SUNRISE, FLA. – The Wild looked like they were fed up, and they had plenty of reasons to be.
Wild’s power-play prowess shines in 6-4 victory over Panthers
The Wild tied a franchise record with five power-play goals Friday night, but in the process goalie Marc-Andre Fleury left the ice early.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 20, 2024 at 5:36AM
They were walloped the night before for their ninth loss over the last 11 games, a skid that’s put their playoff hopes in jeopardy, and they’re still getting slammed by injuries; captain Jared Spurgeon is going to have season-ending surgery, and Frederick Gaudreau is now sidelined with an upper-body issue.
“It was a really important game for us,” Brandon Duhaime said. “Not so much points-wise, but just mentally for this team.”
Enough was enough.
That was the statement the Wild made by outlasting the Panthers 6-4 on Friday at Amerant Bank Arena on the strength of a franchise-record-tying five power-play goals and a shoestring lineup that at one point was down three players.
“We needed that win and almost a win in that fashion,” Zach Bogosian said. “Maybe not that close but just a hard-fought game like that, give ourselves a little bit of confidence kind of coming down to the wire there and making sure we closed it out.”
After getting thumped by Tampa Bay’s NHL-leading power play in a 7-3 romp on Thursday, the Wild took a page out of the Lightning’s book with their five-goal clinic led by Kirill Kaprizov (two goals and assist), Brock Faber (goal and two assists) and Mats Zuccarello (goal and assist).
But that still didn’t prevent a nail-biting ending.
Florida flipped the Wild’s 5-2 edge into a one-goal lead after scoring on back-to-back shifts during the third period: Anton Lundell capitalized at 8:05 and Gustav Forsling only 18 seconds later.
The Panthers owned 13 of the next 16 shots, the Wild not relieving the pressure until a bank shot off the boards by Ryan Hartman rolled into an empty net with 12 seconds to go.
Filip Gustavsson stopped all 13 of the third-period tries by Florida when the Panthers trailed by a goal, and the Wild goalie picked up 21 total saves in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury, who left because of an upper-body injury. This was Gustavsson’s first victory in three appearances since coming back from a lower-body injury.
Fleury was clipped behind the net early in the first by Florida’s Will Lockwood and fell to the ice.
“You’re just trying to step up for a teammate in that situation,” said Bogosian, who was penalized for roughing Lockwood in the aftermath. “So, hopefully he’s OK, but you never want to see anyone get hit in the head but especially your goaltender.”
Although Fleury remained in the game, he eventually pulled himself from the action in the second, leaving with 10 saves. At the same time, the Panthers replaced Sergei Bobrovsky with Anthony Stolarz (nine saves) after Bobrovsky surrendered four goals on 15 shots.
Wild coach John Hynes didn’t have an update on Fleury or Connor Dewar, who left because of a lower-body injury after a neutral-zone collision with Forsling in the second. Marcus Johansson also didn’t finish the second after getting elbowed in the head, but he returned during the third.
Lockwood was tabbed for interference against Fleury in the first period, which also included two fights beginning with Duhaime and Lockwood. But the Panthers were penalized more than the Wild (4-for-4 on the penalty kill), and the Wild’s power play took advantage starting with Kaprizov’s first of the night at 2:49.
“Nothing will really get you more into a game than Flower getting run at the start of the game,” Hartman said. “That really fired guys up.”
After an Aaron Ekblad equalizer 35 seconds into the second period, Hartman drew consecutive penalties that led to his one-timer at 3:22 before a Faber wind-up at 7:36. Then at 10:32, Zuccarello slung in a puck from the middle.
“Finally shot the puck,” Hartman said. “We stressed getting a shot-first mentality.”
Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen answered back with 1:33 to go in the period, but Kaprizov retaliated just 41 seconds into the third during the Ekblad elbowing penalty.
“That’s what you need from a player like [Kaprizov],” Hynes said.
The Wild’s five power-play goals tied the team record, which had been matched three other times; the most recent five-goal performance was Nov. 29, 2008, in a 6-2 victory at Nashville. Overall, the Wild went 5-for-6 to tie Dallas for the most power-play goals in a game this season; the Stars scored that many vs. the Wild on Nov. 12.
“Today was better than yesterday,” Kaprizov said.
In more ways than one.
“We need to start winning hockey games,” Hartman said. “Hopefully we can string some together.”
The NHL’s coaching carousel revealed itself again, a fight reminded us what has changed, and of course there was unpredictable matter involving a goalie.
