Greenway, Kahkonen lead Wild past Red Wings in Traverse City opener

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- It's one game one week before the start of training camp, but the Wild's 4-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament on Friday offered a glimpse into the kind of team the Iowa Wild hopes to be this season.
Of course that work will be made all the more difficult if Iowa doesn't have the benefit of Jordan Greenway in its lineup. And if the tournament opener Friday is any indication of the kind of mission Greenway is on as camp approaches, he likely won't be.
Greenway assisted on a pair of goals, nearly had another and almost scored one of his own. He was a force around the net, routinely setting up linemates Ivan Lodnia and Gerry Fitzgerald for grade-A scoring chances.

He was exactly what the Wild was hoping he'd be.

"Jordan is a great player," Lodnia said. "Very strong, very skilled guy. And he has a lot of experience in the past, playing with Minnesota in the playoffs. Having that kind of player, on a line with him, it's very nice."
Minnesota overcame a massive disparity in the power play column; the Wild had just one power play to the Red Wings' seven at one point in the third period. But thanks to its tremendous kill, led by goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, Minnesota was able to weather the storm.
Overall, the Wild killed seven of Detroit's eight power play chances. The only goal against came off the stick of 2018 sixth-overall pick Filip Zadina on a one-timer from the right circle that nobody in the world was stopping.
Kahkonen, who is expected to battle for regular time in Iowa this season, made 28 saves.
"You always need to have good goaltending to have good penalty killing," said Iowa coach Tim Army. "The penalty killing units were great. They really dug in."
The Wild went 1-for-4 with the man power advantage, getting the game's first goal 11:59 in on a quick shot by Dmitry Sokolov through a screen. Fitzgerald's goal at 4:27 of the third period came four seconds after a Detroit penalty expired, so although it didn't count as a power-play goal, it certainly felt like one.
Lodnia (one goal, one assist), Fitzgerald (one goal, one assist) and Greenway (two assists) each had two-point nights.
The Red Wings scored 1:01 after Fitzgerald's goal four minutes into the third period gave Minnesota its first two-goal lead of the game. But to the Wild's credit, it didn't wither.
Instead, it carried play for much of the remainder of the game, reversing a disappointing trend last season Iowa, which struggled at times to close out victories. Damien Giroux added an empty-net goal with 7.6 seconds remaining to close out the win.
"That will be the focus," Army said. "I think the tendency is, once you lose some of those games, to sort of get back on your heels a little bit and not have the confidence to play. We're not going to change anything. We're going to press hard, we're going to make plays. We're going to have our foot on the gas."
The Wild continues the tournament on Saturday against the New York Rangers, with puck drop scheduled for 5:30 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed live on Wild.com.
Related:
- Army ready for another crack at head coaching post - Prospect tournament begins Friday in Traverse City