal tied it up with 1:40 left.
“It’s not always gonna go your way,” Marcus Johansson said. “There’s gonna be ups and downs, and there’s gonna be frustrating times, but we found a way to get it done tonight and yeah, we need everyone in here to get to our end goal and build this thing towards that. So it was a good win to start on and now we’ve got to build off that and get better. It was like I said, wasn’t our best game, but a win’s a win, and now we’ll try and build up that confidence a little bit.”
The Wild gave credit to Jesper Wallstedt, who temporarily relieved Gustavsson and made two saves in 3:27 of ice time. When Gustavsson emerged from the dressing room and was at the door by the bench, Hynes asked him if he was ready to come in.
“I wasn’t sure,” Hynes said. “He went right off, you know, and obviously in Colorado when he got sick, so I wasn’t sure if it was equipment or if it was sickness when he went out. Obviously it wasn’t anything physical. So once we realized it wasn’t physical, I radioed up with goalie coach Freddy (Chabot) and discussed with him and he felt the best decision was to go back to Gus. But I think Wally did a great job. He had two huge saves for us when he came in, so it was great that he was ready to go and he was a big part of the win as well.”
How often has this happened to Gustavsson in his career?
“It’s very rare,” Gustavsson said. “Equipment is very good nowadays and sometimes it’s just in an awkward spot that you can’t really fix or reach.”
Johansson steps up
You could see a big smile on the face of Johansson after his first-period goal Tuesday. We don’t blame him, as the slump-buster was just Johansson’s second goal in his last 24 games. He got a fortuitous bounce off Michael McCarron right to him and an open net.
It was Johansson’s first goal in 15 games, since Jan. 15 vs. Winnipeg.
“It’s been a little while,” Johansson said. “I feel I had plenty of chances and I think people know I’m not a shoot-first guy always, but they come in waves sometimes. Always frustrating when they don’t go in, but it’s nice to get kind of a lucky one, a fluke one. Those count too.”
Johansson’s fingerprints were all over this victory, a three-point night for the Swede. He assisted on Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal in the first period and he made a slick play to set up Zuccarello’s game-winner. Perhaps this game could give Johansson a boost.
“It always gives a player a lift,” Hynes said. “I think JoJo provides a lot for our team night in and night out. I think when you have a guy like him that plays a lot of important situations, for us to be able to have a breakout night like tonight is really good for him.”
Eriksson Ek sidelined
The Wild will be without arguably their most irreplaceable player, Joel Eriksson Ek, this week.
Eriksson Ek suffered a lower-body injury in Sunday’s game against Toronto and is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Guerin told The Athletic Eriksson Ek will miss at least three games, meaning the earliest return for the two-way center will be next Tuesday against the Lightning.
With Eriksson Ek out, Danila Yurov moved up to the top line with Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, Ryan Hartman centered the second line with Zuccarello and Tarasenko and McCarron moved up to the third line. Boldy and Johansson got some more penalty kill time.
“It’s always an adjustment, obviously, when you have a player like (Eriksson Ek) that … plays a lot of different roles,” Hynes said. “Not one player is, you know, take his role over, but you’re going to need someone to play center. Obviously, you’re going to need someone to fill in for his spot on the power play. Same thing on the penalty kill, so it’s a little bit by committee, I think, with the team we have and the depth we have, and always when we’ve had players out, it’s not taking over a player’s responsibility. It’s a shared responsibility, and I think we got the guys that can do it.”
Hunter Haight was called up from AHL Iowa as insurance, as the team only had 12 healthy forwards. Bobby Brink (shoulder) remains sidelined and is day-to-day. Marcus Foligno started skating on Monday, but is still considered week-to-week, Hynes said. Zach Bogosian returned to the lineup for Jeff Petry.
‘Foligno Face-Off’
Nick Foligno went to dinner Monday night at Lyra with about 10-12 former Blackhawks teammates.
I asked if he picked up the tab, and he said Bedard did.
“He owed me,” Foligno joked
The Blackhawks raved about Foligno’s impact on their rebuilding team, something that will have a lingering effect. And the former Chicago captain received a standing ovation during the first TV timeout in the first period.
Foligno and his brother, Marcus, are continuing their “Foligno Face-Off,” a collaboration with the NHL, NHLPA and the V Foundation for cancer research. They were competing against each other to raise funds, but now as teammates, they’re joining forces, having already raised $140,000 (goal of $200,000) for breast cancer research in honor of their late mother, Janis Foligno.
Observations
• Tarasenko said before the season he had to “prove himself” all over again, having come off a tough year in Detroit and basically getting traded for nothing (future considerations) in the summer. And the Russian winger certainly has paid off for the Wild as a low-risk acquisition, coming through with 19 goals this season. Tarasenko’s goal Tuesday was his third in the last two games, coming off a two-goal effort against Toronto. You have to wonder if the Wild consider bringing him back next year, considering the fit. “It’s a very good group of guys,” Tarasenko said. “I feel like I’m getting the trust from coaches. I’ve had to work and earn my spot.”
“I mean, his shot is just unbelievable,” Johansson said. “He’s got a special release, and then when he uses that shot and the confidence he’s got now as of late, it’s just fun to see. That’s the thing. We’re gonna need a lot of guys to step up and score, and a lot of guys to do different things the rest of the year here. It’s great to see.”
• The Wild are fourth in the NHL in faceoff percentage in the last six games (54.1 percent), trailing Winnipeg, Vancouver and the Islanders, per FanDuel, boosted by additions such as McCarron. They won 58.3 percent of the draws against Chicago.
“It’s helped that I think we’ve added some guys that are good on faceoffs and good centermen,” Hynes said. “You have some wingers now that can take faceoffs, but I think overall in general, the faceoff intensity has been good, whether it’s been the center or you know, we kind of call it the line of scrimmage, and whether it’s the wings or the D, the secondary guys that come in, I think there’s more tenaciousness and willingness for puck battles, and we’re doing the right things in those areas as well.”
• Always enjoy the self-deprecation from Zuccarello. The Wild had worn the Blackhawks down with a lot of zone time in overtime, and Zuccarello finished it off. “Nice play by JoJo. He’s smooth,” Zuccarello said. “He was really good today, a big factor for us. I just tried to be open and, like I always do, close my eyes.”