Minnesota Wild Suffer First Home Loss at Hands of Pittsburgh Penguins

It took the Minnesota Wild until the final frame to wake up tonight, handing the game and two points to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Despite holding Sidney Crosby to a late assist, the Wild fell 4-1 to the Penguins for their first home loss of the season. Nino Niederreiter’s shorthanded breakaway would prove to be the lone tally for the Wild, though it shouldn’t have been. Mikko Koivu’s disallowed power-play goal late in the third should have counted; however, the Wild lost this game for far more reasons than that. I took a lot of notes, so let’s get to my thoughts on the game.

 First Period:

The Pens almost completely outplayed the Wild through the first frame. The Pens had long rounds of sustained pressure, registering two shots on goal in the first three minutes and forcing three Wild icings. Ryan Carter got the first shot for the Wild shortly thereafter; however, much of the play seemed clogged up in the neutral zone.

Jason Zucker had a really great takeaway in the fourth minute that led to a Pittsburgh Penguins icing, but the Wild couldn’t capitalize.

Jonas Brodin left for the locker room early and did’t return in the period, though he would play in the second and third frames.

There were a few glaring turnovers by the Wild, but they were better defensively than they were offensively. The Wild had some great chances late, including in the 17th minute when Thomas Greiss bobbled a Christian Folin slapshot and had to scramble for it.

Zucker came incredibly close at the 18 minute mark but just missed a tip-in wide.

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Puck Prose

A poor giveaway by Thomas Vanek during a clearing attempt led to the Penguin’s first goal. Rob Scuderi picked up the puck at the blue line and passed it to Steve Downie. From there, Downie found Nick Spaling at the goalmouth who lifted the puck over Darcy Kuemper’s outstretched pad and put the Penguins on the board. 1-0 Penguins at 19:06 of the first period.

The Wild were lucky to escape to the locker room down by just one goal.

Shots after the first period: Pittsburgh Penguins 5, Minnesota Wild 6

Second Period:

The Wild were the best second period team in the league entering tonight’s game. What followed was nothing more than a poor performance. In the opening periods, the Wild iced the puck just eight seconds in and, if not for an offside play by the Pens, would have been stuck in their own end for a couple minutes.

After Mathew Dumba took the Wild’s lone shot in the first 2 minutes, a loose puck in the Wild’s offensive zone allowed a three-on-one by the Penguins. Brandon Sutter cruised in to the zone with Spaling and Downie.  Sutter snapped off a shot that beat Dumba and  slid through Kuemper’s 5-hole and put the Penguins up by a pair. 2-0 Penguins at 2:08 of the second. 

I don’t think I can blame this on poor play by the Wild, but I want to. The Wild missed their gaps and Sutter cruised right past Nate Prosser at their blue line. Pittsburgh plays a very similar game to the one the Wild are trying to play this season, so most of the breakouts by either team got clogged up in the neutral zone. Play really evened out for the Wild at points, though the Penguins had the advantage in Corsi events for the entire period.

Blake Comeau took an interference penalty against Marco Scandella at 05:44, sending the Wild to their first power play. Jason Pominville had the Wild’s only two shots on goal during the man advantage. Marcel Goc registered a shorthanded bid that failed to click as well.

Minnesota had some really good chances after the power play, with a majority of them coming from Mikko Koivu, Zucker, and Charlie Coyle. Justin Fontaine had the best chance of the game, jamming away at a  Carter rebound that found it’s way in to Greiss’ glove. Fontaine was so close and it looked like a lucky bounce for the Penguins keeper. Fontaine has played phenomenally lately. It paid off around the midway point of the frame, with Vanek getting time on the Vanek – Kyle Brodziak line in place of Nino Niederreiter.

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Scandella, who drew the game’s first penalty, took a questionable delay of game minor at 15:21. The puck landed in the Wild bench, which should not be a penalty based on NHL rule 63.2.

The Penguins converted 12 seconds in to the penalty on their first shot. Chris Kunitz tipped in an Evgeni Malkin shot from the point past Kuemper’s glove side. The Penguins power play has been insanely good, converting nearly 50% of the time throughout the early season. 3-0 Penguins at 15:33 of the second.

The Wild got their second power play of the night a minute later after Sutter held Ryan Suter. The wild only got one shot on goal, but Zach Parise got close on a tip in that zinged just wide of the post.

Parise went down the tunnel around the 18th minute and didn’t return for the remainder of the game, more on that later.

