The Minnesota Wild took care of business in their season opener, defeating the Nashville Predators by a score of 3-1 on Thursday night. The win came on the heels of an offseason where there were plenty of questions about the roster and how the Wild would perform coming off a successful campaign a year ago. But the Wild answered in resounding fashion, scoring two goals in the first period and using their forecheck to secure the win.
Thursday was just the first of 84 games, but there are several things that fans can take away. With the Wild getting their win of the year, there were several winners and losers that stood out and will hope to keep their momentum going (or turn things around) when the Wild host the Boston Bruins in their home opener on Saturday night.
Winners: The Foligno Brothers
The Wild didn’t know if they would get a full season of Marcus Foligno and Nick Foligno playing together until Nick Foligno agreed to return last summer. But on Thursday night, they were glad he did as the Folignos anchored the fourth line and made a serious impact.
Nick Foligno started the evening on a high note, scoring the Wild’s first goal of the year from Michael McCarron and Oli Maatta at 9:35 in the first period. With the Wild holding onto a 2-1 lead, a big hit from Marcus Foligno on Brady Skjei created a loose puck and eventually helped set up Kirill Kaprizov’s first goal of the year at 4:42 of the third period.
It’s unlikely that the Wild’s fourth line will come together to score a goal most nights but the Folignos can impact a game through their physicality like they did on Thursday night.
Winner: F Blake Coleman
The Wild traded Jake Middleton this offseason and while they replaced him with Maatta, they also picked up veteran winger Blake Coleman. Coleman didn’t wait long to make an impact with his new team, scoring a power play goal from Bobby Brink and Danila Yurov at 13:48 of the first period.
While he couldn’t convert on a breakaway later in the game, Coleman was active throughout the night. His presence on the penalty kill helped the Wild kill all four of Nashville’s power plays and he seems to have meshed well alongside Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the second line.
Getting rid of a fan favorite always stings, but at least for one night, Coleman made the trade look like a great decision by general manager Bill Guerin.
Winner: G Jesper Wallstedt
Wallstedt will be the Wild’s No. 1 goaltender while Filip Gustavsson recovers from offseason hip surgery. If there were any concerns that he’d be able to handle that role, he did his best to quiet them on Thursday, making 19 saves on 20 shots.
The biggest save came when Filip Forsberg had a breakaway during the third period and did his best work on the penalty kill, making five saves while the Predators were on the power play. For a goal that is looking to take another step after a strong season a year ago, Wallstedt looked ready to handle the job of Minnesota’s top netminder.
Loser: C Ryan Hartman
There weren’t a lot of players who had bad nights for the Wild, but Hartman falls into that category. With the Wild up 2-0 in the first period, Yakov Trenin appeared to have scored to make it 3-0. But Hartman was caught in the crease of Juuse Saros and while he didn’t make a lot of content with the Nashville netminder, it was enough for the powers that be to decide it was interference.
After shanking a breakaway later in the evening, Hartman committed a high-sticking penalty in the second period that led to Nashville’s lone goal of the night, a Roman Josi power play marker that cut the Wild’s lead down to 2-1.
Neither mistake turned out to be a backbreaker on Thursday, but it’s the type of game that Hartman has from time to time that brings plenty of frustration.
Loser: Fans who wanted to watch the game
Thursday’s game didn’t have a lot of losers, but there were plenty of fans who were shut out just trying to watch it. The season opener was the debut of the new “Wild+” streaming service and while it was available on Spectrum (Charter), FuboTV and through a subscription on Amazon Prime Video, deals were not finalized on Comcast/Xfinity and DirecTV before Thursday’s puck drop.
Part of this is just being a sports fan in 2026 where fans need multiple subscriptions just to follow their team. But with the service announced at the beginning of September, they had a full month to get everything together.
Chances are this issue will be resolved soon. But for a team that has the attention of the fan base, missing out on opening night was quite the bummer for fans trying to flip on the game.
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