SAINT PAUL | Dean Evason is not fond of numerology. In the morning, the head coach of the Wild refused to talk about the unit of Frédérick Gaudeau, Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello as his first line.
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But Evason had spoken the truth about La Palice.
“Kaprizov is one of the best players in the world. »
The forward lived up to his reputation with two goals in the Wild’s 4-1 win over the Canadiens on Tuesday at Xcel Energy. He was the best player on the ice by a kilometer. Probably two.
“Kaprizov is one of the best players in the NHL,” said defenseman David Savard. He is extremely intelligent and he has a great bond with Zuccarello. They are easily found on the ice. But they also took advantage of bizarre goals. I did not hate our match. »
Marc-André Fleury also continued his momentum by blocking 34 shots to sign a fourth victory in a row.
A dangerous game
The Wild scored three second-half goals, two of them in 140 seconds, to deal a heavy blow to the visitors, who had dominated the first half. In the last minutes of the match, the CH had a renewed energy after a goal from Nick Suzuki on the power play, but it was already too late.
In the visitors’ locker room, Savard and Suzuki had a gesture from Marco Rossi on their hearts. Late in the game, the Austrian hit Juraj Slafkovsky as he found himself in a tricky position near the bench.
“At 4-1, it was not the time to do that, mentioned Savard. I found it flat. Slafkovsky was in a vulnerable position and the Wild already had the win in their pocket. »
“Juraj was in a dangerous place to get hit,” Suzuki said. He was just far enough from the tape. I don’t know if the door was open at the same time, but Slaf feels good. The guys reacted well after this blow. »
However, the bench door was not open at the time of the check.
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The first trio
Nick Suzuki scored the lone goal for his team, Cole Caufield had eight shots and Kirby Dach had an assist on the goal on the power play They spent a lot of time in enemy territory with a Corsi at just over 75 for the three forwards
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Rem Pitlick
Returning to the game after a game in the stands in St Louis, Pitlick had no fire in his eyes against his former team and in front of his family, he who is from Minnesota He was the weak link in his unit with Jake Evans and Juraj Slafkovsky
First period
No goal
Punishments: No punishment
Second period
2-Min: Kirill Kaprizov (7) (Boldy, Eriksson Ek)AN-3:29
3-Min: Kirill Kaprizov (8) (Rossi, Jost)14:55
Penalties: Armia (Mon) 2:37, Slafkovsky (Mon) 4:22, Boldy (Min) 8:50, bench (Mon) (served by Caufield) 14:55
Third period
4-Mon: Nick Suzuki (5) (Dach, Wideman)AN-13:30
5-Min: Matt Boldy (6) (Dewar, Spurgeon)FD-16:52
Penalties: Jost (Min) 12:11, Shaw (Min) (maj) 18:40, Evans (Mon) (maj) 18:40, Spurgeon (Min) 18:40, Wideman (Mon) (inc and min) 18 :40, Dewar (Min) 19:42, Xhekaj (Mon) 19:42, Monahan (Mon) 19:42
Shoot to the net
Montreal 15 – 12 – 8 – 35 Minnesota 7 – 19 – 5 – 31
Guardians:
Jake Allen (P, 3-4-0) Min: Marc-Andre Fleury (G, 5-1-1)
Numerical advantages:
Mon: 1 in 2, Min: 1 in 3
Referees:
Corey Syvret, Chris Lee
Linesmen:
Travis Toomey, Brad Kovachik
ASSISTANCE:
16,385
What we noticed…
Caufield dangerous
Before the visit to Minnesota, Cole Caufield had hit the target seven times on 31 shots (22.6%). Even for a born scorer like the little left winger, it’s hard to maintain an average higher than 20%. Marc-André Fleury brought him back down to earth by making eight saves against him. Caufield got his share of scoring chances with several good shots from the slot.
A contagious point
There are celebrations that don’t lie. Kirill Kaprizov scored his second goal of the game in the second period when he pounced on a puck that Marco Rossi had just redirected on the fly just over the allowed height. For Kaprizov it was his seventh goal of the season, but for Rossi it was his first NHL point. After a lost challenge from Martin St-Louis, Wild teammates jumped to the team bench to congratulate Rossi.
bad return
Jake Allen is playing big hockey at the start of the season, as is Samuel Montembeault. The CH did not concede a ton of bad goals. Allen, however, looked bad on the Wild’s first goal, that of Mason Shaw. The New Brunswick native didn’t control Joel Eriksson Ek’s return well. He nodded immediately after the goal.
Without Hoffman
For the first time this season, Mike Hoffman watched a game from the press box. He did it alongside Evgenii Dadonov, Michael Pezzetta and Joel Edmundson. Sidelined from the team camp, Edmundson would be one step closer to a return to play.