ST. PAUL — Filip Gustavsson backstopped the Minnesota Wild with 49 saves against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. But the Wild failed to do their part in front of him defensively en route to their 5-4 overtime loss inside Xcel Energy Center to the visiting Blue Jackets.
The Wild, now 2-2-1, have allowed a combined 12 goals in the past two games on home ice. The Wild didn't have a strong defensive outing in their 7-3 loss to the L.A. Kings on Thursday night, either. But it wasn't even close to matching the Wild's out right alarming performance in their own zone against Columbus Saturday night.
The Wild allowed 54 shots, 92 shot attempts and 4.92 expected goals against in all situations, according to Natural Stat Trick. In comparison, Columbus held the Wild to 28 shots, 69 shot attempts and 2.22 expected goals against.
What is especially troubling is the Wild’s play down low and in high-danger areas as they allowed 18 high-danger chances — yet only had six themselves. The Blue Jackets also had 44 of the 71 scoring chances in the game.
“We weren’t good defensively,” head coach Dean Evason said. “We weren't good in the game. We didn't execute defensively. We didn't execute getting out of our zone.
“So, yeah, we didn't do a lot of good things in this game — and yet we still had an opportunity in it, which was positive. But we've got to clean a lot of our hockey up.”
The Wild's need for Jared Spurgeon was amplified in the loss that featured sloppy coverage and timely miscues in their own zone all night, which wound up costing them a point and has them heading in the wrong direction if corrections aren't made.
The Wild should thank Gustavsson for the point they earned because he was sharp and made timely saves throughout the contest and kept them in it.
Gustavsson looked like the goalie who earned a 41-save shutout performance in the Wild's home opener, rather than the one who allowed seven goals on 33 shots against Toronto last Saturday.
“Obviously he made some big stops and a lot of stops,” Marcus Johansson said. “He played great. It’s up to us to play better in front of him and score more goals if we need to.”
It’s fitting that the game-winning goal for Columbus in overtime by Jack Roslovic summed up the Wild’s defeat.
Roslovic evaded all three of Mats Zuccarello, Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber before ending the game with a mid-range wrist shot from the edge of the right circle.
“Not good enough,” Zuccarello said.
The Wild, who started poorly once again, went down 1-0 about nine minutes in when an uncovered Justin Danforth at the top of the crease deflected David Jiricek’s centering pass on goal. Gustavsson made the stop, but Danforth grabbed the rebound and tucked it inside the post.
Kent Johnson doubled the Blue Jackets’ lead at 13:50 in the second period when he fired a shot from the right circle past Gustavsson high blocker off the faceoff.
The Wild responded with two goals 54 seconds apart. Dakota Mermis scored his second NHL goal (first one was with the New Jersey Devils on March 6, 2020) with 12:47 left in the middle frame before Zuccarello scored his first of the season when his shot from the edge of the left circle beat Elvis Merzlikins high glove after a slick pass by Ryan Hartman along the boards.
Jonas Brodin made it 3-2 with a mid-range shot off Merzlikins’ blocker 4:42 into the third for his first goal this season and the Wild's first lead of the night.
The Wild's 3-2 lead was short-lived, though. Boone Jenner tied the game two minutes and 26 seconds later from in front of the net for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Then Zuccarello scored with 8:06 left in the third, but the goal was overturned due to offsides by Johansson’s entry into the zone in what was another controversial call against the Wild.
“I think everybody in the world sees him having possession of that puck,” Evason said.
Added Johansson: “It’s just frustrating. They said that I lost control of the puck. I had the puck from our own end. I put it under his stick and lifted his stick. To me, they said I lost control. But who took it from me? I don’t know. Very frustrating. If I make a move on the blue line, I feel I still have the puck, but it is what it is. Frustrating.”
Rookie Adam Fantilli gave the Blue Jackets a 4-3 lead with 5:19 left in the third when his shot from the right circle went top shelf on Gustavsson.
The Wild earned a point thanks to a late goal from Johansson who tied the game at four with 3:01 left when his wrist shot from the left circle beat Merzlikins short side after Maroon made a nice pass from the boards.
Maroon played well in his first game alongside Joel Eriksson Ek and Johansson, which was the Wild's best line. With them on the ice at five-on-five, the Wild had 51.72 percent of the shot attempts share and outscored Columbus 2-1. The trio finished with eight shots.
While none of the Wild's lines finished with over 50 percent of the expected goal share at five-on-five, that line had the highest at 35.33 percent.
“That line was real good, and (Maroon) was real good,” Evason said. “(He) created, big, strong, handled the puck, was calm down in the offensive zone. Yeah, he looked good.”
What did Maroon bring to the line?
“He’s just so good with the puck,” Johansson said. “He wins battles and he makes plays from the wall. He’s just so big and he can make it look so easy.
"I feel like he’s very simple to play with. You know what he’s going to do, and he’s really good at it. He made it really easy for us.”
But, in the end, the Wild’s troubles in their own zone caught up to them, and the overtime winner epitomized their defensive performance.
