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  • Matt Boldy Leads Wild To Season-Opening Win

    Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    That's Wild

    • Matt Boldy has made a statement. In the season-opening game for our Minnesota Wild, it wasn't Kirill Kaprizov or any of the other leaders that made a splash, it was Matt Boldy. With a goal and two assists in a 3-2 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets, Boldy was dominant and pushed the Wild across the finish line almost single handedly. Just watch for yourself. Because, it was almost a masterclass.
    • And maybe the reason why Boldy played so well was taking less pressure from being a top-line player. Now solidly with Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson on the second line, he has flourished. [Pioneer Press]
    • And as Boston kid himself, Boldy made it clear that he was thinking of his childhood hero, Johnny Gaudreau during the opening game. [The Athletic]
    • Beyond Boldy, John Hynes is establishing the Wild's "second effort" mentality. [Hockey Wilderness]

    Off the trail...

    • A look at the first hockey game from the Utah Hockey Club and how the fans reacted in Salt Lake City. [ESPN]
    • In the first couple days of the 2024-25 NHL season, comebacks are a big theme. [NHL.com]
    • Macklin Celebrini scored his first goal in his first game, but he is already talking like a veteran. After the Sharks blew a lead, the rookie is making it clear that they need to learn from it. [TheScore]
    By Thomas Williams  

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    mnfaninnc

    I'm happy with the win, but I still think there's a lot of work to do. Probably 31 other teams' fans feel the same way.

    Nice to get a pressure PP goal that was needed. Sad to give up a pressure PK goal when we needed that kill too.

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    TheGoosesAreLooses

    I'm worried about our first and third line. Zucc looks slow out there and there was many giveaways playing the pass game. I thought Rossi looked okay but a 2 legged tripod doesn't stand up well. 

    That third line looked outmatched all game long. Trenin looked fast and had bite but Foligno and Hartman were invisible. 

    2nd and 4th line looked great. Lauko and Khus had great speed and ended up breaking loose a couple times. 2nd line dominated all night long.

    Our D was a little underwhelming but the Bus looked like he was back in high gear again. Looking forward to seeing these guys up to speed on Saturday. Any team but Columbus likely would have laid a beating on us with the way we played as a team but I think they will come back hungry on Saturday.

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    M_Nels
    20 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

    That third line looked outmatched all game long.

    They looked much, much better in the 3rd I thought, still think that line will give teams fits. Foglino sprung a couple of breakaways with some slick passes and they seemed to get their heavy forecheck going later in the game.

    I'm going to chalk the 1st and 3rd line woes to them swapping Rossi and Hartman midway through camp but that is the optimist in me.

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    Pewterschmidt

    Positives: Boldy looked like he's taking the next stair step in his development.  it didn't just show in the scoresheet results but in the way he was attacking.  Budding star in this kid.  Ek'r get lots of credit here too.  Absolute beast.  Nojo too.  Helluva game by barrel breezers.

    97 is a unicorn.  He's elite in damn near every aspect of the game.

    Negatives: Trenin was a ghost.  I thought this guy was a one man wrecking crew.  He was Duhaime 2.0 last night.  While Foligno was disruptive at times, he still needs to be shown which end of the stick goes on the ice.  I think this line will have it's moments, but I think it'll occur only every 4th or 5th game.  

    I'm going to wait on judgement with Rossi at 1C.  He had flashes but I don't think he helped the line much.  Zuccy is again one year older.  He's capable of making plays from time to time that few others can make, but for 60% of his ice time he's a pylon.

    Good to have Spurge back and thought he was effective.  Noticed him getting outmuscled multiple time last night.

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