Minnesota Wild: The Opening Faceoff 6 Mar 17

The Wild got back to winning last night as they pulled out a solid win against the Sharks at the X. The race to the end of the regular season is on and the Wild can see the Blackhawks tailgating them in their rearview for the conference and division leads. No letting up from here till say June.

Still with all that in mind let’s drop the puck on Monday!

More from Gone Puck Wild

1) Wild play solid defensive game to beat Sharks: Just the score is a refreshing change of pace from the trend as of late. As I explained last week it wasn’t bad, but the Wild have let their goals against creep up by about a half a goal a game over the last month or so. To see them win a game that was 3-1 with a strong performance in front of and by Devan Dubnyk is a good harken back to the earlier part of the season where the Wild were getting it done winning by not giving the other team any goals. Bruce Boudreau thought the game was so defensively solid that he told Michael Russo that it was “our best game defensively maybe this year.”

Mar 5, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal (12) celebrates his goal in the third period against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center. The Minnesota Wild beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

2) Staal nets two of three Wild goals: Eric Staal had a red-hot start to the season, but has significantly cooled down since the New Year. To see him score and be put multiple numbers on the scoresheet is great. Not to mention his first goal was taking advantage of a great chance produced by an aggressive Matt Dumba pinch and great pass. Staal in the game against Columbus had chances but couldn’t finish, to see him finish like that should bring optimism to the hearts of the State of Hockey.

3) Parise and Pominville pitch in after bout with the mumps: The two Wild veterans missed most of last week battling the scourge of the Wild world the dreaded mumps. It was speculated that the Wild power play might be missing the two, and it was confirmed last night as the two hooked up on the game’s first goal. The deflection of the Pominville slap-pass was a thing of pure beauty and an example of great power play scoring.

4) Folin injury looks bad: Defenseman Christian Folin went down with a right arm injury at about the mid-point of the first period. After crashing into the boards very hard, Folin left the game in lots of pain and as Michael Russo explains in the Star Tribune Boudreau thought ““it didn’t look good” and that the team would know more Monday.” So be looking today for an update on his condition. Odds are you could also see a call up of Olofsson or Reilly if things are really bad.