ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Wild had superstar Kirill Kaprizov and No. 1 goalie Filip Gustavsson back in the lineup Saturday after they missed eight games due to injury, but not even their return jumpstarted this struggling team.
The Wild had a familiar start and earned a familiar result. The Wild’s 4-2 loss in Winnipeg on Dec. 30 that ended their four-game win streak and ended with Kaprizov and Gustavsson injured served as a prelude to what would come next.
The shorthanded Wild (17-20-5) have been chasing games ever since, an alarming pattern that continued in their 6-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes (21-18-2) inside Xcel Energy Center despite having Kaprizov and Gustavsson back. A lengthy players-only meeting followed.
“It's embarrassing to lose like that at home; I think everyone, every single guy in here feels the same way,” Mats Zuccarello said. “It's just not good enough. Giving (up) too-easy goals. We battled hard, we created chances, but it's too easy for them to score. We're not playing near good enough.”
Kaprizov added: “We can’t play like this at home. Doesn’t matter home or on the road, it’s 6-0. It was not a great game.”
The Wild have now given up the first goal in seven of their past nine games and have continued to come up short in trying to recover — namely because of their inability to score. That has been especially true at five-on-five.
“You don’t want to chase games,” coach John Hynes said. “That’s not the right recipe to win. Lately we’ve been doing that quite a bit. … Tonight in particular, if we’re talking about tonight. you’re down by three (goals) pretty early in the game, so that’s a hill you’ve got to climb out of it. But if you’re doing that regularly, that’s tough.”
The Wild have scored just 15 goals in their past nine games, where they’ve gone 1-7-1. They’re on a four-game losing streak and haven’t won in regulation since Dec. 27. Not to mention six straight losses on home ice. This nine-game stretch has had serious playoff implications. (The Wild sit eight points behind the Edmonton Oilers in the second wild-card spot).
If it wasn’t for Marcus Johansson’s extra attacker goal with 1:32 left to force overtime in the Wild’s 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Blue Jackets in Columbus last Saturday, their losing streak would be at nine.
The Wild’s loss Saturday may have been their most alarming. The Coyotes entered the game directly above Minnesota in the standings, yet the Wild displayed a lack of urgency and energy as losses continue to mount and their playoff odds keep plummeting with their season officially at the halfway point.
Their playoffs odds were at just 6.1 percent on Saturday morning, according to MoneyPuck.com. The Wild, still without their top two blueliners in Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin, are trending in the wrong direction.
The Wild faced a 3-0 deficit after the first period and never recovered in a game where they came out flat and messy and failed to execute. Minnesota native and veteran forward Nick Bjugstad, center Clayton Keller (on pace for another 30-plus goal season) and second-year goalie Connor Ingram put on a show in St. Paul. It was also Matt Dumba’s first game back in Minnesota since signing with the Coyotes in free agency last summer.
Alex Kerfoot opened the scoring with a power play goal 5:07 into the game after Jon Merrill took his first of two penalties. Bjugstad scored back-to-back goals with 8:13 and 2:39 left in the first period to give the Coyotes a 3-0 lead. Bjugstad scored the first one on a one-timer in the left circle after the Wild turned the puck over in their own end, and the 31-year-old capitalized again on the power play five minutes and 34 seconds later when he redirected Lawson Crouse’s centering feed past Gustavsson.
Keller’s shot atop the right circle through traffic got past Gustavsson blocker side a minute and 51 seconds into the middle frame to make it 4-0. Then Bjugstad capped off the night with his third goal — a shot from the right circle that beat Gustavsson high glove — 6:40 into the middle frame for his second career hat trick. That gave Arizona a 5-0 lead, and Marc-Andre Fleury came in relief for Gustavsson, who allowed five goals on 18 shots. Keller scored his second of the game on a breakaway 1:51 into the third.
“Arizona’s a good team, don’t get me wrong,” Gustavsson said, “but we’re creating their chances, too, by a mile. That doesn’t help us.
“And letting in six goals at home soil is unacceptable, and the crowd had every right to boo us out there tonight.”
While the Wild had a cleaner second half of the game, they couldn’t get past Ingram — who had a fantastic 38-save shutout performance, saving 3.48 goals above expected, according to Natural Stat Trick. Pat Maroon did score in the second, but had his goal overturned due to goalie interference.
The Wild couldn’t get back in the win column despite Kaprizov and Gustavsson returning. “It was great to have them back in the lineup,” Hynes said, “but our team performance wasn’t close to what it needed to be.”
That’s been the story; the Wild have made lineup changes — some intentional and some not — but nothing has provided a spark.
The Wild started 21-year-old top goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt in Dallas on Wednesday after losing five of six. The change in net didn’t help as the Wild lost 7-2 in Wallstedt’s NHL debut.
Then the Wild tweaked their line combinations ahead of their clash with the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. While they played better and Ryan Hartman scored twice after getting elevated to the top line, the Wild blew a two-goal, third-period lead in their 4-3 overtime loss.
On Saturday, Kaprizov and Gustavsson played for the first time since Dec. 30.
Simply put, nothing is working right now for the Wild. But something has to soon before it’s too late.
“We just didn’t have legs,” Hynes said. “We didn’t have good execution, didn’t win many puck battles.”
“So that’s part of the process is we gotta figure out the right plan between now and 5 o’clock on Monday (against the New York Islanders) to rejuvenate mentally, physically and make sure we have a better performance.”