Prospects Showcase: Wild 7, Blackhawks 4

Wild defeat Blackhawks in final game of Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sammy Walker’s hat trick headlined the Minnesota Wild’s 7-4 come from behind win over the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday afternoon inside Tria Rink in the final game of the 2023 Tom Kurvers Prospects Showcase.

The Blackhawks, who elected not to play two of their top prospects in Connor Bedard and Wyatt Kaiser, collapsed after entering the second period with a 3-1 lead. Nick Lardis started the scoring for Chicago on a partial breakaway 1:22 into the contest.

Walker tied the game at one apiece at the 5:58 mark of period one for his first goal of the afternoon. After redirecting Daemon Hunt’s (2020 3rd RD pick) pass, Walker found his own rebound and shot it over the pad of Mitchell Weeks.

But Ryder Rolston broke the tie at the 8:35 mark with a goal from the left circle, and Nolan Allan later gifted Colton Dach a tap-in at the top of the crease, which gave Chicago a 3-1 lead after one period.

The Wild rebounded in the second frame from a further than ideal start with three unanswered goals for a 4-3 lead. Hunter Haight (2022 2nd RD pick) found Walker on the backdoor for an easy tap-in at the 5:17 mark, and Casey Dornbach (free agency ‘23) scored a game-tying shorthanded goal top corner over Weeks’ glove at the 10:38 mark.

The Wild took a 4-3 lead at the 14:02 mark of the second on a delayed penalty when Dornbach found Maxim Cajkovic (acquired via trade with Pat Maroon) untouched at the top of the crease for another tap-in. Chicago didn’t go away, though, as Martin Misiak tied the game at four with 1:36 left in the second.

Walked scored the go-ahead goal and his third of the night 4:28 into the third with a shot from the left dot that went high glove on Weeks for a 5-4 lead.

Louis Boudon (free agency ‘23) and Rasmus Kumpulainen (2023 2nd RD pick) scored the Wild’s final two goals on the strength of a tip-in and empty net.

WHAT THEY SAID

Sammy Walker on working on his shot: “It’s a huge part of the game, and that’s something I worked on is just getting a better shot. It’s frustrating when they weren’t going in last game, but it was nice that they were going in today.”

Iowa Wild Head Coach Brett McLean on the win: “Just the way we did it was even more special. Obviously not the start we wanted and got down again, but the guys just kept competing and just really upped the speed and upped their pace of play and you could tell they started to kind of trust the way we were asking them to play the game and really took over.”

LOOSE PUCKS

• The Wild outshot the Blackhawks 40-35, and Minnesota goalie invitee Harrison Meneghin made 31 saves on Sunday.

• Walker (four), Kyle Masters (three), Haight, Dornbach and Cajkovic (two) and Hunt, Servac Petrovsky (2022 6th RD pick), Boudin and Kumpulainen (one) got on the scoresheet Sunday.

• David Spacek (2022 5th RD pick) saved a goal by clearing the puck out of the crease when it got behind Meneghin in the second period.

• Ryan O Rourke’ (2020 2nd RD pick) and Allan dropped the gloves in the third period.

DID YA KNOW?

• The Wild are now 4-1 against the Blackhawks in the three-year history of the showcase. Minnesota went 1-1 in Chicago last year.
• The quartet of Walker, Dornbach, Ben Brickman (all three from Edina) and Gavin Hain (Grand Rapids) made up the four Minnesotans on the Wild’s showcase roster.
• Ryder Rolston, Chicago’s second goal scorer on Sunday, is the son of former Minnesota Wild forward Brian Rolston, who recorded 202 points in 241 games with the Wild from 2005-08. Rolston, 21, notched 53 points over the past three years at the University of Notre Dame.
• Kaiser, the Blackhawks 21-year-old defensive prospect who didn’t play Sunday, is from Andover, Minnesota and played nine games with Chicago last season. He also played 35 games for the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2022-23.

AARON’S THREE STARS FOR WILD

1. Walker, acquired in free agency in 2022, scored a hat trick on Sunday in what turned out to be a four-point night for him. The 24-year-old, who made a strong impression this weekend, led the Iowa Wild with 27 goals and finished fourth in scoring with 48 points last season. Walker also played nine games with the big club last year where he scored his first NHL goal on December 27, 2022 at Winnipeg. 
2. Haight and Riley Heidt (2023 2nd RD pick), on a line with Walker, rounded out the Wild’s best trio on Sunday. Haight recorded two assists and finished the showcase tournament with three points and a fight. While Heidt didn’t get on the scoresheet Sunday, he played an important role in helping the Wild make things happen in the offensive zone. The trio finished with 12 shots on goal, eight of which came from Walker.
3. Masters (2020 4th RD pick) aided Minnesota’s offensive attack Sunday with three assists. The 20-year-old right-shot blueliner recorded 65 points in 66 games in the Western Hockey League last season with the Kamloops Blazers and is making the jump to the Iowa Wild this season.