Game Recap: VAN 2, MIN 5, April 2, 2026

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Game Recap

VAN2

FinalThu, Apr 2, 2026Every game that night

MIN5

MIN beat VAN 5-2, with the chances close: 3.70 expected goals to 3.14. M. Boldy led the way with 3 points (2 G, 1 A). J. DeBrusk had 5 shots on goal against our projection of 2.1. F. Gustavsson stopped 30 of 32.

Team Stats

VANMIN

32Shots on goal39

3.14Expected goals3.70

65Shot attempts63

255v5 shots on goal36

1/2Power play0/2

22Hits16

11Blocked shots20

4Penalty minutes4

16Giveaways18

4Takeaways2

Expected goals: the chance each unblocked shot had of going in, by our model, added up.

Expected Goals Over the Game

VAN 3.14 xGMIN 3.70 xGGoal

Each step up is a shot: how likely it was to go in. A team well above the other had the better chances, whatever the score.

Shot Map

VAN33 on goal, 2 scored

MIN38 on goal, 4 scored

GoalSavedMissedBlockedBigger: a better chance

Box Score

VAN Skaters

Player	Pos	G	A	P	SOG	HIT	BLK	+/-	PIM	TOI	PP TOI
E. Pettersson	C	0	1	1	1	2	1	-2	0	18:07	2:00
T. Blueger	C	0	1	1	3	3	0	0	0	16:51	0:00
J. DeBrusk	LW	1	0	1	5	1	0	-2	0	15:44	1:19
M. Sasson	C	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	13:30	0:00
B. Boeser	RW	0	0	0	3	0	0	-3	0	19:46	2:01
M. Rossi	C	0	0	0	3	1	0	-3	0	17:35	1:57
L. Karlsson	C	0	0	0	3	1	0	-1	0	17:09	0:33
D. O'Connor	LW	0	0	0	2	0	0	-2	2	15:53	1:21
L. Ohgren	LW	0	0	0	0	1	0	-1	0	15:19	0:34
A. Räty	C	0	0	0	1	4	0	-1	0	12:03	0:00
T. Mueller	C	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	9:55	0:00
C. Douglas	C	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	8:44	0:00
F. Hronek	D	0	1	1	4	0	0	-3	0	26:49	2:10
T. Willander	D	1	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	22:48	0:35
M. Pettersson	D	0	0	0	2	1	5	-1	0	23:09	0:00
Z. Buium	D	0	0	0	1	3	1	0	0	23:01	0:25
E. Pettersson	D	0	0	0	0	1	0	-2	0	11:28	0:00
P. Joseph	D	0	0	0	1	2	1	-1	2	10:52	0:00

Goalie	SA	SV	GA	SV%	TOI
N. Tolopilo	38	34	4	.895	57:17	Loss
K. Lankinen	0	0	0	–	0:00

MIN Skaters

Player	Pos	G	A	P	SOG	HIT	BLK	+/-	PIM	TOI	PP TOI
M. Boldy	LW	2	1	3	6	0	2	+3	0	15:45	2:50
M. Zuccarello	RW	0	2	2	3	0	1	+2	0	20:02	2:50
K. Kaprizov	LW	1	1	2	5	1	0	+3	0	19:45	2:50
R. Hartman	RW	2	0	2	5	0	1	+2	0	18:30	0:27
J. Eriksson Ek	C	0	1	1	1	3	0	+2	2	15:56	2:50
M. Johansson	LW	0	1	1	1	0	0	+2	0	11:13	0:27
V. Tarasenko	RW	0	0	0	2	1	1	-1	0	14:44	0:27
B. Brink	RW	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	13:09	0:27
M. Foligno	LW	0	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	13:06	0:00
D. Yurov	RW	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	12:53	0:00
M. McCarron	C	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	12:43	0:00
Y. Trenin	C	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	11:57	0:00
Q. Hughes	D	0	1	1	4	0	2	+4	2	24:48	2:50
B. Faber	D	0	0	0	3	2	0	+3	0	23:08	0:27
J. Middleton	D	0	0	0	0	0	2	+1	0	18:54	0:00
J. Spurgeon	D	0	0	0	0	0	1	-1	0	17:22	0:00
J. Brodin	D	0	0	0	2	0	2	-1	0	16:30	0:00
Z. Bogosian	D	0	0	0	1	1	3	+2	0	16:17	0:00

Goalie	SA	SV	GA	SV%	TOI
F. Gustavsson	32	30	2	.938	60:00	Win
J. Wallstedt	0	0	0	–	0:00

