Last night's Wild Maple Leafs game was all that we expected and more. The two teams played fast took aways time and space from the opposition and limited the scoring chances through much of the first period.
Jordan Greenway got the Wild on the board with 24 seconds remaining in the first period when he ripped home the rebound of Matt Dumba's blast that rang off the post The Wild caught a couple of early breaks in the second period when Mats Zuccarello's intended cross ice pass redirected past Jack Campbell off Justin Holl into the Leafs net. Then Marcus Foligno was in the right place as the rebound of Joel Eriksson Ek's shot carromed off referee, Jon McIsaac and right to Foligno who made no mistake beating Campbell and giving the Wild the 3-0 lead.
From that point the Wild took their foot off the gas while Toronto took full control of the game. Jason Spezza got the Leafs on the board when his centering pass deflected off Jordie Benn's skate and off Cam Talbot's mask and in. Toronto took full advantage of their powerplay knotting the game at three as Spezza got his second of the game and then delivered a perfect pass across to Auston Matthews for the tying goal.
The Maple Leafs special teams were the story last night as the powerplay got then back into the game and their penalty kill secured the fact that they would come out with at least a point in the standings as they killed a huge Wild 2 man advantage in the 3rd period.
The Wild brought everything they could in the third but could not solve Capnell and the Leafs despite the fact they had 22 shots in the final period.
The overtime was filled with chances for both teams and included a big PK from the Wild to finish the 3 on 3 extra frame. It ended just as it had begun so a shootout would decide the extra point. Unfortunately the game had to be decided by the skills competition, but fortunately for the Wild on this night the Wild skill players led by Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello outskilled the Leafs.
It was a statement game that showed the Wild are truly worthy of being considered a top tier NHL team, at least at this point in the season and that is all the Wild faithful can ask for.
Last night the crowd was electric standing often to serenade their team and inspire the boys to bring home the victory. It was an atmosphere that we should see a lot more with this team moving forward.