Wild Lose Focus In the 3rd Period And Fall to the Avalanche 1-0

Wild fans were not exactly surprised at how poorly the team played in its game against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.  A sluggish start, to a vast improvement in the 2nd period to only coast and squander an opportunity at two points in the 3rd.  It was a story fans were treated all too often the last few years and I wouldn’t say the fans were not amused at this development but it was the kind of game that garnered sarcastic chuckles and quips at the team’s expense.  One person who didn’t find any of it funny at all was Wild Head Coach Bruce Boudreau who ridiculed the team’s lack of urgency and effort.

Now the Wild make their way west to play a team that is also hoping to re-establish its identity in the Colorado Avalanche.  With new head coach Jared Bednar, they want to outwork opponents as much as showcase their abundant level of skill up front.  Minnesota is still trying to get healthy, but can they regroup and rally for a big road win after 3 day layoff?

1st Period Thoughts:  Minnesota had a great start to the period, hustling well and playing a simple straight-forward style of game as the peppered Calvin Pickard with shots.  The Wild were taking any opportunity to send shots on goal and looking for rebounds as they crashed the crease.  It didn’t matter what line, the objective was simple, get pucks on goal and hope to get a cheap early goal.  I thought the 4th line of Tyler Graovac, Christoph Bertschy and Nino Niederreiter was pesky and moving their feet well.  The Wild seemed to be a step ahead of Colorado and Minnesota continued to control the pace of play through the first half of the period.  The only Avalanche line that was doing much of anything was Matt Duchene–Nathan MacKinnon line.  Duchene’s best chance was a shot from in close that he rang off the pipe otherwise Devan Dubnyk didn’t see too much work.  Minnesota did have two power plays, but they struggled to get set up and create many prime scoring opportunities.  Part of it was a little passiveness from the point men, part of it was good puck pressure by Colorado who did not give Minnesota much time and space.  Mathew Dumba seems almost afraid to let loose the cannon from the point.  Two people that were not afraid to unleash the slapper from the point were Jonas Brodin and Christian Folin who both had some great blasts in the period.  It will be interesting to see the Wild give these two more of a chance on the man advantage.  Minnesota outshot 15-10.  A good period, but Minnesota cannot ease up against the Avalanche.

2nd Period Thoughts:  The Wild got its first real challenge defensively while still on the power play as a gaffe near the blueline by Mathew Dumba turned into a breakaway for Blake Comeau.  Ryan Suter would give a weak slash to Comeau who got off a shot that was dismissed by Dubnyk before being cross checked into the boards by Dumba.  Both Suter and Dumba would go to the box and Minnesota found itself trying to kill off a long 5-on-3 power play.  Minnesota’s penalty kill was again rock solid, with good puck movement and and working themselves to deny passing lanes they were able to disrupt the Avalanche power play.  Mikko Koivu, Jonas Brodin and Eric Staal were especially solid during the dramatic 1:45 of 5-on-3 power play time.  Whether it was winning the draw or just outworking multiple Avs players for the puck they got it done and I’m sure Dubnyk was appreciative of the effort.  Minnesota would try to go back on the attack and Fedor Tyutin gave the Wild a power play for a lazy interference penalty.  On the man advantage the Wild had some great chances but just couldn’t seem to get the puck to settle in the most crucial moments as Charlie Coyle fanned on a centering pass and Staal was hauled down by MacKinnon to no call on a play in the slot.  The Wild continued to look dangerous as a deflection off a Suter point shot nearly got by Pickard who continued to be a wall.  Minnesota was also guilty of missing a lot of shots high corner, but the Wild kept the offensive pressure on.  The 4th line continued to be pesky as Graovac nearly cashed in on a chance up front but he just couldn’t get it by the leg pad of Pickard.  I thought Jason Pominville had another solid period, moving his feet well and making good things happen each shift.  Shots were even at 12-12.

3rd Period Thoughts:  In the 3rd period the Wild would lose focus and it would prove to be very costly.  It all started with the Wild starting to work for the perfect shot instead of the ‘every shot is a good shot’ mentality that had served to dominate Colorado through the first two periods.  The selectiveness of the Wild forwards meant they often were working harder to generate one shot and then had to spend a lot of time and energy chasing after the puck instead of crashing the net applying pressure offensively.  Give credit to Colorado for recognizing the Wild’s weak mental focus as Gabriel Landeskog would get into a battle with Devan Dubnyk.  Dubnyk started the sequence with a slash to the back of Avalanche captain’s leg and then Landeskog slashed him back and the Wild goalie would get into a shoving match.  Eventually Chris Stewart and the Wild would rally to their goaltenders’ defense.  Minnesota would end up on the penalty kill after this altercation as Dubnyk received both a slashing and a roughing penalty while Landeskog sat just for a lone roughing minor.  Minnesota did a great job on the penalty kill, but it wouldn’t matter as Christoph Bertschy would take a lazy holding the stick penalty just a minute or so after the kill.  With the Wild’s penalty killers still a bit winded, the Avalanche were being given a little more time and space in the offensive one and they’d make full use of it as Mikko Rantanen found Landeskog driving down the slot for a quick shot that beat Dubnyk.  1-0 Avalanche.  As the Wild tried to rally back, the team just didn’t seem to have the legs to really make a good push.  They did have a few golden opportunities as Coyle came close to cashing in but Pickard and the post were able to keep Minnesota at bey.  As the Wild pulled Dubnyk for an extra attacker they thought they had the game-tying goal as a Jared Spurgeon point shot drew a rebound that Staal jammed home.  The goal was immediately waived off as they said Staal interfered with Pickard.  The replay more or less confirmed that conclusion and so it was no surprise when the war room in Toronto responded with a ‘no goal’ call.  Minnesota had a few desperate chances in the closing seconds but it wasn’t enough as they fell 1-0.

