Update: Tomorrow's game against the Panthers has been postponed due to COVID-19 and the limited availability of players from Florida to play this game. This is the second Wild game of the week to affected by the COVID-19 outbreak across the NHL, following Tuesday's Hurricanes/Wild game postponement.
Three in a row on the loss side of the lledger following the eight game win streak. This had been coming but the Wild totally have gotten away from their game. They have got a case of thinking they know how it is done and they can just turn it on when they want to.
That we all know is not the case and last night they were flat out lucky to gain even a point against the Sabres who outplayed the Wild all night.
Unfortunately the shootout was not all the Wild lost as Jared Spurgeon lef the game after only one shift in the thrid period. When Dean Evason was asked postgame, about the status of the captain, he said "not good and he will definitely not be available Saturday."
As we have noted that even in some of the victories the Wild had gotten lax with the puck and loose with the details. That is their identity and they need to get that baclk quickly.
I am sure that Evason learned a valuable lesson as well, and that is not to give the team off (Wednesday the team did not practice) when they had not practiced in nearly 2 weeks. It was a scheduled off day but when the Tuesday's game was postponed it was really a necessity.
So it is not just the players that need to make adjustments as if we did not already know this, but typically they are the first to take the blame.
It is not really a blame game either as the season is very long and team's will go into funks which often lead to greater success down the road for those that take the lessons from the adversity.
Tomorrow it is Florida in town for a matinee, expect a far better effort from the Wild for two reasons. One they want to erase the bad taste in theor mouth from last night and the previous 2 losses, and two, they are looking for revenge from the previous meeting in Sunshine, where to a man the Wild feel they lost to the best team they had played to date.
Time to show up for work Wild...