{"id":1240565,"date":"2021-10-24T21:13:45","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T01:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=1240565"},"modified":"2021-10-24T21:13:45","modified_gmt":"2021-10-25T01:13:45","slug":"wild-winning-streak-snapped-at-4-games-in-5-2-loss-to-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/wild-winning-streak-snapped-at-4-games-in-5-2-loss-to-nashville\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Winning Streak Snapped at 4 Games In 5-2 Loss to Nashville"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing lasts forever.\u00a0 Everything is impermanent, those are fundamental beliefs of Buddhism and to be honest they should be fundamental beliefs of any sports fan let alone Minnesota Wild fan.\u00a0 The flaws in Minnesota’s game that the team found a way to overcome were simply too much as the Wild fell 5-2 to the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Giving up the early lead, the penalty kill struggles all coalesced together to bring about a predictable ending.\u00a0 The Wild got itself into penalty trouble early and the Predators capitalized on its first two power plays and never really looked back.\u00a0 Nashville seemed to be a step quicker and also far more efficient moving the puck in the offensive zone and Minnesota never really had an answer.\u00a0 The Wild didn’t look sluggish or fatigued, they just were not as quick as the Predators were.<\/p>\n

Minnesota would score late on goals from Nick Bjugstad<\/strong> and Nico Sturm<\/strong> but it wasn’t nearly enough.\u00a0 In fact, the only line that seemed to have any juice on Sunday was the 4th line of Bjugstad, Sturm and Brandon Duhaime<\/strong>.\u00a0 The rest of the Wild lines were plagued by indecision and overhandling of the puck as they tried to be too fancy in their execution and that resulted in missed opportunities to even generate a quality shot on goal.\u00a0 Nashville’s Connor Ingram was rarely tested and the Predators were smart enough to play keep away through most of the 2nd and 3rd period’s to secure a 5-2 victory.<\/p>\n

Kaapo Kahkonen<\/strong> was again rather shaky, making the first save but his rebound control left a lot to be desired (especially on the power play) and the Predators were able to pounce on rebounds for goals.\u00a0 Yet it wasn’t all his fault.\u00a0 Especially on the penalty kill, the Wild penalty killers were often focusing on marking opposing skaters but when pucks needed to be swept away they left Kahkonen alone to gather up loose pucks and that was formula for disaster.<\/p>\n

Minnesota now needs to focus on shoring up its penalty kill before their 3-game western road trip that will have the Wild travel to Vancouver, Seattle and Colorado respectively.\u00a0 Still, the Wild are in good shape at 4-1 through its first 5 games of the season.\u00a0 But they now have their first example of real adversity to deal with and it will be interesting to see how they respond to it.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this weekend’s series of games for the Minnesota Wild?\u00a0 Tell us on Twitter<\/em> at @CreaseAndAssist<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"Wild
Oct 7, 2021; Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Adam Beckman (53) looks on against the Chicago Blackhawks in the third period at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iowa Wild Sweep Rockford<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the big club has been giving fans plenty to cheer about, so has the team’s American Hockey League affiliate as they are off to a 3-1 start capped off by a 2-game series sweep of the Rockford Ice Hogs.<\/p>\n

One player who had an incredible weekend was former Lakeville South and Minnesota-Duluth star Nick Swaney<\/strong>.\u00a0 Swaney had 2 goals on Friday night, a 6-3 win over the Ice Hogs and then followed it up with a power play and a shorthanded goal to go along with an assist on Saturday in Iowa’s 5-2 victory over Rockford.\u00a0 4 goals and 5 points in two games?\u00a0 Not too shabby.<\/p>\n