In this era of advanced statistics and probabilities and over-analysis of every nuance on every shift of a hockey game, the only numbers that really matter when the final horn blows are posted on the scoreboard. And those digits once again did not favor the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

Playing a San Jose Sharks team that came to St. Paul with just one prior win this season, as well as sporting some of the NHL’s worst defensive statistics, the Wild faltered once again — falling behind, rallying, before eventually suffering yet another defeat.

A pair of William Eklund goals and an overtime goal by Macklin Celebrini were difference-makers in San Jose’s 6-5 win. The Wild lost their third game in a row and fell to 1-4-2 in their past seven.

Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi, Ryan Hartman, Zeev Buium and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild, who erased an early Sharks lead only to be sunk by San Jose’s timely power play offense.

Jesper Wallstedt, making his third start of the season, had 29 saves in the loss.

Entering Sunday’s game, Minnesota’s penalty kill ranked 30th out of 32 NHL teams, so taking an early penalty was a surefire way to hand the momentum to the visitors. And when Vinnie Hinostroza went to the penalty box for interference, the Sharks attacked.

Posted at the side of the crease, San Jose winger William Eklund banked a puck into the net off Wild defender Jonas Brodin’s skate for an early lead.

The Wild pressured, but did not score, on their first power play before the Sharks doubled their lead. Wallstedt thwarted a rush to the net, only to have the puck squirt through a crowd to rookie Michael Misa, who popped it past the goalie’s outstretched skate. It was the first career goal for Misa, who was picked second overall in the 2025 NHL Draft.

On the Wild’s second power play, after Hinostroza took a high stick to the face, Matt Boldy clanked a shot off the right goalpost. But before Sharks defenseman Vincent Iorio had left the penalty box, Rossi zipped a long-range pass to the net that Johansson redirected in to get Minnesota on the board. It was Johansson’s third goal in the past two games.

On the next shift, Kirill Kaprizov stole the puck from Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais at the blue line to kick-start a 2-on-1 rush. Kaprizov passed to Rossi, who blasted a puck past San Jose goalie Yaroslav Askarov to tie the game. The two goals came just 32 seconds apart.

A golden opportunity to take the lead slipped away early in the middle frame when Yakov Trenin had a yawning net in front of him, only to have the puck slip off his blade before he could launch a shot. Instead, the Sharks got goals from Eklund and Ryan Reaves on back-to-back shifts, 18 seconds apart, to again establish a two-goal advantage near the midway point of the game.

Minnesota went back to the power play in the third when Hartman was slashed in the hand by Misa. Back on the ice a minute later, Hartman took a pass from Kaprizov and got off a low shot that eluded Askarov to pull the Wild back within a goal. It was Hartman’s first goal since he had scored twice in the season opener at St. Louis on Oct. 9.

But Tyler Toffoli scored the Sharks’ second power play goal of the game a short time later to re-establish a two-goal lead for the visitors. Rookie defenseman Buium once again got the Wild, and the crowd, back in the game when his long-range shot from the blue line deflected off the shoulder of San Jose center Ty Dellandrea and looped past Askarov for his second career goal.

With just under five minutes to play and Hartman heading into the offensive zone, Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov collided with Hartman knee-on-knee, dropping him to the ice. While Hartman was helped to the locker room in obvious pain, officials reviewed the play for a possible major penalty. After review, they said there was no penalty on the play.

Hartman returned to the game two shifts later, and with Wallstedt headed to the bench for an extra attacker, Eriksson Ek tipped a Kaprizov shot past Askarov to tie the game with 2:18 left in regulation. It was a 5-on-5 goal, as Wallstedt had not quite reached the bench when the puck went in. Kaprizov had three assists in the game — the third of which was his 400th career point.

Askarov finished with 28 saves for the Sharks, who will host the Wild on New Years’ Eve in San Jose.

The Wild’s six-game homestand reaches the halfway point on Tuesday when they host the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m. It will be Winnipeg’s first visit to Grand Casino Arena this season.

Briefly

Injured Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian visited the press box between the first and second periods on Sunday wearing a walking boot. He has missed the last five games after suffering a lower body injury during an Oct. 17 loss at Washington. While not offering a timeline for his return following surgery, Wild coach John Hynes has indicated that he does not expect Bogosian’s absence will be long-term.

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The Scandia City Council is moving forward with plans for an extension of the Gateway Trail in the city despite some opposition.

The council voted 3-1 last week to go out for bids for a trailhead on city-owned land near Meister’s Bar & Grill along with a tunnel under Oakhill Road (Washington County Road 52) and a one-mile trail connecting the two. Council member Jerry Cusick voted against the measure; Kirsten Libby was not in attendance.

Bids are due on Nov. 19, and the Scandia City Council will decide Dec. 16 whether to accept and award the bid for the project, said City Administrator Kyle Morell.

The estimated cost: $4.6 million. Construction could start in May and should be complete by the end of 2026, he said.

The tunnel under Oakhill, which has an estimated price tag of $1.5 million, has been controversial. Officials from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the agency that will own, operate and maintain the trail, say it is a necessary safety measure.

Opponents say the tunnel is poorly planned and unnecessary.

The Gateway Trail is one of the state’s most heavily used trails, attracting an estimated 314,000 users in 2024. It currently runs 19 miles from St. Paul to Pine Point Park in Stillwater Township. Plans call for a four-mile extension of the Gateway Trail from William O’Brien State Park to downtown Scandia.

