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Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (left) and Minnesota Wild center Michael McCarron (right) shoved each other in the first period. Stephen R. Sylvanie / Imagn Images
LAS VEGAS — Minnesota Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin was largely panned earlier this week for paying a second-round pick to Nashville for fourth-line bruiser Michael McCarron.
Well, if McCarron scores on more nifty redirections like he did Friday night, he’ll be worth a first-round pick.
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McCarron became the 33rd player in Wild history to score in his debut with the team as the Minnesota Wild swept the season series with the Vegas Golden Knights 3 games to none with a 4-2 win at T-Mobile Arena.
He also recorded his seventh career two-point game and seventh career game-winning goal.
“It felt good to get a couple of points there, and it’s not necessarily what I was brought in here to do, but (it) feels good to be rewarded,” said McCarron, in his ninth year in the NHL.
After Jake Middleton jumped to Danila Yurov’s defense for a scrap with Keegan Kolesar, the Wild responded fast and furiously. The Golden Knights were done in by a bad three-minute stretch in the second period when a 0-0 game abruptly became 3-0, starting with a sloppy Noah Hanifin turnover that led to Mats Zuccarello’s breakaway goal.
Not long after, Zach Bogosian and McCarron scored 18 seconds apart — the second-fastest two goals in a game this season for Minnesota.
Bogosian scored on a blast off Danila Yurov’s rebound, then McCarron waved his stick at Brock Faber’s slapper after a hard-nosed forecheck by the enormous McCarron.
“Just throw it there and let him make a play,” Faber said. “That’s obviously a big boy. And he showed he’s got skill to go with it. He played great. That’s a really big add for us.”
Vladimir Tarasenko scored a third-period goal for the Wild, Filip Gustavsson was sensational with 30 saves and John Hynes became the 43rd coach in NHL history to win 400 games.
Hynes felt the Middleton fight was the turning point, but McCarron sure played well despite being overly critical of himself after the game.
“I can be a lot better in a lot of areas, maybe a little bit of nerves and just getting tired quickly out there, quick changes for me tonight,” McCarron said.
The victory came hours after the Wild added Bobby Brink and Nick Foligno in advance of the trade deadline, after the acquisitions in recent days of McCarron, Robby Fabbri and Jeff Petry.
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“The people we got are special people, too, not just players,” Faber said. “They want to come in and help. They want to come in and play whatever role they’re put in. They want to do it to the best of their ability, and they want to win. That’s it. So it’s refreshing when you get guys like that, who want to come in, want to make a difference.”
The Wild flew to Denver after the game and will play the Avalanche at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on TNT.
Not long after Brink rushed from the East Coast to Las Vegas on a game day, he made his Wild debut and got one heck of an opportunity on the second line. Matt Boldy moved from right wing to left wing, and Brink slotted in on the right side of the line with Joel Eriksson Ek.
The former Minnetonka Skippers state champion, whose alma mater advanced to the state finals Friday, flashed speed and skill, had one shot and five others attempted.
“Bit of a whirlwind, hectic morning, for sure,” Brink, 24, said. “Got the call basically when I woke up, and special call. It’s obviously an honor to wear this jersey, growing up a Wild fan. So, you know, it was a special day.”
Faber also came to his defense after he was hit from behind by Jeremy Lauzon in the second period, earning 17 minutes of penalties after instigating a fight.
“Seventeen minutes in the box, that’s a long time. I don’t like doing that,” Faber said. “I feel like it’s important that he knows that he’s not super close with a lot of the guys yet, but we’ve got his back. And getting traded like that is hard. And if I didn’t do it, I felt like every guy would have.”
“They beat me to it,” McCarron joked of Middleton and Faber coming to the defense of teammates. “Tough guy Fabes.”
Gustavsson continued his strong play since the Olympics by improving to 3-1. He has only allowed six goals in those four starts, including wins against Colorado and Tampa Bay.
Gustavsson stopped Colton Sissons twice on first-period breakaways and several other Grade A chances to improve to 9-1-1 in his past 11 games. In 27 games (26 starts) since Nov. 16, Gustavsson is 19-3-4.
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“Right away, if you stop those two, you’re right into it,” Gustavsson said. “After that, I was just rolling. (My game) feels like it’s been calm and I’ve been in the right spots at the right times and not stressing out the rest of the team. That helps them just go forward and not (worry) about what they have back there.”
On the additions, Gustavsson said, “We got more tools now in our toolbox. We kept most of the core here and added some very skilled players and some hard-playing guys. And that just gives us more confidence from above. Billy’s trust in this group and just adding some pieces there on the sides to get us even better.”
During a 16-year career with 1,039 regular-season games under his belt, Petry has mostly been an everyday defenseman. However, the 38-year-old understands the situation in Minnesota and is willing to accept his role as largely a depth guy on the right side behind Faber, Jared Spurgeon and Bogosian.
“It was communicated on the call,” Petry said of his conversation with Guerin after the Thursday trade. “They obviously put themselves in a good position with the crew that they have. And whether that’s me stepping in, playing a handful here and there, whatever the situation is, that’s something that I’m fully ready to (accept). Just excited to be a part of this and help the team in any way that I can.”
Petry played for Hynes and assistant coach Jack Capuano at the 2024 World Championship, so he feels he’ll learn the system right away. In fact, in the press box Friday night, he planned to study by watching the game.
“The first person I see when I got here is Cappy, and he’s like, ‘There’s a lot of things that we did in that world championships that are the same. There’s a few differences. I’ll sit you down, and we’ll watch video. And you’ve played the game long enough, it’ll all come to you.’ So, yeah, just gonna watch tonight, try to watch it upstairs, to get that overhead perspective and try to learn everything as quickly as possible.”
Petry has played with Boldy at the worlds, as well as Vladimir Tarasenko and Fabbri in Detroit. He also works out in the offseason with McCarron in Michigan, where he was born when his dad, longtime big-leaguer Dan Petry, was pitching for the Tigers.
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Michael Russo is a senior writer covering the Minnesota Wild and the National Hockey League for The Athletic. He has covered the NHL since 1995 (Florida Panthers) and the Wild since 2005, previously for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Michael is a five-time Minnesota Sportswriter of the Year and in 2017 was named the inaugural Red Fisher Award winner as best beat writer in the NHL. Michael can be seen on NHL Network; and heard on KFAN (100.3 FM) and the Worst Seats in the House podcast (talknorth.com). He can be found on Instagram and X at @russohockey and Bluesky at @russohockey.bsky.social. Follow Michael on Twitter @RussoHockey