The new-look Sharks had a few early chances against the Wild in the first period. After a good shift or two from the new top three lines, Tomas Hertl drew a holding penalty for his work along the boards. Unfortunately, both power play units had some trouble even entering the zone. Minnesota killed it off and rode the apparent momentum into solid control of the second half of an otherwise slow first period. Thomas Vanek made some noise, literally, with a late breakaway that Martin Jones tracked all the way and a couple big one-timers that missed wide and boomed as they hit they glass. After one period, the Wild had a slight edge in shots (8-6), and shot attempts (17-14).
The Sharks looked a bit stronger in the second, and things opened up just a bit, but the Wild still kept the pace relatively slow overall. The third line – now consisting of Karlsson-Tierney-Ward – started to establish themselves with some good chances. Their best came on a 2-on-1; Chris Tierney tried to pass across to Melker Karlsson, but he got mugged by the trailing Koivu, pushing him into the net to take away the shot. Again, the Wild put on a decent push right at the end of the period, but the Sharks still held the slight edge in shots (10-8), and attempts (20-19).
Into the third period, the fourth line tried to get a spark going as Dainius Zubrus sprung an odd-man rush and set up Mike Brown in front of the net. Brown tried to dangle it home, but was denied by Darcy Kuemper. Soon after, Zach Parise and the Wild finally broke the scoreless tie. Parise tipped a Mikael Granlund shot onto Jones and immeditately picked up his own rebound, lifting it over the pad to make it a 1-0 Wild lead with 15:19 left to play. Neither Brent Burns, nor Paul Martin was anywhere near him, giving him plenty of time to settle it.
After two periods of good, but non-socring, play by the new lines, head coach Peter DeBoer reunited some more familiar lines – including Joe Thornton with Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau with Joel Ward – but the Sharks still couldn’t find the jump they needed. Mikko Koivu buried an empty netter with 33.6 left to bring the final score to 2-0. Overall, shots finished 30-25 in the Wild’s favor, with shot attempts 55-54 to the Sharks.
[Fancy Stats] – [Wild Reaction] – [TOI Log] – [Faceoff Report] – [Event Summary] – [PBP Log]
Fear the Fin’s Three Stars
1) Darcy Kuemper
2) Zach Parise
3) Martin Jones
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