Top Five Moments of the Minnesota Wild’s 2019-2020 Season- So Far
It’s been a week since the League Office elected to postpone the 2019-2020 season for the foreseeable future, but it feels like we haven’t had hockey in months. To lighten the mood, we’ll give our Top 5 moments of the 2019-2020 season… so far.
5. Minnesota Wild Delivers Lovely Christmas Gift
Two days after Christmas Day, the Minnesota Wild marched into Denver and defeated the Colorado Avalanche in a phenomenal 6-4 game. The Wild played a pretty good game, minus the last 3 minutes of the 1st and 2nd periods.
Carson Soucy opened up the scoring for the Wild 5:33 into the game. The one silver lining with this extended break in the season, if the Wild play another game in the 19-20 season, Soucy will be much closer to returning to the lineup- maybe even in the lineup first game back.
Eric Staal would make it 2-0 near the ten-minute mark of the period. Fiala assisted on both of the Wild’s first two goals. The Wild looked to be playing extraordinary hockey for the first seventeen minutes of the period.
If you blinked you would have missed it. The Avalanche scored two quick goals and made it tied at 2 at the end of the first.
Despite the lapse, the Wild would score the very important first goal in the 2nd period, Brad Hunt just over 11minutes in, to make it 3-2. And then again, in the final minute in the period, the Avs tied it again at 3-3.
In the 3rd, the Avs would finally take a lead, Matt Calvert (of all people) would make it 4-3. You had to be annoyed and nervous if you were a Wild fan. We had led twice in this game and gave both away. It was shaping up to be another disappointing loss to a division rival.
And then, in the distance. Our knights in shining armor. Mats “The Lizard” Zuccarello tied it at 4 halfway through the period. Two minutes later, Victor Rask would pick a pass off in the neutral zone, take it into the offensive zone, and then rifle one off the far post and in past Pavel Francouz for the GWG. Ryan Suter would tie a nice knot on the game with an Empty Net Goal- with absolutely no controversy on potential offsetting penalties whatsoever.
It wasn’t the cleanest game, but it had that classic Divisional Rival feel. It was competitive, tough, and fierce the entire time.
Also, I went to Denver to see this game. So that was pretty cool.
4. The Wild Feel Like Stars After 7-Goal Stomping on Hockey Day in MN
This was some of the most fun I had watching a hockey game in some time. Minnesota just absolutely stomped Dallas to cap off a wonderful Hockey Day in Minnesota. Alex Stalock pitched a shutout this game, Seven different Wild players scored goals in this game. Just a phenomenal effort by the entire squad.
In the first period, Spurgeon would open up the scoring halfway into the first after Stalock stonewalled a One on None Breakaway. Carson Soucy would make it 2-0 with 3:33 to play in the first after a nice feed from former Wild Winger Jason Zucker.
In the second, Zucker would score his second-to-last goal with the Minnesota Wild before getting traded (his final goal with Minnesota would be against Detroit) on the powerplay just under four minutes into the period. With just over Fifteen minutes to play in the period, the Wild would get another goal thanks to a great forechecking effort by Jordan Greenway-Ryan Donato-Ryan Hartman, and make it a 4-0 game. Donato would bury it, and give us one of his better cellies of the season. Less than a minute to play, Jason Zucker would put a shot on net during the rush that helped provide a juicy rebound for The Lizard to pounce on. 5-0 going into the Third.
Under seven minutes to play, Minnesota would go on the powerplay and the July 4th boys (Ryan Suter and Zach Parise) would quickly create a goal, Parise redirected a Suter shot from the point past Ben Bishop- in to relieve Anton Khudobin. On the powerplay again, Minnesota would trot out their fourth line with only 3:15 to play, but Ryan Hartman would find a way to get a puck past Bishop on a rebound and seem quite unenthused by the accomplishment.
That last goal would be a result of Corey Perry kneeing Alex Stalock in the head (in what I believe was his first game back after he elbowed Ryan Ellis of the Nashville Predators in the head early at the Winter Classic and created that hilarious moment of Perry sulking to the locker room), which also allowed us to see angry Alex Stalock, which is quite funny for those who know how light-hearted and goofy Stalock can be sometimes.
