Middleton makes the play

ST. PAUL, Minn. --- Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in a couple of weeks. Jake Middleton and Vinnie Hinostroza made a good bid for joining the ranks with their pass-catch scenario on ice in the Minnesota Wild game Thursday night. 

When Hinostroza played baseball when he was younger, he was an outfielder, after all. 

Already up 1-0 on Danila Yurov’s eighth goal of the season, a couple more secondary-scoring Wild players provided one of the best highlights of the night in the eventual 4-1 Wild victory over the Calgary Flames at Grand Casino Arena. 

About halfway through the first period, Middleton had the puck at the left circle in the Wild zone. He tossed the puck up the ice, across the ice, to Hinostroza at the Flames blue line. With the puck up in the air, the winger Hinostroza reached up and grabbed the puck with his right hand, threw it down to the ice on his stick, skated into the zone and took the shot on net. 

“Nice catch by Vinny, so it worked out well,” Middleton said. “I was just trying to get it to him. However it got there, it didn’t matter.

“That was a great play. He read it well, catching it, shot in stride. Impressive.” 

Hinostroza pumped his right arm in the air in celebration before going over to the boards to hug a smiling Middleton, who was credited with his 10th assist of the season. 

The goal was Hinostroza’s third of the season. After the game, he mentioned that since the goal came in the first period, his kids were still up to see it. 

“I was just so excited,” Hinostroza said. “I don’t remember the last time I scored.

His last goal came Nov. 7 at the New York Islanders. He said he tries to stay positive, “but it would be crazy to say you don’t get in your head a little bit.” 

He also missed 13 games in late November and December due to injury. 

“Obviously, any time you miss an extended period of time, it’s always tough getting back in,” Hinostroza said. “You just want to help every night, whether it’s blocking shots or getting the puck deep or whatever you can do.” 

Though the Wild didn’t play their best hockey on Thursday, they managed to have a regulation result for the first time in four games. No overtime needed.

“The one thing I will say is that when you go through 82 games, they’re not all going to be Picassos,” said Wild coach John Hynes. 

Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov also kept pace with each other in the goal-scoring department. Boldy scored a power-play goal late in the third period before Kaprizov added an empty-netter, each scoring their 29th goals of the season. 

Filip Gustavsson was sharp in net, making 29 saves in the victory. 
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The Wild have won five of their last seven games, including just two regulation victories.