Eriksson Ek does it all as Wild's clutch performer ... and resident pest

ST. LOUIS -- Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek is a pest.
Make no mistake, he's also a lot more than that for a Minnesota team that counts on him to lead both on and off the ice, from occasionally wearing an 'A' on his sweater, to playing on the power play to eating key penalty kill minutes, to scoring timely goals, like he did in Game 2 against the Blues on Wednesday night.

Eriksson Ek doesn't do a little bit of everything ... he does a lot a bit of everything, and he does it while frustrating almost every opponent he goes against.

"He'd sure piss me off, that's for sure," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "I think you can ask the rest of his teammates if they have fun doing d-zone coverage drills with him. I guarantee you they don't, because it doesn't matter to him, it doesn't matter if he's playing Game 2 in the Stanley Cup [Playoffs] or if he's probably playing shinny back home in Sweden, he's going to do the exact same thing. His game doesn't change.
"We have talked about predictability and we want our group to be predictable, and his work ethic is predictable."
Early in his career, Eriksson Ek was pigeon-holed as a defensive specialist, a guy who wouldn't score much but would keep opponents from scoring as well. And he's still that, centering the GREEF line flanked by Marcus Foligno and Jordan Greenway, which has been one of the NHL's top shutdown lines all season long.

But he's also found his offensive game, tallying career highs in goals each of the past two seasons. His 19 goals in 56 games last season was 11 more than he had in any previous year, and earned him a lucrative eight-year contract extension.
Coming with that status as a pillar of the team's future came with an increased role, including significant power-play time this season, an area where he excelled. His 12 power-play goals during the regular season were second on the team to Kirill Kaprizov and accounted for nearly half of his 26 goals overall.
His power-play goal to open the scoring in Game 2 nearly blew the roof off Xcel Energy Center and was what kickstarted a 6-2 win, a victory that evened the best-of-7 series at a game apiece, headed to St. Louis for Games 3 and 4 this weekend.

"It's a learning curve, and coming from Sweden, it's a bigger rink, and getting to learn how to play here and how to be successful as a player," Eriksson Ek said of his evolution. "And just growing with experience and getting the chance to play a lot of minutes, and play important minutes, is helping to build confidence and become the player I want to be."
At 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, Eriksson Ek scores most of his goals right around the blue paint, an area of the ice where he's grown comfortable and where opponents and opposing goaltenders have grown accustomed to watching him sit.
It's a spot on the rink where you're rarely forgotten about and one where you're often in the middle of everything.
"I like him a lot better on my team," said Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who dueled against Eriksson Ek in the playoffs last year as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. "He's a big guy, always in the crease - screen you, tip, spear you."
Perhaps the most entertaining part of it all is just how oblivious Eriksson Ek seems to be regarding his status as a grinding, frustrating player.
For a guy in the middle of seemingly every goal-mouth scrum, Eriksson Ek is almost always the victim ... at least in his eyes. Perhaps that's a part of his charm?

"Oh, yeah. Everybody gets mad at him and just acts like he doesn't know why," Fleury said, grinning. "'What did I do?' It's great to have him on your team, for sure."
This time of year, Eriksson Ek has the potential to be even more valuable.
Playoffs are typically lower scoring, more physical, and more tightly contested. The kinds of gritty, greasy goals that are Eriksson Ek's trade mark -- his incredibly skilled second goal Wednesday not withstanding -- are commonplace.
"He brings a lot of sandpaper to his game," Foligno said. "He's a huge, huge, important piece of our team. It's great to see him get off to a great start."
And for the Wild, it's great to see him as a part of their team ... which spells trouble for opponents.
"He does it all," Foligno said. "He's a game breaker, also just a big-game player and that's what you need in the playoffs. Led by example [in Game 2] and all year, even last season. We know what he's all about and I think teams are slowly starting to realize it."