Quick update form the Wild's prospects competing in the annual Traverse City Prospects Tournament. The Wild won the opener 5-2 over the Rangers, scoring five unanswered goals.
Here is a full release from the team. The Wild's next game is Saturday night against St. Louis:
The Minnesota Wild prospects opened the Traverse City tournament on Friday with a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers. After trailing 1-0 through the first period, the Wild scored five unanswered-goals, and outshot the Rangers 22-8 over the game's final 40 minutes.
"The first period we came out and I thought we were really sloppy," Wild assistant general manager Brent Flahr said. "I thought we worked hard, created chances but, too cute, and just the execution wasn't very good. That's expected with one partial practice, and then you go into a game. But we settled down and played a lot better in the second period, and pulled away."
The Wild didn't wait long to tie the game in the second period, scoring 78 seconds in when forward Jack Walker found the back of the net.
"Probably our best line all night was Jack Walker, Brady Brassart and Kurtis Gabriel," Flahr said. "They were good from start to finish. Gabriel brings a real physical presence, [Brassart] played really solid defensively making plays, and Walker brings a lot of speed and energy."
The Wild also got goals from Christoph Bertschy, Carter Rigby, Sam Warning, and Chase Lang. Mike Reilly also chipped in with two assists.
"He's highly competitive," Flahr said of Reilly. "His bread and butter is going to be his offense, but he needs to learn to take care of his own end, and I thought he did that, especially later in the game. Early I thought he was pressing a bit trying to do too much, which is totally normal in these things."