Ryan Reaves sets tone with big hit as Wild beat Red Wings

Ryan Reaves spotted Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek with his head down Wednesday night at Xcel Energy Center and promptly vaporized him with a thunderous body check in open ice.

As soon as he made contact, Reaves dropped his gloves, figuring he’d have to answer the bell.

The only issue? Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman wanted no part of that fight, and Reaves glided back to the bench unscathed.

That set the tone, and the Wild imposed their will the rest of the way en route to a 4-1 win. Freddy Gaudreau, Matt Dumba and Mats Zuccarello scored the goals for the Wild, and Filip Gustavsson finished with 16 saves between the pipes.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings came completely unglued, seeming more concerned with getting back at Reaves than actually playing the game.

They finally got a piece of Reaves midway through the game when Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot challenged him following a big hit along the boards. It wasn’t much of a fight, as Reaves clobbered Chiarot with a haymaker, then pointed to his bicep as he skated to the penalty box.

At that point, the Wild were already up 1-0, pulling ahead on a goal from Gaudreau late in the first period. That marked back-to-back games with a goal for Gaudreau as he continues to find his scoring touch.

The lead grew midway through the second period as Dumba ripped a shot top shelf to make it 2-0. He pointed directly at Jordan Greenway after scoring the goal, praising him for a spinning pass from along the boards.

With the Wild dominating play, Red Wings winger Elmer Soderblom found a way to cut the deficit to 2-1 late in the second period. That snapped Gustavsson’s shutout streak at 112 minutes, 40 seconds.

On the ensuing shift — 16 seconds later to be exact — Mats Zuccarello found the back of the net while falling down to restore the lead to 3-1. That simultaneously helped the Wild get back on track and sucked the life out of the Red Wings.

There wasn’t much juice in the third period as the Wild locked it down in front of Gustavsson with the Red Wings applying minimal pressure.

In the final minutes, Reaves nearly put the exclamation point on the win with an empty-net goal. He narrowly missed the net, and Gaudreau finalized the score at 4-1 about a minute later.

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