With 26 seconds left, Carter gave the team a spark. Carter registered three shots, two on net and one blocked, in a period of 3 seconds. Greiss froze the final attempt with Carter crashing the net. Simon Despres took offense to this and a net front pile up ensued. I can’t really call it a fight so much as a dog pile. Malkin jumped on top of the scrum for some reason, earning a 2 minute minor. Carter got a total of 4 minutes, 2 for slashing Greiss and 2 for roughing Malkin. The end result: a Penguins power play. uh-oh.

Pittsburgh got two shots off before the end of the period. The Wild would retreat to the locker room down 3-0 amid a throng of boos from the restless home crowd.

Shots after two periods: Pittsburgh Penguins 17, Minnesota Wild 19

Third Period:

The Wild have pulled off two third period rallies in the last 3 games to seal victories, could they make it a 3rd?

Minnesota came out swinging, registering 4 shots in the first 6 minutes. The Penguins only had one in the same time frame. Tough guy Steve Downie took an interference penalty against a buzzing Mikael Granlund in the offensive zone. The Wild got better chances on this power play, returning to their aggressive puck control style more and more as the period went on. It didn’t convert, but you could tell they were getting close.

Brodziak and Simon Despres got in to a fight following Despres putting an awkward check on Erik Haula. It was a legal check, but Brodziak had a fire under him. The team was playing frustrated, and I think they had to given the circumstances. Brodziak and Despres both got 5 for fighting, with Brodziak drawing an extra two for roughing.

Pittsburgh didn’t get a shot off on the power play before Kris Letang had a nasty giveaway that found its way to Brodin and Suter. Suter held on to the puck for a second, springing Niederreiter loose for a breakaway. Neiderreiter made a nifty cross-crease maneuver and let-loose a backhander that beat Greiss over his goalie pad. 3-1 Penguins at 10:42. Niederreiter’s first career shorthanded goal ended the Penguin’s shutout streak that started on October 28th.

At this point the Wild were controlling play, with the Pens only registering one shot on goal in the first 14 minutes.

Christian Ehrhoff sent the Wild back to the power play with 4:35 remaining. This was the best power play for the Wild yet. In fact, the Wild registered 4 shots in very short order. Koivu’s 4th shot clearly crossed the goal line before Marcel Goc grabbed it out of the air. The linesman waved the goal off, but a conference of the zebras led to a phone call to the NHL situation room. The Wild’s scoreboard clearly showed the goal cross the line. Amid a field of booing, the referee explained that incidental contact by Granlund on Greiss meant the play was non-reviewable; therefore, the call stood as no goal. In addition to this being a terrible call, the referees clearly contacted the situation room. Fans started reigning debris on to the ice, but more on that later.

The Wild needed to look past that, but didn’t. After forcing an icing by the Pens, Kuemper went off to the bench with 2:07 left to play. An empty net goal by Patric Hornqvist sealed the game. Game Over, Penguins Win 4-1.

Final shots on goal: Pittsburgh Penguins 22, Minnesota Wild 34

Trembley’s Take:

Like I said at the beginning, the Wild came out completely flat footed. Through 40 minutes, the Penguins completely outchanced the Wild. The Penguins are a good team, but so are the Wild. Had the Wild played the same game we’ve seen in the first 10 games, they would have won. Part of me wonders if the Wild over prepared for the visiting Pens.

Folin, Fontaine, and Zucker had wonderful games tonight. None of them were flashy, but they all gave the Wild a real chance.

Parise left the game arond the 18th minute of the second period and didn’t return. Yeo called it an “upper body injury” in his post-game presser and didn’t offer anything further. Check back on GPW tomorrow when we hear more.

I still think that Koivu goal should have counted. The incidental contact was created by a defenseman pushing Granlund on to Greiss. Greiss was on no position to stop the puck anyway. Who know how the game would have ended if it wasn’t disallowed, but it doesn’t matter. The Wild need to look past it.

After the game, Wild fans began flinging beer cans, water bottles, and food trays on the ice. I get being upset, but we’re better than that. There are trash receptacles on the concourse folks, show some respect for the game.

The Wild lost this game by their own accord. I brought a good friend with me to the game and he said it best. “It’s much harder to watch your team lose than get beat.” The Penguins are a great team, but they certainly aren’t deeper than the Wild.

The Wild take on the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday. Talk to you then, Wild fans.