Forty-eight hours after agitated Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason expressed frustration about his team falling behind 3-0 in a loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Wild did the same Saturday night against the New York Rangers – only this time Minnesota rallied all the way back and beat the Rangers in a shootout, 5-4.
Shootout results:
- MN: Zuccarello — scores
- NYR: Panarin — scores
- MN: Kaprizov — no goal
- NYR: Zibanejad — no goal
- MN: Boldy — goal
- NYR: Trocheck — no goal
BARDOWN BOLDY #MNWILD pic.twitter.com/qc2LXZ7dK4
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) November 5, 2023
Jimmy Vesey scored 3 minutes, 36 seconds into the game and then Artemi Panarin made it 2-0 just 86 seconds later, and it was 3-0 when Erik Gustafsson scored 61 seconds after Panarin. That’s three goals in a little more than three minutes early in the first period just 48 hours after Evason basically begged his team to get off to a better start.
“We start at 7 o’clock, not 7:30, 7:35,” Evason barked after Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Devils. “So, wonderful that we played hard at some point tonight. But it’s not good enough.”
Just like they did against the Devils, the Wild roared back thanks to goals by Ryan Hartman and Joel Eriksson Ek 29 seconds apart to cut New York’s lead to 3-2 with 13:34 left in the second period.
Joel Eriksson Ek cuts the #nyr lead to 3-2 off the great feed from Brock Faber #mnwild pic.twitter.com/Pw3oQR2xLy
— Alex Micheletti (@AlexMicheletti) November 5, 2023
Mats Zuccarello then beat Jonathan Quick 1 minute, 41 seconds into the third period to bring the Wild all the way back from 3-0 to tie the score 3-3. And then the Xcel Energy Center went bonkers when Marco Rossi, getting his first start centering the top line, scored his fifth goal of the season to give Minnesota a 4-3 lead.
MARCO ROSSI SCORES GOALS. WE LOVE MARCO ROSSI. VERY SIMPLE. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/AP6COEiUCN
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 5, 2023
After New York tied it 4-4 on Chris Krieder’s goal, the score stayed tied even as Minnesota had a power play from 7:54 to 5:54 of the third period and later held the puck in the Rangers zone for three-and-a-half minutes, narrowly missing on multiple shots against the dead-tired Rangers defensemen and forwards.
The Wild had 93 shots (39 on goal) in regulation, New York had just 42 (19 on goal).
The Wild stemmed the tide after No. 1 goalie Filip Gustavsson was pulled after giving up the three goals in just 6 minutes, 53 seconds of ice time. Marc-Andre Fleury was perfect the rest of the first period and then posted a scoreless second period, having only needed to make eight saves as the Wild tightened up defensively, too.
Gustavsson’s start to the season is a major cause for concern after he finished second in the NHL last season with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
This season, in seven starts, the 25-year-old goalie has a 5.84 GAA since posting a 41-save shutout in the season opener against Florida. He’s allowed 30 goals in his last six starts.
Fleury finished the game with 13 saves and two big stops in the shootout.
Up next: Wild at New York Islanders, Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
