Minnesota Wild Get An Emotional Win In The Motor City

I remember a few years back living with my best friend in college and playing NHL on Xbox until the wee hours of the morning. Yes, one, two or six drinks were consumed, pizza was made and the atmosphere was alive as it seemed that every game we played came down to the wire.

No matter who came out with the ‘W’, controllers were thrown and swear words were tossed. A moment of anger would be released and the potential of rage quitting was definitely a possibility.

But we played on.

Thursday night’s  nail-biter in the Motor City reminded me of those days, minus the drinking and eating pizza part because that would be both stupid and not realistic. Both teams played their game, a monster of a fight occurred, swear words were tossed and for a split second it looked like someone was going to rage quit… OK. That may be an exaggeration but you get what I’m saying.

The Minnesota Wild (34-19-3) walked out of Detroit following a shootout victory of 6-5. While the win wasn’t the prettiest by any stretch, the team came together and found a way, something they’ve had to do plenty of this season.

Star rookie Matt Boldy had a monster game against Detroit for the second time this year.

He started the scoring for both teams just minutes into the first period, thanks to a beautiful set up by linemate/best friend Kevin Fiala. From the floodgates were officially open. Detroit and Minnesota went back-and-forth throughout all periods which saw the Red Wings having a very strong chance of winning this game.

However, this just wasn’t the case.

After a tough first, the Wild trailed 3-2 following a power-play goal from Jakub Vrana with just under a minute and a half to play, but the lead didn’t stop there. About six minutes into a fast paced, physical second period, Lucas Raymond tallied his second of the night putting Detroit up 4-2.

Now, I mentioned this in my last post, but as a friendly reminder, a two-goal lead is ugly, and I mean UGLY. Here the Wild could cut the lead, or the Red Wings could toss just one more in to run away with the game. Forward Mats Zuccarello decided on cutting the lead with his 18th of the season,thanks to Spurgeon and Hartman, to bring the Wild to within 4-3

Remember when I mentioned my friend and I in college and how the endless hours of playing NHL together would be, let’s say emotional? Well, that’s how the second ended, and rather than explaining it to you, just watch the clip below and enjoy.

While that was the craziest way to end a period, there was still the  third period to play  and Minnesota needed this win

Just over three minutes into the period, Boldy continued his hot play by scoring yet again to tie the game with plenty of period to go. And if that doesn’t excite you, how about Kirill Kaprizov giving the team its  first lead since the early minutes of the first with his 29th of the season! It was now 5-4 with time ticking down.

There wasn’t another brawl the remainder of the game, however, there were moments of aggression that seemed to tilt the direction of the game, and that’s what happened next. Detroit came in hot after a physical forecheck second half of the 3rd and tied the game with under three minutes to play.

From there the scoring would stop, OT would begin, and as the time expired, we now approached the shootout.

Giving up five goals in a game is never something a goalie wishes. We all can agree that Cam Talbot has been a little hard to watch the last few weeks, but even last night giving up those goals was maybe something he needed.

Talbot, in my opinion, played incredibly well since giving up a goal in the early minutes of the second and brought that play into the one on one frame. Stopping Vrana and Larkin was all he needed to do, and he did just that as Zuccarello and Fiala gave the Wild the goals they needed to bring the W to the team.

An absolutely crazy emotional game for both teams, but the good guys came out on top.

Wish I could say the Minnesota Wild get a much deserved break today heading into the weekend, however, they’re right back at it on Friday night gainst Columbus with puck drop at 6 p.m. CST.

There’s going to be plenty of tired legs on the ice tonight, but the Wild have got fight through it and come out with the win.

I’m confident they’ll do just that.