Minnesota Wild: Jordan Greenway scores on return to NHL

The Minnesota Wild are seeming very smart for sending Jordan Greenway down to the Iowa Wild over the weekend.

With the Minnesota Wild commencing a seven-game road stretch in Vancouver, Jordan Greenway netted his first goal of the NHL regular season.

He, after being re-assigned over the weekend to the Iowa Wild, scored a hat-trick in the American Hockey League and was obviously riding high upon his return to the Minnesota Wild line-up.

The goal itself was exactly the sort you’d have been hoping that the Minnesota Wild and particularly the big-bodied Jordan Greenway would score.

The team cleared the defensive zone comfortably, made a great zone entry on the wing and then generated a net-front presence. It was ultimately that net-front pressure that resulted in a rebound falling to Jordan Greenway.

By scoring his first for the Minnesota Wild in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year; per the Minnesota Wild PR Twitter account, Jordan Greenway became the first player in team history to tally in the playoffs before the regular season.

Now, he’s finally shook the regular season bug.

There’s no doubt his weekend trip to play with the Iowa Wild team worked. He, in one weekend, re-discovered his confidence to shoot and to score and then brought it back with him upon his return to NHL level.

The hope now must be that he continues to generate offense and continues to put his body on the line in front of the net.

His size is perfect to not only create screens in front of the goalie, but to create havoc as he can’t easily be shoved out-of-the-way.

Unfortunately, despite Jordan Greenway’s goal, the Minnesota Wild ended up going down 5-2 on the first of seven road games.

They’ll hope to bounce back when they take on the Edmonton Oilers next.