ANAHEIM, CALIF. – The power play snapped out of its funk, more players contributed on offense, and goaltending has stabilized the entire operation.
After shrugging off the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 on Wednesday at Honda Center, the Wild had plenty of reasons to crown its season-opening road trip a success – perhaps none more than the number of points it accrued, bringing six out of a possible eight back to Minnesota.
Next up is the Wild's home opener at Xcel Energy Center on Friday against San Jose.
Nick Bonino lifted the power play out of a 0-for-18 rut with his first goal of the season, Joel Eriksson Ek continued his impressive start by scoring the game-winner, and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen racked up 22 saves in his first start of the season.
And with the boost up the standings, the Wild (3-1) continues to jostle with the division leaders in the West – an early snapshot but one that could be difficult to repair if a team falls too far behind in this season's rivalry-based schedule.
Tied at 2, and after a timid second period by the Wild, the team had a forceful start to the third.
Just 1 minute, 53 seconds into the frame, rookie Kirill Kaprizov passed off to Jordan Greenway and Greenway found Eriksson Ek for a top-shelf shot that put the Wild up for good. The assist was Kaprizov's team-high fifth point of the season and Greenway's third.
As for the goal, it rang up as Eriksson Ek's second in four games and capped off a two-point night since he also assisted on the Wild's lone power play goal during a rare appearance by him on the man advantage.
But before the power play resurrected itself, the other half of special teams showed how it's done.
On the penalty kill in the first period, Ryan Hartman poked a puck free at the blue line to skate in alone on Anaheim goalie Ryan Miller and although Miller blocked Hartman's first attempt, Hartman wired in the rebound at 13:51 to open the scoring.
The goal was Hartman's first career shorthanded goal and the first of its kind this season for the Wild, who had just three shorthanded markers in 2019-20.
Then, on its third opportunity of the game, the Wild power play finally capitalized. And after many minutes of well-executed choreography without any finish, the Wild pounced on a broken play with Bonino one-timing in a bouncing puck off a faceoff at 5:50 of the second period.
That upped the Wild's lead and continued a lopsided feel to the action in its favor, but the Ducks started to chip away and work themselves back into the game.
After just six shots in the first, Anaheim more than doubled that amount in the second – scoring twice on 13 shots.
The first tally came at 8:58 when Nicolas Deslauriers put back a rebound on a puck Kahkonen initially saved but couldn't keep in his glove.
By 12:21, the score was knotted at 2 once Cam Fowler finished off a 2-on-1 rush after defenseman Matt Dumba pinched up ice.
Overall, the Ducks went on a 9-0 run in shots to close out the period but Kahkonen kept them for moving ahead.
This was Kahkonen's first NHL work since Dec.15, 2019, after he spent most of last season in the minors – getting promoted to the Wild's No.2 role after Alex Stalock was sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Before Kahkonen's appearance, new starter Cam Talbot was in net for the team's first three games – stopping 87 of 94 shots to begin 2-1.
Kahkonen was especially key during an Anaheim power play late in the second, stopping three shots during the penalty kill. The Ducks ended up 0-for-2 with the man advantage, while the Wild went 1-for-4.
And that steadiness from Kahkonen to close out the period was key, paving the way for Eriksson Ek to pull the Wild ahead with his decisive goal against Miller, who totaled 29 saves for the Ducks.
