Minnesota Wild Intra-Squad Scrimmage Recap

As the Minnesota Wild prepare to take on the Vancouver Canucks in 15 days, Dean Evason’s squad together for an Intra-squad game. Today we will be going over the 4-3 comeback win by Team White.

As Team Green takes on Team White at The Tria Rink in St. Paul, here’s a look at the rosters for this inner-squad Scrimmage.

Period 1

Devan Dubnyk was set to man the crease for Team B(White) and Stalock for Team A(Green). Team White got out to an early lead as AHL MVP Gerald Mayhew threw the puck in front of the net as it deflected off the skate of Jordan Greenway and past Stalock.

About 3 minutes later the line of Rau-Johnson-Brown went to work. Minnesota Gophers alumni Kyle Rau battled hard along the boards where a loose puck popped on the stick of Johnson. Luke sent a wrist shot to the chest of Dubnyk where it was tipped by the young rookie defender Calen Addison, who got Team Green on the board.

Shortly after, a strong rush by speedster Kevin Fiala resulted in a good scoring chance for Team Green. Staal later steals the puck off the boards passing to Fiala for a give and go. Defender Jared Spurgeon entered the play opening up on the left hash marks where he bangs a one-timer past Dubnyk, from Staal. Resulting in a 2-1 lead for Team Green.

In the final seconds of the first period, Kevin Fiala showed off his skills again, battling hard along the boards where his teammate Eric Staal came swooping in to pick up the loose puck. Staal then fed the puck over to Fiala for a one-timer.

Fiala’s shot went off the crossbar and straight on the stick of Calen Addison. Addison and Belpedio had strong first periods on the back end, but it was Addison who stepped up. Addison opened some eyes as he fired a shot off the crossbar late in the period.

Dubnyk kisses the post as it saves him twice.

Period 2

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Louie Belpedio had a strong first period defensively and came out looking quite lethal offensively to start period number two. Team White forward Alex Galchenyuk created a wonderful scoring opportunity for his teammate Louie Belpedio. Stalock ended the scoring chance as he sent a hard shot from Belpedio to the corner.

Greenway, Staal, and Fiala had many scoring chances, but it was Spurgeon and Greenway who got the ball rolling. Greenway started a breakout, passing to Spurgeon, who with a burst of speed blew by Team White’s defenders dropping a pass off to Greenway who ripped home a laser from the face-off dot.

A couple of strong defensive plays from Team White’s Marcus Foligno and Matt Bartkowski kept the score at 3-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Period 3

The young goaltenders Kaapo Kahkonen and Matt Robson got a chance in the cage for the third period. Nico Strum returned to the ice, where he was slow to his feet after taking a shot from Gerald Mayhew to the head late in period two.

Former Golden Gopher goalie Matt Robson was tested early by defender Jonas Brodin. Menell started a strong rush which led to a wicked shot from Brodin that went over the shoulder of Robson, bringing Team White within one.

Kevin Fiala continued to stay hot, about 5 minutes into the third Fiala put a nasty juke of Mayhew where he then cut to the slot releasing a rocket off the crossbar, yet again.

Around 7 minutes in the third Brodin, who is not known for his offense makes Team Green forward J.T Brown look silly with a nasty juke between the legs. Brodin, who only scored 2 goals all season, capped off his move on Brown with another goal, tying the game up at 3 apiece.

It was back and forth hockey as another golden opportunity for Fiala was turned away by Kahkonen’s glove. Later that shift Fiala was yelling at the ref as Team White looked to have 6 men on the ice. Goalie Robson put a settle to Fiala’s complaint as he robbed Mayhew of a beautiful scoring chance.

One final gasp of air, as Defender Calen Addison unloaded on a one-timer that was sent just wide of Kaapo in the final seconds of the third.

Overtime

Fans got their overtime predictions in on the Wild’s youtube live stream as to who was going to win it. As expected Fiala started the overtime where he notched 2 shots on goal, both turned away by Kahkonen. Nico Strum started the rush the other way feeding the puck to Zach Parise who just threw it on the net to win it. It was a weird goal, either Strum or Parise got the goal but all 3 Brodin, Strum, and Parise will pick up a point in the Win.

Some Key Stats

Jared Spurgeon: 1G 1A

Jonas Brodin: 2G 1A

Jordan Greenway 1G

Calen Addison: 1G

Gerald Mayhew: 1G

Kevin Fiala: 2 broken sticks, 5 shots, and 8 scoring chances

Ryan Donato: 3 Shots

Zach Parise: OT Winner

Team White (B) 3rd Period Goalie: Kaapo Kahkonen stopped all 13 shots

Team Green (A) 3rd Period Goalie: Matt Robson stopped 13 of 16 shots

Team A will look for some revenge on Team B as they set to do battle again on Thursday.