Desperate situations require desperate actions, and that’s why the Minnesota Wild decided to remove their goalie in overtime when playing the Nashville Predators back on March 10.
The Wild took a calculated risk, as Heavy.com reported after the game, but it must be noted that it paid off handsomely.
However, that wasn’t the case three weeks later when the Wild attempted the bold move once again on Saturday in their game against the Vegas Golden Knights at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, MN.
With no goaltender in net after pulling him to gain a one-man advantage in overtime, Wild’s forward Mats Zuccarello took a shot on the offensive end, got it blocked by Vegas’ netminder Logan Thompson, and as a result, the loss was sealed.
Vegas’ William Karlsson received the puck, passed it to Jonathan Marchessault , and the 39-goal scorer added a 40th goal to his season-long tally to give his team two points and leave the Wild with no loser’s point earned.Minnesota Wild Falls Victim to Their Own Previous Success
When the Wild first removed the goalie in overtime in the March 10 contest, not many people knew about the potential (negative) consequences or understood the rules of the game when it goes to OT and a team decides to pull their netminder.
According to
NHL Rule 84.2 : “Should that team (the one pulling the goalie) lose the game during the time in which the goalkeeper has been removed, it would forfeit the automatic point gained in the tie at the end of regulation play.”The Wild refused to learn the lesson three weeks ago but couldn’t escape it on Holy Saturday. And this time, the consequences are much more damaging than they were a few weeks back when there was still plenty of time to amend possible missteps.
Following their overtime loss to the Golden Knights, the Wild are not officially eliminated from the playoffs but have a steep hill to climb if they want to make them for the fifth consecutive season.
The Wild could have closed Saturday at a seven-point distance from the
Los Angeles Kings had they gotten goalie Filip Gustavsson on the ice. Instead, the Wild went the other way and went home with no added points to their tally, still sitting eight points behind Los Angeles. Earns First Major, Vegas Nears Postseason Berth
Jack Eichel This game was unique in more than one way. Not only did the Wild pull the goalie in overtime and lost earning no points, but fans attending the contest and watching from home witnessed something that had never happened before.
In the third period of Saturday’s matchup, Golden Knights’ forward Jack Eichel speared Wild’s forward
Kirill Kaprizov as the latter was leaving his own zone without the puck. The action resulted in Eichel’s first major penalty throughout his career in the NHL including stints at Buffalo (six seasons) and Las Vegas (three including this one),
according to Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal Kaprizov had cross-checked Eichel before the Golden Knights player caught him and was called for spearing. Kaprizov was the man who opened the score for the Wild putting his team up 1-0 16:44 into the second period..
The attempt was unsuccessful, though, as
Michael Amadio in the third period and Marchessault in overtime combined to score two goals for Vegas in their comeback win against Minnesota. Before Easter Sunday, as per
, the Wild have a small 4.2% chance of making the playoffs while the Golden Knights increased their chances to 97.5 percent. MoneyPuckThe Wild tried to swap the goalie in overtime to improve their chances of beating Vegas but ended up losing the game.
