The Minnesota Wild were busy this past week with four games; the first three were out on the East Coast, and they wrapped up the week at home before heading overseas for the Global Series in Sweden. It appeared they would turn things around with an early win over the New York Islanders, but it all fell apart as the week went on.
They lost to the New York Rangers after beating them just a week earlier; then they faced the Buffalo Sabres, where they had outstanding special teams but lost their second in a row. For their third and final game, they faced the Dallas Stars and lost 8-3. Unfortunately, they couldn’t finish on a high note before leaving for a week, but despite all the bad, there was some good, and that’s where we’ll start.
Wild’s Small Production Levels
The Wild still needs more production from star players like Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, but they did lead the way this past week. It may come as a surprise that they were both at the top of the Wild’s offensive production, along with Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello. Kaprizov and Zuccarello had four points, with Kaprizov having two goals and two assists, while Zuccarello had one goal and three assists. The funny thing was they weren’t even on the same line for half the trip but ended up back together in the end, along with Ryan Hartman.
Eriksson Ek and Boldy were on the lower end of things for the week, with three points each. Eriksson Ek registered two goals and one assist for his points, while Boldy had zero goals; all of his points were assists. It was great that they were the top performers, but there is one slight negative about this: they aren’t performing enough.
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One more positive note before going to all the negatives of the past week was Jonas Brodin’s blocked shots. He led the team with 13 through the past four games and led by example. In second place was Dakota Mermis, who joined the team after the Jared Spurgeon and Alex Goligoski injuries, and he’s never left. He stepped up big this past week and blocked nine shots to prove he’s earned his spot on the team even with Spurgeon back.
Wild’s Big Mistakes
This could take up the entire article for how the Wild played this past week, but we’ll try to keep it in check. The first and most significant issue discussed in every article regarding the Wild, no matter where it comes from, is their struggling penalty kill. For a team that used to be one of the best in the league, it’s hard to believe how far they’ve fallen.
They currently sit in last place in the NHL, and unless they make dramatic fixes, they will continue to be in that spot. As we said before, the offensive production from their star players needs to be more, but what needs to improve in that area is their turnovers. Not to pick on Kaprizov, but his turnovers have led directly to goals for the opposing teams, which needs to stop. He’s not the only one, but has been the most obvious. Winning faceoffs, producing more on the power play, taking more shots, the list goes on and on for things the Wild have to fix if they want to start winning games.
Other than Kaprizov flipping the switch on his overall game and most of the team taking a step forward, the goaltending could use a boost. While Marc-André Fleury has been great towards the latter half of games, he has struggled at the start of the last few games to keep the puck out of the net. As the games have progressed, it seems like his play gets better, he’s still letting in goals, but he makes the big saves to keep his team in it.
As for Filip Gustavsson, he’s yet to find his groove other than the very beginning of the season when he put up 41 saves for not only the Wild’s first win in their first game but also a shutout. Following that game, his play went downhill, and obviously, he’s not the only reason the Wild have lost games, but he hasn’t made things easier lately.
Wild’s Week Ahead
The Wild will leave town this week as they head to Sweden for the NHL’s Global Series. They’ll be joined by the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Wild will face both the Senators and Maple Leafs over the weekend, but not the Red Wings. While the Wild won’t be leaving the United States on a good note, hopefully, this will be a fresh start for a team that could use one.
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The Wild’s defense must watch out for Tim Stützle, Claude Giroux, Brady Tkachuk, William Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, and John Tavares. These players have been top scorers for their respective teams, and Nylander specifically has recorded at least a point in every game he’s played this season, a 15-game point streak so far.
The Wild’s offense will also have to be ready when they face the goaltending of either Joonas Korpisalo or Anton Forsberg and either Joseph Woll or Ilya Samsonov. It’ll be interesting to see if the Wild can use this as an opportunity to do some team bonding and sort of hash things out to get themselves on a winning track or if they’ll continue to struggle. Hopefully, this trip will be a great thing, not a distraction, so that the Wild can resurrect their season.
