Last night's 4-1 home victory over the Sharks showed us a little more about this new version of the Wild.
The first period was arguably the worst 20 minute session the Wild had played to date, which was confirmed by nearly every player that we heard speak both during and after the contest. In the second period things started to turn in the Wild's favor as they upped the tempo and got after the forecheck.
In the end they took their first lead of the season into the third period where Kaapo Kahkonen, who was called upon in relief of Cam Talbot after the first period, made a series of saves that preserved the Wild lead. Talbot was injured late in the first, with what is being called a lower body injury, and not considered to be all that serious. Talbot took the ice to start the second but before puck drop he came back to the Wild bench in favor of Kahkonen.
Kahkonen who won his first start on Wednesday in Anaheim was OK in that outing for the most part, however last night he looked far more confident. I have said it here before that Kahkonen has an heir about him when he is on his game and playing well there is a confidence that appears to take his game to a higher level. He moves well in the net and tracks the puck aggressively. Of course he also brings the puck handling skills that can both be an advantage as well as an adventure at times. Either way the Wild have a very good young goalie who on the surface appears to be ready for the NHL.
It was great to see both Zach Parise and Kevin Fiala net their first goals of the season as they are key goal scorers for the Wild and in order to have sustained success they will need to produce like we know they are capable of doing.
The rematch tomorrow should be entertaining, and oh yeah, that Kaprizov guy had another dazzling offensive sequence that did not result in a goal, but had all Wild fans out of their seats and feeling a bit giddy at what this young player is capable of.