Panthers Take Down Wild 6-1 – The Hockey Writers Minnesota Wild Latest News, Analysis & More

The Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers met for the second and final time of the season in St. Paul, Minnesota on a late Wednesday evening, Dec. 18. Both teams were without key players due to illness and injury. The Wild were without Joel Eriksson Ek, Jakub Lauko, Yakov Trenin, and Filip Gustavsson. 

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The Panthers were without Sam Bennett due to illness, and while Aleksander Barkov was a game-time decision also due to illness, he was able to get back into the lineup after missing the previous two games. The goaltending match-up was Marc-André Fleury for the Wild and Sergei Bobrovsky for the Panthers. 

The game started in favor of the Panthers, and it stayed that way until the end, with the Panthers taking the 6-1 win. This moves the Wild to a record of 20-8-4 and the Panthers to 20-11-2.  

Game Recap

While there were some strong chances for both sides, the Panthers got the early jump with a goal by Aaron Ekblad, who was assisted by Jesper Boqvist and Mackie Samoskevich. Following that goal, the Wild thought they had scored to tie it up only for it to be overturned due to goaltender interference. However, the Panthers went on to take a couple of penalties and gave the Wild the chance they needed. 

Marco Rossi found the back of the net during the power play, with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy recording the assists. The tie wouldn’t last long, however, as the Panthers answered just a couple of minutes later with a goal by Samoskevich for his second point of the night. Ekblad assisted him, and they gave their team a 2-1 lead to end the first period. 

The goals came late in the second period as the Panthers thought they scored, but the Wild had it overturned this time for offsides. The Wild gained some momentum but couldn’t convert before the Panthers put in their third goal of the game. Matthew Tkachuk scored the goal, with Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe assisting him. Just a few minutes later, the same crew scored again as Tkachuk tallied his second of the night, assisted by Verhaeghe and Ekblad, to make it 4-1 on the power play.

In the third period, the Panthers were the only team to find the back of the net not once but twice. Niko Mikkola scored the first to make it 5-1. The second and final goal of the game came late in the period from Eetu Luostarinen and made it 6-1. 

The Wild will remain home to finish their recent homestand as they take on the Utah Hockey Club on Friday, Dec. 20. The Panthers will head back home to play host to the St. Louis Blues also on Friday.