Minnesota Wild: Second period scoring opens with 25 second flurry

The Minnesota Wild opened the second period against the St. Louis Blues with a pair of goals just 25 seconds apart.

Going in after the first period, the Minnesota Wild were down 1-0 to an Oskar Sundqvist wrister, but they changed the story very quickly post-intermission.

With just 1:19 having ticked off the clock in the second period, Zach Parise put his spinning backhand home on Jake Allen in the St. Louis net. It marked his seventh goal of the season, with Nino Neiderrereiter continuing his recent form to provide the primary assist.

It could just have easily have been Nino’s goal; his shot looking almost ‘knuckle puck’ like as it floated high and dropped off the crossbar, before Parise finished the job for the Minnesota Wild.

That said, the play dies as it enters the offensive zone if it’s not for Parise’s beautiful spin pass, both protecting the puck and ensuring Nino is open:

The goal was followed just a short 25 seconds later by Joel Eriksson-Ek, who opened his account for the year.

This goal didn’t look as pretty as the first, but it showed a real determined effort from Joel and his linemates; Jordan Greenway and Charlie Coyle corralling the puck to ensure that Eriksson-Ek had the chance he needed to mark goal number one this season:

Despite the 25 second burst, the Minnesota Wild have since conceded a second, allowing Alex Pietrangelo to bring the St. Louis Blues right back into the game.

There doesn’t seem to be a repeat of last time on the cards, with the Blues looking a far better side to the one that the Minnesota Wild was able to dispatch 5-1 just a mere week or so ago.

Heading into the third period, it’s going to be vital that the Wild don’t give up any further penalties. Despite having a perfect penalty kill thus far, it’s just asking for trouble. A power-play wouldn’t go amiss either!

Either way, it’s looking relatively positive. The team is scoring and scoring on nifty plays that often die in the neutral zone if you’re anything close to out of sorts.

Clearly this is a team with confidence right now. Let’s hope they can take that confidence and open the third in the same manner as the second!