The Wild allowed too many high-danger chances off the rush in their 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators.
The Wild allowed too many high-danger chances off the rush in their 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators.ST. PAUL - The Wild entered the third period with a 1-0 lead over the Nashville Predators but eventually blew it after zero attention to detail which led to three goals by the Predators in the third period.
"I thought that we gifted them a couple of goals there. One was a boxout. Forsberg tips it and then we’re coming into D-zone coverage and we have numbers and we drift to the puck and give them a gift. And even the third goal," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "I didn't think we were at our best. But I thought the goals that we gave up were attention to detail that if you're going to win these games you have to have, and tonight we didn't have it."
Attention to detail mistakes can happen and will but you can't have them happen in game 48 of the season against a team you are four points behind and a team that is holding onto the last wild card spot in the West.
“Well, we had it quite a bit in the last three games that we played," Hynes said. "But tonight, a big emphasis was we had to be strong at our net front — two goals, both failed boxouts. And we knew they were going to be good in transition and we gave up one coming into D zone coverage. So, it’s mental sharpness."
The Wild are within a playoff spot. They are close to one but they could've been closer if they had held onto their lead. Unfortunately for them, the Wild have now lost six consecutive division games since December 30th. They have been outscored 27-8 in those six games.
Tonight the Wild allowed way too many chances off the rush to the Predators and failed to play a detailed-oriented third period and it resulted in blowing the game to the Predators. Instead of being within two points of a playoff spot with a game against the 16-30-2 Anaheim Ducks on Saturday, the Wild are now six points behind the Predators.
“I think if you look at a couple of them they’re just unfortunate bounces. We’re trying to make the right play. It just ends up coming back at us," Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian said on the odd-man rushes. "Those things are going to happen in the game. Those breakdowns are going to happen. We have to make sure that we defend those well but yeah just an unfortunate way to lose.”
Under Hynes, the Wild are now 16-12-1. But tonight was by far the worst game the Wild have played under Hynes when it came to limiting chances off the rush. I have tracked 18 games under Hynes and tonight was the most high-danger chances the Wild have allowed off the rush and the most shots in a single game.
13 of the Predators' 28 shots came off the rush nine of which were high-danger chances.
"Yeah, some of it was we didn't do a good enough job at times up the ice where they were able to play a little bit of a stretch game, and then they beat people up the ice," Hynes said on the high-danger rush chances against.
The first Nashville goal came after the Wild allowed the Predators to break the puck out of their own zone with ease. Colton Sissons starts it off by beating Mats Zuccarello in the faceoff dot. Alexandre Carrier then rings the puck around the boards for Jeremy Lauzon who later fires the puck up the ice along the boards for Yakov Trenin to deflect into the Wild's zone.
Dakota Mermis does a good job of reading the play and stepping up on Trenin at the red line. The puck then squirts free for Kiefer Sherwood just past the blue line where Jake Middleton makes a good poke check to knock the puck off. Middleton stays on his man as the play enters more of the defensive zone and Mermis retreats to the slot (both of which were the right plays). But a neutral zone mix-up by Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov leads to Carrier sneaking into the play after joining the rush.
Zuccarello then slowly skates into the defensive zone and watches his man catch a pass wide-open in the slot from Trenin before tying the game at 1-1. A silly mistake in the neutral zone and failed attention to detail by the Wild as two forwards went to the puck while two defensemen were already on it, leads to the tying goal.
"I think even the first goal against, you have to work back, but your attention to detail in those areas has to be strong," Hynes said on the first goal. "I thought that one was a gift."
The Predators' second goal was just the result of an unbelievable tip by a very gifted goal scorer in Filip Forsberg. The third goal by Nashville was another play where a box out led to a goal. Roman Josi fired a point shot again but this time it hit Brock Faber's jersey and snuck into the net.
"The first one was a clear shot there on the on the blocker side but the second was coming towards my stomach and Forsberg got his tape on it and it hit the post and in," Filip Gustavsson said on the goals. "Then the third one was a little funky. It kind of hit Faber's Jersey it felt like and it slowed down. Then it just popped out at the end there."
Essentially, just a couple of mistakes by the Wild tonight led to a loss and now have put them six points out of a playoff spot.
“How important the attention to detail is when you play in tight games. When you’ve got to be at your best and you’re playing in these games where they’re playing a lot, too," Hynes said. "They’re coming into the game saying we want to push it to six points. We’re coming in the game, we want to push it to two points. And at the end of the day, when it mattered the most, we weren’t at our best, and that’s the challenge for our group coming out of this game."
Gustavsson added: "It's never over until the fat lady sings," Gustavsson said. "You always have to fight all the way in and we just need to have that golden event at the end of the game to take two points."
All stats are tracked by Dylan Loucks.