The Wild didn't execute on their chances tonight as they dropped their fourth straight loss.
Wild's losing streak extends to four as they fall 4-1 to the Lightning on home ice. ST. PAUL - You might not expect much from a team in a salary cap era when 61 percent of their cap space was not playing for them during a game. But a situation like this creates an opportunity for some players to take a key role and even more ice time.
Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy have been key players for the Wild this season and without Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno and Vinni Lettieri in tonight's game and going forward, you have to get those three going and have them take a little bit of the weight as the year progresses and the team get's healthy.
Tonight the trio combined for zero shots on net and only four attempted, three from Johansson. That isn't to say they weren't creating chances though. Rossi had two shot assists and both Boldy and Johansson each had one. But none of those turned into a goal or a high danger chance.
“Yeah, I think we need to help those guys," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "They’re very capable guys to be able to drive offense, and I think help us through this situation, but I think there’s some things we can help them with as coaches before Saturday and we’re looking for those guys to have a big game on Saturday night.”
The weight of the game didn't fall on those three though, the Wild came out slow, they didn't look to have much intensity when it came to the forecheck or limiting rush chances which they have been very good at under Hynes this year.
“No, we were in the spots. It just comes down to the execution," Hynes said. "When you look at it and say, ‘OK, we didn’t have chances to get out,’ then I think that’s one issue. But when you have the looks and you have the puck support and it comes to the execution, I think that’s the difference.”
A slow start is never a good recipe for success with any given team. The Wild entered this game 3-14-1 when the opponent scores first and are now 3-15-1 following their 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“They’re a skilled group that can break pucks out. Yeah, we’re at our best when we can establish our forecheck, and I think at times we did it, and at other times we were certainly trying," Zach Bogosian said on the slow start and forecheck. "It just didn’t really seem to go our way in that regard.”
Tampa got the game's first goal in the second period after Luke Glendening kept a clearing attempt by Pat Maroon in at the point and later fed one to Darren Raddysh who scored his first goal of the season and second of his career.
The 27-year-old defenseman didn't stop there. Three minute later he picked up his second of the game and second of the season beating Marc-Andre Fleury on the wraparound.
"I didn't play it right," Fleury said on Raddysh's second goal. "There was a guy to my right and I wanted to cut the passing lane and the shot also. By doing that I just scrubbed too much and I couldn't get back. Mistake on me there."
Pat Maroon thought the Wild scored in the second period though when his line had a chance in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy but the puck ended up in the net after the whistle had already been blown.
Maroon was not pleased with the call by the refs and eventually took his anger out on Austin Watson in his next shift in what was a spirited fight.
Tampa ended up scoring a power play goal in the third period after Nic Petan went to the box for hooking just 48 seconds into the third period. And just like that it was 3-0 Lightning after Victor Hedman blasted one from the point past Fleury for his sixth goal of the year and 39th point of the season.
The Wild ended up getting on the board in the third period when Alex Goligoski found Zach Bogosian streaking in to the slot. The former Lightning and cup-winning defenseman ended up snapping Vasilevskiy's shutout with under five minutes left.
Brandon Hagel was able to score with the empty net after he forced a turnover on Ryan Hartman in the neutral zone to seal the deal and game late in the third.
Minnesota will now travel to Columbus for a game against the Blue Jackets but they will do it with likely the same lineup as they did tonight.