Wild hang on to win in Seattle

By Jess Myers, Pioneer Press – March 5, 2025

SEATTLE – One of the great mantras in hockey is the need to play “a full 60-minute game.” Meaning you want to be in control of the ice every minute of every period and on every shift.

On Tuesday on the West Coast, the Minnesota Wild admittedly managed to win with a roughly 35-minute game. They built a healthy lead in Seattle, then held on for a 4-3 victory as the Kraken made a spirited, but ultimately fruitless, comeback.

“We had a great 30 minutes and a bad 30 minutes, and then fortunately we get the two points,” said Mats Zuccarello, who had the game-winning goal and an assist. He specifically called out goalie Filip Gustavsson’s 33 saves. “We got some huge blocks and then Gus. First half was ours, the second half was theirs, and then we still found a way to win.”

In winning their second game in a row, and snapping a two-game road listing streak, the Wild got goals by Vinnie Hinostroza, Jared Spurgeon, Fredie Gaudreau and Zuccarello. Then they locked things down for the final 25 minutes, managing just one shot on goal while relaying on Gustavsson to reel in the win.

“I thought there were a lot of twists and turns in the game tonight, and sometimes you’re going to get those,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “But to find a way to win it is the most important thing.”

With the Wild on the game’s first power play, Zuccarello zipped a wrist shot toward the net where Hinostroza was engaged with a Kraken defender. The puck deflected off Hinostroza and into the net at about the same time as Hinostroza was checked toward Seattle goalie Joey Daccord and made slight contact with the goalie. Seattle’s coaches took a minute to review the video, then elected not to challenge the play.

For Hinostroza, it was his fourth goal – three of them on the power play – in his seven games with the Wild since being claimed off waivers from Nashville in early February.

After Seattle tied the game on a blast from the blue line through traffic by defenseman Adam Larsson, Minnesota had a quick answer when Spurgeon’s shot from the lower corner fooled Daccord, and the visitors led 2-1 after one period.

A fast start to the second put the Wild up 3-1 when Gaudreau scored his second goal in as many games less than two minutes into the middle frame. Then special teams became a huge factor. Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen got behind the Wild defense, but Minnesota’s Brock Faber caught up enough to thwart the scoring chance – illegally, the officials rule. Faber was called for hooking Tolvanen from behind, and was called for boarding. The end result was a penalty shot, which Gustavsson stopped, and a power play in which Seattle controlled the puck for the full two minutes but the Wild survived.

“For me, that’s never happened, where I’ve gotten two penalties in one,” Faber said. “But I’m glad the guys were able to kill it, and Gus was able to make the save on the penalty shot.”

Momentum swung hard the Minnesota way a short time later, when Zuccarello capped off a pretty passing play with his 14th goal of the season to put the Wild up by three.

But Seattle reacquired the momentum with a power play marker, then got back within one goal with just 11.3 seconds left in the period as the Wild got caught on a disconnected shift. Seattle had the final eight shots of the period.

Minnesota briefly looked to have taken a 5-3 lead on what would have been Devin Shore’s second goal of the season. Seattle challenged the play, and after a painfully long review it was declared no goal after officials ruled Jakub Lauko had played the puck with a high stick.

“I thought there was a lot of good. I just felt, for various reasons, that the puck went in too easy in the beginning of the game,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said.

Daccord had 16 saves for the Kraken, who entered the NHL as an expansion team in 2021 and have never beaten the Wild on home ice.

Former Gophers star Ben Meyers had played in Seattle’s last game, a 6-3 home win over Vancouver on Saturday. But with Yanni Gourde being activated from injured reserve for the first time since early January prior to Tuesday’s game, Meyers was sent down to the Kraken’s Coachella Valley AHL team. In seven games with the Kraken this season, Meyers – the 2022 Big Ten MVP – has yet to record a point.

The Wild have a day off on Wednesday, as they travel to Vancouver where they will practice on Thursday, then face the Canucks for the second of three times this season on Friday, with the game facing off at 9 p.m. CT. Minnesota beat the Canucks 3-2 in St. Paul on Dec. 3, in their initial meeting of the season.

PHOTO: Yanni Gourde #37 of the Seattle Kraken shoots against Filip Gustavsson #32 of the Minnesota Wild during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena on March 04, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. | Steph Chambers/Getty Images