The Minnesota Wild have had an unbelievable season, one of their best yet, even with injuries happening on and off since the start of the season. They’ve managed to find a way through until recently, when it seems like the injuries are finally catching up. Regardless, they’re still playing strong and have a record of 20-8-4, still one of the best in the league.
Their last two games were losses to the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers, both very strong teams, respectively. The Wild were with the Golden Knights basically the whole game, and they had strong bursts against the Panthers but didn’t seem to be on the same page. In this article, we’ll examine the team’s expectations for getting through this rough spot without key players. We’ll start with how their expectations haven’t changed regardless of injuries.
Wild’s Expectations High
At the beginning of the season, the Wild set high expectations because they knew they could do it. They have talented players capable of scoring goals and winning games as a team. Following their loss to the Panthers, all three players available to the media after the game had the same answer to whether it’s fair to expect the same winning mentality from a team now struck with injuries.
“It is, you know obviously they’re big pieces of our team, right? But I think throughout the season we’ve been missing guys and found ways to win games, and I think we have enough in the lockerroom in guys going in, we have enough to win games; the injuries can’t be an excuse,” Marc-André Fleury said to the media in his postgame availability on Wednesday evening.
While some teams will lean on the fact that their roster is full of injuries, and that’s a fair reason to struggle. The Wild fully believe in everyone they put on their roster, including the players they bring up from the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League, so they expect them to fill in and help win games when necessary.
“I mean, that’s part of it, that’s part of sports. You never want to see anyone get injured, but collectively, as a group, we have to go through it… I mean, almost every team goes through it; there’s ups and downs of the season, we’re in a grind right now. We’re trying to continue to climb, and that’s the way it goes sometimes, but certainly miss the guys that are out, a huge part of our team,” Zach Bogosian said to the same question about expectations in his postgame interview.
Wild Need Team Game
At the start of the season, it was clear that head coach John Hynes instilled a strong sense of a “team first” mentality, and whether they win or lose, they’ll do it as a team. While they rely on players like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Mats Zuccarello, and Marco Rossi to pick up the scoring, they win games as a team. They can score goals but also need to defend them, which means a full team game from end to end.
When the Wild struggled this season, it was because they hadn’t played their normal game style. They’ve proven to be a disciplined team that plays “business-like,” meaning they don’t get distracted or frustrated easily.
They’ve allowed themselves to stray from that “business-like” attitude in the games they’ve lost, and in every one of those losses, they also took at least two penalties. With the penalty kill issues they’ve faced this season, their efforts to stay out of the box were effective, but if they’re going to take penalties, they need to find a way to stop goals while shorthanded.
“….We need a complete team effort with everybody playing to their max capabilities and then you play with strong structure, and right now, I think coming into Friday, we’ve got to get a team to play at max capacity on Friday night. That’s how we’re going to win the game, and that’s what the focus is, and we can do that but we’ve got from now to then to get us ready for that.” Hynes said what he expects from his team during his postgame press conference.
Wild Need to Reset
One of the other items that Hynes addressed during his press conference was the need for a reset. The team worked hard in their practice sessions, so they took the snowy Thursday off to give them a chance to have a physical and mental break. While these players are professionals and are used to being pushed to the brink their bodies can go to and pushing it even further; breaks are also necessary.
Having a day to mentally reset and get back to that winning mentality, no matter who is in the lineup, is hopefully exactly what the Wild needed. This team has proven they can come back in rough times, and this is one of those times when they will show what kind of team they are.
Related: Panthers Take Down Wild 6-1
“Yeah, I mean, it’s not always easy when you’re missing key guys; we know we have to step up, but with the puck bounces not going our way right now but we just have to keep going and gotta be ready for Friday now,” Marco Rossi said it best in his postgame interview.
Wild Face Utah
Several of the Wild’s players who are out due to injury are making progress and getting closer to returning. This type of adversity the Wild are facing is something almost every team has to go through, and oftentimes, it separates the really good teams from the good teams. Hopefully, the Wild can return to their game style and prove they are one of the really good teams with a win over the Utah Hockey Club on Friday, Dec. 20.
