The point streak is over.
Joonas Korpisalo's 23 saves weren't enough as the Minnesota Wild beat the Blue Jackets 2-0 at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.
1st Period
Kirill Kaprizov nearly opened the scoring at 1:19 with a wrist shot from the right circle after a giveaway by Patrik Laine, but Korpisalo moved left to right to rob him.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLUE JACKETS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MIN WILD | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Minnesota got on the board at 3:01 when Brandon Duhaime had a tap-in on a wide-open net from the goalmouth off a rebound.
#mnwild Duhaime goal pic.twitter.com/asPgHmNylH
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) February 24, 2023
Kaprizov had another golden chance to score at 6:36 with a wrist shot from the low slot, but Korpisalo denied him, again.
Lane Pederson had a good chance to tie the game with a wrist shot from the low slot at 7:01, but Marc-Andre Fleury made the save.
At 8:48, Kaprizov finally beat Korpisalo, firing a wrist shot from the right circle on a two-on-one rush, giving the Wild a 2-0 lead.
#mnwild Kaprizov goal pic.twitter.com/tezUrhGz9U
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) February 24, 2023
Liam Foudy had a wide-open net to score on after a weird bounce found him between Fleury and the goal with the Wild on the power-play, but he couldn't score at 15:39.
Kirill Marchenko had a great chance to cut the Blue Jackets' deficit in half at 17:35 with a tip-in at an open net but he missed wide from the right doorstep.
The Wild lead 2-0 after the first period while trailing 14-8 in shots on goal.
2nd Period
Ryan Hartman had probably the best chance of the period at 10:07, firing a wrist shot that Korpisalo was able to stop.
The Wild took a 2-0 lead into the third period while trailing 23-20 in shots on goal.
3rd Period
Minnesota's Jared Spurgeon nearly extended his team's lead at 8:57 with a wrist shot that hit the crossbar.
Columbus had its first big chance of the period at 14:40 with a net-mouth scramble, but Fleury was up to the task and kept the puck out of the net.
The Jackets pulled Korpisalo for an extra skater with under three minutes to play but couldn't score.
With the loss, the club falls to 18-35-5.
Stats
- Shots on Goal: MIN 25-30 CBJ
- Faceoff %: MIN 28.8-71.2 CBJ
- Power play: MIN 0/1-0/1 CBJ
- Takeaways: MIN 7-5 CBJ
- Giveaways: MIN 4-4 CBJ
- Blocked shots: MIN 25-12 CBJ
- Hits: MIN 19-11 CBJ
-
5-on-5 stats (via naturalstattrick.com):
- Expected Goals (xG): MIN 2.42-2.90 CBJ
- Chances (CF): MIN 53-61 CBJ
- Shots (SF): MIN 25-25 CBJ
- Scoring Chances (SCF): MIN 25-24 CBJ
- High-Danger Chances (HDCF): MIN 10-15 CBJ
Injury Update
Johnny Gaudreau returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with a lower-body injury.
Cole Sillinger missed tonight's game with an illness.
Next Up
The Jackets are back at it on Saturday when they host the Edmonton Oilers at 12:30 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio.
The club travels to Minnesota to take on the Wild at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday on Bally Sports Ohio.
