The Minnesota Wild faced the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, Oct. 26, to finish out their home back-to-back. Marcus Foligno was added to their injury list with an upper-body injury that he sustained in their loss to the Utah Mammoth the day before. The rest of the injuries remained the same, and Jesper Wallstedt was in the net.
The Wild found themselves down once again, but they fought back twice throughout the game, and once again, it looked like they could come out on top. They forced overtime and controlled the puck for most of it until a breakaway won it for the Sharks 6-5. In this article, we’ll look at a few takeaways from the loss, starting with the negative first and ending with some positives.
Wild Need Better Opening Starts
It’s clear the Wild are in a bad place right now; they’ve struggled to get things going both offensively and defensively. There are quite a few things that need to be fixed if they want to get this season back on track before it’s too late. The first is that they need better opening periods. Although they did tie the game against the Sharks towards the end of the first period, they shouldn’t get themselves in that position in the first place.
Obviously, they’re not going to score first in every game, but they need to have more energy and jump in their step. While it’s hard to do that when they’re in a slump and it’s likely on their minds quite often, they have to be able to put that behind them and focus on the present. They can’t do anything about games in the past, but they can do better for games in the future.
If they can get on the board first, it’ll help get that mindset where it needs to be to come out with the win. While they have given up leads this season, they have also been behind a lot, too. If they want to start winning, they need to get on the board first and preferably in the first period.
Wild Are Trying Too Hard
Aside from needing better opening periods, one of the other issues is that they’re trying too hard. Every player on the team wants to win, and they’re trying to win, but they’re doing too much. They’re getting to the point where they’re trying to force their play, and it’s forcing mistakes the other way. Again, it’s great that they want to win that badly, and they need to all be trying as hard as possible, but they need to take a step back and focus on the simple parts of the game. Get possession, make the pass, move the puck, and get the shot.
There’s no need to be doing what felt like 100 passes in the duration of overtime before the Sharks scored. It was easy to see what they were trying to do; they were looking for that open lane, but sometimes they need to be aggressive and force the lane to open for them or draw a penalty while trying. There is the risk of losing the puck, but that’s why they have a defenseman on the ice with them.
“I think yeah, when things are tough like this, things don’t feel like they’re going your way any night. It’s like everyone’s gripping the stick a little differently. We got a group of guys that has the right intentions, every single guy on this team wants to win, every single guy on this team is sacrificing, doing whatever they can to win, and it’s just not working out, and sometimes when you’re playing that desperate. I don’t want to make a mistake, sometimes that causes you to make mistakes. I think that’s definitely something to do with it. Like I said, we got a point tonight and we’re going to keep working,” said Brock Faber when asked if it felt like they were giving goals away following the loss.
Wild’s Power Play Tries to Save Them
The Wild found themselves in a hole once again, but this time their power play was able to give them some life to climb back in. It was Marcus Johansson who got the Wild on the board with the first power play goal, and it was his third straight goal of the weekend. He gave his team the energy boost they needed to come out and score again, 32 seconds later, to tie the game 2-2.
They found themselves down again going into the third period, and the power play jumped into action to get things going. This time, it was Ryan Hartman who got the goal on the man advantage. He had been a workhorse all night long, and he was rewarded for his efforts. That goal got them back within one and breathed life back into a very quiet arena.
The power play couldn’t quite win the game for them, but it was one of the bright spots the Wild needed to have a chance in this game after getting down early. They can’t count on it to save them every night, but it’s helpful that they can count on it when they need it the most. Even if they didn’t get the win against the Sharks, they know they can score on it.
Wild Held On & Working the Tips
The Wild started from behind once again, and while that’s not a bright spot, their fight to get back in the game was. It wasn’t pretty by any means. At times, it looked like they were really struggling against themselves, but all it took was one goal to get them back on track. It didn’t last as they had to do it again later in the game, but they proved they won’t give up entirely when they’re behind.
While it seems like things are doom and gloom right now for the Wild, it is only 10 games in to an 82-game season. They have time, but not much time. They did get a point, which in the long run for the postseason is a good thing, but they have to tighten up and start getting wins. They have the talent, and they can score the goals; they just need to figure out how to get themselves back in that mindset.
“It’s hard right now, but like I said, I think it shows that we keep working and doing our best to crawl into those games for sure,” said Joel Eriksson Ek when asked if the team will focus on how they came back from a deficit twice.
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The other bright spot was how the Wild scored some of those goals. They had someone in front of the net tipping shots, which is how they found some success last season. They figured out that was how they were scoring goals, and they started to try to tip more shots as the game went on. Hopefully, they continue to do so and can get some scoring going their way. They’ll be back at it on Tuesday night, Oct. 28, at home against the Winnipeg Jets, and they’ll need everyone playing their absolute best if they want to get a win over the Jets.
