A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!
The good vibes surrounding the Minnesota Wild’s first-round triumph over the Dallas Stars have largely dissipated after dropping the first two games to the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2. A Minnesota team that seemed to have broken onto the scene as a true contender is now left asking questions about...
The Rally Towel. Fans at Grand Casino Arena are greeted with a gratis prop that they can wave throughout the game. It's a storied tradition in many sports, as recounted on a Wikipedia page I'm not going to summarize. Just know, if you go to a playoff game, you're gonna get a towel, and it's gonna ha...
That's Wild The Avalanche have a distinct advantage over the Wild in one, extremely specific area. Basically, it's their defensive depth. The Wild are hurting with the absence of Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon's age starting to show -- and their need to lean on Zach Bogosian and Jake Middle...
When the Minnesota Wild clinched their first-round series with the Dallas Stars, it was an emotional moment. Fans responded to the 5-2 victory by shedding tears of joy. Stars general manager Jim Nill went into Bill Guerin’s suite and congratulated his counterpart on doing something the Wild hadn’t d...
The Minnesota Wild's Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche was a reminder of how unforgiving a playoff series can be when a key defenseman is missing. The Wild battled back from an early 3-0 deficit and even took a 5-4 lead. Still, the Avalanche’s pace, depth, and shot generation eventually overwhel...
The Minnesota Wild's penalty kill was their greatest weakness in the 2024-25 season. In the regular season, they successfully defended on only 72.4% of their shorthanded chances, then allowed the Vegas Golden Knights to go 5-for-19 on the power play during the playoffs. The year before that, Minneso...
While it is not great that the Minnesota Wild are down 2-0 in the second round to the Colorado Avalanche and find themselves at the bottom of a big mountain to climb against one of the best teams in the league, we do at least get to share some good news. In multiple places over the last week, i...
Nathan MacKinnon owns a Hart Trophy. Cale Makar has two Norris Trophies. But the reason they're considered among the best in the world at their positions isn't their regular-season chops. Both players also shine brightest in the playoffs. Among active players, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl...
Eleven years ago Thursday, the Chicago Blackhawks swept the Minnesota Wild out of the Western Conference quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Until last Sunday, as many have noted, that 4-3 loss – a thriller in which the Wild would get within one goal, a mere 87 seconds, of drawing even –...
After the Minnesota Wild allowed nine goals (eight with a goalie in net) in their Game 1 loss, the question heard 'round the fanbase was simple. When are defensive stalwarts Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin coming back? After the Colorado Avalanche allowed six goals in their Game 1 win, they h...
It’s hard to stay away from the stories that are very much in line with what you yourself are chasing. As a broadcaster and hockey writer, it’s those stories of individuals who have found triumphs in my industry that I often gravitate towards. The career and life of colour commentator John Garrett s...
Last night’s Minnesota Wild game was stressful, to say the least. It felt very much like that friend who pregamed too hard before hitting the town. Then, instead of having a good time and enjoying themselves with a few drinks and dancing, the fans were forced to babysit the “good time friend” throug...
Think of where you were when Artturi Lehkonen scored on the power play to put the Colorado Avalanche up 3-0. Lehkonen scored 13:13 into the first period, meaning there were almost 47 minutes left to play. Still, the Minnesota Wild told you everything you need to know about them in those first 13 min...
That's Wild Well, that was certainly a hockey game. The Minnesota Wild come back from multiple multi-goal deficits but it was not enough as the Colorado Avalanche just kept pouring it on to win Game 1 of the second round by a score of 9-6. It is almost inconceivable to think of a team that w...
Jonas Brodin’s injury is a real problem for the Minnesota Wild. They will be without one of the league's most reliable shutdown defensemen at exactly the wrong time. He’s reportedly day-to-day, and he could miss the start of the second-round series and could be out for 6 to 8 weeks, depending on how...
The best teams in the NHL tend to win games in multiple ways. You can't choose who you match up against in the playoffs. Maybe you're going up against a fast team like the Edmonton Oilers. You might wind up grinding out a series with a physical (or dirty!) team like the Florida Panthers. Withstandin...
Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar have been linked since the beginning. Their Calder Trophy race in the 2019-20 season was legendary, with Makar edging out the voters. When Hughes won his Norris Trophy, Makar was the runner-up. When Makar took his second Norris, Hughes was a finalist. The two are first an...
The Minnesota Wild’s Game 6 win over the Dallas Stars was bigger than just another playoff victory. It was a statement win for a franchise that had spent more than a decade looking for a breakthrough. Just as importantly, it became a moment that mattered across the State of Hockey. By closing out th...
I won’t lie: The Colorado Avalanche are hockey’s Darth Vader. Pick your favorite unkillable, inevitable movie villain. The Terminator. Anton Chigurh. “Shooter” McGavin. The Avalanche have all the skill and systems in place to maximize a salary cap roster. So, let’s get under the hood. Wh...
It’s only fitting that Quinn Hughes scored the opening goal in the Minnesota Wild’s decisive Game 6 victory, then scored the go-ahead goal in the third. The score will read 5-2 with Matt Boldy scoring the final two goals on empty nets. However, Hughes’ wily tally in the third put the Wild in the lea...
That's Wild THEY DID IT! The Minnesota Wild have won their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars in just six games after a controlling 5-2 win on Thursday night. The series was full of highs and lows and it looked for a brief moment that it was going to be stretched to seven and t...
The Quinn Hughes trade gave the Minnesota Wild unprecedented optimism heading into the postseason. Finally, the team had the big-name starpower to take on all comers, or at least, in theory. There was still the tricky matter of, you know, getting out of the first round for the first time since 2015,...
Yakov Trenin’s return from an upper-body injury gave the Minnesota Wild a much-needed boost in Game 5 against the Dallas Stars, and his presence mattered in ways that went beyond the stat sheet. After missing the previous two games, Trenin returned to the lineup for a crucial swing game in a tied fi...
The Minnesota Wild are not known for being a beefy team. Their most important players include Kirill Kaprizov (5-foot-10), Quinn Hughes (5-foot-10), Jared Spurgeon (5-foot-9), and Mats Zuccarello (5-foot-8). On the other hand, their first-round opponent, the Dallas Stars, boast the second-tallest an...
Mats Zuccarello’s return gave the Minnesota Wild exactly the spark they needed, and the effects were obvious almost immediately. Only 3 minutes and 51 seconds into the game, the Dallas Stars attempted to clear the puck out of their zone. Ryan Hartman intercepted the clearing attempt, passed th...