Second period uprising keys Wild win

Three unanswered second period goals turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 margin for the host Minnesota Wild against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night (Oct 15) at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild went on to a 4-3 win, for a happy finish to its home opener and helping the team rebound from a season opening defeat on the road in St. Louis.

The night started out badly though as the Jets opened up a 2-0 first period lead with goals from Blake Wheeler and Nikolaj Ehlers. But the Wild got its own offense on track in the middle frame beginning with a goal from Chris Stewart 7:25 into the period. Matt Dumba tied the game 58 seconds later and the Wild moved in front to stay when newly acquired Eric Staal buried his first of the season with exactly five minutes to go in the period.

James Brodin added some insurance with his goal with a little under six minutes to play, Mark Scheifele adding one more for the Jets with 19 seconds to go.

Devan Dubnyk evened his season record at 1-1, stopping 14 of 17 in goal for the Wild and Michael Hutchinson made his first start for the Jets with 27 saves.

In other games involving the Midwest: the Detroit Red Wings fell 4-1 on the road to the Florida Panthers wrapping up a tough season opening trip to the Sunshine State; the Columbus Blue Jackets dropped a second straight home game 3-2 to the San Jose Sharks, the St. Louis Blues grabbed its third straight win to open the season with a 3-2 decision against the New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks ended its season opening skid with a 5-3 win at the United Center against the Nashville Predators.

Wings 1 at Panthers 4

After facing 35 shots in the opening contest at Tampa Bay, Petr Mrazek worked to stop 33 of 37 on Saturday night in a game the Wings trailed from a 70 second mark.

Vincent Trochek had that early goal for the Panthers and off season addition Colton Sceviour doubled the margin just past the halfway mark of the opening segment.

Darren Helm scored what would be the only goal for the Wings on a feed from Gustav Nyquist with about seven minutes to play in the first but that was as close as the Wings would get. After a scoreless middle period, Alexander Barkov and Jonathan Marchessault put it away with goals in the third.

The Wings managed just 22 shots in the game and Helm led the way with three of them.

Sharks 3 at Blue Jackets 2

The Blue Jackets dropped its second straight home game to start the season but got a solid performance from its newcomers.

With the Calder Cup championship under its belt, it was expected at least a few of the 2015-16 Cleveland Monsters would crack the opening day lineup for the Jackets. There may not be as many as some expected, but they are making a quick impression.

Zach Werenski actually played just a handful of regular season games with the Monsters at the end of his sophomore season at University of Michigan but was among the defensive leaders in the team’s successful playoff run. He contributed his first NHL goal, cutting into a 2-0 Sharks lead early in the final period.

Mikael Boedker and Joel Ward scored the earlier goals for the Sharks in the first period and Patrick Marleau restored the two goal cushion with a powerplay marker just 34 seconds from the final buzzer into an empty Blue Jackets’ goal.

Another of last season’s playoff heroes, Josh Anderson collected his first of the season 11 seconds after the Marleau goal, but the Jackets didn’t have enough time to get the equalizer.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 35 of 37 in a losing effort while Martin Jones turned aside 26 to collect the win in goal for the Sharks.

Rangers 2 at Blues 3

Carter Hutton collected the win in his debut between the pipes for the Blues, turning aside 33 of 35 Rangers chances while familiar faces from last season’s playoff run took care of the offense.

The Blues opened up a 2-1 first period lead as Vladimir Tarasenko scored his third of the season and Paul Stastny his second. In between the two, Chris Kreider potted his second of the season for the Rangers.

Alex Pietrangelo scored his first on a powerplay early in the second to give the Blues a two-goal cushion but Mika Zibanejad cut it to a single goal again just 30 seconds later for the Rangers. That ended the scoring as Hutton and Henrik Lundqvist denied everything through the final 38 minutes of the game.

Hutton collected the win in goal despite a whopping 35-18 edge in shots for the Rangers.

Predators 3 at BlackHawks 5

It took three tries, but the Hawks finally hit the win column on home ice Saturday, thanks in part to another solid performance from Richard Panik.

It’s ironic Panik was unable to find a regular spot on the Toronto Maple Leafs last season and so far, his tenure with the Hawks has been nothing short of brilliant.

Panik scored three times in the game, including the clincher with 91 seconds to play on the rebound of a shot by Patrick Kane. Panik has four goals on the young season already with other Hawks’ goals coming from defenseman Brent Seabrook and rookie Nick Schmaltz who opened the scoring with his first career goal in his third game after being drafted in the First Round, 20th Overall, by the Hawks in 2014. In between, he played two seasons at the University of North Dakota where last season he celebrated a NCAA Championship.

Steve Darling picked up the win in his first start for the Hawks, stopping 33 of 36 Nashville shots. At the other end, Marek Mazanec, made his first start of the season for the Preds, turning aside 22 of 27.

Colin Wilson, Craig Smith and Viktor Arvidson counted the goals for Nashville.

Monday’s Game

All five teams are scheduled to get the day off on Sunday and the lone team in action on Monday will be the Red Wings. The Wings will play its home opener looking to shrug off an 0-2 start in Florida against an Ottawa Senators team has started the season with back to back overtime victories.