It may not have been pretty but the end result is a win for the Wild in their opener and it came in regulation.

Marcus Foligno delivered the game winner with just over 7 seconds left on the third period clock.

As the third period pressed on it was clear the Wild were bringing the heat while the Ducks were holding on and playing for overtime. That is a character win for the Wild as they took the game to the Ducks and ultimately came away with the two points.

Both goalies were very good, with Ducks netminder, Anthony Stolarz as the best player on the ice making 41 saves in the loss. Cam Talbot was equally strong yielding just the one Ducks goal which came early in the second period as Jacob Silfverberg beat him back to the far post on a slick wrap around, taking full advantage of the fresh ice and the man advantage.

Talbot was forced to make a big save at the buzzer which is a bit alarming that the Ducks were able to not only get control of the faceoff but to get off such a quality scoring chance to boot.

Kevin Fiala also scored on a fine execution of the Wild powerplay. Fiala took a cross ice feed from Mats Zuccarello and buried his first of the season.

The Ducks clearly had a slight edge to their game with this being their second game of the season, following their inspiring opening night victory over the Jets on Wednesday night. The Wild got better as thw game wore in and tonight I fully expect the boys to be better from the start.

Los Angeles is no push over so the Wild need to be ready and the wake up call they received last night should be fresh in their minds.

The upstart Kings will be a handful....

It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey.

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