Wild players wanted a stiffer penalty for Zach L’Heureux from the NHL but say they're happy to take matters into their own hands Saturday.
Marc-Andre Fleury came to Las Vegas and got in on the ground ... prior to their 3-1 win in San Jose on Saturday. He added that team captain Jared Spurgeon has begun “hard physical activity off the ice” as he works to return from a lower-body injury ...
Marc-Andre Fleury had 36 saves for the Wild in the latest entry of his rollercoaster week. On Tuesday, he came on in relief of Filip Gustavsson in a come-from-behind win over St. Louis. Two nights later, Fleury was so floored by an illness that he could only stay on the team bench for two periods as Gustavsson played, and lost, versus Colorado.
The Wild had a lack of energy when they faced the Utah Hockey Club and it ended with them being shutout and taking a loss.
Kaprizov had a couple scoring chances for the Wild (28-16-4), who were delighted to get their superstar back after he missed the last 12 games with a lower-body injury. Karel Vejmelka made 26 saves for Utah (21-19-7) in what was just their second shutout win of the season.
For the Minnesota Wild, getting key players healthy and back into the lineup is turning out to be just the first step in what is a longer-than-expected process of getting their groove back. Returning to winning hockey games with the likes of Kirill Kaprizov and Jared Spurgeon in the lineup remains an elusive goal.
Matt Boldy's power-play goal 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the third period cut it back down to a two-goal game, but Forsberg scored his second of the night unassisted 16 minutes, 20 seconds into the frame, and Brady Skjei scored an empty-netter with 1 minute, 49 seconds remaining to put the finishing touches on a Predators victory.
Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek smiled when asked about two of his longtime teammates returning from injuries this week.
Nashville's Luke Schenn, left, and the Wild's Marcus Foligno fight during the first period Saturday. (Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press)
Nashville took over after the rough stuff, led by veteran scorer Filip Forsberg (two goals and assist), captain Roman Josi (two assists) and goaltender Juuse Saros (27 saves), as the Predators continue their second-half reclamation under coach and former Wild player Andrew Brunette.
Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!
Andrei Kuzmenko had two goals and an assist, and the Calgary Flames used their power play to beat the Minnesota Wild 5-4.