Judd's Hockey Show - A Minnesota Wild Podcast
BRUISED and BATTERED Minnesota Wild earn OT win over red hot Buffalo Sabres
19 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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My favorite, it's Judd's Hockey Show.
And welcome to Judd's Hockey Show. The bruised and battered and shorthanded Wild going into Buffalo on Saturday, getting a win. Continue their three-game road trip tonight against Toronto and then Montreal before they return home on Thursday. A lot to get to here, but before we do that, I wanted to thank and also welcome our newest partner, which is Victory Tire and Auto.
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Chapter 2: What were the key highlights of the Wild's game against the Sabres?
Do I think it fixes things? Ultimately, I have no idea. The team is in good shape. Now, the one thing that was happening as the Wild was scuffling a little bit was Dallas has been as well. They're 2-6-2 in their last 10. They lost to a very good Tampa Bay team last night. So they've lost three consecutive games. And so these teams are tied again now.
for second place um with what 60 60 some 63 points a piece um here's the one thing i'm curious about too who starts in gold tonight that's a good question that is that's a really good question um
Who's been the better hockey team between Toronto and Canadians as of late? I feel like given how things look, you're probably going to look at... I've got them right here.
Toronto is 7-1-2 in their past 10. And Montreal, which is actually in third place in the Atlantic, is 6-3-1. So they've both been playing pretty well.
Okay. Well, if I had to guess... if I had to guess, they're going to go with Gus tonight. I, I, I think just the, I'd agree. I don't know. I like it. They're both really big stages.
Like I think you, you think of Toronto and you think of like this Mecca of hockey, but Montreal in itself in the bell center is more Mecca, but also arguably more raucous of a crowd, which is now talking me out of starting Gus tonight and saving him for tomorrow, just for the sake of the easier matchup.
But at the same time, like awesome Matthews has clearly turned a corner based on what we've seen most of the season from him. The past, I think, 10 games, he's been the superstar that Toronto has been missing all season long. And they're just looking like a better hockey team. But then Cole Caulfield on the other side of things with the Montreal Canadiens, they've been looking really well, too.
So I bet you they still probably go Gus tonight. Just because I feel like if if healthy.
jesper probably starts but the mindset is probably going to be we're missing all these guys we're going to take as many points as we can get we're going to steal as many points as we can and so i think you're you have a better chance starting gus and getting at least a point tonight rather than starting jesper tonight and getting a point and then it's a tougher matchup maybe tomorrow against uh montreal but i'm not necessarily worried i don't think that's as much of an indictment against jesper i i just think there is a
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Chapter 3: How did injuries impact the Minnesota Wild's performance?
that's simply not acceptable for a guy of his caliber a guy with as good of shooting talent as he does um finishing the game with anything less than three is uh i think the main the main issue just because he is going to be i mean he should be averaging a shot a period simply uh there there's no way around that you should be finding the net in one way or another but
three assists i think i think it was the uh what do we do friday night show the emergency podcast with with jesse if you haven't watched it go check it out on the uh on the brand new jets hockey show uh youtube channel make sure to like and subscribe but i think i said i need three points against the sabers because they're still the buffalo sabers so like that's the one thing holding me back here like that is he he rose to the expectation but he did so with by the sl by the thinnest of hairs
I think what we were texting about during the game, too, which is when you watch his game, and this will be interesting come Thursday when they're back home, because that'll be the next time that I think I can get my eyes on him. The skating, I think, is different than what we normally expect. He doesn't look like he is doing the same sort of edging and carving.
And the strides, maybe they're not as powerful. He's not moving as much. And maybe that's just he's trying to. preserve his game more this season, you know, you know, coming off of a, a long injury stint last year, it's like, we want to keep you as bubble wrapped in, you know, contained as possible.
So you're there for all 82, or maybe he's just looking to let's get to maybe something's nagging him. Like we found out with Boldy out of the blue, Hey, he was hurt. Um, maybe something's nagging him and it's like, let's just get to this Olympic break. Cause being a Russian, he gets three weeks off where he can relax and recover. Um,
I don't want to be too harsh on him right now, but it is something I've noticed where I'm just expecting and I'm missing those shifts where this guy is superstar caliber. He's taking over the game and he I don't think he has done that in the past two weeks now. Maybe? I don't know.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but about two weeks that I've missed that sort of shift. And among the things I saw watching the game on Saturday was it's also clear. And, yeah, we did text about the fact the edging doesn't look the same. Like that dude used to operate in a phone booth, and he's definitely not consistently like that now. And, again, to your point, I don't know exactly why.
The other thing that I noticed as well, and I think it was on the power play especially, is he and Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Kaprizov, in my opinion, is deferring a lot. Because Quinn Hughes is doing what Kirill used to do, right? Which is he's handling the puck a ton, which, by the way, he's very good at. But the reality is it feels like Kaprizov is looking for sort of his place there then.
Because Quinn Hughes is... quarterbacking things. And, you know, previously before Hughes, Prezo didn't quarterback things, but if he wanted to play that role for a portion of the power play, he definitely could. And so I think that there is also a chemistry thing there, which, you know, will take time.
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Chapter 4: What strategies did the Wild use to secure their overtime win?
There's a, there's a purpose to what he's doing, but it's so it's at such a high level that I think everybody else is trying to sort of at times figure things out. And Kaprizov is probably a top, that list of guys trying to figure things out.
Yeah, in one for four on the power play on Saturday, one of the key things that I think I was watching and looking for that I just never, and this even goes back to the Jets game on Thursday.
They had it where, because of Matt Boldy being out, Kaprizov sets up on that offhanded wing side, pretty much the mere opposite of Ovechkin in his office, where, frankly, I would love, and I expect a guy like Kirill Kaprizov to get set up if Matt Boldy's not there. they didn't feed him the, like it should be the most point blank and shoving it in your face. Hey, we're going to do this.
Whether you, whether you can stop it or not, we're going to just feed this guy the puck and granted with, with Quinn Hughes at the top, like running it, it creates more options. It gives them a little more of a dynamic look on the power play and creative expression.
But for the most part, I was expecting, okay, every single time after like four or five passes, if the shooting lane is not there or the passing lane you're looking for is not there, It's as simple as Zuccarello should go back to the top. Quinn Hughes feeds Kirill Kaprizov right in his wheelhouse, and he lets one rip. But they're not doing that enough.
He should be teeing off on three chances every single power play, and it's like maybe he gets one. And granted, there's times where on Thursday, I think they looked for it, and then the pass was either maybe a little too hot for him to let rip, or it was in his skates and he had to adjust. But that...
This this should not be as hard to get, you know, a top 10, 15 player in the league channeling one time chances on the power play. You're you don't have to make Matt Zuccarello the pass across the slot, the high danger. It looks flashy. You have a superstar defenseman running the power play five feet off your right hand shoulder. Just give him the simple pass there and he'll work it over.
You have to trust him to be able to get it to your best friend for that scoring opportunity.
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