Saturday night in Boston the Wild nearly had their most impressive win of the season yet it all unraveled as David Krejci scored two goals with Tuukka Rask pulled in favor of the extra attacker.
Holding a 4-2 lead with under five minutes to play usually means a victory in the NHL, however the Wild could only settle for a mere point to go along with the disappointment of letting this one slip away.
Some may say they were actually very fortunate that former Wild forward was right handed as he had a wide open net to lift the puck into that would have given the Bs the lead in regulation, but could only shovel the puck up and over the net from the bad angle.
The OT started out better for the Wild as they won a couple of faceoffs and created chances. That was short lived because in the end they let Torey Krug skate the puck from his own goal line straight up the middle of the ice untouched and he slipped a backhander through Alex Stalock's lega for the OT winner.
Tonight is a new game and another opportunity to continue their climb as the visit Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers. It will mark the return of Mats Zuccarello to New York where he played his entire career prior to being dealt at last year's deadline to Dallas before signing as a free agent this past July with the Wild.
Zuccarello was a fan favorite in the Big Apple for obvious reasons, the guy plays his heart out and expects nothing but the best from himself every shift. We are starting to see what Mats can do now that he has settled in with his new teammates.
Expect Mats to be amped up a bit more than normal as the Ranger faithful will welcome him back warmly, but as the game goes on they will quickly understand that he is now the enemy and that will be made clear as well.
Kaapo Kahkonen will get a start in one of these games either tonight or tomorrow in New Jersey. I would expect it to be Stalock tonight and Kahkonen tomorrow will have to wait and see.
It's always Hockey Day in the State of Hockey!