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John Hynes’ in-game line adjustment triggers NHL leaders Wild again

Posted on by Taylor Reeves
John Hynes’ in-game line adjustment triggers NHL leaders Wild again

SALT LAKE CITY — The one thing we’ve learned about John Hynes, especially this season as he leads the NHL front-runner Minnesota Wild, is that he’s a true game-changer.

Tuesday night during the Wild’s first trip to Utah to face the no-nickname Utah Hockey Club — or, as some called them, the Utes, Utahns or as many think they’ll eventually be called, the Yeti(s) — Hynes pulled back some magic in the game again.

Like all good bench coaches, Hynes has an innate ability to recognize when the team needs a jolt or when a player is simply not playing along.

Matt Boldy didn’t have his best game against the Utes, Utahns or Yeti(s).

Marcus Johansson was.

Out of the blue in the second period, right after Marat Khusnutdinov made it 1-1 with his first goal of the season, Hynes brought Johansson in to replace Boldy at the top with Kirill Kaprizov and Marco Rossi.

Johansson immediately pushed the puck forward, allowing Kaprizov to score the go-ahead goal with 4:59 left.

In the third period, after Clayton Keller made it 2-0 with Boldy in the penalty box for the second time, Johansson again connected with Kaprizov and Rossi on the ice and responded in less than a minute, giving the Wild the lead.

This was their first shift together since Kaprizov’s opening goal 10:38 earlier. So if you count at home, that’s two goals in two shifts.

That’s all Hynes needed to see to keep the trio together for the rest of the Wild’s dizzying, all-map 5-4 shootout victory.

Johansson capped his 3-point night by setting up Rossi’s second extra-attack goal in nine games to force overtime. For the Calgary Flames, Rossi scored with 34 seconds left. In Salt Lake City there were 44.

And of course, in the shootout, Boldy made up for it by scoring the winning goal with a deft Mikko Koivu-like deke and backhand.

“I thought I had to do something,” Boldy said. “I thought I didn’t play great tonight, so I felt a little bit better about being able to help a little bit. I’m just happy to get the 2 points.”

It was close, but the Wild remain the only NHL team that hasn’t lost consecutive games in regulation time.

“It’s important for us: as soon as we lose, we just watch the clips that show what we did wrong,” said Rossi. “I think we still played a really difficult game. I think the performance was there against LA (on Saturday). It just didn’t work for us. But it’s important to always look forward and not look back too much. Just keep trying to get better as a team and I think today the puck bounced our way.”

Although the Wild had 27 shots in two periods, they only generated five high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick. Hynes didn’t think the Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy line does much, but with Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello injured, the Wild don’t have much depth at attack in their middle six. In addition, the absence of Jonas Brodin affects their breakthrough.

Moving Boldy to the second line also gave the Wild two lines of elite scorers. Utah suddenly had to decide which line to play top defenseman Mikhail Sergachev against.

“I thought Johansson played well,” Hynes said. “I’ve been really liking his game lately and it seems like bouncing him around and pairing him with Kirill or whatever usually improves his game. I thought he would play a strong game. And then just Bolds with (Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman added) adding a little size. It was just a small feeling and luckily it worked out.”

Johansson, of course, threw the loan elsewhere.

“I feel like most of the time Kirill is on the ice, magic happens. So, yeah, there’s not much to it,” he said.

The Wild’s comeback – after Keller scored two power-play goals in the third period to erase two one-goal deficits before Juuso Valimaki gave Utah the lead – also changed the narrative of a loss that stemmed from their penalty shootout.

Let’s be honest: Sure, the Wild rallied from two one-goal deficits, but they also gained two one-goal leads thanks to their once again porous penalty kill.

With a man deficit, the Wild have allowed 19 goals in 67 games (71.6 percent, 29th in the NHL). Keller is one of the best in the league from the right circle where he shoots, but that becomes problematic once again. The Wild allowed nine power play goals in the 2022 playoffs and were 30th in scoring last NHL season when they failed to make the playoffs. The only reason this hasn’t been a consistent story is that the Wild have somehow overcome the PK issues by leading the league in scoring percentage.

“We’re going to watch the tape and try to continue to get better,” said penalty killer Jon Merrill, who was on the ice for both of Keller’s goals, along with his partner Zach Bogosian, who was on the ice for the Wild’s last eight goals was 10 power play goals against. “That’s an aspect of our game that we need to improve.”

Hynes said: “We’ve gone on a stretch of 18 of 20 consecutive (kills) and it’s been leaking lately. And we are addressing it and working towards it. Sometimes when things are going well, everything works. And sometimes when you get a little confused, it usually comes down to a few details about certain things. We have to come back to that. We showed that we can be really good at it. Tonight we weren’t as effective as we needed to be, but it’s something that – obviously when we play Edmonton next game – will play a big role. We will continue to work on it. We just have to be more consistent.”

The Wild, who had a 16-5 lead but a 1-0 deficit, desperately needed something good in the second period as Utah began to control the game. Out of nowhere, Sergachev threw the puck to Khusnutdinov, arguably the Wild’s fastest player. He charged out of the wild end for a breakaway and scored his first goal since a high blocker on April 12th.

“Perfect. Phew. Relax,” Khusnutdinov said of overcoming the drought.

Thirty-six seconds later, Kaprizov scored his 18th goal.

In Anaheim, Yakov Trenin scored his first shorthanded goal of the season into an empty net at the start of the three-game trip. Kaprizov, who scored the game-winner in overtime in their last home game against Vancouver, gave the Wild a HARD string of wins. On Tuesday evening, Trenin passed it on to Chusnutdinov.

“He deserves it,” Boldy said. “I think it’s Russian to Russian to Russian now. So I don’t know what they’re going to do next. … He and Trenny mean so much to our team and play such a big role throughout the year. It’s great to see them rewarded.”

When Hynes changes lines, he usually returns to the old ones to start the next game. So there’s a good chance that Boldy will be back on the right side of Kaprizov and Rossi against the Oilers.

And you can bet Boldy will be better than he was on Tuesday, even though he found a way to redeem himself in the shootout, keeping the Wild up a perfect 13-0 after leading after two periods , and an NHL-best 12-2-3 on the road.

“That’s hockey,” Boldy said. “Some nights guys are going to be great. Some nights you’re not going to be great, but good teams find a way to win games.”

And the Wild keep winning them.

“We find different ways to win,” Johansson said dryly. “Winning is all that matters. I mean, it’s hard to watch them play their power game. But we are strong that we can come back – and big 2 points.”

(Photo of Marcus Johansson after his goal in the first period: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

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