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The Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks brought back the outdoor spirit in a Stadium Series game this past Sunday. This was the first professional outdoor hockey game to take place in Minnesota, which was held at TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. A fitting place to hold such an event, as Minnesota is nicknamed the “State of Hockey”.
The Wild came to play, opening the scoring about three minutes into the game with a Matt Dumba wrist shot. Thomas Vanek took advantage of being up a man four minutes later by scoring a power play goal to give his team a 2-0 lead heading into the second period. Minnesota did not let up in the second period even with a two goal lead.
Within the three minutes of the second period, the Wild were up 3-0 thanks to a Nino Niederreiter wrist shot. Niederreiter got an assist eight minutes later on a Jason Pominville slap shot goal to bring the score up 4-0. Minnesota scored yet another goal in the first five minutes of the third period with a backhand goal by Ryan Carter. The Wild had five unanswered goals before Chicago star Patrick Kane managed to get the Blackhawks on the board with a wrist shot nearly 12 minutes into the third period. About a minute later, however, Erik Haula drove the final nail in the coffin by scoring the Wild’s sixth goal of the game.
One could say that the outside air and excitement of the Stadium Series helped the Wild blow the Blackhawks out of the water, Both teams did have a near identical number of shots on goal and hits, even if the score doesn’t seem to show the effort both teams put into this outdoor game for their fans. It is no doubt that this game was a memorable one for any Minnesota fan, whether it be for the outdoors atmosphere or for the five goal win over such a huge rival.
The Minnesota Wild battle the New York Islanders on Tuesday at 8PM on MSG+2.
