DETROIT — For Marco Rossi, sitting in the penalty box for two minutes during Saturday’s overtime was painful.
“It felt a lot longer, to be honest,” he said.
“It’s a lonely feeling,” coach John Hynes said.
It wasn’t just that Rossi didn’t like the tripping call — feeling Patrick Kane did his share of embellishing. “I don’t know about the penalty,” he said. “The refs were really bad today.”
But the Wild had rallied from two goals down to force overtime — Rossi setting up Marcus Foligno for the tying, six-on-five goal with 1:30 left.
To lose this game? It would have been brutal.
But Rossi more than made up for his penalty, racing out of the box after a successful penalty kill and scoring a breakaway goal to beat the Red Wings 4-3 at Little Caesars Arena. They say it doesn’t matter how, and Rossi was coy in describing his goal, which looked like he fanned on an initial shot and then put in a rebound. Was it planned?
“Maybe,” he said, smiling. “Nobody knows.”
In case ya missed it: MINNESOTA WINS IN OVERTIME pic.twitter.com/rvK4gi9TzL
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 22, 2025
It was a fitting end to a thrilling game. Considering how fast-paced and emotional the 4 Nations Face-Off was the past two weeks, you wondered if a Saturday matinee could have turned into a letdown. “It’s like on a treadmill, going 10 miles per hour at 10 incline,” Hynes said. “And all of a sudden, it just stops.”
But Saturday’s game delivered quite a show for a nationally televised audience. There was a bit of everything, from controversial calls to thunderous hits. The pace was quick. The drama was high, with overtime only adding to it. But for the Wild, who had Brock Faber, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin in their first games back, it’s how they found a way that was most impressive.
“I liked our demeanor tonight,” Hynes said. “With a lot of things going on and adversity at different points in the game, I thought we stuck with it and remained focused and found a way to pull it out.”
There were a lot of points the Wild could have been ticked off and lost their composure. The controversial Dylan Larkin goal in the second (more on that later). The big-time hit on Faber by Alex DeBrincat (more on that later). The two power-play goals allowed. But Minnesota, in danger of losing three straight road games for the first time this season, stuck with it. Boldy, fresh off an impressive performance for Team USA, scored with just under seven minutes left to pull within one. And then, with Fleury pulled, Foligno scored with 1:31 to go to tie it up.
“A huge battle from every guy,” Faber said. “Top to bottom.”
“This group just seems to find a way,” Boldy said. “There’s no quit.”
“Love it, love it,” Marc-Andre Fleury said. “We kept grinding and playing hard. Love to see the character of our guys like that.”
The Wild have now won six of their last eight, kicking off this last stretch of the season with a galvanizing win. Those who came back from the tournament believe they’ll be better because of going through it, even if nobody from the Wild came home with the gold.
The overtime loss on Thursday to Canada is certainly going to sting for a while, but a Stanley Cup playoff run would help.
“Obviously a pretty (s—-) ending, right?” Faber said of the U.S.’s loss Thursday. “One you’re going to think about for a long time and want back. But it’s time to put it behind us and focus on getting a playoff spot and going from there. That’s in the past. It’s important we turn the page quick and focus on what we have to do here to keep winning hockey games.”
MARCUS FOLIGNO WITH THE GOALIE PULLED. 3-3 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/edUazobDIy
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 22, 2025
Fleury and Talbot show
Fleury and former Wild teammate Cam Talbot vacationed tougher during the 4 Nations break, with them and their wives joining a few others (Jared Spurgeon, Marco Rossi, to name a few) in Turks and Caicos.
On Saturday, in their first starts since, the two friends traded save for save in a thrilling game. Talbot had a few clutch stops, most notably robbing Marcus Johansson at the end of the first, and Joel Eriksson Ek on a short-handed breakaway. But Fleury was the main reason the Wild were even still in this game after a second-period Red Wings flurry. He sprawled out to thwart a Michael Rasmussen back-door, point-blank shot, then — from his back — stopped Elmer Soderblom. But you could see Fleury was frustrated after the Red Wings’ third goal, a Lucas Raymond power-play tally early in the third. It was the result of a perfect cross-zone pass from Dylan Larkin and a great shot by Raymond. Alex DeBrincat, a beast all game, set a screen in front, jumping aside as the puck whizzed over Fleury’s shoulder. The Wild challenged for goalie interference, with coach John Hynes pointing to the fact that Debrincat was in the blue paint and made some contact before the shot. The goal stood after review, a rare unsuccessful challenge for the Wild this season.
