Judd's Hockey Show - A Minnesota Wild Podcast
Minnesota Wild SPANKED by New Jersey Devils in 'Hughes Bowl 3'
13 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hockey. Yeah. My favorite. It's Judd's Hockey Show.
and welcome to judd's hockey show judd and aj day two on our new youtube channel if you have not already uh like and subscribe please as we uh as we transfer our content to this channel uh sometimes the content actually for a lot of this season content's been very positive after a rough october it's been great been talking about a team that acquired quinn hughes i've been talking about a team that has won the best in national hockey league and then sometimes there are bad nights and last night was definitely a bad night aj was um
at grand casino arena i watched the game at home five two devils win age and uh that third period uh since october have they had a third period that has been as as poor as that period because what it was two to one with a late second period go by the devils after two so certainly a game that was
well within reach the but the third period felt like no contest against the team in new jersey that had been just playing awful hockey yeah um in the post game scrums after the game uh marcus felino made a comment about uh he was asked about the late goal by andre pilat I think eight seconds to go in the second period. He said, yes, that does affect. And that kind of does impact how our mood.
And, you know, that was pretty deflating. John Hines felt the exact opposite. So I'm not sure if they were just on different pages or what John Hines said. No, that shouldn't matter. That doesn't matter. They could have scored with 10 minutes to go in the second. That doesn't really change our game plan.
So maybe a little miscommunication there, but that was the dagger in the, in the heart of the wild last night. That final shift was just bad. Foligno. He had a couple missed clearances on that shift that the Devils kept in. They extend their zone pressure, similar to how the Wild actually led to their game tying goal earlier by Ryan Hartman.
But then, yeah, just kind of you felt this kind of they were expecting the buzzer to come any second. And then, yeah, that's all right. We'll go to the locker room. And it didn't come. And then they find the back of the net and the Devils were off to the races the rest of the game. That was, I think. I would say the saddest period of hockey I've seen all season by the Minnesota Wild.
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Chapter 2: What were the highlights of the Minnesota Wild vs. New Jersey Devils game?
It was a really, really poor effort. First period, I thought that they actually came out and they played pretty well. They created a lot of chances. They were controlling a lot of the play. They just couldn't hit the net. I jokingly tweeted like they would have been up by like four or five goals if the net was twice the size. But... Fortunately, it's not.
The plexiglass was fearing for its life behind the end wall, and the Wild just kept peppering that throughout the game. And then you saw the Devils sort of just, like, find their stride late in that second period. They capitalized, and then the response coming out of the locker room for the third was just unexcusable. Now I think it shifts to you really have to make ā
a statement in a win over the jets on Thursday, because if you don't bounce back and establish that you're this great hockey team that you should be, then I'm a little worried because they have been slipping in their play late in that road trip. Now back into their home, their homestand here.
It's I'm not like panicked yet, but it is a little concerning because you're seeing these trends kind of pop up. And last night, it's it's pushing everything to the front.
Yeah, the missed shots. What I jotted this down. They talked about this on the telecast. I think they said in the first 17 plus minutes of last night's game, there were 10 missed shots. Tarasenko, I think, was in the second period, missed a wide open net. that Foligno passed to him from the slot. I think Foligno might've wanted to shoot that puck in retrospect.
Uh, but yeah, there was a lot of missed shots. Uh, let's go back to what you said though, because, you know, we talked about this briefly on the, uh, on a judge hockey show yesterday. And, uh, to me, it came to its unfortunate fruition last night. And, That is the leakiness that we had seen turned into a flood.
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Chapter 3: How did the third period impact the Wild's performance?
There's just some, in my opinion, there's just some details, neutral zone-wise, defensively, that they need to button up. And they're getting away from them a little bit. And you know what? There's a few guys that, okay, that's not great, but... it still works. And I don't know if this is a by-product now of Erickson Eck being out, or it's just a product of, Hey, we're so talented.
