ST. PAUL — If the Minnesota Wild don’t make the playoffs this season, they will remember this missed opportunity.
The Wild (21-22-5) blew a 1-0 lead and allowed two goals 35 seconds apart in the first two minutes and 19 seconds of the third period en route to a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators (26-21-1) inside Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night.
The Wild could have closed the gap to two points between them and the eighth-place Predators. Instead, the Wild snapped their three-game winning streak, took another step back and now sit six points behind Nashville.
“We knew,” Zach Bogosian said of the chance to cut the gap in half between them and Nashville. “We obviously knew what was at stake, obviously. We’re chasing them. Again at the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done.”
The game was scoreless after one, but the Predators had a firm grip and controlled much of the opening frame — outshooting the Wild 11-4 with 68.42% of the Corsi share and 80.18% of the expected goal share in all situations, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Wild responded well and controlled the second period with a 11-4 edge in shots and 79.76% of the expected goal share. And, unlike the Predators in the first, were rewarded. The Wild took a 1-0 lead on the power play when Kirill Kaprizov's shot from the edge of the left circle deflected off Joel Eriksson Ek in front and past Juuse Saros with 7:16 left in the middle frame.
Eriksson Ek’s goal extended his point streak to six games and brought his goal total up to a team-leading 21 on the season, which is five away from tying his career-high 26-goal season in 2021-22. He's on pace for 36 goals this season.
Exactly nine minutes later after Eriksson Ek’s goal, the Predators took back control of the game. The Wild failed to cover a trailing Alexandre Carrier, who received a pass from Yakov Trenin and beat Filip Gustavsson high blocker from the slot 1:44 into the third period.
35 seconds later, Filip Forsberg deflected Roman Josi's one-timer past Gustavsson to give the Predators a 2-1 lead.
“First couple minutes of the third: It stinks giving up two quick ones,” Matt Boldy said. “Obviously, it’s part of the game. If they score, you’ve gotta weather the storm a little bit, go make plays yourself, so obviously it sucks. It’s not what you want to do. But battled at the end and tried to see what we can do, and obviously didn't come together.”
Coach John Hynes added: “To me, in a 1-0 game, in a 2-1 game, your details have to be heightened — that mental sharpness and understanding when it’s those critical areas of the game, you have to defend because it’s a one-goal game. So, I didn’t feel as though it was a push (from Nashville) — it was details.”
The Wild found themselves down two when Josi's shot from above the right circle deflected off Brock Faber in front and past Gustavsson with 8:27 left.
“I don’t think it took the life out of us,” Hynes said of the first two goals. “I thought that we gifted them a couple 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.
“I thought (it was a) hard-fought game. 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.”
Boldy gave the Wild life when he drove inside and beat Saros high blocker from low in the right circle on the power play with 4:51 left to make it 3-2. Faber, who had the primary assist on the goal, extended his point streak to six games.
But the Wild couldn't find the equalizer. "At the end of the day, when it mattered the most," Hynes said, "we weren’t at our best, and that’s the challenge for our group coming out of this game."
Added Bogosian: “It was just a tough way to lose, for sure, especially when you feel like you don’t necessarily have a stranglehold on the game, but obviously going up in the third period at home you’re expecting to win those games.”
The Wild finished 2-for-4 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill, which has now gone 13-for-14 since they allowed three goals against the Tampa Bay Lightning last Thursday.
The Wild's clash with the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday — their final game before the All-Star break and 10-day bye week — feels even more important after a loss in a key game like this.
“We need those four out of six points,” Gustavsson said of Saturday's game after starting the homestand 1-1.
“Otherwise, we’re going to trail just a little too much, and it’s going to be an even bigger hole to get out of.”
The Wild's concerning trend of not winning against Central opponents continued Thursday.
They've lost six division games in row since Dec. 30, where they have been outscored 27-8. That includes two losses to the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars and losses to the Arizona Coyotes and Predators in the past two weeks.
The Wild's next chance to win against a team ahead of them in the wild-card race will be Feb. 14 against the Coyotes.
“We are going to get more opportunities and more cracks at it to keep climbing and chasing the teams that we’re behind,” Bogosian said. “But at the end of the day we obviously have to get those two points. There’s really not more to say other than it’s an unfortunate way to lose, especially at home.”