Hockey Wilderness
A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!
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Quinn Hughes vs. Cale Makar Is A Title Fight
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 Wild's Win Over Dallas Became A Uniting Force Across Minnesota
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...
The Avalanche's Masterful Tactics Maximize Their Loaded Roster
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...
The Wild Have the Blueprint To Beat the Avs
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...
Wild Eliminate Stars, Win Playoff Series For First Time In 11 Years
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...
It's Official: The Wild's Stanley Cup Window Begins Now
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 Gave The Wild A Needed Edge In Game 5
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 Go Big As They Go Home For Game 6
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 Changed Everything For the Wild
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...
Minnesota Sports History Can Be Made This Week
That's Wild It has never been easy to be a Minnesota sports fan, but something might happen for the first time ever and it's actually a good thing. The Minnesota Wild have the opportunity to close out their first-round series against the Dallas Stars Thursday night, as they currently hold a 3-2...
Mats Zuccarello Did The Little Things That Proved To Be The Difference In His Return
The Minnesota Wild threatened to fall apart without Mats Zuccarello to start the season, and they threatened to fall apart in the playoffs without him, falling behind two games to one against the Dallas Stars. On paper, it feels absurd that Zuccarello should be the player to derail Minnesota to...
P.K. Subban Was Right: Matt Boldy Is A Dog On A Bone
P.K. Subban knows what a top-tier forward looks like. The former Norris Trophy winner spent his career going against some of the biggest names in the sport in the postseason. Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Patrick Kane, Nathan MacKinno...
The Wild Can Only Beat Themselves Now
Think of where the Minnesota Wild stood after Game 3 of their series against the Dallas Stars. The Wild had squandered stealing home-ice advantage in Game 1 by giving up a 3-2 lead entering the third quarter. They failed to capitalize on Michael McCarron scoring his first-ever playoff goal aft...
The Wild's Defense Is the Engine Behind Their Playoff Push
The Minnesota Wild didn’t just survive Game 5 against the Dallas Stars; they controlled it with their defensive play. From the opening puck drop, Minnesota made Dallas work for every inch of ice, limiting clean entries, crowding the middle of the rink, and forcing the Stars into lower-quality chance...
The Wild Have To Finish the Story In Game 6
On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Wild played one of their most professional games of the season. Led by Mats Zuccarello’s return and a suffocating defensive effort, the Wild scored a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars and took a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference series. It sets up...
Wild Just One Win Away From Slaying The Dragon
A dark cloud has been hovering over this Minnesota Wild team for a while now. They have suffered nine straight first-round exits. The last time they were able to win a playoff round was back in 2015, and then they promptly got swept by the Chicago Blackhawks as the reward for it. Whether it was batt...
A Different Minnesota Wild Won Game 5
The Minnesota Wild can't pop the champagne yet. Historically, road teams that win Game 5 to go up 3-2 win 77.4% of playoff series, but the door is open for the Dallas Stars to make a comeback if the Wild aren't careful. However, the Wild we saw in Tuesday night's 4-2 win to seize control of th...
How Will the Wild Handle the Wallstedt-Gustavsson Situation Long-Term?
The Minnesota Wild are in the middle of a knockdown, drag-out playoff series with the rival Dallas Stars. Many players on the team deserve recognition for their contributions to the 2-2 series deadlock. Matt Boldy is emerging as a superstar, and Brock Faber has made significant strides. Still, perha...
Kirill Kaprizov Has Been Quietly Dominant Against Dallas
When playoff time rolls around and the regular season moves farther back into the rearview, the things we know about players and teams become true only insofar as they happen now. Whether a player thrives or fails in a playoff season becomes a key part of the narrative that shapes their value and st...
Game 5 Will Be the Ultimate Test of Whether the Wild Are Different
The date is April 24, 2015. The Minnesota Wild went into Scottrade Center, recovered from an early goal-against from then-superstar Vladimir Tarasenko, and methodically hung four goals on the St. Louis Blues. Marco Scandella, Nino Niederreiter, Mikko Koivu, and Charlie Coyle were your scorers that d...
The Quinn Hughes Effect Is Alive and Well This Postseason
Entering the postseason, the Minnesota Wild's hopes for success more or less boiled down to: They have Quinn Hughes this time. It was a great reason for hope. Wild fans watched the superstar defenseman elevate their favorite team for 48 games this season, supercharging the power play and picki...
Wild But True: Not All Champions Are Found On The Cup
In such a close opening playoff series, this may not be the time to be talking about the Minnesota Wild and what things will look like if they do, in fact, claim their first Stanley Cup. However, a topic that always comes up as the playoffs begin to play down is, Who actually gets their name on Lord...
Why Can't the Wild Score On the Power Play Without Zuccarello?
Mats Zuccarello’s injury has quietly become one of the biggest reasons the Minnesota Wild’s first-round series has swung in the Dallas Stars’ favor. The Wild looked sharp in Game 1, but once Zuccarello exited the lineup, their power play lost its most important connector, and the offense became far...
Wild's Offensive Depth Came Up Big
That's Wild Leave it to heartbeat of the Minnesota Wild Marcus Foligno to come up big when it mattered. Down by one goal in the third period, the grinding winger scored the equalizing goal which then forced the overtime in which Matt Boldy scored his game-winner, for the Wild to take Game 4...
The Wild Showed Everyone This Series Is Far From Over
The Minnesota Wild needed every second of overtime to finish off the Dallas Stars, and Matt Boldy delivered the payoff with a late-tip-in that gave the Wild a 3-2 win in Game 4. It was the kind of playoff game that felt close from the opening faceoff to the final shot. Both teams traded chances, mom...
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