NEW YORK — All season the Minnesota Wild’s penalty killers have been a topic of conversation, and until recently, for all the wrong reasons. For much of the winter, the surest way to see a Wild opponent score was to wait until a player in green and red went to the penalty box.
After that, it generally wouldn’t take long.
While the NHL’s league-wide statistics still show the Wild owning the worst penalty kill in the Western Conference, the unit has been notably effective recently. On Wednesday in Manhattan, with the game tied 4-4 in the third period, the Wild killed off a trio of Rangers power plays and earned the point that comes with overtime.
In the past dozen games, the Wild have killed 24 of the opponents’ 28 man advantage situations after going 4 for 4 versus the Rangers (83.3 percent).
Marco Rossi, who scored the tying goal for Minnesota early in the third period of a back-and-forth game, was already looking beyond the regular season when talking about the penalty kill and what it means.
“That was huge,” he said. “I know at that time of year, even in the playoffs, the special teams have to be really good if you want to win. So, they did a really good job.”
Part of the difference has been a simple solution that coach John Hynes stressed when the penalty kill was struggling. You don’t need to kill penalties if you don’t take penalties. And in eight of the last 12 games, the Wild have been whistled two times or fewer.
As the penalties started piling up at Madison Square Garden, Hynes said the key for his team was keeping their cool and getting the job done.
“You do feel those emotions, but I think it’s important that you’ve got to stay on task,” Hynes said following the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime win. “It’s about if you can stay focused and have the team stay focused. We had to kill the penalties, right? We couldn’t do anything about the situation we were in, and why we were in them. It was more making sure we were focused on what we needed to do to get out of it.”
On Wednesday, the Wild penalty killers also took advantage of a Rangers turnover to score Minnesota’s first shorthanded goal of the season, and they nearly had a second one when Matt Boldy was thwarted on a shorthanded breakaway.
For the Wild, figuring out the best path to penalty kill success, with the playoffs looming, may be some perfect timing.
Zeev Buium a Hobey finalist
The first goal in Minnesota Wild regular season history was scored by Marian Gaborik on October 6, 2000. But the first goal ever scored by a Wild player in a preseason game came a few days earlier off the stick of Scott Pellerin, who in 1992 won the Hobey Baker Award given annually to college hockey’s top player while skating for Maine.
Brian Bonin, who played a handful of games for the Wild in his career, also won the Hobey as a senior for the Gophers in 1996. Now, the Wild have at least a 33 percent chance of grabbing another Hobey winner as Denver defenseman Zeev Buium was announced on Thursday as one of the three Hobey Hat Trick finalists.
As a sophomore for the defending national champions, Buium — the Wild’s first round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft — was named the top player in his conference and the most outstanding player at last weekend Manchester Regional as the Pioneers earned a return trip to the Frozen Four.
That’s where Buium will be on Friday, April 11, when the 2025 Hobey Baker winner is named. Boston College forward Ryan Leonard and Michigan State forward Isaac Howard, who is from Hudson, Wis., are the other two finalists. Leonard signed a contract with the NHL’s Washington Capitals a short time after BC’s season ended.
Among the hockey history on display at Xcel Energy Center is a showcase of past Hobey winners, and the jersey from the most recent recipient: Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini, now a frontrunner for the Calder Trophy skating for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.
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