I think that last night gave us the answer to yesterday's Headline. The Wild have clearly shifted into reverse and are not even looking back they are just excellerating backwards. The Jets looked like the team on a mission to make the playoffs from the opening face-off, as they torched the Wild 5-1.
Winnipeg outplayed the Wild in every zone and in every category. They out-hustled and out-muscled the Wild. It is one thing to lose battles, but where was the Wild compete level? What has been the Wild achilles heel all season has been an extreme lack of leadership both internally among the players and from behind the bench from the head coach. It clearly showed last night as no one stepped up to take the lead in any way shape or form.
Come on!!! Does anyone on this team have a pulse?
Last night's game was clearly a winnable contest as the Wild are absolutely the more talented team. But no one wanted to go to the net, there was very little fight when it came to board battles and a total lack of urgency. The game was still very winnable well into the third period when Granlund scored to cut the Jets lead to one goal. What happened after that? That should have shifted the momentum clearly to the Wild and they should have been able to mount a charge. Good teams rally behind each each other and draw energy from what is going on in the game, whether it be a goal, a great save, a big penalty kill, a fight, a huge hit, whatever. Not the Wild, they seem to just plug along as the time ticks away and if they score great, if they get scored on oh well not their night mentality.
The only saving grace for the Wild is that Colorado lost as well. So the magic number is now at 2 points with two games remaining. Yes the Wild should make the playoffs and who knows they may actually surprise someone. They do have enough talent to do that, but how far they can go is really up to the players and the coaching staff. Can they all get on the same page?
I am an optimist so I still give them a chance.
Not much more needs to be said about last night except that it's over and time to move on.