It was ugly at times and inspiring during other moments last night, and in the end it was another loss for the Minnesota Wild in Dallas last night.
Things got off to a terrible start for the Wild as they found themselves chasing the game early as they surrendered two quick goals to the Stars before the game was three and half minutes old. They did mount a surge and erase the Stars lead with goals by Ryan Hartman and Kevin Fiala, but that was as close as the Wild would get. Tyler Seguin gave the Stars back the lead 1:01 later.
The team's traded goals in the second period, but more importantly the Wild lost Joel Eriksson Ek to an upper body injury. We can debate the non call of a penalty all day, and quite honestly that is pointless, because the bigger factor is the status of JEE.
Dallas blitzed the Wild early in the third with two quick goals by Jacob Peterson and Miro Heiskanen a minute apart to put the game in ice for the Stars. Evason pulled Cam Talbot with 9 minutes to play and the Wild peppered the Stars net and goalie, Lakeville's, Jake Oettinger, but were only able to get one by him when Fiala got his second of the night on a nifty feed from Ryan Hartman.
So now that the Wild have lost four in a row and the injuries are beginning to mount, does Bill Guerin ramp up the trade talks. There is no secret the Wild have a very deep system stocked with talent, so is it time to cash in a piece to bolster the roster and more importantly obtain a center that the team desperately needs now more than ever if Eriksson Ek is going to be lost for any extended period of time?
The other burning question is the play of Cam Talbot, who has not been nearly as good or consistent as he was last season. Was it the inspired play of Kaapo Kahkonen during his two extended absences last year that drove Talbot? This year there hasn't been that competition in the Wild crease to be won, it has been Talbot's all season.
Talbot has not been bad by any stretch, last night not included. However the 8ce time battles for the position players has definitely gone far in propelling the Wild to their 1st place in the Central Division status. Is there room to create that competition between the pipes.
Now it is easy to cast a net of negatively when the Wild lose just like it is to gush over the winning. The Wild are not as good as an eight game win streak that they recently experienced, highlighted by victories over Tampa, Toronto, and Edmonton. Nor are they as bad as they looked in their most recent four game skid.
Any move Guerin is to make is not panic driven but out of necessity if Eriksson Ek is going to be out for extended time.