Wild home opener is spoiled with 7-4 loss to Blue Jackets

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Oct 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Instead of his longtime perch behind the bench, former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire stood at center ice alongside the team’s inaugural coaching staff and original general manager Doug Risebrough for a ceremonial puck drop to commemorate the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

But once the action started, the Wild didn’t pay homage to Lemaire’s stingy defensive style.

They were dumped, 7-4, by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Grand Casino Arena to suffer only their fourth regulation loss in a home opener.

How it happened

Kirill Marchenko’s hat trick included the 2-2 tiebreaker with 1 minute, 12 seconds left in the second period that gave Columbus a lead it would hold on to the rest of the way after the Wild rallied from the Blue Jackets scoring early in the first and second periods.

Just 2:29 in, Miles Wood was first to a dump-in and sent the puck five-hole on Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who was coming off a 5-0 shutout win at St. Louis on Thursday.

Then only seven seconds into the second, Marchenko flung in a shot from between the circles after Columbus won the initial faceoff and quickly moved into Wild territory. Overall, the Blues Jackets won 62% of faceoffs.

Later in the second, Matt Boldy buried a loose puck on the power play at 6:18 for his second goal in as many games. Columbus challenged the play, but video review determined the contact Joel Eriksson Ek made with Elvis Merzlikins was outside the crease, so it didn’t qualify as goalie interference.

The Blue Jackets were dinged with a delay-of-game penalty and then another for shooting the puck over the glass.

Seconds after the 5-on-3 expired, Kirill Kaprizov one-timed in a puck from along the goal line at 8:24 to pull the Wild even.

But the momentum didn’t last.

Despite outshooting Columbus 20-10 in the period, the Wild couldn’t get out of the second tied and never recovered from Marchenko’s next goal off a rebound in front of Gustavsson.

Turning point

Another slow start to the period stung the Wild.

After a slapshot by Zach Werenski off a Wild turnover 1:11 into the third, Marchenko put the Blue Jackets ahead 5-3 at 3:01 on his third goal during a 5-on-3 power play.

Zeev Buium tallied his first NHL goal on the power play 9:54 into the third, but Columbus responded on a deflection off Adam Fantilli 53 seconds later.

But that quick two-goal blitz by the Blue Jackets to open the period became even more costly once Kaprizov tipped in a fourth Wild goal on the power play with 4:11 to go.

Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner added an empty-netter at 18:34.

Merzlikins had 48 saves and Gustavsson 25.

Key stat

The Blue Jackets were undisciplined, getting charged with eight penalties, but giving up four power-play goals didn’t derail them. They went 1 for 3 on their power plays.

What it means

Another ex-Wild coach was on hand in Dean Evason, and Evason has the Blue Jackets playing the up-tempo aggressive hockey he brought to the Wild when he was at the helm.

As such, they were a tougher test than the Blues, and the Wild faltered.

They did an admirable job overcoming the 2-0 deficit during the second period, their perseverance getting rewarded after they missed a handful of close calls in tight in the first, but they couldn’t contain Columbus’ opportunistic offense even with veteran Jonas Brodin in the lineup in place of David Jiricek.

Brodin’s season debut was delayed a game after he was still on the mend at training camp following offseason surgery on an injury suffered playing for Sweden at the World Championship in May.

“We were aiming maybe mid-October,” Brodin said. “But rehab’s been really good, so I’ve been feeling pretty good the last couple of weeks here, too. But we just want to be sure I can be 100 percent. But I feel great now.”

Up next

The Wild will finish this short homestand Monday against the Los Angeles Kings, who fell, 3-2, to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

Perhaps this will be Vladimir Tarasenko’s breakout game. Tarasenko, who assisted on Kaprizov’s goal for his first point with the Wild, has 27 points in 30 career games versus Los Angeles.