The Minnesota Wild came home to face the Dallas Stars for Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night on Sunday, Nov. 12, following a disappointing end to a road trip that had started strong. This was the first meeting against their division rival, who knocked them out of the postseason last year, and the final game before the Wild take off to Sweden for eight days.
It feels like the Wild have given up the first goal to their opponent in every game they’ve played this season, and it was no different against the Stars. They took an early penalty, and it took the Stars seconds to score on their power play. However, their special teams continued to shine as they scored while shorthanded to put themselves up 2-0.
The Wild did show some life with their own goal, but the Stars responded again to make it 3-1. Not to be outdone, the Wild scored again with under a minute left to make it 3-2 to end the period. When they came back in the second, they gave the Stars another power play, and again, they found a way to score to take a two-goal lead. The Stars kept their foot on the gas and added another goal 10 minutes later to extend their lead to three goals.
Not all hope was gone for the Wild just yet, as they added a goal to get back within two and give themselves some motivation to climb back into the game. The third period started, and the Stars showed their strength by adding three more goals for the 8-3 victory. When eight goals are scored against you, there’s more than one problem going on, and the first was the Wild’s penalty kill or lack thereof.
Wild’s Dreadful Penalty Kill
The first thing that comes to mind when listing what went wrong in the Wild’s loss was their penalty kill. They allowed five power-play goals out of eight opportunities for a dismal 37.5 percent. Despite being out of position for most of the game, they found a way to kill off three of those eight penalties, so there’s a tiny glimmer of hope for the future.
What’s more disappointing than their penalty kill was their lack of discipline. They opened the game with a penalty, which automatically led to a Stars goal, just like it did in last season’s first round of the playoffs. The Wild should’ve known they needed to do everything possible to avoid giving the Stars a power play.
Of course, that’s easier to say than do, and sometimes there are unavoidable situations, but then the penalty kill has to step up. Their penalty kill should’ve been prepared and at its best when facing the Stars, as they knew how strong the man advantage would be. There’s no excuse for how disappointing the Wild’s penalty kill has been, and they have to turn it around quickly, or their season will go with it.
Wild’s Lack of Faceoff Wins
Like finding that perfect number-one center candidate, the Wild’s faceoff win percentage has been evading them all season. Against the Stars, they only won 34.9 percent of their faceoffs, which came to 22 wins out of 63 faceoff chances. Just like a strong penalty kill can change a game, so can winning a faceoff.
Getting a faceoff win on either a power play or penalty kill can put your team in a great position to do what they need to, while a loss can do the opposite. The Wild have players who can win faceoffs, but for some reason, they don’t. Joel Eriksson Ek, who’s easily the Wild’s most vital center, won 52.6 percent of his faceoffs and was one of the only solid performers they had as he won faceoffs and tried to do what he could everywhere else.
Unfortunately for Eriksson Ek, while he may have been doing his best, that often gets overlooked when most of the team is struggling. Hopefully, he can be a beacon of hope and help get his team back on track as they head to his home country of Sweden.
Wild Need More
No one would argue that the Wild must get better in almost every area if they want to start winning games. Their penalty kill, power play, and faceoffs all need to improve, but so does the play of Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. The list could go on, but those are the main culprits. These guys are supposed to be the Wild’s go-to guys when they need an offensive or general morale boost.
Both Kaprizov and Boldy should be producing more offensively and stop turning over the puck. Kaprizov is currently averaging nearly a point per game, which sounds great, but things need to change when he’s turning the puck over as often as he’s registering points. He’s still the best offensive talent the Wild have; he needs some sort of re-set to get things going in the right direction again.
Boldly has earned some slack due to his recent injury, but the Wild are counting on him to help offensively. He’s struggled quite a bit lately, but some promising plays happened, so he’s trending in the right direction.
Evason:"We need more from a lot of guys. I’m not going to call out a lot of guys in front of you guys, but there’s some guys that sucked tonight.”
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 13, 2023
Esp top guys like Kaprizov/Boldy?
"100 percent. We get paid a lot of money to coach, to play, that you gotta get the job done…
The main thing the Wild’s offense has to do is stop chasing the puck and start controlling it. They consistently are in too much of a hurry to pass the puck, and that causes them to turn it over often rather than holding it a second or two longer to ensure the pass gets to its destination without being picked off. If they start slowing down just a bit, they can hold the puck longer and not turn it over as often.
Wild Head to Sweden
The Wild won’t play again until Saturday, Nov. 18, when they take on the Ottawa Senators in their first game of the Global Series. They’ll be in another back-to-back situation as they’ll also take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, Nov. 19. Unfortunately for Wild fans, if you’re not a morning person, you’ll have to be for these games with the time difference as Saturday’s game is at 10 am central time and Sunday’s game is even earlier at 7 am central time.
Related: Wild’s Bad Habits Cost Them in Loss to Rangers
While the Wild’s Swedish-born players will show their teammates around their home country, they’ll also need to focus on their issues and devise ways to fix them. This may be the perfect chance to start fresh, as they can change things up a little regarding routines and scenery. Hopefully, this trip will provide the jumpstart the Wild desperately need to get their season back on track.
