The Minnesota Wild played host to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday evening, Feb. 25, after just seeing them on the road on Saturday, Feb. 22. The Wild were behind early in that game but mounted a comeback to take the win. They were looking to keep their win streak alive against the Red Wings, but they had to do it without not only Kirill Kaprizov but Joel Eriksson Ek as well. Eriksson Ek was put on injured reserve due to a lower-body injury that happened on Monday and the news came out Tuesday prior to their game against the Red Wings.
Filip Gustavsson was back in net for the Wild after being in the 4 Nations Face-Off, and he was the backup on Saturday. The game started out in favor of the Wild, but then the Red Wings stormed back to tie the game, and it took the third period to determine a winner. The Red Wings pulled ahead and took the 3-2 win. In this article, we’ll look at how it wasn’t a bad game for the Wild, but there is one thing they struggled with, and that’s consistency.
Wild Have to Be Consistent
The Wild actually had a decent game. While they did drop a two-goal lead, it wasn’t because of their bad play. Both teams played a tight, aggressive game, and although the Wild looked like they controlled most of the game, their slight lapses in consistent play cost them. They have to stick to their game plan and play like they did throughout the first period.
When the Wild started to struggle on and off earlier in the season, their passes weren’t connecting, and overall, their handling of the puck wasn’t great. Against the Red Wings, they weren’t 100 percent like at the beginning of the season, but they were closer. The biggest difference was that even when they lost the puck, they got it back, and they didn’t just let up. If they made a mistake, one of their teammates was there to clean it up, but it didn’t stay through the whole game, and that’s something they know they need to fix.
“…obviously we see the pattern of the goals we scored and we just didn’t stick with it so we need to be more hard in front of both nets and stuck with our game plan because it just kind of drifted away a little bit in the second and the third with trying to, we were banging on a closed door so wasn’t our best game in general,” said Jakub Lauko about their overall performance.
Wild Focusing on Rebounds
Most of this season the Wild have been missing out on rebounds and thus scoring chances. However in the final few games before break and now after the break they’ve been focusing on jumping on rebounds and it’s benefitted them. They’ve had players plant themselves in front of the net and wait to try and tip in shots, something they need to do more of the rest of the season.
The Wild did get away from the net as the game went on, and it was easy to see how this affected their scoring chances. Once they got their players back closer to the net, they had some big opportunities that didn’t go their way, but they have to focus on continuing to play that way and try to get rebounds.
“Yeah, we had chances, we could have won the game, just maybe score one more goal, but like I said we just have to keep building it from now on and I think we still play good hockey we just gotta keep going,” said Marco Rossi about how they let go of the two-goal lead but it wasn’t a bad performance overall.
Wild’s Special Teams Making Comeback
The Wild’s power play got things going to start the game, and it was because of the first item mentioned; they had a net-front presence. It wasn’t the prettiest of goals, but it was an earned one as Rossi planted himself out front, just like Eriksson Ek, and he was rewarded for his efforts. That goal gave the Wild the momentum they needed to add a second just a few minutes later and it shows how important being successful on the power play can be.
Related: Wild Need Boldy & Faber to Bring 4 Nations Face-Off Performance Back Home
However, just as the power play is important, so is the penalty kill, and the Wild’s was 100 percent. It was close; the Red Wing’s first goal of the game came a second after the Wild’s penalty ended, but the penalty kill was strong. It was easy to see why it did well, they were more aggressive and forced the Red Wings to lose control. The Wild were also efficient at moving it out of their zone, kept it in the offensive zone as much as they could, and they anticipated their opponent’s moves and it made the difference. They may have lost but it wasn’t because of their special teams and hopefully they can continue this upward trend.
Wild Head on Road
It’s almost March, which means state tournaments are going on in Minnesota, and the Wild are forced out of the Xcel Energy Center at least Wednesday through Saturday. The Wild will head back on the road to face the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday, Feb. 27, for the first of a back-to-back. The next night, Friday, Feb. 28, they’ll face the Colorado Avalanche, also on the road. Hopefully, the Wild can forget about this game, move on, and get back to winning.
