Minnesota Wild: Nino Niederreiter finding his game

Minnesota Wild forward Nino Niederreiter scored his first goal in 27 games on Thursday in Los Angeles. Is this a sign of positive things to come for the struggling winger?

March 24, 2018. That was the last time Minnesota Wild right-wing Nino Niederreiter lit the lamp in a regular season game. This amounts to 27 games (regular season and playoffs), but also doesn’t include approximately 5 more preseason games this year that Nino also failed to scored.

November 8, 2018 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Nino Niederreiter was the fortunate recipient of a rebound bounce directly to his stick that went past Kings’ goalie Jack Campbell to break his scoring drought.

The goal was nothing pretty, it was the kind of goal that is often classified as a ‘garbage’ goal, or hard-working goal. But it was the kind of goal that Nino needed to get the proverbial monkey off of his back.

Contrary to what some may have you believe, it was not Nino’s first good game of the season, though. The Swiss forward has been trending upward nearly every game since the season began.

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He now has 4 points through 6 games of the Minnesota Wild record longest 7-game road trip, including a 2 assist night in Edmonton and the goal in LA.

He seems to have found some chemistry and consistency being paired on the line with Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise, which has allowed the team to keep its other lines consistent for a good portion of the trip.

The emergence of Nino Niederreiter is exactly what the Minnesota Wild need at this moment. They are getting wins, scoring points throughout the lineup, and dominating games. Nino being a key contributor to that allows the Wild to have a bonafide full second line, and be capable of rolling all four lines without hesitation.

Nino had almost appeared as a liability at times early in the season, dragging down whatever line he had been on and often times being nearly invisible when he is on the ice.

Through this road trip; Nino’s consistent work to find ways to be involved in the play despite not scoring, he has found his game again and been rewarded with the goal from hard work and determination.

In the following game on Friday, against Anaheim, it was almost as though Niederreiter had been rejuvenated by getting the goal. He was driving to the net harder, he was taking the shots that last week he may have passed on, and he was winning puck battles and controlling possession in the offensive zone.

To be fair, the entire Minnesota team was doing a lot of those things well against Anaheim, but it’s encouraging that Nino was involved rather than a liability. The Ducks couldn’t get the puck out of the zone, and weren’t able to win battles against anybody, and that’s what Nino needs to be able to do.

The goal scoring for the Minnesota Wild has been well dispersed throughout the lineup this season. Nino should be involved with that scoring, as he is a naturally gifted scorer, but if he can’t be then he just needs to be able to keep playing how he has this week.

As long as he doesn’t get in his own head and start doubting his play, the goals will come. 27 games was a dreadfully long time, for both Nino and the Wild faithful, but the drought is over. Hopefully for all our sake’s, there won’t be another drought anytime soon.