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Minnesota Wild: Lost Game to Tyler Bozak in Less Than 30 Seconds

By Cody Defoe

ST. LOUIS, MO - NOVEMBER 25: Jaden Schwartz #17 of the St. Louis Blues takes a shot as Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild defends at Scottrade Center on November 25, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - NOVEMBER 25: Jaden Schwartz #17 of the St. Louis Blues takes a shot as Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild defends at Scottrade Center on November 25, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Wild, Justin Kloos
ST. PAUL, MN – OCTOBER 24: Justin Kloos #82 of the Minnesota Wild warms up before playing in his first career NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at the Xcel Energy Center on October 24, 2017 in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Justin Kloos

Let the records show that Justin Kloos finally scored a goal in this NHL preseason. After 9 shots in Winnipeg, it took one bouncing off his backside for Kloos to finally get it in the net.

He had a good laugh about it with the media afterwards, but it isn’t so much his goal that stands out as it is his non-stop effort to always be where the action is on the ice.

“He didn’t play much tonight but it seemed like every time he was on, there was an opportunity to score for him,” Boudreau said.

Kloos got this goal by going to the dirty places on the ice, similar to Matt Hendricks goal on Monday and Eric Fehr’s goal earlier in the night on Wednesday. The shots are coming from the point area, and it’s up to the gritty players in front to pick up the scraps.

Or in this case to get anything on the shot to make it a difficult save for opposing goalies. This one happened to come from a Matt Dumba shot hitting Kloos and sneak past Blues Goalie Ville Husso.

I was extremely impressed with the effort of Kloos in flying around the ice and shooting everything at the net on Monday while playing the wing with NHL veterans in Foligno and Fehr.

In this game he was moved to a role centering a line with Iowa teammates Mason Shaw and Gerald Mayhew, and had to fight for more space on the ice.

It was a nice change of pace to see him be able to be just as effective when filling a checking role and needing to battle in front of the net for any and all opportunities available to him. Also, his ability to transition between wing and center should make him an invaluable call-up option.

The race for the Minnesota Wild roster already has so many names competing for it that it may all be for naught as far as Kloos goes. Barring a trade, Kloos will start the year on the top line in Iowa, and should expect a ton of minutes.

He is absolutely someone to keep tabs on. I expect to see Justin Kloos in the NHL sooner rather than later, and hopefully it will be in Wild green. Although, his strong preseason could be maximizing his trade value for any potential suitors.

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