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5 Notes From the Minnesota Wild’s First 5 Games

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Oct 18, 2025 11:15 AM ET

The Minnesota Wild are officially five games into their season, and it’s been an up-and-down road. They won their first game over the St. Louis Blues on the road in a dominating 5-0 win, but then their next game was the home opener, and they fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-4. Their next three games continued the rollercoaster as they took down the Los Angeles Kings in a shootout at home, and then on to the road they went.

The first two games of their five-game road trip ended in losses as they fell to both the Dallas Stars and, most recently, the Washington Capitals. The Wild have had their fair share of good play and bad, but they need to start getting wins again soon. In this article, we’ll look at five notes through the first five games of their season, starting with their power play.

Wild’s Power Play Stands Alone

It’s safe to say everyone in the NHL is aware of the Wild’s power play by now, even after these back-to-back losses. With a power play percentage of 43.5 percent, they lead the league and have a five percent lead over second place. They’ve scored a league-leading nine goals on the man advantage, and it’s been one of the reasons they’ve managed to stay in games.

While scoring on the power play is great, it can’t be the only way a team can score, but that’s almost been the case for the Wild. They’ve found great success on the power play, but then at even strength, they struggle to put the puck in the net. Out of the five games they’ve played, they’ve only scored five goals at even strength and one five-on-three goal. The league leaders at five-on-five goals are the Carolina Hurricanes and the Chicago Blackhawks, who have scored 15 goals at even strength.

The Wild have to find a way to keep their power play success going, but also get their even-strength goals bumped up. They have been getting chances; they’ve just struggled to get them to go in. Their shots either go over the net or get blocked; however, it’s still very early in the season, and they have time to figure this out.

Wild’s Faceoffs Still an Issue

This is an issue that has presented itself in every season, it seems, for the Wild, and it continues to cost them. They’ve lost countless chances to score because of lost faceoffs, and the opposite is true in giving up scoring chances to the opposition because of lost faceoffs. Even the success of the power play can’t be attributed to faceoff wins, as they’ve won just 50 percent of their faceoffs on the man advantage.

However, that percentage is higher than their overall faceoff percentage, so they are figuring out how to be more successful at winning faceoffs on the man advantage. On the other side of things, their faceoffs on the penalty kill need quite a bit of help as they’ve only won 43.3 percent of those, but luckily, their penalty kill isn’t doing too badly. They’ve only allowed five goals while shorthanded, but again, it’s trending in a direction they don’t want it to go.

Again, while it’s early in the season and they do have time, they have a shorter window to get their faceoffs going in the right direction. If they don’t, teams will figure it out and more goals against will start to come, so they need to start winning faceoffs sooner rather than later.

Wild’s Top Line Shines

With Mats Zuccarello out due to injury, some were unsure how things would go since Kirill Kaprizov wouldn’t have his main line partner. However, he’s blended in well with Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, which is no surprise. The line has a lot of chemistry, and outside of Ryan Hartman and Marcus Johansson, their line is the only one that has contributed at even strength. They are also the reason the power play has been so strong.

They’ve produced more on the man advantage than at even strength, but it’s not for lack of trying. They’ve been getting chances, but they haven’t been going in, especially for Boldy and Kaprizov, who have 20 or more shots on goal each. Rossi hasn’t taken as many shots, but he’s also the only one of the group with a goal at even strength.

It can be frustrating when the goals aren’t going in, but this top line is one that won’t stop trying. They are the most competitive players on the team, and they’ll keep forcing chances until something starts clicking. Hopefully, they can get the goals going soon and will help their team secure some wins.

Wild’s Goaltending Chaotic

The Wild’s losses can’t be on the shoulders of their goaltenders alone, or at least on Filip Gustavsson, since he’s had all of the losses so far, with Jesper Wallstedt getting in just one game. Neither goaltender has had a bad performance, but there have been goals for each that they’d easily want back. Gustavsson had a great first game with a shutout, but then things started to get more difficult.

Again, these losses aren’t on his shoulders alone, but he did have quite a bit of struggles against the Capitals. He was also left out to dry a couple of times by his defense, which forgot to cover the weak side. Gustavsson is a strong goaltender who can make the big saves, but he needs some defensive help as well.

Wallstedt has only had one game so far, but he’ll likely be in the net against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday evening, Oct. 18, on the second half of another back-to-back. In the lone game he played, he had a strong showing until the Kings scored three straight goals in the third to tie the game. However, when it went to overtime and a shootout, he stood taller than anyone expected and showed he could handle the pressure. It’ll be interesting to see how he does the longer the season goes.

Wild Need Young Guns

The final note from the Wild’s first five games is their young guns’ performances. Liam Öhgren, Danila Yurov, Hunter Haight, and David Jiříček have all played in games this season and have, unfortunately, been fairly quiet. It’s expected of Haight and Yurov since they’re still very new to the NHL, but Öhgren and Jiříček could make their presence more known.

No one expects them to score every night or make the game-changing plays, but a little more aggression and confidence would be great. The fourth line especially needs a bit more assertiveness outside of Vinnie Hinostroza. Yurov has been improving with each game he plays, but Öhgren is taking a bit more time to get fully adjusted.

Haight had a pretty decent showing for just a couple of games, but he was sent down to the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League(AHL) to get some more playing time in rather than watching from the press box. The same goes for Jiříček, who was struggling a bit in the NHL, so he needs some time in the AHL to get things going.

The Wild may have some big struggles going on in their game, but it’s so early in the season, they have time to fix these. However, every point matters, even the ones at the beginning of the season, so they need to figure it out soon, so they don’t lose too much ground to their opponents, or they could have trouble making it up later. Hopefully, they can still come out of this current road trip with some wins.