I hate to be negative with a team that just won two out of three on the road with a couple of OT wins. Especially when the Wild had been one of the league's worst teams when it came to overtime and shootouts.
But there is some glaring weaknesses in this Wild team and even a few overtime wins can't overlook them. In each of the 3 games of this road trip the Wild had third period leads and in each one they let them slip away. The last two they were able to recover and get the overtime victory, but the fact is that this Wild team is far from the teams we have come to know in recent years that were built on solid team defense and good goaltending.
Alex Stalock made some very good saves last night but the tying goal must qualify as soft, which has become a real problem with both Wild netminders this season.
An even bigger issue is the number of penalties that the Wild are taking. In eight of the past nine games the Wild opponent has had more powerpplay opportunities than have the Wild. Over that stretch the Wild have had 20 man advantage opportunities to their opponents 40!
That is a recipe for disaster of course, but there is an underlying tone that a good majority of those penalties are of the lazy variety where the Wild are clearly being outworked and forced into committing the infraction.
Another huge issue is in the face-off circle where the Wild typically were one of better teams in the league. The crackdown from officials on the face-off violations has been in place for three months now including the preseason. Yet the Wild centers are consistently being thrown out of the draw on a regular basis.
These two areas are detail oriented and should be easily addressed and fixed. But they have been allowed to continue, and until the team suffers through a 5 or 6 game skid or worse, it seems that nothing will be done.
29 games into the season the Wild sit tenuously in the final Western Conference Wild Card position. That is not where they had envisioned themselves before the season began nor where owner Craig Leipold, or GM, Chuck Fletcher expect them to be either.
Missing is the identity of a structured team that the Minnesota Wild once were. Not that their identity was glamorous by any means, but at least other teams respected the fact that in order to beat the Wild they would typically need to play a good honest game, and for the most part have a lead heading into the third period.
That is no longer the case as the Wild have become very average when it comes to holding down leads and the type of goals they are allowing have become soft. This gives Wild opponents the idea that they should shoot from anywhere and at any time. That has led to too many suspect goals that either elude Wild goaltending or worse go in off of Wild defenders.
Through 29 games I cannot recall more goals that have either meandered their way through into the Wild net, or off the unsuspecting defense in front of the Wild net. Again this is detail oriented and the Wild who are a veteran laden team built to win with proven talent should be the last team that is suffering from such deficiencies.
Now there are quite a few positives with this Wild team, beginning with the fact they have climbed back into a playoff spot. They have made huge adjustments in the approach to 3 on 3 overtime resulting in 3 overtime wins and a shootout victory in their last four games that have needed the extra frame. The Wild powerplay has been effective, going 6 for 20 over the last nine games.
Ryan Murphy has stepped in for the injured Jared Spurgeon and played very well with 8 shots on goal to go along with 7 blocked shots and a +3 rating in six games. Murphy scored his first points in a Wild sweater last night netting the first goal on the powerplay, then setting up Eric Staal's second goal of the game in the second period. Murphy earned his recall from Iowa on merit, but the timing could not have been better with Spurgeon out for an extended period with a groin injury.
The Wild are good enough talent-wise to be a solid playoff team. If nothing else that has been proven through the first third of the season, as the Wild are in playoff position, without playing their best hockey and with very little consistency of structure.
That said there are no playoff spots for teams based on talent, nor will any team get into the postseason by talent alone. The Wild need to clean up the details, and pull together as a team to become a much nastier team to play against and one that competes every night and takes care of the details.
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