Rangers crush Wild in opener as Dean Evason criticizes 'awful' defense
All the hype entering the season and the Minnesota Wild got routed at home by the New York Rangers 7-3 Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
Minnesota went down 3-0 in the first period and despite peppering shots on goal they couldn't get enough by all-world goalie Igor Shesterkin to keep up with the Rangers.
A power-play goal by Mats Zuccarello midway through the second period cut the deficit to two, but the Rangers responded and took a 4-1 lead into the third. That's when the Wild and Rangers traded punches, with both teams scoring twice in a span of 2 minutes, 2 seconds.
Matt Boldy scored both for Minnesota in the back-and-forth period.
Marc-Andre Fleury allowed seven goals for the Wild, equaling the most he's allowed in a game in his Hall of Fame career. To be fair, the defense in front of Fleury was "awful."
"Our complete defensive game was awful," said Wild coach Dean Evason.
Related: 5 bold predictions for the 2022-23 Minnesota Wild
