Minnesota Wild offense on fire in Preseason Win Over Jets – Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild host the Winnipeg Jets for their third preseason game and first at home. While they haven't included their full NHL roster yet, they have included some big names from home fans. Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman, Mats Zuccarello, Joel Eriksson Ek, Yakov Trenin, Brock Faber, Jake Middleton, and Marc-André Fleury made their preseason debuts for the Wild.

Things started to get tense for Wild as their star, Kaprizov, scored a goal on the power play which quickly led them to the lead. The Jets would respond, however, on the power play to tie things up before the first ended in a 1-1 tie. In the second half, the goals came from the Wild as they scored seven goals against the Jets and took an 8-2 lead until the second half. In the third, the Wild finally stopped scoring, but the Jets stormed back. In the end, the Wild were able to hold them off, and walk away with an 8-5 win. In this article, we'll take a look at how the Wild did it, starting with their offensive production.

Wild's Offense Production

The Wild's leading scorer, Kaprizov, did what he does best and scored not once but twice on the power play. The way he played is equal to Joel Eriksson Ek, who also scored two goals. The only difference is that Eriksson Ek was equally strong, and had three assists in a five-point night. Mats Zuccarello and Liam Ohgren also added singles to continue their team's strong production, as did Ben Jones, who added the first of two shorthanded goals.

While all of these goals are equally impressive, Marat Khusnutdinov stands out as not only was it his second shorthanded goal of the game but his follow-up effort. He got the puck on a breakaway, but a Jets defenseman caught him, and in the defenseman's efforts to stop Khusnutdinov, he received a penalty. However, Khusnutdinov did not stop, he continued to go to the net where he beat Connor Hellebuyck and put the Wild up 8-2.

There were a lot of goals for the Wild, but they wouldn't have been able to score all of those goals without the strong play of their netminder, Fleury. He struggled a bit in the last minutes of the game but did well and helped his team win 8-5.

Advanced Wild Special Teams

The Wild applied the lessons they learned in training camp, especially against the Jets. They stuck to their plans, and when something didn't work, they fixed it the way they were supposed to. This included both their penalty kill and power play. Their power play was successful right off the bat because they didn't waste time making unnecessary passes. When Kaprizov got the puck, he ripped a quick, hard shot, and it worked.

In the past, the Wild have been reluctant to try new things and change the way they play, especially on special teams. Although not much has changed, they have adjusted their positions and passed, producing results. While they weren't perfect on the power play or penalty kill, they scored on both, giving them the lead throughout the game.

They have a few issues to work out on both the penalty kill and power play, but it looks like they've improved a lot from last season. Another area that the catchers should be aware of last season is their habit of taking a lot of penalties, and they did the same to the Jets. Thankfully, their penalty kill was a lot of work and killed four of the six they took, but they won't be doing that every night, or it will come back to bite them.

Fortunately, the Wild's penalty kill also provided two shorthanded goals, which would be nice to see in the regular season. Also, this is the preseason, so teams will change once the regular season starts. However, so far, things are looking promising.

Wild Using What They've Learned

It's already been mentioned in this article, but the Wild are using what they worked on in training camp. They stay in place, and while there are mistakes here and there, as there always are, they fix them quickly. They don't panic when things don't go their way, they keep their heads down and play their game. They worked hard in the corners, doing well in their tackles, and getting solid passes, all things they worked hard on in training camp.

They could easily fall behind when the goals continued, but they continued to work hard to sharpen their game. This may have been a preseason game, but the Wild played like there were points on the line, and if this team can elevate their game with something else, which it looks like they can, they will be a fun team to watch. After the game, head coach John Hynes spoke to the media and talked about the perfect game.

Related: Wild's John Hynes Needs Strength and Change in Training Camp

“Yes, it was good. We talked to the players a lot about getting their individual information first and then we get to the ownership of the team, but I think tonight, like the third game and going into the second week of training camp, you can see that the five units are working together. There are a lot of things that we liked about the five-on-five game, the kind of cohesion in how we want to play as five players. “There were times where we were exposed in certain areas, which is good, we can fix, and we want to continue to build our special teams, and both of those teams were good tonight,” Hynes said.

Wild Stay Home

The Wild will stay at home for their next preseason game, against the Dallas Stars on Sunday, September 29, at 5 pm CT. It's a great early start for those kids who go to school the next morning and will be able to watch their team play. Hopefully, they can keep this strong streak going as more veterans will be added to the roster, and they can add another win to their preseason.