But what I saw last night in the third period was when you, when you aren't necessarily paying full attention to the details of the game, you, it starts to bite you a little bit and then it bites you a lot. And I thought it bit you a lot. And this goes back out also to that second goal late in the second period with, you know, them not being able to clear the puck correctly.
It's just, it's those things that come back to get you. And more so than the Jets game, that's what I think just needs to be worked on. And that's what needs to be kept in mind is that there is a formula to win here. And again, You know, certain guys have the talent to probably overcome not a great game as far as the details. But most of this team does not.
And so that's what I want to see because five goals against Volstead last night was not great. But to go back, I don't know about you. How many of those goals do you blame directly on him? Because it felt to me like the defense and the people in front of him let him down more than he let his teammates down.
agree with that completely there might be one that i could say like he probably should have stopped maybe maybe two but there was i think i think was the fifth goal was a really bad uh breakdown and like one of the few gaps you're going to see from quinn hughes's game yes um which is it's i don't know like at that point that goal doesn't matter because they weren't going to come back but
The thing, if you look over the last slew of games here for them, it seems like it wasn't too long ago where we were hopping on this show and talking about how, okay, the wild win and all they need to do is score one or they needed to score two on the off chance.
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Chapter 4: What did Marcus Foligno say about the team's morale after the game?
They had to go crazy and put three in the back of the net, but that was, that would be enough to win because their defense and their goaltending was just so good. Let's look at the past couple of games and how many goals they would have needed to win the game last night. They would have needed six goals. Saturday, they would have needed four because they went to overtime.
They would have needed three against the Kraken. They got it. They would have needed five against the Kings. They would have needed six, I guess, five against the Kings in that shootout. You would have needed... They scored five against the Ducks back on January 2nd, and then they lost to the Sharks in a shootout 4-3. Before that, they scored five to beat the Golden Knights. But it's like...
You're not winning these games now one to nothing, two to one anymore. You're clearly regressing with your defensive structure. There's something clearly wrong. And I really don't think that Zach Bogosian is that big of a defensive stalwart to where this should be an issue. Erickson X, a bigger loss there than Zach Bogosian. I agree with that. Big time.
And that goes to what we were talking about. It's one of those guys where you can talk about his value, but I don't think you really put that like hard, solid number on how good he is and how important he is to this roster until you just pluck him out.
And all of a sudden, the past two games, you've seen, wow, you really miss having a guy like that center in that second line, being so defensively stout, eating these minutes. And yeah, it's just one of those things where, one, they need him back. I know John Hines said after the game as well, he was asked about both those guys, Bogosian and Eriksenak, didn't really get too much of an answer.
Um, he's hoping that they can progress and skate on their own here in the coming days and see if they can maybe make a, a return against the jets on Thursday. But he mentioned day to day for all we know, that means they're out the rest of the season. Like it's like that, that that's obviously a little, but yeah,
which I guess is good news. We'll, we'll see. Cause of course then once he skates, you have to see how that goes. Um, but yeah, yeah, he is, he is absolutely instrumental and you know, Ryan Hartman has scored goals. So this is not to denigrate his play.
And that was a good tip last night. That was a really good tip. It was a heck of a tip. Yeah. You know what it was, actually? It was another missed shot going well wide that he directed to the net. Yeah.
So good for him. But when you take Eric Sinek off his line... And and when you, you know, take him out of the faceoff equation, it just it weakens. It weakens this team. It's why he is one of the top players that I'm the most concerned about at the Olympics, because if something happens there again, I don't think you have any shot like, you know, Colorado and Dallas are tough enough.
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Chapter 5: How significant is Joel Eriksson Ek's absence for the Wild?
He didn't look out of position at times, but there, there is a learning curve there. I'm sure. And it's weird to probably make that shift of you played however many hundreds of minutes at the wing so far this season. And now because Eric's neck is out, you know, you're asking him to do a different job. It's not a concern of mine right now. Like I was definitely worried.
more pleased than i was yeah i'm more curious about it yeah but uh but i would like to see more like i would like to see maybe a full period or two and this is where if you look at like where he was last night they had that uh top line of johansson hartman boldy and then the second line of Kaprizov, Yurov, and Zuccarello.
