The Minnesota Wild have had a very rough start to their season despite having a strong win on opening night; wins have been hard to come by since then. When teams get into funks like this, it can be very difficult to find a way out, especially when they start to focus more on the negative than on the positive. The Wild have been trying to do the best of both, accepting the negatives of their game while focusing on the positives, but it’s clearly been a struggle.
Losing eight out of their first 11 games is a difficult way to start a season, and it’s hard to get back on the right track when it feels like all they have been doing is losing. However, if they want to get out of this slump, they have to find a way to embrace both sides and use them to their advantage. In this article, we’ll take a look at how both the negatives and positives can help their game and keep a good mindset, starting with the negative pieces of their game.
Wild’s Faber Expects the Best
Any Wild fan who’s watched Brock Faber play knows he’s an outstanding player. When he first started, it was hard to believe he was a rookie with how strong his confidence level was; it seemed like nothing could shake him. As he’s played more games and continued to become comfortable, he’s shown some signs of growing pains, which is normal, as he’s only 23 years old, which is still quite young.
Every player in that locker room expects the best out of themselves and their teammates, but some are harder on themselves than others, and Faber is one of those players who is quite hard on himself. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team, and when he makes a mistake, he makes a mental note of it.
“So frustrating, I mean I’m better than this, I know I am….I thought I had opportunities to play a solid game, and I just gotta kinda go back to square one. I gotta defend better, I gotta limit my turnovers, and I gotta let the game come to me. I think everyone’s got their own thing that they need to do better, and for me specifically, that’s what I need to do right now to help this team get out of this is like I said, the two things, eliminate turnovers, defending harder, and you know what, if they still score. I can look myself in the mirror knowing I did everything I could,” said Faber when he was asked if he was beating himself up despite having a decent night after one of their rough losses.
Noticing the negative is a good thing because teams need to be aware of what they’re doing wrong so they can fix it. However, there’s a healthy balance of both, and this team is currently straying into the too-negative side, and Faber made a point that he needs to remain positive as well.
“So I gotta be better at that, I gotta stay more positive, I know that, and like I said, it’s just on to the next and we gotta keep our heads up, it’s a long game.” Faber continued on what he needs to do better in his game. Although Faber is on the younger side, he’s one of the leaders on the defense, and players will look to his example.
Wild Need Positivity
Many out there are probably wondering how it could be possible for the Wild to find anything positive when they’ve lost so many games to start the season. While there are a lot of negative things, they can’t continue to focus on those things, or they’ll never get out of this losing slump. Do they need to fix those things? Of course, they do, but doing so with a negative mindset isn’t going to help anyone.
They don’t need to be jumping for joy at every little success, either, but they need to keep the smiles on their faces and enjoy the game for what it is. They need to try to find a way to focus on some of the good, and the rest will come. They can keep trying to fix what’s not working, but they can do so with a positive attitude. If they believe they can turn a corner, then they will, rather than focusing on how many games they’ve lost or how many things have gone wrong.
“If you want to try take some positive out, we battled back multiple times from being down by two…,” Ryan Hartman said following their loss to the San Jose Sharks, where they came back twice from being down but lost in overtime.
They didn’t want to be down in the first place, but the fact that they can bounce back and get themselves into the game is a positive. Some teams can’t get themselves back into games, and that’s something the Wild needs to build on. Yes, they get behind early, but they can score goals and force their way back in. They just need to figure out how to use that to get ahead and keep it going.
Wild Need to Combine Negative & Positive
Focusing on the negative allows the Wild to hone in on the mistakes that have led to their recent losses, whether it be turnovers, lost faceoffs, mix-ups on defense, injuries, etc. Clearly, they have things to fix, and they need to find a way to come out with new energy and step in their game. However, they can’t forget about the positive things that have happened in this short season that have allowed them to get wins.
They’ve managed to win three games, all in different ways. The first was a 5-0 shutout over the St. Louis Blues to open the season, when it looked like they’d be unstoppable, just like the start to last season. Then they hit some losses, and their next win was a shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings with Jesper Wallstedt in net, who faced some difficulty after the team gave up a 3-0 lead, only for him to stand strong in both overtime and the shootout.
Finally, their most recent win came over the New York Rangers when they got down early but found a way to get the lead and kept it. There are positives in those games, like their power play scoring, their not-give-up attitude, and different players shining. They can use both of these mindsets to combine and find wins.
“Yeah, I think it’s a combination. The guys had a day off yesterday, we spent a lot of time as coaches going through some things and finding some solutions. We had a good meeting this morning, showed some areas that we feel can be improved, and areas that make us a good team, but that are lacking a little bit right now… I feel like our group, we know we’ve played some good hockey, we have to be a little bit more consistent, but I think it’s the leaders of the team, it’s also the coaches. You gotta work together, where we work to provide some solutions, and some answers, and some direction of what we need to do better, and I think we’ll be better tonight,” said head coach John Hynes ahead of their game against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night, Oct. 28, which ended up being an overtime loss.
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While the Wild have had a rough go of it, that doesn’t mean they are bound to lose every game the rest of the season. There are things they need to fix, and they are aware of that, but they also need to be aware of the positives of their game. There’s a healthy balance of negative and positive, and once they find it, hopefully their game will improve as well as their place in the standings.
