Lopsided 3rd period the difference as Wild drops season opener in Nashville
One game is in the books as the Minnesota Wild opened the season with a 5-2 road loss to the Nashville Predators Thursday night.
The Wild was able to hold off a potent Predators offense for a scoreless first period, then took a 2-1 with two goals in a 43-second span late in the second period.
Minnesota's first goal came came on the power play when Brad Hunt's shot from the point deflected off Jason Zucker's sleeve and found the corner of the net to tie the game 1-1.
Forty-three seconds later the Wild struck again when Matt Dumba snapped a shot past goalie Pekke Rinne for a 2-1 Wild lead.
It was Dumba's first game after he injured his shoulder in December last season. At the time he was injured, Dumba led all NHL defensemen with 12 goals, so he hasn't missed a beat.
The Wild's lead was short-lived. Just 27 seconds into the third period, Mikael Granlund – traded from Minnesota to Nashville last season – deflected a shot past Devan Dubnyk to tie the score 2-2.
Eighty-nine seconds later it was 3-2 Nashville, and they'd add another goal with just over seven minutes to play to turn a tight game into a blowout. An empty-netter with under two minutes to play made it a 5-2 laugher.
“We played a solid game,” Wild forward Mats Zuccarello said, via ESPN. “We created a bunch of chances. We could have scored two, three more goals, but that’s hockey for you. A few mistakes ended up in the back of the net and that’s the game.”
Despite the loss, Dubnyk already has a nomination for the save of the year. It came in the opening period when he robbed Granlund of what should've been an easy goal.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.