The Wild have a few decisions to make before their game against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
ST. PAUL - In a crazy back and forth game, the Minnesota Wild (1-0-1) dropped their second game of the year and last home game of the month of October to the Seattle Kraken (1-1-0).
The Wild jumped out early in the first with a 1-0 lead from Mats Zuccarello's second goal of the season. Matt Boldy extended the lead in the second but Jordan Eberle answered 46 seconds later.
Midway through the second Joel Eriksson Ek went into the boards behind Seattle's Adam Larsson to play the puck and took an elbow straight to the mouth.
As Eriksson Ek skated off to the bench and down the tunnel, Jonas Brodin got called for tripping. What should've been a power play for the Wild turned into a penalty kill.
Eberle picked up his second of the night after Andre Burakovsky banked one off the Kraken's second-ever captain's skate and into the net. The officials talked and declared it was not a kicking motion.
"It happens. It’s not like you can go back in time and change stuff," Ryan Hartman said on the sequence. "Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us getting a bad call. So we’re all human and it happens. We obviously could’ve killed the penalty too and it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but they end up getting the goal and that’s unfortunate.
Eriksson Ek didn't return the rest of the second period but came out for the third period with a full bubble shield on. He took one shift and did not return the rest of the night.
"Yeah, I don’t have an update on him," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "I know he came back and then I didn’t hear anything. They just basically tell you he’s kind of done for the game, and I haven’t had a chance to see that. Those things happen in the games. Ekky’s a key guy for us in a lot key situations. But I thought guys did a good job, when you have to rotate the lines around a little bit, you have guys settle in. So we’ll see."
Brodin said after the game that the official did apologize.
"Yeah, tough penalty. But I talked to him after and he said sorry. He said something, he saw the wrong stick, but it's tough," Brodin said. "We had some tough bounces but I thought we played really good today, way better than the first game. So we're happy about that. We wanted two points but we got one. So, just got to be ready for tomorrow."
In just 19 hours after the Wild lost in a shootout to the Kraken they are back in action against the Winnipeg Jets on the road. The team plane left one hour after the game had concluded and it left with many question marks.
Because if Eriksson Ek got hurt the Wild may have to call up a forward for the game and for the three week road trip. But they don't have a lot of cap space to make moves.
“We’ve gotta go back and see if there are any more questionable guys for tomorrow," Hynes said. "Most likely if there’s not, that would be the case, for sure, but I can go back in there and they could say, ‘Two more guys are questionable.’ Then you’re probably going to have to make some moves.
“Or everyone else looks good and we could be OK.”
Jesper Wallstedt, who was backing up Marc-Andre Fleury on Saturday, could be sent down to bring an extra forward with. Liam Ohgren, who hasn't played in the first two games, could also slot in and the Wild could move Freddy Gaudreau to center to fill Eriksson Ek's spot.
Only problem is, Marcus Johansson took a heavy hit in the neutral zone and left for well over five minutes. He did return and played the rest of the game but could be questionable for tomorrow's game.
The cap-strapped Wild's decision to carry three goaltenders to start the year looks like is already hurting them. On Thursday they had to send Wallstedt down to recall a defenseman because Declan Chisholm was sick.
Now, with the team plane leaving an hour after the game and question marks on a few Wild forward's status, Wallstedt may have to be sent back to Iowa to get another forward to Winnipeg.
Iowa played their first game on Saturday but lost 6-4. They lost to the Winnipeg Jets' AHL team but the game was played in Iowa and not in Winnipeg.
Nonetheless, some decisions and roster moves could be made before the Wild's game against the Jets on Sunday. Or, everyone is OK and ready to go. Although, it seems like the plane ride to Winnipeg may not have included Eriksson Ek.
We will see.
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