DENVER — The lasting image of Saturday’s drubbing in Nashville was the typically affable Marc-Andre Fleury sprinting off the ice and using his stick to tomahawk chop the bench door on his way out.
You couldn’t blame the frustration from the future Hall of Famer, who was peppered with 38 shots and 19 high-danger chances in a 6-2 loss.
But on Monday? Midway through a matchup with the high-powered Colorado Avalanche, Fleury had faced just five shots. He was bored. But proud.
“It felt weird — a little cold even,” Fleury said, smiling. “Like, ‘What is happening? We’re too good right now.’”
The Wild’s 3-1 victory over Colorado at Ball Arena was important for many reasons. It snapped a three-game losing streak, with Minnesota having been in danger of falling back into a wild card spot with another defeat. It showed resilience, with the Wild pulling away with two quick third-period goals after Nathan MacKinnon tied it up late in the second, bringing the building back to life.
They had lost eight of 15 games this season when tied after two periods (7-6-2). That included recent losses to the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights.
“How many times is that now where we went into a third period and didn’t come away?” defenseman Jake Middleton asked. “That was emphasized in intermission. Let’s be on attack and come out on top this time.
“(We were) sick and tired of it. We just wanted to win. Tired of losing in the third period. Play 40 (minutes) hard and lose in the last 20. Sick and tired of that. So accomplished that tonight.”
And the win proved what this group can do when it plays a smart, structured game — even without three top players in Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon. That’s kind of like the Avalanche playing without MacKinnon, Devon Toews and Cale Makar.
“This was a whole team effort,” Brock Faber said.
After Saturday’s beating in Nashville, coach John Hynes noted that his team didn’t get too low. They met as a team at their downtown Denver hotel. It wasn’t one of those rah-rah kind of meetings, or one where guys pointed fingers.
“We talked about solutions,” Hynes said.
One of them was playing with more of an attack mentality. They knew a sustained forecheck and smart puck decisions would be crucial against an Avalanche team full of weapons. The best defense, they felt, was a good offense. And the Wild spent a good chunk of time in the offensive zone. The forwards did a great job backchecking, with only a few occasions where MacKinnon and company cruised unabated into the zone.
The Wild gave up nine high-danger chances in all situations vs. 19 Saturday in Nashville, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“We defend really well, we always have,” Middleton said. “But where we were kind of getting stuck, is we strictly defended in the defensive zone. As you saw a five-man unit in the offensive zone defending from there.”
“When we play in their zone, it’s so much easier to defend,” Faber said. “To stay on top of them, it allows our (defensemen) to gap. When all your parts are clicking in the O-zone, it allows us ‘D’ to be so aggressive.”
Middleton got the Wild on the board midway through the first with a shot from the point. And David Jiricek — who had an impressive all-around game — nearly gave them another at the end of the period. A slick behind-the back pass by Ryan Hartman as he was falling down went right on Jiricek’s stick on the back post. But Mackenzie Blackwood made a terrific sprawling save.
MACKENZIE BLACKWOOD. WHAT A STOP. 😳
His flexibility is just unmatched. pic.twitter.com/RZDVT5wyNA
— NHL (@NHL) January 20, 2025
“Blackwood was making all those crazy saves,” Fleury said. “It’s like, ‘Jeez, I need something.’ It’s fun to see the guys play so well. They gave us the best chance to win.”
The Wild had four power plays after taking a 1-0 lead, and with saves like MacKenzie made on Jiricek — and later Joel Eriksson Ek — it almost felt like they were playing with danger. You knew, at some point, the Avalanche’s top players would get rolling. And MacKinnon came through in the final minute of the first with a highlight-reel goal, becoming a one-man zone entry before finishing a give-and-go with Samuel Girard.
“It’s inevitable,” Faber said. “He’s going to have his plays. He’s one of, if not the, best player in the world.”
That really could have flipped the momentum. But Faber said they were calm and confident in the dressing room at second intermission. Hynes brought up the fact they needed to keep attacking, keep putting pressure on.
“If we keep going in the right direction, we’re going to get some and it’ll frustrate them,” Faber said. “It’s exactly what we did. We came out hot and hung from there.”
The go-ahead goal came just two minutes into the third. Jiricek made a terrific play coming off the boards to deke a defender and dart into the slot, where he found a trailing Yakov Trenin for a quick shot. Jiricek also had a 72 percent Corsi for performance, showing off his play at both ends.
“Smart plays, making great reads on the blueline,” Middleton said. “Chipping in on offense. He’s going to be a special player.”
Ohgren also played his best game as member of the Wild, putting up two assists and racking up three shots in 9 minutes, 4 seconds of ice time.
“I thought (Ohgren) with his speed, poise with the puck, his decision making were factors tonight,” Hynes said. “He’s getting more opportunities and that’s what it takes sometimes with younger guys. It’s up and down, you play, you’re sent back, you play, you get more comfortable. (Monday), I thought his identity as a player really came through.”
Liam Ohgren and Brock Faber celebrate Faber’s third-period goal, the only one on which Ohgren did not earn an assist. (Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
The Wild will have some roster decisions to make with Ohgren and Jiricek when Kaprizov, Spurgeon and Brodin come back, though Hynes wasn’t certain they’d be able to play Thursday against Utah. But it says a lot about the group that they’ve been able to come through with some big road wins without their superstar. The Wild are now 7-5 without Kaprizov, but that includes an overtime victory in Dallas and back-to-back road wins in Washington and Carolina. Minnesota is now 4-10-1 against Western Conference playoff teams, though a number of the recent games came without some of their top players.
This one against Colorado showed a level of mental toughness and maturity. How quickly they were able to put the Nashville loss to bed and focus on details that would give them a better chance Monday.
“You’ve got to stay together in it and that was what we talked about is, ‘We’ve got to find solutions,’” Hynes said. “How we can play better and how we’re gonna give ourselves a chance to win tomorrow and that’s what it is. You gotta work together as coaches and players and it’s our job to come up with a plan and not just point fingers on it.
“We’re all in it together. And then you need to count on those guys to understand it, accept it, and then come out and execute it, and they certainly did that.”
(Top photo of Marcus Foligno and Nathan MacKinnon: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