3. Alex Stalock’s Performance
This isn’t just going to be a highlight reel of great games the Minnesota Wild have played this year. We’ll recognize the individual performances of players. First, we’re going to start with Alex Stalock, who as of late, has been playing great in net. South St. Paul’s own might be the Energizer Bunny in net, but this season he has shown another level of battle and grit.
Stalock has already well surpassed his career-high in games played in a season (sits at 38 right now, the previous high was 28), but he’s also posted a 20 win season, a .910 save percentage, a 2.67 GAA which is his third-best in seasons where he played more than 20 games and has 4 shutouts this season.
He looks confident in net, he plays the puck exceptionally well, and has helped put Minnesota back into contention down the stretch. In the 18 games he has played since the new year, he’s playing at .920 save percentage and a 2.33 GAA pace. It appears right now, it’s his net to lose, and the Wild will get to the playoffs on his back. (stats provided by hockeyreference.com)
Well.
Maybe with some help from another workhorse as well.
2. Kevin Fiala’s Fantastic Play as of Late
Our Contributor Brandon Quast covered Kevin Fiala’s emergence in a recent article, but it can’t be omitted here. He’s a wizard on the ice. Every time he has the puck, it stirs excitement because what could he possibly do next?
Fiala didn’t start the season hot, he grew into it. It might be hard to imagine, but he was stuck in the press box for some games as a healthy scratch. It would be insane to return to that time.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad coaching decision, I think Kevin Fiala’s electric play recently has been due to more opportunity. Jason Zucker got traded on February 10th and in the fourteen games since that trade, Fiala has ten goals and nine assists for a total of nineteen points. If you look at the game logs, you do see Fiala begin to pick up his performance in the four games before the Zucker trade (Four Goals, Three Assists), but I believe he’s been given full opportunity to succeed.
It isn’t to say Zucker took away from his chances, especially because they typically play on opposite wings, but I do think that Fiala is allowed to perform more with the ice, he’s been given the spotlight and the ability to create.
Kevin Fiala has 23 goals and 31 assists this season, and if you recall, back in August, I predicted Fiala would have 25 goals and 32 assists. With a (possible, yet unlikely) 13 games left to play, I almost guarantee he surpasses that prediction.
1. Mikko Koivu Buries Shootout Winner in his 1000th Game
Minnesota Wild fans will know that only one number has ever been retired in Wild History- #1 for Wild Fans. While it’s sweet, it is sort of tacky. Besides, every organization LOVES their fans and would retire a jersey for them, the Wild just actually committed and did it.
What I think SHOULD happen, is that when the first full-time captain in Wild History retires, the Wild Fans banner should come down, to allow for the organization to properly ordain a foundational piece in Wild History’s Immortality in the Franchise, Mikko Koivu’s Number Nine.
He was the first player to play all 1000 of his first 1000 NHL hockey games in a Minnesota Wild sweater, he’s the franchise point leader, and a mentor for the future of the Wild’s organization. His 1000th game came on December 1st against the Dallas Stars. The game would go to a shootout, where he would bury the Shootout Winner with his patented move:
With how COVID-19 is impacting the Sports World, Mikko Koivu may have played his last game as a member of the Minnesota Wild. His contract is up this season, and when allowed to waive his No-Move Clause to be traded to a contender, he said no, wanting to stay with Minnesota. One could infer it was to stick with His franchise for the lifetime of his career. He also could sign a team-friendly deal to return, no one but Mikko Koivu knows.
But, one thing is for certain. Mikko Koivu burying the Shootout Winner in his 1000th game is most certainly the top moment of the season for the Minnesota Wild. Check out Fox Sport’s Becoming Wild on Mikko’s 1000th Game here.
Disagree with any of our picks? Want to see other moments get mentioned? Leave a comment down below or tweet at us @FSGonePuckWild