What did Fleury think? “He didn’t touch me much,” Fleury said. “At that point, I was just trying to find the puck. Maybe if I come out and hit him, because he’s in my blue, right? I don’t know. I was trying to find the puck more than trying to create (contact). I just couldn’t find it at the time and it was in the net.” Fleury reached another milestone, passing Roberto Luongo for second all-time in games played by a goaltender (1,045). “It was pretty cool,” Fleury said. “I forgot about (the milestone) and then they announced it on the mic. Those are goalies I looked up to growing up and to play as long as I have, to do what I love for so long, I’m very thankful.”
MARC-ANDRE FLEURY pic.twitter.com/tJqtmTW6bU
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 22, 2025
Backing up Faber
That Brock Faber played 30 minutes, 5 seconds on Saturday afternoon — roughly 36 hours after logging 28:50 in Thursday’s overtime loss to Canada — was pretty incredible. Quite frankly, so was the fact Faber got up so quickly after getting crushed on a huge hit by DeBrincat during the second period. Faber, in control of the puck behind the Wild net, was coming around and that’s when DeBrincat came in hot, knocking Minnesota’s cornerstone defensemen to the ice. That’s when Boldy immediately came flying into the scrum, same with Rossi. That Faber didn’t think the hit was dirty didn’t mean he — and team brass — weren’t happy to see everyone come to his defense.
“It’s a brotherhood here — we’re all family,” Faber said. “To get hit like that, and have guys step up for you, obviously I’d do the same. It means a lot. I just had my head down and I thought it was a clean hit. They had my back though.” Boldy got two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and two minutes for roughing but would do it again.
“I saw (the hit), it is what it is — it’s hockey,” Boldy said. “Obviously you don’t want to see any of your teammates get hit like that. I don’t want to hype (Faber) up too much because he’s sitting right there (next to him in the dressing room). Your best defenseman gets run, you’re going to go in there and defend him. Everyone was in there, not just me. Everyone on the team would have done it.” Fleury, who is still looking for his first career goalie fight, decided against getting himself (and the goalies) involved. “I saw (Talbot) with his shirt off (on vacation),” Fleury said. “(Talbot) has got some big guns and is pretty ripped. So I didn’t like my odds in that one.”
Chaos ensues after DeBrincat absolutely levels Brock Faber. Detroit to the powerplay pic.twitter.com/gty4xZMoQI
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) February 22, 2025
A ‘weird situation’
The Red Wings’ second goal was controversial. Shortly into a power play for Detroit, which came five minutes into the second, DeBrincat shot that rattled off the post and crossbar. The whole arena thought it was in. The goal horn and light went off. But the puck actually stayed on the goal line and got stuck under Fleury. Larkin snuck in behind Fleury, poking the puck in, beating Joel Eriksson Ek to the spot. There was an official review, with officials saying Larkin knocked the puck into the net before they blew the play dead.
“I heard the bar, the guys on the ice celebrated, like, ‘Yeah!’” Fleury said. “Then the horn went off and I’m like, ‘(F—). So I don’t know. I should have made sure and kept playing. But it’s on me.”
Faber, on the ice for the goal, started skating away when the horn sounded.
“You think if a goal horn goes off and the ref points, I don’t know if that’s dead or I don’t know what the rulebook says there,” Faber said. “Thankfully we came back. But it was definitely a weird situation, one that I had never been part of before.”
Detroit’s second goal was anything but normal 👀
Dylan Larkin kept playing!!
📺 ABC/ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/ctTEh1qTy9
— ESPN (@espn) February 22, 2025
Hinostroza time
Raise your hand if you had Vinnie Hinostroza on the second line and top power play on your bingo card. Well, Hinostroza has earned it, playing well since getting claimed off waivers from Nashville on Feb. 5. Hinostroza scored his second goal in his past three games, impressively tipping, then batting in, a puck in front on the power play in the second period. He had tallied just three goals in his previous 53 games, coming with three different teams. We know Hinostroza played hockey and football with teammate Ryan Hartman growing up — did he play baseball too? Hinostroza received this opportunity thanks to the 10-game suspension of Hartman, and he’s playing like he doesn’t deserve to leave the lineup when his buddy is back.
“He competes, he’s got some skill,” said assistant coach Jack Capuano. “The past few games he’s played with us, he’s been really good. He’s fit in with the guys, a high-character guy. Good teammate, those are the things you want when you pick up a player.”
Right out of mid air 😮💨#EasyToCelebrate x @budlight pic.twitter.com/pP4c0P1dNN
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 22, 2025
(Photo: Bradshaw Sevald / Imagn Images)