Devan Dubnyk was again pretty good, making 31 saves in the loss.  His stop on Nathan MacKinnon in the 3rd was tremendous, but perhaps it was his choice to get into a fracas with the Avalanche captain that kind of served to make his team lose focus.  The team had to kill off Dubnyk’s extra penalty and then was gassed when it had to kill off another shortly after that.  I thought Minnesota’s defense actually played pretty well.  Jonas Brodin, Christian Folin, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon all played well.  Mathew Dumba was not the best, making some lazy passes that kind of put his team in vulnerable spots.  It was Dumba’s poor choice that created that breakaway and then his decision to cross check Comeau after the breakaway stop that gave Colorado a 5-on-3 power play.  He’s got to be better, especially if he’s going to be Suter’s defensive partner.

Offensively the Wild certainly didn’t get the job done, but I felt in the 1st and 2nd they were doing the right things.  That being, keeping it simple and sending as many shots as they could get on Pickard.  Coyle probably deserved at least 1 or 2 tallies tonight, but the Avalanche were able to get back into the game when the Wild became its own worst enemy by passing up shooting opportunities.

I saw a lot of discussion Twitter where people were blaming the officiating.  On the Staal no goal, it was Staal who pushed Erik Johnson into Pickard pushing him way out of position and thus too far away to stop him on his rebound bid.  The benefit of the doubt is always going to go to the goalie in that situation.  The Wild had more than enough chances to win this game, and I think its foolish to blame officials for the outcome.  Now the Wild have until Thursday to think about this one and hopefully they learn from their mistakes.

Wild Notes:

~ The Wild roster this afternoon was as follows: Eric Staal, Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Schroeder, Chris Stewart, Tyler Graovac, Nino Niederreiter, Christoph Bertschy, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Christian Folin, Mathew Dumba and Nate Prosser.  Darcy Kuemper backed up Devan Dubnyk.  Erik Haula and Marco Scandella were the scratches.

~ The 3 Stars of the Game were: 1st Star Calvin Pickard, 2nd Star Gabriel Landeskog, 3rd Star Devan Dubnyk

~ Attendance was 16,256 at Pepsi Center.

Iowa Wild Report:

Iowa 1, Grand Rapids 4

The Griffins jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a goal by Evgeni Svechnikov.  Iowa tried to answer back but they couldn’t solve Jared Coreau.  After another even period, it was Grand Rapids scoring late as Robbie Russo beat Steve Michalek with a long-range shot.  Grand Rapids added two more tallies in the 3rd on goals from and Colin Campbell and Matt Lorito.  Iowa would get its lone goal of the game as Coreau coughed up the puck to a forechecking Mario Lucia who sent the pass out front to Alex Tuch who fired it home before the Griffins goalie could get set.   It was Tuch’s 1st professional goal, but the Wild would fall 4-1.  You couldn’t blame Michalek who did about all he could to keep his team in the game as he had 41 saves in the loss.

Wild Prospect Report:

LW – Louie Nanne (RPI, ECAC) ~ playing on the Engineers’ top line, the former Edina star chipped in two assists and finished the night a +2 as they beat Brown 3-1.  Nanne has a goal, 4 points, 2 PIM’s and is a -5 in 8 games.

RW – Jordan Greenway (Boston U., H-East) ~ the power forward played like one in hard fought battle against Northeastern on Friday night.  The former U.S. National Development team stud had a goal, 5 shots on goal, 14 PIM’s and was a +2 on the night.  Greenway has 4 goals, 7 points, 22 PIM’s and is a +5 in 6 games.

D – Carson Soucy (Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC) ~ the big stay at home defenseman anchors the top defensive pair for the Bulldogs and he chipped in a primary assist in UMD’s 5-3 win over in-state rival St. Cloud State.  Soucy has a goal, 5 points, 16 PIM’s and is a +3 in 9 games.

G – Ales Stezka (Chicago, USHL) ~ the Czech-born goaltender has been a big part of Chicago’s fast start, but he had one of his tougher outings on Friday giving up 4 goals on 22 shots as the Steel fell 5-4 to Des Moines.  Stezka has a 4-1-1 record, a stingy 1.48 goals against average and a .944% save percentage.

D – Nolan DeJong (Michigan, Big 10) ~ the British Columbia-native tallied a goal in the Wolverines’ 4-1 win over Arizona State.  DeJong has a goal and an assist, 2 PIM’s and is a +1 in 8 games.

D – Braydyn Chizen (Kelowna, WHL) ~ the big 6’6″ defenseman is not known for offense but he delivered his first goal of the season as Kelowna defeated arch-rival Vancouver 6-4.  Chizen has a goal, 3 points, 13 PIM’s and is a +1 in 15 games.