Wild snap seven game losing streak with a 3-1 win over St. Louis

ST. PAUL - John Hynes was named the new Wild head coach yesterday and showed up this morning for a press conference introduction but when he came back to the rink for the game, he couldn't find out where to go.

"Yeah, I was rooming around a little bit," Wild head coach John Hynes said on if he got lost coming into the arena. "Everyone is so helpful so it's good but I had to ask a few people. I left and I came back the same way but it didn't seem like the same way. So now I got it."

It didn't start off the way Hynes had hoped but he found his way just like team after they took a penalty only 22 seconds into the game. But the Wild were able use the momentum from the penalty kill to go down and score the game's first goal only 19 seconds after the penalty expired.

"As much as you don't want to get scored on it because you lose all your momentum, the opposite is as true I think," Freddy Gaudreau said on killing off the first penalty. "That was good for sure. That gave us a lot of energy for sure."

Jared Spurgeon picked up the secondary assist after he passed one to Mats Zuccarello behind the net. It was Zuccarello's 17th assist and 22nd point of the year. Only Marian Gaborik, who had 24 points in 2005-06 & 23 in 2008-09, and Kirill Kaprizov, who had 24 in 2022-23 have had more points than Zuccarello in the first 20 games of the season.

"That was a big one," Hynes said on killing off the first penalty. "I thought the penalty kill had a good night tonight. They had some good looks, they hit the post on one and Gus made some huge saves which was critical. When your penalty kill is effective, your goaltender is your best penalty killer but I was impressed with the attention to detail. The stick detail and the willingness to block shots. 

It's the finer details of the penalty kill that were executed and therefore we wound up I think getting the mindset of the penalty kill where it could be a lethal part of our game."

The Wild killed off all four penalties they took tonight and a big part of that was the way Filip Gustavsson played but also how many shots the Wild blocked. Jake Middleton blocked recorded a season high six blocked shots out of the team's 25. 

"This was really good. I didn’t do much," Gustavsson said. "This was kind of a shutout game it should have been. Let one in, in the first but the guys scored two in the first period to keep the momentum up and we just hit the gas.”

Gaudreau scored with under two minutes left in the first period to give the Wild a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. It was Gaudreau's first goal of the year but also his first point and came after a nice pass from Pat Maroon to Gaudreau in the slot. 

The 6-foot center has spent a lot of time with Dean Evason over the years when he was in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals but also here in Minnesota the last two seasons with the Wild.

"I owe Dean a lot and (Bob Woods). They’re unbelievable people, great coaches and I feel very grateful for everything, every moment I had with them," Gaudreau said. "When you haven’t been playing close to what you can play, it’s hard to see that it’s the coaches that they’re getting out first. Unfortunately that’s the business we’re in, but it was hard, I’m not going to lie.”

Gaudreau did admit that it was a a bit of a relief to get on the board though after not having a point in the first nine games of the season after putting up 19 goals and 38 points last season in 82 games. 

"I try to play the right way, that's my only mindset. But I'm not going to lie, it feels good," Gaudreau said. "It feels good to put a puck in the net but mostly a win. To me it's not really the stats, it's more of playing the right way. Playing the right way has to be my mindset when I play my best."

Speaking of finding some relief in scoring a goal, Matt Boldy got on the score sheet for the first time since October 14th. The play started when Jonas Brodin fired one up the ice for Boldy which sprung the 22-year-old on a breakaway before making a move to the right and firing a shot past Jordan Binnington.

"It's been a long time coming so it was nice to kind of see one go in," Boldy said. "I thought I've been getting better playing the puck with a little more confidence and then today, yeah I felt good. The whole team was playing fast, hard, and everything like that."

Needless to say this was a much needed win for the Wild tonight and they got it done in ways that haven't happened many times this year. Goaltending was outstanding, the penalty kill looked great and was 4-for-4, Boldy scored and looked like himself, and Kirill Kaprizov looked great as well.

The Wild also only allowed one five-on-five high danger rush chance and didn't allow many shots off the rush either. In fact, they only allowed five. Data tracked by Dylan Loucks