Wild Set Franchise Record ST. PAUL - In a very chippy and playoff-like game, the Minnesota Wild (17-4-4) were able to hold their composure despite many missed calls. "If you guys see it, I probably don’t have to comment on it right? You guys already know," Jake Middleton said. "We’re all watching the same game. But yeah, I don’t want to go too far into it." It was the most we have seen Wild head coach John Hynes animated on the bench. But what was impressive was the Wild's response to it all. They kept their cool in those moments, they dished it out too, but kept their cool. "I don’t know, they were cross-checking everybody," Middleton said. "So, it was frustrating, ya know. And, fortunately, it was prison rules both ways for a bit and we got away with it, too." Despite Joel Eriksson Ek drawing two penalties that were never called and many more big hits, the Wild kept their composure. "I really liked our response from a physical perspective. It wasn't just certain guys, Boldy got physical Eriksson Ek got physical, among others on the team, when they were getting kind of banged around a little bit, and we didn't shrink in that," Hynes said. "I thought we got tougher and we got harder as the game continued to go on. I think that was a big reason why we found a way to win the game. "Mentally, you're down, you're in one of those games, there's not a lot of time and space, it's not easy to score, we come back twice to be able to do that. So that's kind of the core of our team that we're talking about finding a way to win these games and the mental toughness, the physical toughness, the pushback, the focus level. And I thought that we answered the bell tonight." Vancouver opened the scoring on the power play but Freddy Gaudreau and the Wild were able to answer in the second period. That was until Jake DebRusk scored with 42 seconds left to regain the lead. The Wild didn't let a late goal affect them but instead scored 1:43 into the third period. “That was a tough shift obviously in the second. We had a couple of shifts like that and we didn’t score, but they did," Hynes said on Vancouver's late goal. "But those are the margins for error. We talked about that after the Winnipeg game and the Dallas game. When you take lessons out of them, sometimes it’s tactical. Sometimes there's margins for error but they capitalized on that situation. We had some shifts like that that we didn’t score but coming out down 2-1 going into the third, I thought we came out with the right mindset and found a way to get back in the game and ultimately win it.” Eriksson Ek opened the overtime with Kirill Kaprizov and had a chance early but Kevin Lankinen stopped him. After his shot, Eriksson Ek planted his right leg on the ice and ended up limping off. He did not return. Vancouver had many chances in overtime following that. Erik Brannstrom, who Filip Gustavsson took out to dinner on Monday, had a chance on the doorstep. Gustavsson made a huge save. Later, Kaprizov and Marco Rossi got caught on the ice for a long time. A mix-up in the neutral zone by the two forwards created a 2-on-0 for Brock Boeser and the Canucks the other way. Boeser, the Minnesota native, ripped it off the post, around the boards and out of the zone. Rossi picked up the loose puck and bolted to the offensive zone. A trailing Kaprizov, who was on the ice for 3:03 of the 4:36 total minute overtime, made his way into the offensive zone on the 2-on-1 with Rossi. “I think it’s not fun when you lose like this, but it’s fun for the fans for sure. But when you backcheck and you see 2-on-0 or 2-on-1 your line against or against your goalie, it’s maybe not fun," Kaprizov said on the play. "But we have same chances, 2-on-1.” That chance turned into the game-winner. Kaprizov scored with 24 seconds remaining in overtime and has now factored on 10 game-winning goals in 2024-25 (4-6—10) — the most among all players, Per NHL Stats. What made it so impressive was how Rossi protected the puck from Boeser before he made the pass. Rossi now has collected a point in 17 of the 25 games this season and has three points in three consecutive games. He ranks tied for second in assists on the team and tied for third in points. He is currently on pace for 23 goals, 43 assists, and 66 points. That would rank him fourth in Wild franchise history for most points as a center in a single season. (Eric Staal's 76 in 2017-18, Mikko Koivu's 71 in 2009-10, and Koivu's 67 in 2008-09). He would also rank tied for fourth in single-season assists as a center in Wild history with Koivu who had 49 in 2009-10, 47 in 2008-09, 45 in 2010-11, and 43 in 2013-14. He would be the second center in Wild history to have 43 assists in a single season. So, trading the 23-year-old center who continues to get better every game, would be a bad decision - regardless of what the return is. Nonetheless, the Wild are now 17-4-4 on the year. They have 38 points through their first 25 games which is a franchise record. Let us know what you think by commenting below or on the Forum [https://thehockeynews.rtb.io/minnesota-wild/posts]. Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/] for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more. Follow Dylan Loucks on Blue Sky [https://bsky.app/profile/dylanloucks.bsky.social] and Twitter (X). [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://twitter.com/DylanLoucks4%3Fref_src%3Dtwsrc%255Egoogle%257Ctwcamp%255Eserp%257Ctwgr%255Eauthor&ved=2ahUKEwiCtt3W2dmJAxVSrokEHVwsBhMQ6F56BAgaEAE&usg=AOvVaw3Nas3mZYaXJ-oCGPNTnt5b]
