ST. PAUL, Minn. — Playing against what should have been a tired opponent and against a minor-league goalie, the Wild got no momentum boost from Saturday’s dramatic come-from-behind win in Dallas, losing to the Ottawa Senators 3-1 Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild took back-to-back penalties in the third period — their first two trips to the penalty box in the game — and the second one daunted when Josh Norris one-timed Jake Sanderson’s pass with a wicked shot for eventual game-winning goal with 7:18 left.
Freddy Gaudreau scored the lone goal for Minnesota against Belleville Senators goalie Leevi Merilainen.
The Senators snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Wild and have won nine of their past 12 games overall. The Wild’s two-game win streak ended and they lost for the seventh time in the past 11 games.
“Let’s be honest here, our power play could have, should have scored,” coach John Hynes said. “We had looks that didn’t go in. What, we had four posts tonight? So we can talk about not generating offense and things like that. At the end of the day, we had opportunities, we didn’t get puck luck tonight to go in.
“But to me … like, let’s be realistic with the game. Our first penalty kill was really good. The attention to detail at the end matters to me. My take out of the game is when we’re playing a detailed, smart game, you give yourself the best chance to win. We want to pride ourselves on being smart. We want that as a competitive advantage to our team. And tonight, the lesson out of that was we weren’t the smarter team tonight, and ultimately that’s probably why we lost.”
The Wild were playing without Kirill Kaprizov for a second game in a row but got Joel Eriksson Ek back for the first time in 12 games.
The Wild host the Nashville Predators on New Year’s Eve before hitting the road to Washington and Raleigh.
Josh Norris rips one from his office to give Ottawa the lead! #GoSensGo
Need to keep setting this up on the powerplay. pic.twitter.com/30WpWpu1S9
— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) December 30, 2024
Horrible night for Boldy-Rossi-Zuccarello line
It’s always going to be tough without Kaprizov, but the Matt Boldy–Marco Rossi–Mats Zuccarello line had one tough evening.
They were largely responsible for Ridly Greig’s second-period tying goal with a long D-zone shift that started with their offensive-zone turnover, and spent a lot of the night running around their own end.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio was on the ice for eight high-danger chances against vs. one for themselves. Their Corsi numbers are downright ugly. At five-on-five, Zuccarello was on the ice for 25 shot attempts against vs. 11 for, Boldy 23 shot attempts against vs. 10 for and Rossi 25 shot attempts against vs. 10 for.
Boldy did hit the post and the crossbar, plus Zuccarello hit the post on a power play.
But they were too cute, too east-west and too feeble.
“At the end of the day, we have to get on the forecheck,” Zuccarello said. “We also have to make plays. We gotta make the plays that need to be made. Sometimes it’s chip-ins. Sometimes it’s weak-side D joining. Sometimes it’s carrying the puck in, creating like that. I think sometimes we don’t make those plays when we have to, especially in the second. We turn it over a little bit. We lose momentum of the game. They get some two-on-twos. We had some bad changes, stuff like that.”
Boldy continues to struggle compared to his strong start to the season. He has two goals in his past 18 games and was a turnover machine once again Sunday. The one that led to Claude Giroux’s empty-netter was just his last of many.
Asked what has changed in Boldy’s game, Hynes said, “I think probably more of a shot mentality and get to the inside.”
Ridly Greig scoops up Hamonic’s rebound and stuffs it home at the post, tying the game for Ottawa!#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/vRHd8WujgH
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 30, 2024
AHL goalie, no problem
With Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg injured, Merilainen played his third game of the season and fifth of his NHL career.
He made 30 saves for the win, but he was gettable and the Wild didn’t get to him. The Wild hit the post or crossbar four times, couldn’t get to rebounds he kept leaving and went the first eight minutes of the second period without even a shot on goal.
“We couldn’t get our forecheck going for the majority of the time,” Zuccarello said.
Ryan Hartman’s funk continues. He couldn’t score on five shots. His 49 shots since Nov. 19 is by far the most in the NHL without a goal.
He now has no goals in his past 19 games and no points in his past 18.
Wild being cautious with Kaprizov
Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin met with a couple reporters for an update on Kaprizov, the Hart Trophy contender who has missed two games in a row with a minor lower-body injury.
“He’s going to be back when he’s back, and I don’t know when that is,” Guerin said. “It could be a couple games from now. It’s not real serious. It’s just making sure things are OK for the long run.”
There was no one incident that caused the injury. Kaprizov pushes so hard with his skating that over time he’s been dealing with lingering soreness. It sounds like a minor groin strain.
Kaprizov has 23 goals and 50 points in 34 games and is plus-21.
(Photo of Jared Spurgeon missing the net against Leevi Merilainen: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
