The Minnesota Wild (28-10-3) held nothing back Wednesday night as they once again steamrolled its Central Division rival, the Chicago Blackhawks (16-23-7) .
With the team riding a NHL-best six game win streak, a shutout for Cam Talbot and points from multiple players yet again, the Wild are riding high into All-Star Game weekend.
After a quiet, yet physical first period behind them, it didn’t take long for the floodgates to open for Minnesota in the second. Freddy Gaudreau accepted a pass from Jonas Brodin on the blue line and smashed the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury.
From here, it was nothing but Minnesota. Talbot played yet another stellar game and stopped 30 Chicago shots , Kevin Fiala tied a franchise record 12 game point streak, matching former Wild forward Mikael Granlund ‘s mark, with a goal and assist.
Matt Boldy made it clear that his name should be tossed in the Calder trophy ring.
https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1489099817271894017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1489099817271894017%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fmnwild2Fstatus2F1489099817271894017widget%3DTweet
In addition to the Wednesday night madness, Kirill “The Thrill” Kaprizov notched yet another goal bringing his season tally to 19 while his linemate/best friend Mats Zuccarello notched his 14th, both in the second period.
The third period, however, was a different story —a much more relaxed situation where Fiala notched his 13th goal, and Nico Sturm sent Fleury to the locker room (watch Fleury’s reaction to the goal below.).
https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1489100656522764289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1489100656522764289%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Fmnwild2Fstatus2F1489100656522764289widget%3DTweet
The Wild have proved to be one of the top teams in the league —no questions asked. With the absence of assistant captains Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno, it didn’t hold us back in the slightest.
The persevered, rode the momentum wave, and brought home yet another W.
This weekend, Kaprizov and Talbot will be representing the team in Las Vegas for the annual All-Star game, and if you’re interested in tuning in, the skills challenge will be on ESPN Friday night at 6:30 p.m. CST with the game Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.