Wild’s Defensive Struggles Overshadow Power Play Success

The Minnesota Wild were back in action this past week after having the previous week off for the All-Star Break. Despite the added rest, their return wasn’t easy, they played four games and started it off with three consecutive losses but snuck out a win in the final game. They dropped their two road games against the Arizona Coyotes and Dallas Stars along with their first home game of the week against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Wild took on the New Jersey Devils also on home ice for the final game of the week and they surprised everyone by pulling out a shootout win. They were in a must-win situation and their team stepped up in a big way. However, their disappointing play early in the week can’t be overlooked and it’s important to see what players stepped up and what players didn’t throughout the week.

Wild’s Power-Play Success Continues

The top three players on the Wild’s scoresheet all belong to their first power-play unit, which has been quite successful this season. In the last 10 games, they’ve scored a power-play goal in eight of those games and Kirill Kaprizov leads the team with 14 goals. Right behind him is Joel Eriksson Ek who’s been tearing it up, and in their win over the Devils, he scored his 10th power-play goal of the season.

Even in the Wild’s losses, their power play did what it could to step up and try to win the game. They’re currently on a three-game streak of power-play goals and two of those three belonged to Eriksson Ek with the other going to Kaprizov. Mats Zuccarello rounded out the top three players on the power play where he picked up two power-play points this past week, both of them being assists.

Now that the Wild finally pulled themselves out of their losing slump, hopefully, their power play can keep up its success. The only thing that could hold them back is if their defense falls back into bad habits like they did early this week, but hopefully, they’ve learned from their mistakes.

Wild’s Defensive Failures

This last week showcased the weaknesses in the Wild’s defense, which used to be known as one of the best in the NHL. With Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin leading the defensive core, it’s unusual to see them allow their opponents in behind them. However, that’s how most of the opposition’s goals were scored in their recent losses. While it’s unclear why they started to struggle, one thing was for sure; it got worse when Brodin was out of the lineup with an injury.

With Brodin out, it was expected that Spurgeon would raise his game even more to help pick up the slack. Unfortunately, he hit a slump at the same time Brodin was injured and the defense followed his path. Prior to the All-Star Break Spurgeon had found a way to record points off and on in smaller increments, but after the break that came to a screeching halt.

While the damage had been done early in the week when Brodin re-entered the lineup for their game against the Devils, their problems disappeared and they were a strong defense once again. Hopefully, now that Brodin is back, things will stay on the right track.

Wild’s Week Ahead

The Wild found their strength at the right time as they’ll have another four-game week against the Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, and the Nashville Predators. Luckily they’ll be staying at home for the next week and now that the crowd has seen a win, they’ll be loud and proud.

The Wild’s defense will need that encouragement as they’ll face top scorers like Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe, Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Joe Pavelski, Roman Josi, Filip Forsberg, and Matt Duchene. The Wild’s offense will be relying on that same encouragement as well to find ways to score on the Panthers’ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the Avalanche’s Alexandar Georgiev, the Stars’ Jake Oettinger or Scott Wedgewood, and the Predators’ Juuse Saros.

The Wild’s win over the Devils is easily the most important win they’ve had so far this season and will potentially be known as the biggest turning point as well. They were at a point where their losses looked like they were going to keep happening and the team was spiraling. However, with the help of Brodin, they pulled it together and looked like a playoff-level team. Hopefully, they can continue to ride that high and record more wins this upcoming week.