#mnwild falls to the Rangers, 5-4. Minnesota heads to Beantown to take on the Bruins on @NBCSN tomorrow at 6 p.m. pic.twitter.com/QmieFT3bjF
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 28, 2014
After two strong periods the Wild suffered a brutal one, watching the New York Rangers score five goals in the third to take down Minnesota 5-4 at Madison Square Garden Monday night.
The turnaround was particularly rough for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who gave up more goals in the third period than in all three of his starts this season combined, the Star Tribune reports. After fumbling a few shots early in the period, he started to get rattled and let up two shots in a row, including a first career goal for Rangers rookie Anthony Duclair.
Kuemper: "at the end of the day, that's on me. Let in 5 goals in the third period. You just don't do that"
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 28, 2014
Players from both teams were playing rough all night, with ejected players, dirty tactics, and even a few stitches for Wild left wing Zach Parise after he took a stick to the face. Still, Parise came back onto the ice later in the game after medics patched him up.
Hard to tell who's stick caught Zach Parise or where on Parise's face it hit. But it yielded a lot of blood. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/CzIYI6cICC
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) October 28, 2014
Rangers defenseman John Moore was ejected after delivering rough hit to Erik Haula. The Pioneer Press reports the elbow earned him a talk with league officials and a possible suspension.
Rangers defenseman John Moore has also been ejected for this elbow to the head of Erik Haula. http://t.co/FqQUKBEjrA https://t.co/2BVOl0bkcQ
— theScore (@theScore) October 28, 2014
Chris Kreider was thrown out too for push that left Jonas Brodin out for the rest of the period.
But Minnesota couldn’t use all the ejections and penalties to their advantage, as the Wild power play went 0-for-24.
Before the improbable comeback, Minnesota’s offense was shaky but solid. They had 24 shots on goal in the first two periods compared to the Rangers’ eight, and skated into the third period with a 3-0 lead thanks to goals by Nate Prosser, Matt Cooke and Jason Pominville.
1st time Rangers came back from a 3-goal deficit entering the 3rd period to win since February 21, 1992 vs Minnesota North Stars #elias
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) October 28, 2014
The 4-3 Wild will try to turn things around in Boston, where they’ll take on the Bruins Tuesday evening.
