Playing the majority of what’s expected to be their regular lineup, the Minnesota Wild closed the preseason with a 6-1 exhibition victory Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center.
Mats Zuccarello scored a goal and two assists and Marco Rossi scored a goal and assist. Brock Faber, Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson each scored a goal and Jonas Brodin scored one of the sneakiest goals you’ll see from the red line.
Just four seconds after Rossi’s power-play goal, Brodin fake-dumped a puck and then banked a shot off an unsuspecting Petr Mrazek when the goalie left his cage to go play the puck.
BRODIN WITH THE BACK TO BACK!!#mnwild pic.twitter.com/cuTLSdRXhQ
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 5, 2024
Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves as the Wild finished the preseason with a 4-2 record.
However, when playing a lineup that was close to what they likely will ice in Thursday’s opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Wild went 3-0. In two games playing much of Chicago’s expected opening night lineup, the Wild outscored the Blackhawks 13-3.
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The only regulars to not play Friday were banged-up Matt Boldy and Jake Middleton, who are expected to be ready by opening night, and veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian.
Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek finished the preseason tied for the team’s scoring lead with eight points in three games. Kaprizov led the Wild with four goals in three games and had seven points. Fleury had two wins and Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson had one each.
The Wild won’t practice on Saturday or Sunday. They are planning to submit their opening night lineup to the NHL as early as Monday. They have decisions to make about rookies Liam Ohgren, Daemon Hunt, Wallstedt and Ben Jones. To preserve cap space, they could opt to send all four to Iowa to start the season if they won’t be in the opening-night lineup.
Minnesota goal!
Scored by Brock Faber with 19:47 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello.
Chicago: 1
Minnesota: 4#MINvsCHI #Blackhawks #MNWild pic.twitter.com/QnWQjEvdEZ— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 5, 2024
Elite special teams
Preseason means nothing and often doesn’t carry over, but the Wild’s special teams were dominant in the preseason. They scored two more power-play goals Friday and are tied with the Florida Panthers for a league-leading nine.
They went 9 for 17 in the preseason and lead the league in power-play percentage at 52.9 percent. Kaprizov had three of them.
Power play goal for Minnesota!
Scored by Mats Zuccarello with 00:34 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Brock Faber and Marco Rossi.
Chicago: 1
Minnesota: 3#MINvsCHI #Blackhawks #MNWild pic.twitter.com/ky01tvjTwA— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 5, 2024
More importantly, their penalty kill, which finished 30th in the NHL last season, went 4 for 4 Friday and finished the preseason 21 of 25. That was good for 84 percent, which ranks 8th in the NHL.
The Wild have spent all preseason looking for the right personnel to put on the penalty kill, which they look to be more aggressive this season.
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After a bad start to his exhibition season by being a team-worst minus-4 in a defeat to Dallas, Rossi finished with two goals and three assists in his last three exhibition games.
A thing of beauty 🤩, thank you Marco Rossi.#mnwild pic.twitter.com/gD1nxfojSP
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 5, 2024
He scored a stellar-looking power-play goal Friday and assisted on Zuccarello’s goal on a four-on-three. He played the first two periods Friday between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Eriksson Ek saw most of the duty there in the third period as coach John Hynes gave looks to his three top centers.
Rossi seems to have the inside track.
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Ohgren may not make the opening night lineup since he probably won’t be in the top 12, but after a ho-hum start to the camp, the Wild have to be over the moon about how much better he got during his final three exhibition games.
He was slow and indecisive early in the camp, but after a conversation with Hynes, he just got better. He was fast, strong on the puck and made plays like a give-and-go perfectly executed with Johansson on Friday.
Ohgren would benefit from time in Iowa, and with Boldy expected to start the season, that probably would be the move as he was more of a placeholder on the second line down the stretch of camp.
Minnesota goal!
Scored by Marcus Johansson with 18:14 remaining in the 3rd period.
Assisted by Liam Ohgren and Jonas Brodin.
Chicago: 1
Minnesota: 5#MINvsCHI #Blackhawks #MNWild pic.twitter.com/lhwQjbAgSx— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 5, 2024
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Michael Russo is a senior writer covering the Minnesota Wild and the National Hockey League for The Athletic. He has covered the NHL since 1995 (Florida Panthers) and the Wild since 2005, previously for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Michael is a four-time Minnesota Sportswriter of the Year and in 2017 was named the inaugural Red Fisher Award winner as best beat writer in the NHL. Michael can be seen on Bally Sports North and the NHL Network; and heard on KFAN (100.3 FM) and podcasts "Worst Seats in the House" (talknorth.com), "The Athletic Hockey Show" on Wednesdays and "Straight From the Source" (The Athletic). Follow Michael on Twitter @RussoHockey