Down 2-0 and heading on the road, oh my. It has been done before and will be done again, but in order for the Wild to do it they will need to make some serious adjustments.
The first two games the Wild played well, but not well enough to get a few more goals. I have to give full marks to Mike Yeo and his staff, as they have the Blues playing a solid team game from the net out. Protecting well in front of Jake Allen and limiting the quality looks at their net.
Yeo and his Blues played two very good road games in games one and two. It is time for Bruce Boudreau to get his team to perform better in game three tomorrow night in St. Louis. Much has been made of Boudreau's playoff failures so lets see how he responds with this Wild team down two games to none in his first playoff series with his new squad.
So far the adjustments he has made have done nothing to get his team any better scoring opportunities. I am not going to get all giddy about the number of saves Jake Allen has made, like every other outlet is saying. He is playing well, but is a byproduct of the Blues system, not all Allen.
The save he made on Spurgeon right before the Blues winning goal is a save that every NHL goaltender will make 100% of the time, unless of course there is one out there with a huge hole in his chest. Spurgeon hurt the Wild by taking that shot he should have held onto the puck and circled behind the net. He knew he could see no net to shoot at and as a defenseman that deep in the offensive zone, late in the third period of a tie game, nothing good is coming from a shot to the crest of the opposing netmonder.
It will be interesting to see what lineup changes BB makes heading into game 3 but I would expect to see a different look come Sunday night. Possibly Ryan White to add a little sandpaper and possibly yo stir the pot in front of Allen. That is an area where the Wild are not going and it is making things very easy on Allen. Much is made of the Blues defense in front of Allen, and rightfully so, but the Wild are also not fighting hard enough for the high percentage ice.
The Wild defense,in particular Marco Scandella and Matt Dumba have looked good jumping into the play and creating offense. The Wild need more of that as the series moves forward. There will be chances for the Wild and the series is certainly not over by any stretch, but it is getting late very early for the boys from the State of Hockey.