Charlie Coyle Leads Minnesota Wild Past Nashville Predators In Overtime
151. 3. 98. Final. 2ot
Mathew Dumba’s goal just 22 seconds in to overtime leads the Minnesota Wild past the Nashville Predators. Charlie Coyle had both regulation goals for the Wild
Good morning, Minnesota Wild fans. The last time the Wild went to Nashville, they pulled off a 4-2 win that started a skid for the Predators. Tonight, the game was much closer and it took a 3rd period rally and a 2 goal performance by Charlie Coyle to vaunt the Wild past the Predators. With tonight’s win, The Wild set a franchise record with 8 straight road wins.
First Period:
I think the Wild controlled the pace of play for the first few minutes, slowing the high-flying Predators down quite a bit.
Ryan Suter, who gets booed endlessly in Nashville, took the game’s first penalty in the 5th minute for cross-checking. Nashville registered 3 shots in relatively short order before the Wild’s top-ranked PK cleared the zone. Justin Fontaine and Mikko Koivu had a shorthanded scoring chance towards the end of the power play. Fontaine probably should have shot, but chose to pass to Koivu instead. Koivu’s shot was blocked, negating any semblance of a scoring chance.
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Charlie Coyle sent the Preds back to the power play in the 15th minute. This time, the Wild held the Predators to just one shot on goal.
Chris Stewart and Nino Niederreiter had a great scoring chance negated by Seth Jones. All else aside, the Predators blue line is absolutely stacked. Probably time to give up on the booing, Nashville.
The Wild’s 3rd line, which has been pretty quiet lately, opened the scoring with a goal in the final minute of the first.
Fontaine picked up a loose puck at the defensive blue line and carried it in to the offensive zone and put a centering pass on to the stick of
. Vanek sent the puck over to
rushing down the right-wing wall. Leopold put a shot on goal that bounced through the 5-hole of
and landed in the blue paint. Coyle beat
to the puck and tapped it home to make it
1-0 Wild at 19:02 of the first period.
Just a
great play by the 3rd line to open the scoring. The passing was crisp and they actually put a shot on net rather than an infuriating forced pass.
Shots after one period: Minnesota Wild 6, Nashville Predators 10
Second Period:
The Wild spent most of the middle frame on its heels. Icing the puck more times than they registered shots on goal, the entire team looked a bit flat-footed. Erik Haula had a couple of quality chances that never made it on net, but it’s nice to see his speed play a factor again.
Roman Josi tied the game for Nashville a little past the halfway mark of the period, largely due to the Wild standing still. Viktor Stalberg entered the offensive zone seamlessly and sent the puck all the way to the end boards. Rookie sensation Filip Forsberg picked up the puck, skated behind Devan Dubnyk and fed Roman Josi for a wicked snap shot that flew past Dubnyk to make it a 1-1 tie at 13:41 of the second period.
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Just 45 seconds later, Josi put the Predators in the lead with his second goal of the night. The Predators put on a great line rush and Josi put a wrister over the glove of Dubnyk to make it 2-1 Nashville at 14:26 of the second period. Both of Josi’s goals came from right between the face-off circles with very little defensive pressure.
Frustration boiled over as the Wild took two penalties in the span of about a minute, giving Nashville 52 seconds of 5-on-3 bookended by a minute of power play time. Luckily, the Wild killed off both power play chances but retreated to the locker room with just 3 shots on goal in 20 minutes.
Shots through two periods: Minnesota Wild 9, Nashville Predators 21
Third Period:
I’ve said this before, but it still holds true. I’m not sure what Mike Yeo said in the second intermission, but it worked as the Wild turned on the jets and put a lot of shots on goal.
Niederreiter, Stewart, and Zach Parise all had quality chances that forced Rinne to give up juicy rebounds. Unfortunately, Nashville worked hard to smother pucks and limit rebound chances.
Not to be outdone by Josi, Coyle potted home his second of the night to tie the game. Mathew Dumba set up Niederreiter to start a line rush. Niederreiter quickly got swarmed in the slot, but fed Stewart in left face-off circle to keep the play alive. Coyle arrived a bit late to the party due to a line change, scooted in to the zone and accepted a beautiful pass from Stewart before letting loose a wicked slapper that flew past the glove of Rinne with a vapor trail to make it a
2-2 tie at 13:19 of the 3rd period.
With his goal, Coyle broke the 10-goal threshold. I’ll talk a little more about that in Trembley’s take.
Regulation wasn’t enough to decide this one, so off to the extra session we go.
Shots on goal in regulation: Minnesota Wild 20, Nashville Predators 27
Overtime:
I’ll keep this as brief as the overtime period. It only took the blink of an eye for the Wild to win this one in the extra session. Ryan Suter made an incredible individual effort in the defensive zone to get the puck off the boards and fight two defenders to feed Mathew Dumba and create a 3-on-2. Dumba sent a pass up ice to Parise, who entered the zone down the boards. Dumba trailed close behind, picked up a drop pass from Parise and let loose his wobbly, insanely hard slapshot that beat Rinne high on his glove side to make it
3-2 Wild at 00:22 of overtime.
Trembley’s Take:
Okay, so maybe that’s a long blink, but still. We’re watching Mathew Dumba grow up right in front of us. The Wild handled his development perfectly and it has paid dividends. He was 3rd on the team in time on ice tonight and that’s no small feat considering the Wild didn’t play any power play minutes. He had an even strength Corsi-for of 54%, good for 3rd among all defensemen.
Charlie Coyle is picking up his offensive output quite a bit. Sure, he’s only got 10 goals on the season, but he’s also playing limited minutes, including just 12:34 tonight. Hopefully, he’s getting hot at the right time with the playoffs just a few weeks away.
Stewart is growing on me as well. When he first got traded, I had my reservations, but he’s growing in to his role with this team. He was last night’s best possession player with a 59% Corsi-for at even strength. I said it in an earlier article, but bringing a player to a team with playoff aspirations is going to help him elevate his game. He’s had a scoring touch before, maybe this is his time to make a resurgence.
Suter was really quite good tonight, especially on the OT winner. That’s about all there is to that, but it was definitely nice to see.
I’d also like to give a stick tap to Roman Josi. He’s a sincerely underrated member of the Predators blue line and often overshadowed by Shea Weber and Seth Jones; however, he’s got a lot of offensive prowess and has been quietly brilliant for the playoff bound Preds.
Talk to you Thursday, when the Wild take on the Washington Capitals at 7:00. I’ll be live at the game, so don’t forget to say hello if you see me. Thanks for reading!!
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