ST. PAUL, Minn. — Ryan Reaves flexed his muscle for the first time in a Wild sweater Wednesday night.
Figuratively and literally.
Like he was on the gridiron, Reaves, the son of a former NFL and CFL football player, the brother of a current CFL defensive lineman and one of the hardest hitters and toughest fighters in the NHL, hit the Detroit Red Wings’ Filip Hronek like a freight train three minutes into Wednesday’s eventual 4-1 Wild win.
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Not only did it cause the Red Wings to play 57 minutes on the second of a back-to-back with five defensemen, but it also ramped up the intensity in a meeting of non-rivals and, in Reaves’ mind, prompted his opponents to get rid of pucks quicker and start taking unnecessary penalties, like a retaliatory one 35 seconds later against Matt Dumba to put the Wild on the first four consecutive power plays.
The final drawn power play early in the second period came after Reaves checked Gustav Lindstrom clean yet hard into the end boards. Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot had enough of his team’s being pushed around, came to his teammate’s defense, landed a high hit on Reaves, then handed him his first fight in a Wild sweater.
After the scrap, Reaves, who said he respected Chiarot for protecting a teammate and that’s why he’s an assistant captain, skated to the penalty box and flexed his right biceps to the standing crowd inside Xcel Energy Center.
Chiarot comes to Lindstrom's defense and drops the gloves with Reaves. Great veteran leadership by Chiarot – no small thing dropping the gloves with the toughest fighter in the NHL. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/isZuXigE8q
— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) December 15, 2022
Reaves may have gotten two assists in 15 seconds 10 days ago in Dallas, but he called Wednesday his first “tone-setting game” with the Wild.
“Those big hits like that don’t always come around,” Reaves said. “But, especially early in a game like that, now they’re down a D and they’re probably looking over their shoulder a little bit.”
Hronek, 25, didn’t return to the game but wanted to, according to Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde. However, the Wild’s medical staff decided to hold him out, which Lalonde said was “probably the right thing, especially in today’s age with the contact to the head.”
HERE COMES THE REAVO TRAIN pic.twitter.com/KvmvgAqdbI
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) December 15, 2022
Hronek was skating with the puck through the center of the Red Wings’ zone, staring straight ahead, when he suddenly looked behind him. By the time he turned around, Reaves was committed and nailed him with a thunderous check.
“Honestly, like, he locked eyes with me. Like, I saw him look at me and then he just kind of turned his head and held on to the puck,” Reaves said. “I’m not sure exactly what happened. I hope he’s OK, but you’ve gotta know when I’m on ice and definitely don’t skate at me like that.”
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Hronek knew Reaves was on the ice. Not long before, the two tangled in the neutral zone. Lalonde talked with Hronek briefly to try to learn why he left himself so exposed. The youngster told his coach that he looked behind him because he thought there was a penalty and was trying to see if goalie Magnus Hellberg was headed to the bench.
Lalonde said as “crazy” as that sounds, it now made “a little more sense” why Hronek left himself so vulnerable.
“I know Reaves was not malicious with it,” Lalonde said. “I think Filip would want that play back.”
Like their coach, Red Wings players weren’t screaming after the game and insisting the hit was dirty. One notable former Red Wing also tweeted that it was a “clean hit.”
Clean hit in my day. Reaves doesn’t do anything but his job and destroys Hronek.
Being a smaller player and leaning forward in the middle of the ice makes you a 🎯
That’s Clean and Accepted. In 1995
My issue is with @NHL because
I WAS TOLD @nealruhl THEY CARED about headshots— Darren McCarty (@DarrenMcCarty4) December 15, 2022
“I guess Fil, he had the puck but he was kind of looking back, he was kind of in a tough spot,” Chiarot said. “Obviously, when a guy like (Reaves) is on the ice, those things can happen. Tough one to watch.”
Said the Wild’s Dumba: “(Hronek) was on a tee for him tonight. He kind of put himself in a bad position. It doesn’t always happen that way or that clean.”
Hronek was immediately in dire straits but did skate off under his own power with the Red Wings’ athletic trainer.
There was no penalty assessed, and this will almost certainly be considered “unavoidable head contact” when reviewed by the Department of Player Safety overnight. One criterion in determining unavoidable head contact is “whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.”
