Yes, the Wild streak ended at 12 games with last night's loss to the Blue Jackets. Is it the end of the World, a loss on December 31st? Of course not!
We all learn lessons the hard way, and adversity and loss tend to make us stronger as we learn from them. That is exactly the case for the Wild. The last few games of the win streak were not exactly Picassos as Bruce Boudreau would say. The team had started scoring more but at the expense of the true strength of the Wild team make up, strong goaltending and team defense.
Those bad habits hat had been trending for the Wild, we're exposed by the Blue Jackets last night and ultimately resulted in the 4-2 defeat. There are a lot of positives to take from the streak and even from last night. The Wild have firmly established themselves as a top team. They can win in any situation and compete hard every night.
As the calendar turns to 2017 the Wild are poised to take the next step and move to the top of the Western Conference. The team is coming together and the internal competition of the collective group has never been higher in the State of Hockey.
Yes, they lost last night primarily because they made a few glaring mistakes that ended up in their net. But in the end what they learn from that experience in a relatively big regular season matchup will go a long way in shaping this team into a real contender.
How the Wild became a more consistent team was by paying attention to detail, and the last few games that element of their game took a step backward. The goals against is a clear indication of that and you can rest assured that Boudreau will harp on that fact the next few days and the Wild will hit the road well prepared to keep the train on the track.
Happy New Year!