The council will hold a public listening session in early December to give residents opportunity to be heard, but the council won’t take any action at that time, Morell said. Bids will be presented to council at either the public listening meeting or at the Dec. 16 council meeting, Morell said.

The final vote on whether to accept and award the bid for the Gateway Trail Project will be at the Dec. 16 council meeting, he said.

Funding deadline

Scandia Mayor Steve Kronmiller (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The city got a $2.68 million grant from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources to extend the trail from the trailhead behind Meister’s Bar & Grill to Oakhill Road. The money also will cover a realignment of 2,000 feet of Oakhill Road and the raising of the road by 6 feet to accommodate the tunnel.

Funding for the trail extension must be expended by June 30, 2027, said Mayor Steve Kronmiller. Terms and conditions of the grant appropriation specifically mention the tunnel.

“We do understand that if we were to vote to reconsider an alternate location or something of that sort, there is a distinct possibility that we wouldn’t be able to meet that deadline and therefore we would lose the funding, so that’s a concern of staff,” Kronmiller said.

If the city had to go back and re-request funds in a different way, it would have to pay a 25 percent matching contribution, he said. “That (matching contribution) doesn’t exist in the grant that we have now,” he said. “It’s 100 percent funded.”

County contribution

Washington County is contributing $800,000 for work related to the tunnel and the realignment of Oakhill; county officials will not allow the trail to cross Oakhill, a county highway, at grade, County Engineer Wayne Sandberg said. To support a grade separation, county officials agreed to contribute financially toward a tunnel option, he said.

“At the end of the day, the council has to make a decision one way or the other, and not everybody is going to be happy with that final decision,” Kronmiller said. “But I hope people understand we are putting in a lot of hard work to understand all of the issues and make the best decision for the community that we can.”

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In the meantime, officials also are working on a plan to finish the connection between downtown Scandia and William O’Brien State Park, Kronmiller said. Design and specifications for that portion of the trail should be completed sometime next summer, he said.

“We still have to acquire the funding, but I definitely see the connection all the way from William O’Brien to downtown Scandia happening,” Kronmiller said. “And when that happens, I expect to see a lot of visitors coming into the town and improving Scandia as a destination for tourism.”

Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards left the floor three minutes into Sunday’s home opener against Indiana and did not return with hamstring tightness.

Bones Hyland checked in for the all-star coming out of a Pacers’ timeout.

Edwards was questionable ahead of the season opener in Portland with back spasms, but played and scored 41 points against the Blazers. Edwards has generally been durable, playing 72-plus games in every season to date.

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You don’t need to glance at the team statistics to know that it has been a disappointing start to the season for veteran Minnesota Wild winger Marcus Foligno. The team’s injury report will tell you as much now as well.

While still offering his patented combination of on-ice intensity and off-ice levity, Foligno had registered no goals or assists through the Wild’s first nine games, and he was scratched from Sunday’s 10th game, versus San Jose, due to an upper body injury.

“He’s out, upper body,” Wild coach John Hynes said, speaking to the media prior to the date with the Sharks, adding that the severity of the injury is unknown currently. “He had some imaging done today and I don’t know the results of it.”

Foligno, 34, missed five games all of last season, chipping in with 14 goals in 77 games, and adding three more in the six-game opening round playoff loss to Vegas. In Saturday evening’s home loss to the Utah Mammoth, Foligno logged 14 minutes but left the game in the third period and did not return.

Already this season he had shown some physical resilience, taking a massive open-ice hit in a win versus the Rangers at Madison Square Garden last week, but returning to finish the game seemingly no worse for wear. But even before the injury suffered versus Utah, Hynes acknowledged that Foligno was one of the veterans they were looking for to contribute more on the score sheet. The coach had a one-on-one meeting with Foligno following the team’s Friday practice at TRIA Rink.

“He’s such a valuable member to the team. I think what he brings to the team is crucial,” Hynes said then. “He’s kind of a heartbeat type of guy. And sometimes he’s just looking at some things, almost like we did last year at the beginning of the year, getting back to the things that make him such an important player for us and such a good player.”

Keying on Celebrini

The Sharks came to Minnesota with just one win to their credit this season, and the franchise has not been a playoff participant since 2019, but all of those on-ice struggles did pay a notable dividend in 2024 when they won the draft lottery and used the first overall pick to grab Macklin Celebrini. Originally from Vancouver, Celebrini played two seasons of prep hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, and logged one year at Boston University, where he won the Hobey Baker Award as a freshman.

Still just 19, Celebrini came to St. Paul averaging better than a point per game for San Jose, and had a familiarity with the Bay Area even before San Jose employed him. His father Rick, a former pro soccer player, worked for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors as their director of sports medicine. Hynes acknowledged that part of the game plan versus the Sharks was to be on alert whenever Celebrini was on the ice.

“He’s a driving player. Even though he’s young he’s got good speed, he’s strong, he’s tenacious on the puck, he can shoot it, but he also can pass,” Hynes said, admitting part of the game plan was to have a committed defensive pair on the ice to counter San Jose’s top line which had Celebrini centering Tyler Toffoli and Will Smith.

Celebrini had five goals and seven assists in the Sharks’ first eight games. He was one of three finalists for NHL Rookie of the Year last season. Sunday’s game was barely five minutes old when Celebrini got his 13th point of the season, assisting on San Jose’s first period power play goal.

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