Wild flip the calendar, flip the script

Kirill Kaprizov and the Minnesota Wild celebrate an overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 16.

Some people flipped their calendars from Halloween to Christmas season going from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1. For the Minnesota Wild, the stretch they’ve been on in the first half of November might feel like the most wonderful time of the year so far. 

The Wild’s start to the season was rough, with only two regulation victories in October and finishing the month on a five-game losing streak (with a couple of overtime losses thrown in). After some trick-or-treating, the Wild returned to home ice for a 5-2 victory over Vancouver on Nov. 1. 

After that game, winger Vinnie Hinostroza brought up the fresh start to the month. It also came after a players’ meeting earlier that week. 

“We really talked about things,” Hinostroza said on Nov. 1. “We know how special this group is. Every piece of the puzzle is there. We just got to put it together. 

“Every team I’ve been on, and I’ve been on a lot, every team I’ve been on has gone through something like this. Whether it’s later in the season or the middle of the season. It just so happens to be right at the beginning when we have high expectations. 

“We’ve just got to keep getting better and keep playing Wild hockey.” 

Perhaps Hinostroza was foreshadowing what was to come for him and his teammates, at least through the first half of November. The Wild have rebounded with only one regulation loss in the last eight games. 

Symbolic or not, since the calendar turned to Nov. 1, the Wild are tied for first in the NHL with six wins and 13 points with its 6-1-1 record. Their latest victory came with a 3-2 overtime win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday at Grand Casino Arena on Hockey Fights Cancer Night. 

The Wild scored first for the ninth consecutive game, with a tic-tac-toe play from Marcus Johansson to Mats Zuccarello to Joel Eriksson Ek for the wide-open-net goal and a 1-0 lead in the first period. Yakov Trenin later scored his first goal of the season, hopping up into the glass behind the Vegas net in celebration. 

But the Wild’s penalty kill allowed two Vegas goals, helping to send the game to overtime. Each team took their turns possessing the puck. The Wild got a power play with under 30 seconds remaining in overtime, and Kirill Kaprizov sent everyone home with 9.7 seconds showing on the clock for his 11th career overtime winner, continuing his franchise record, and his team-leading 11th goal of the season. 

“It was 30 seconds, and we just try to shoot a couple times and maybe it go in,” Kaprizov said after Sunday’s game.

Goaltender Filip Gustavsson got the victory with 23 saves. He didn’t allow any five-on-five goals on the heels of young goaltender Jesper Wallstedt’s second consecutive shutout with Saturday’s win over Anaheim. Gustavsson said it’s a good goalie relationship, and he likes when Wallstedt performs well because he knows he needs to do the same. The Wild came into Sunday’s game allowing 1.71 goals per game since Nov. 1, the second-best mark in the NHL. 

From the goaltender on out, the Wild’s defense is playing better as of late. 

“I think the big thing is we feel like we have way better gaps right now,” Gustavsson said. “When they enter the zone, we’re right on top of them. We don’t give them as much space.” 

In what Wild coach John Hynes called a physical and hard-fought game, winger Marcus Foligno also got his second assist of the season on Trenin’s goal. He spoke with the media wearing the team’s Player of the Game hat. He said the team is turning the corner. 

“Honestly, I think we can be better,” Foligno said. “There’s some times where we show that October hockey kind of sneaks in again. We’ve got to get rid of it. 

“But yeah, this is a lot better from what we saw in the first 12 games.” 

Hynes spoke about the team trying to find its rhythm early on this season. Sometimes they found it for stretches, sometimes they didn’t, or got away from it. It’s about the Wild leaning on opponents and trying to be hard to play against, he said. 

“When you do that, you have to defend less,” Hynes said. “So, now if you’re defending, your details are better. Your commitment level is better.

“We’re not really a team that can just go out and play free-wheeling. We have a lot of talent. And we have the opportunity to lean on teams.”