ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Wild (37-24-4) entered Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche (39-24-3) without having a win on home ice against the Avs since March 29, 2022.
It had been 1,078 days since the Wild last beat the Avs on home ice and were 2-7-1 in their last ten games against the Avs in the last three seasons.
The Wild also entered Tuesday’s game coming off a loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They had lost five of their last seven games before Tuesday.
Against a red-hot Avalanche team that had won six in a row coming into Minnesota, the Wild were able to limit the Avs to one goal and walked away with a shootout win.
“It’s huge, not only for the standings but our confidence, too,” said defenseman Jake Middleton. “We played a solid game. We definitely deserved two points.”
Mats Zuccarello opened the scoring for the Wild after a nice play by his linemates. Matt Boldy forced a turnover and got it to Marco Rossi who dropped it off for Zuccarello for a mini-breakaway.
The veteran forward flipped it over the glove of MacKenzie Blackwood to give the Wild a 1-0 lead in the second period. That trio has actually been one of the best lines in the NHL in terms of generating offense.
The Boldy-Rossi-Zuccarello line ranks 21st in the league in xGoals Against, according to Moneypuck. They also rank 32nd in xGoals for and 18th in xGoals for per 60 minutes. They also lead the Wild in xGoals and are second in goals for with two goals behind the Kaprizov-Rossi-Zuccarello line.
Colorado was able to score a goal in the third period to force extra time but the Wild were able to finish it off in the shootout.
Zuccarello went first for the Wild and scored. Filip Gustavsson then stopped Nathan MacKinnon on his attempt and Boldy sealed the deal with a goal on his move.
Gustavsson then stopped Martin Necas to end the game. The Wild picked up two huge points and, most importantly, some confidence.
“There’s so many different components to win the game, right?” Wild head coach John Hynes said after the game. “Scoring is a big part of it. Killing two penalties is a part of it. Getting timely saves is a big part of it. Being strong and attention to detail when you don’t have the puck, to check the right way. Those are all important aspects of the game, and I think that for the most part we’ve been pretty good at those areas, but then you need to find ways to win and tonight we found a way to win by playing a detailed, highly competitive game.”
