The Minnesota Wild, behind a stifling effort in its zone, got a goal each in the first and second period for a 2-1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota, which outshot Winnipeg 30-15, did not allow more than six shots in any period and never trailed in its first win of the season. Wild goaltender Josh Harding, who stopped 14 shots in his first start in place of injured Niklas Backstrom (leg), called it the team's most impressive game so far.
"Our [defensemen] played unbelievable and
our forwards did a great job down low," Harding said. "I
thought we carried the play most of the game."
Jets coach Claude Noel spent a good chunk of his
morning media gathering Thursday talking about faceoffs and the role
he thought they'd play. He was right. The Wild went 45-for-61 (73.8
percent) in the faceoff circle, setting a franchise record for
highest single-game percentage. Winning all those draws allowed
Minnesota to dominate puck possession, which kept Winnipeg in chase
mode virtually the entire night.
"It's some of the same stuff we've talked
about, mostly faceoffs. We never start with the puck," Noel
said. "We chased pretty much the whole night and never
created very much through the neutral zone. We don't start with [the
puck], so we're always checking, we're always chasing it down. You
can see our puck possession game isn't great."
Jets captain Andrew
Ladd said, "We need to do a better job of winning
faceoffs any way we can. It definitely makes the game a lot easier
when you're starting with the puck."
With an 0-1-2 start, tension in the Wild dressing
room was starting to rise. A loss Thursday would have left Minnesota
six points behind the Colorado Avalanche just a week into the season
and winless in three home games.
"I think it's good to get both points,"
Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "We continued to do a lot of
things we have been, but bottom line is, we got both points. Needless
to say, we needed that."
Wild forward Matt
Cooke said, "I think it's natural to have, for lack of a
better word, panic. I think if you honestly looked at [our first
three games], in an unbiased way, we carried the play for most of
them. But carrying the play for 55 minutes doesn't get you a win."
The Wild grabbed an early 1-0 lead Thursday,
capping a 3-on-2 with a goal by Jonas
Brodin. The second-year defenseman led the rush, passed to Cooke
in the slot and headed for the net. Cooke's shot was stopped by Jets
goaltender Ondrej
Pavelec but the rebound deflected in off the shaft of Brodin's
stick at 7:39 of the first period. The goal, Brodin's second of the
season, matched his total for all of 2012-13. Minnesota got into
penalty trouble late in the first period, and Winnipeg capitalized on
a 5-on-3 advantage when Bryan
Little stood tall in front of Harding, deflecting a one-timer
from the point by Tobias
Enstrom into the net for his third goal of the season. Midway
through the second period, Cooke jammed home a loose puck in front of
Pavelec for his second goal of the season and first game-winner in
his fourth game as a member of the Wild.
"I'm just thankful they don't ask how,"
Cooke said. "[Torrey
Mitchell] did a great job of getting the puck there, it was
loose, I saw it the whole time and the whistle didn't go."
Yeo said, "He's not going to score a ton
of goals where he's dangling guys 1-on-1. That's not to say he
doesn't have skill; he does. But he's smart enough to know how to use
his skill and how to be effective."
Minnesota's defense locked down in front of
Harding from there, killing a Winnipeg power play with less than
seven minutes to play without allowing a shot. The Jets pulled
Pavelec with 1:15 to play, and again with 45 seconds remaining, but
couldn't get a shot on Harding.
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