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Filip Gustavsson, Minnesota Wild (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

3 Takeaways From the Wild’s Win Over the Avalanche

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Mar 12, 2025 8:55 AM ET

The Minnesota Wild hosted the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, Mar. 11, for the second time this season and their fourth overall meeting. The Wild needed to bounce back from a rough loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, Mar. 9. Their injury list remained the same as it has for a week or two now, but their netminder was Filip Gustavsson after Marc-André Fleury had the start against his former team on Sunday.

The Wild found ways to stifle Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and new additions to the Avalanche roster: Martin Necas and Brock Nelson. In the beginning, it looked like the game would be a struggle for the Wild as they couldn’t hold onto the puck, but they kept at it, and thanks to some key parts of their lineup, they came out on top in a shootout. In this article, we’ll look at how it started with their top line.

Wild’s Top Line Shows Up

It’s no secret that the Wild have struggled to score in the past month or so, but against the Avalanche, their top line of Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy, and Mats Zuccarello found a way to get through. They capitalized on an Avalanche turnover that gave them a 2-on-0, and Zuccarello snuck it in to give their team the lead and some scoring motivation.

The Wild didn’t outplay the Avalanche by any means, but they did step up enough to get the winning goal, and then they worked hard to protect it. It was a gritty, kind of messy game that didn’t show a ton of puck control for either side, but there were small spurts for both sides. In the shootout, both Zuccarello and Boldy made big moves to score, and once again, the top line stepped up to help win the game, even if it wasn’t a big scoring play in regulation.

“We scored more than them today, and that’s all that matters, so we’ll take wins however we can get them,” said Jake Middleton about the lack of offense but tight defense, and he continued, “It was something we spoke about like we watched our chances in the offensive zone this morning on video and there were a lot of them, it’s not like we’re not generating opportunities and chances and it was kind of the message this morning was to stick with it, and we did that today, and it worked out,”

Wild’s Gustavsson & Defense On Top of Game

The Wild’s top line showed up, and so did their goaltender. Gustavsson was ready for nearly every shot that came his way and made some big saves on the penalty kill to keep his team tied or in the lead. He’s been strong most of the season, but in some games, it’s clear he’s ready for everything, and against the Avalanche, that was the case. He made many solid glove saves and even cut off a few passes before the Avalanche could get too close.

He wasn’t the only one on the defensive side making plays either; many of his teammates stood up to block shots and keep the puck from ever getting near him. The shots seemed low compared to some of their other games because of the effort to block those shots. Apart from the actual body-blocking shots, his teammates also worked hard to get their sticks in passing lanes, forcing the puck away from the Avalanche. Middleton had a strong game in keeping the puck in the zone and clearing it out of his own.

“There’s so many different components to win the game like scoring is a big part of it, killing two penalties is a big part of it, getting timely saves is a big part of it. Being strong and attention to detail when you don’t have the puck to check the right way, those are all important aspects of the game. I think that for the most part, we’ve been pretty good at those areas, but then you need to find ways to win, and tonight we found a way to win by playing a detailed, highly competitive game,” said head coach John Hynes about the way the team stuck to structure.

Wild Need Patient Urgency

While the Wild may have won, they have multiple things to improve on, but the main one is to deal with urgency. Patient and urgent are not typically put together, but the Wild need to play with more urgency and desperation to their game. They also have to be patient with the puck. Playing with a sense of urgency typically means moving the puck quickly, but that can backfire if a team isn’t careful. The Wild need to be just a tad more patient with the puck but not take too much time, there’s a happy medium where they can send a pass up without throwing it away.

One of the biggest things the Wild needs to stop doing is making plays along the blue line. They need to get the puck in the zone before making passes; they risk too much when they try to make those plays. They nearly lost in overtime due to trying to make these plays or forcing the play backward instead of forward. At times, during overtime, they were too patient and needed a bit more urgency. They need to work on this and figure it out in the next game or two before it becomes too much of an issue.

Wild Remain on Home Ice

The Wild are on a homestand and will continue that on Thursday night, Mar. 11, when they host the New York Rangers. Hopefully, they can use this win to build some scoring momentum and start a new win streak at home just in time for the postseason.