Last night's Wild victory was exactly what we all wanted to see from this club, a convincing victory that was never in doubt nearly from the outset.
The TNT announcers were stock full of high praise for what Bill Guerin and his staff are doing along with Dean Evason and his assistants, of preparing this Wild team to compete each and every night.
Kaapo Kahkonen got the start again after his strong performance Sunday vs. the Islanders. He stopped 24 of the Coyotes 26 shots he faced including 12 saves in the third period when Arizona mounted their best charge of the evening. He did have a few pucks that leaked through but he was calm and steady in the win.
Both Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov scored goals and continued to carry the team offensively after their respective slow starts. Fiala, who had been snake bitten with just one goal, scored what may be the highlight "hand-eye coordination " goal of the season so far. Fiala and Jared Spurgeon played give and go and when Spurgeon's return pass carromed off Coyotes defenceman, Shane Gostibehere and up in the air, Fiala raised his stick and angled the blade to redirect the puck under the bar, which at the time gave the Wild a three goal lead in the second period.
That goal should be a catalyst for more to come from #22 as he has been buzzing of late and let's hope that is the one that springboards Fiala moving forward.
The Wild scored two powerplay goals including the first goal of the contest when Joel Eriksson Ek picked the top corned for his team leading third powerplay marker of the season. Kaprizov had the other man advantage goal after he and Mats Zuccarello played catch with the puck below the Coyotes goal line until goalie, Kerl Vejmelka could not get back to the left post in time and Kaprizov slipped the puck around the post and in.
Cam Talbot will get the nod tonight in Vegas as the Wild make their first visit to "Sin City" since their game seven, opening round defeat, last May. Vegas has been up and down to start the season and they are now awaiting the arrival of their latest addition, Jack Eichel, following last week's blockbuster deal with Buffalo. That will be sometime down the road though as Eichel is on the shelf still with the neck injury.
Once Eichel does get on the ice he will change the dynamic if the Golden Knights who have never had the luxury of a top line center...sound familiar?
That said this Golden Knights team is very good, but they have yet to show that consistently this season. They have seven wins but two of those are over the expansion Kraken, and three of the of the remaining five are wins over Montreal, Ottawa, and Anaheim. The goaltending of Robin Lehner has been a bit erratic where he has looked very good, mostly of late, but very mediocre at times as well.
Injuries have been an issue for the Golden Knights as well, with Max Paccioretti and Mark Stone both on the IR since mid October. It is always tough to win in the NHL without your top offensive talent in the lineup and then William Karlsson went down with a broken foot.
Former Wild forward, Alex Tuch who also is out with a shoulder injuryand had not played all season, was sent to Buffalo as part of the Eichel deal along with former first round pick Peyton Krebs so the Golden Knights forward depth is being tested greatly at the moment,.
We will eventually see a different Vegas squad in future meetings but tonight is another opportunity for the Wild to add to the early season points bank against a severely depleted Golden Knights roster. The message from the Eild coaching staff will be the same though, as they prepare to play their game and Vegas still has an amazing defense and Lehner is one of the league's best between the pipes when he is on top of his game.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!