LOS ANGELES — Just savage. Absolutely savage.
Twenty-seven seconds after Brandon Duhaime had his first NHL goal and a two-goal Wild lead erased from the history book because of a reversal due to goalie interference, Ryan Hartman made it crystal clear to Los Angeles Kings lifer Drew Doughty just who had scored to give the Wild that two-goal lead back anyway.
All shift, the Kings’ big defenseman got preoccupied with the Wild agitator by hacking, whacking and holding him. Despite having Doughty in his grill, Hartman decided to play on, Doughty decided to stop chasing Hartman, then seemingly got lost and had his back to Hartman when Marcus Foligno fed Hartman with a pretty pass for a prettier goal and the eventual game winner.
It was a wonderful response to the disappointment of Duhaime’s milestone being wiped off the board, and naturally Hartman let Doughty know all about it.
That was just one of the fun moments during Minnesota’s 3-2 win over the Kings as they opened up the 2021-22 season with a 2-0 record thanks to back-to-back rallies from one-goal deficits.
“That’s just the emotion of battling,” Hartman said of his euphoric gesture toward Doughty. “That’s the type of hockey our line especially but our team brings. That energy and that excitement kind of boiled over.