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There was definitely head contact — Hronek left the ice bleeding — but the NHL will likely consider it a good hockey hit because Hronek was looking back and Reaves didn’t leave his feet, didn’t elevate and attempted to drive through the center of the body.
“I hate to say it,” Reaves said, but it’s the hardest he’s hit an opponent since San Jose’s Jake Middleton — now his Wild teammate — in last year’s Vegas opener.
“I kind of hit like a football player,” Reaves said. “I don’t always turn sideways, which sometimes when you turn sideways you catch head. A lot of times I go straight on and I kind of push with my hands, so it’s a lot of chest. That was one of those.”
Good ‘ole fashion Norris division showdown.
— Mike Modano (@9modano) December 15, 2022
Both teams played a stingy, hard game with not many scoring chances. The Wild only gave up only two first-period shots and held Detroit to none in the final 18:23 of the period.
The Wild have obviously tried to insulate backup Filip Gustavsson this season with winnable games, and the youngster improved to 5-0 in his past five starts with a 1.37 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage. Coming off a 35-save shutout in Vancouver five nights earlier, he made 16 saves but saw his shutout streak end at 112:40.
“Consistency,” Gustavsson said of the reason for his solid play of late. “Before I could have really good games, and then I could have really bad games. Just find something in between where you can be doing the same thing every day. These guys have played really good lately, too, with not giving up so many chances, so that helps a lot.”
Gustavsson said his goal every night is to stay calm and “do the same boring saves every time.”
“You don’t always have to be flashy and do those cool saves,” he said. “It’s fun to do them sometimes, but if you do the same boring saves all the time, then most pucks are going to hit you.
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“Boring is good for goalies.”
For the second time in three games, rookie Sammy Walker drew a penalty that led to a power-play goal. In fact, Freddy Gaudreau’s first of two goals (he later added a 137-foot empty-netter) was the first goal by the Wild’s second power-play unit in 29 games this season. That’s pretty remarkable considering the Wild have the eighth-best power play overall and the second best at home in the NHL. Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek have combined for 23.
Matt Dumba pings home the gorgeous feed from Greenway, doubling the Wild lead to 2!#mnwild pic.twitter.com/LKVrSVh86G
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) December 15, 2022
As well as the Wild were playing — they held the Red Wings to six shots through half the game — they finally extend their lead to two in the second period when Jordan Greenway drew the Red Wings to him and made an exceptional pass from the wall to Dumba for a free lane to the net and what turned out to be the winning goal.
“Everyone was so puck-focused,” Dumba said. “Just able to walk down Main Street.”
Calen Addison’s turnover led to the Red Wings’ being able to cut the deficit in half with 1:19 left in the second, but just 16 seconds later, Zuccarello walked off the wall and was upended by Chiarot. As Chiarot raised his arms to try to get the refs to not call a penalty, Zuccarello scored while crawling on the ice.
The effort here from Zuccarello to stay with it pic.twitter.com/FsasLJnMnW
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) December 15, 2022
“When it’s a one-goal game, anything can happen,” Gustavsson said. “One shot, one redirection can change everything, so two goals is always really comfortable.”
The Wild won for the ninth time in 12 games and the seventh time in eight home games, with four current non-playoff teams on the docket before the Christmas break (home vs. Chicago and Ottawa, at Anaheim and San Jose).
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There’s a chance they’ll get first-line center Ryan Hartman back Friday night against the Blackhawks. Sidelined since Oct. 30, Hartman hasn’t practiced fully yet, but he has been skating with the team in pregame skates and daily with the assistants. If he feels good after he skates on his own Thursday and is medically cleared, he will return.
“He wants to play,” coach Dean Evason said. “Now it’s the right decision of when, but as we just said to him, if he’s ready to play, he’s going to play.”
That likely means Walker, who got lost in the shuffle because of all the penalties Wednesday and played 6 1/2 minutes, would be scratched.
After Wednesday, the Wild are surely not taking out Reaves.
“It was just a hit — that’s his job,” Lalonde said of Reaves. “A player like that, that’s how you want him to impact the game, and tonight he did.”
(Photo of Ryan Reaves tangling with the Red Wings’ Ben Chiarot: Brace Hemmelgarn / USA Today)