Lines at 5-on-5

VAN

Line 1J. DeBrusk13:25L. Ohgren14:08E. Pettersson12:33

Line 2T. Blueger13:42L. Karlsson16:25M. Sasson12:54

Line 3B. Boeser14:10M. Rossi13:06D. O'Connor13:49

Line 4T. Mueller9:55C. Douglas8:44A. Räty8:41

Pair 1M. Pettersson21:51T. Willander20:45

Pair 2Z. Buium19:37F. Hronek19:24

Pair 3P. Joseph10:52E. Pettersson9:29

MIN

Line 1M. Zuccarello16:19K. Kaprizov15:48R. Hartman16:08

Line 2V. Tarasenko12:48B. Brink12:42D. Yurov12:12

Line 3M. Foligno10:59Y. Trenin10:31M. McCarron10:33

Line 4J. Ek11:50M. Boldy11:15M. Johansson10:46

Pair 1Q. Hughes21:38B. Faber19:56

Pair 2Z. Bogosian15:14J. Middleton15:29

Pair 3J. Brodin14:16J. Spurgeon15:06

From the NHL's shift charts: the players on the ice together most at 5-on-5, with each one's own 5-on-5 time.

Storylines That Played Out

Old teamMarco Rossi VAN Faces MIN, his team until Nov 20253 SOG
Old teamQuinn Hughes MIN Faces VAN, his team until Dec 20251 A, 4 SOG
Old teamZeev Buium VAN Faces MIN, his team until Dec 20251 SOG
HometownBrock Boeser VAN Plays near home (born in Burnsville)3 SOG

As Tonight had them before puck drop, with what each player did.

How We Did

	We projected	It finished
Score	VAN 2.6, MIN 3.9	VAN 2, MIN 5
Total goals	6.6	7
Shots on goal	VAN 25.3, MIN 32.3	VAN 32, MIN 39
Win chance	MIN 70%	MIN won

Players

Player	SOG projected	SOG	Points projected	Points	Goal chance	Goals
MIN K. Kaprizov	3.4	5	1.40	2	46%	1
MIN M. Boldy	3.3	6	1.18	3	37%	2
MIN J. Ek	2.8	1	0.84	1	29%	0
MIN Q. Hughes	2.6	4	1.39	1	17%	0
MIN R. Hartman	2.4	5	0.66	2	25%	2
MIN M. Zuccarello	2.2	3	0.96	2	25%	0
VAN J. DeBrusk	2.1	5	0.44	1	21%	1
MIN V. Tarasenko	2.1	2	0.71	0	26%	0
VAN B. Boeser	2.1	3	0.58	0	26%	0
MIN B. Faber	2.0	3	0.63	0	14%	0
VAN D. O'Connor	1.8	2	0.37	0	17%	0
VAN F. Hronek	1.7	4	0.54	1	9%	0
VAN L. Karlsson	1.7	3	0.44	0	17%	0
VAN L. Ohgren	1.7	0	0.31	0	14%	0
VAN E. Pettersson	1.7	1	0.62	1	22%	0
VAN T. Blueger	1.5	3	0.37	1	13%	0
MIN B. Brink	1.4	0	0.52	0	18%	0
VAN M. Rossi	1.3	3	0.52	0	19%	0
MIN M. Johansson	1.3	1	0.56	1	16%	0
MIN M. McCarron	1.2	1	0.26	0	11%	0
MIN J. Spurgeon	1.2	0	0.40	0	10%	0
MIN Y. Trenin	1.2	4	0.30	0	13%	0
MIN M. Foligno	1.2	0	0.36	0	16%	0
MIN J. Brodin	1.1	2	0.34	0	7%	0
MIN D. Yurov	1.1	1	0.44	0	16%	0
VAN T. Willander	1.0	2	0.31	1	6%	1
VAN M. Sasson	1.0	0	0.26	1	14%	0
VAN M. Pettersson	1.0	2	0.28	0	4%	0
VAN Z. Buium	1.0	1	0.29	0	6%	0
VAN A. Räty	0.9	1	0.22	0	11%	0
MIN J. Middleton	0.9	0	0.26	0	6%	0
VAN E. Pettersson	0.8	0	0.14	0	4%	0
VAN P. Joseph	0.8	1	0.14	0	3%	0
VAN C. Douglas	0.8	1	0.07	0	4%	0
MIN Z. Bogosian	0.7	1	0.20	0	5%	0

Shots on goal: 17 of 35 players within one of their projection; they took 0.5 more than projected on average.

Our projections as they stood at puck drop. One game says little about a model; Model Notes has how it tests over thousands.