It’s been an eventful week for the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center as they hit a low in a shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks, but rebounded nicely for a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
As the Wild wrapped up their recent homestand against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night, things looked ominous after the Flyers scored on their first shot of the game. Minnesota tightened up from there, however, and the Wild were able to pick up a 4-1 win.
The wake-up call for the Wild came early when James van Riemsdyk scored his seventh goal of the season just 1:34 into the game. Minnesota quickly rebounded after the early deficit Zach Parise scoring his 13th goal of the season from Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala to tie the game at 1-1.
KEVIN!
Tied at 1.#PHIvsMIN pic.twitter.com/VwSrBVK85o
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 15, 2019
The Wild continued a strong first period 1:35 later when Eric Staal scored his 10th goal of the season to put Minnesota ahead 2-1 going into the first intermission.
🚨 STAAAAAAAAL! 🚨
The @mnwild forward swipes it in for a 2-1 lead! pic.twitter.com/B5vzwZPTjp
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 15, 2019
Staal wasn’t done getting on the scoresheet for the night as when the two teams came out for the second period, he scored again on an unassisted power-play goal to give the Wild a 3-1 lead. That was enough for Alex Stalock, who helped the Wild lead hold up making saves on the next 17 shots to keep the Wild on top.
Great save, @Stalock32 🔒
😅😅😅 pic.twitter.com/rWFaLBEenQ
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) December 15, 2019
A late short-handed marker by Carson Soucy, his fourth of the year, added some extra cushion and the Wild were able to cruise to victory in front of their home fans to take two out of three games in their homestand including points in all three games.
The Wild will look to keep their momentum going as they hit the road to square off with the Blackhawks tomorrow night in the first meeting of the season for the two rivals.
