Postgame Hat Trick: Blues 6, Wild 2

The Wild lost 6-2 to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at Enterprise Center in St. Louis. Wild radio play-by-play voice Joe O'Donnell gives his three takeaways from the contest:

1. "Just Compete"
Wild head coach Dean Evason stressed that he wanted the younger players to compete hard on Saturday night. Evason said he wasn't as concerned about structure and system play, but the emphasis to the team prior to the game was going to be about showing that each player belonged in the NHL.

And the Wild, with 10 draft picks in the lineup, including several under the age of 21, did just that. For most of the night Minnesota hung with the more veteran Blues lineup, winning puck battles and controlling the play. St. Louis jumped ahead by a pair of goals early in the second period, but watched the Wild claw back to knot things up early in the third.
The Blues scored twice in short order less than a minute later and added a pair of goals in the final minute of regulation to make the score look more lopsided than the game actually was.
2. Beckman Does What Beckman Does
Adam Beckman is a goal scorer. Yes, he's got good size and he skates well, but he's got an NHL-caliber shot at this young stage of his pro career. In the Western Hockey League, Beckman potted 97 goals in 153 career games with the Spokane Chiefs. He also tallied three goals in just nine AHL games last year with Iowa.

Before the game I chatted with Brad Bombardir and Matt Hendricks who head up the Wild's player development department and they said they didn't want Beckman to pass up any opportunities to shoot the puck ... that essentially, he needed to use his skill set in the offensive zone. Well, Beckman did just that, accounting for the entirety of Minnesota's goal scoring in the game in what was an impressive preseason debut for the 2019 third-round draft pick.
3. Boldy and Rossi make their (exhibition) debuts
There's a good chance that Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi are staples on the Wild roster for years to come. Tonight, albeit in a preseason setting, they got their first taste of NHL action.
The two played together on a line, with Jordan Greenway complementing the 2019 and 2020 first-round selections. And although neither found the scoresheet, it was a great opportunity for Boldy and Rossi to get a feel for the speed of NHL action.
Both prospects were involved in a couple of offensive zone sequences and neither looked overmatched with the pace of play. That's a good sign and hopefully it serves as a building block for the rest of training camp.