When viewed only on the stat sheet, the Wild penalty killers put in a decent work shift Tuesday night, facing seven Vancouver man-advantages and allowing one goal against the NHL's fourth-ranked power play while scoring once shorthanded.
That, however, was the problem. The Wild's penalty killers were on the ice way too often, and that kept the team from finding an offensive rhythm in a 4-3 loss to the Canucks that evened the Western Conference qualifying series at a game apiece. The propensity to take penalties was in stark contrast to Game 1, when a disciplined Minnesota team stayed out of the box until the game's final five minutes.
That final score is a bit misleading. The Canucks led 4-1 in the third period before Wild forward Kevin Fiala scored goals with 2:28 and 9 seconds left to set the final score. Brad Hunt's desperation shot from center ice just before the final horn nearly fooled Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom, who recovered just in time to stop the knuckling puck and colossal embarrassment.
"Obviously, it was a little too late there, but it showed that our group did not quit,'' Wild coach Dean Evason said. "… We'll build off everything we can possibly build off.''
So, now we have ourselves an even best-of-five series, and you won't have to stay up into the wee hours for Thursday's Game 3, which will be played at 1:30 p.m. Central Time.
Here are three other takeaways from Tuesday's late game:
1. The expected Canucks pushback happened
As well as the Wild played in its 3-0 Game 1 victory, Vancouver has too much talent to go that quietly. Tuesday, Canucks players who were missing in action in the opener showed up big in Game 2. J.T. Miller responded with the third-period power-play goal that made it 4-1 and added an assist. Elias Pettersson, held to two shots Sunday, had a goal, an assist and five shots Tuesday. Bo Horvat, who didn't have a shot in the opener, responded with five, along with a goal and an assist.