I would be fine if you put Matt Boldy, if you wanted to, between Kaprizov and Zuccarello, just to start the game and try to overwhelm the Jets. Just really top load that front line, especially if Eric Sinek is out. If he's back, and this is a completely different talking point, but
if Erickson X is back, I would be fine with them front loading that top line, challenging the jets and trying to say, we're going to get an elite early and then we'll change our game plan based off that. But I want to see more. I want to see more because he didn't look incapable by any means. I, he looked very capable and there were some bright spots in that game.
Yeah. And that does also goes back to, and we've certainly been talking about this for a while. It goes back to showing you how thin this team is. And if Erickson X is out there, basically, I mean, it's, If you look at that position, and I know the problem is this.
Every team that's a contender, and there's a bunch that aren't, but every team that's a contender seemingly could use at least a 2C, right? Yeah. And so this is going to be difficult. I mean, the price point is going to be huge. But I don't see how you beat either of the top two teams above you in the playoffs without making a pretty substantial ā
addition at at center and it's going to cost you and it might it still might not work but when we're talking about boldy at center i mean it's like last night i'm just watching the depth without eric's neck in in there and it's non-existent for the most part like it's just non-existent and so
you know, Boldy's such a talented player that I can see why John Hines is toying with the idea, because I don't really think he has a choice at this point.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the Wild's missed shots during the game?
I don't, like, look around and say, well, you know, hold on a second. Yurov I like. I really do like him, and I think he belongs for sure. And if Eriksson Ek is playing, him between Zuccarello and Kaprizov I think does work. But when you're missing Ek, and by the way, I say this because is unfortunate to say in a playoff series. I Erickson act, you have to have him, but the dude gets hurt a lot.
And so at that point in time, you know, can boldly shift to center. If you get one, does that make up for the difference? Like that's my primary concern is if a guy like Erickson act was just an Ironman too. And I,
look he's hurt like the dude gets hurt it's legit he is not there i'm not questioning that for one second but his absence is so huge and his absence is is at times unfortunately feels especially like in in a playoff series that he's going to miss a shift here or two or a game here so i think among the teams that if they want to advance have to get a center the wild is near at the top
of that list, and I should say this, of the teams that have a chance to advance legitimately, Like I'm sure there's some teams that are like, Oh yeah, we're going to get a center. It's like, okay, that's great. I don't know. You're going to advance. Yeah. But, but that's, that's where the boldy conversation I think actually does come into being a real discussion is, is that an option?
What does that do? Can he play that spot, especially in pressure situations, just a lot of things, but I certainly can see why John Hines is, is it appears at least right now, giving it some serious thought.
there was a conversation i think to be had where it's like do they want to get a center do they want to get a winger like what's the top score this this injury like it was our i think in my mind pretty pretty well lit like the path you should walk this injury to eric's neck and now him missing two games i think eliminates that other path completely i don't even care if it's a 50 goal scoring winger i i need to see a center i have to see a center on this team because
let's say even Eric Sinek is that Ironman, and he never... Let's just say he doesn't get hurt. You're still pretty thin there. Yes, you are. And think about the depth. I think you're right. He belongs. He looks like he belongs. But the thing is, he's also... What is he, 22? Right, exactly. I think if we were talking about his game in four years, when he's 26, he might be a top center.
He might be a one-and-a-half center. He might be... Right now, if you... Acquire a center who you can put on that top line, centering Kaprizov and Zuccarello. You have that second line with newly found help, Jule Eriksson-Eck. And then that third line is centered by Danilo Yurov. That's a really good one, two, three center combo.
And then Nico Sturm's running out the fourth with his face-off prowess. That actually changes, I think, in my mind, a lot of how this team would be structured and built and lines would be served to actually really succeed. I can't fathom an argument now to where you think a top six winger supersedes the need to add somebody in the middle.
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