ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Wild fired head coach Dean Evason and assistant Bob Woods on Monday after the team lost their seventh game in a row on Sunday in Detroit, which got them even closer to the league's basement.
You better believe the message was received.
"It's a wake up call," alternate captain Marcus Foligno said Tuesday morning.
Rookie defenseman Brock Faber echoed Foligno's sentiment.
“We have a playoff hockey team in here when we’re playing the right way," Faber said, "and I think this is a wake up call for a lot of us.”
This is the type of response you'd hope for after a coaching change amid a seven-game losing streak.
But a verbal confirmation isn't what the Wild needed. They desperately needed a win, which is what they got after proving the message was indeed received.
Whether the Wild (6-10-4) can continue this is unpredictable, but they took a necessary step in the right direction in their 3-1 win over their Central Division rival St. Louis Blues (11-9-1) inside Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday night.
"It's a new chapter for this team, for this organization," Filip Gustavsson said, "and of course you want to play good in front of your new coach."
Regardless of the result, the coaching change started a new chapter. But the Wild are deservedly starting off John Hynes' tenure on the right note after a strong performance where everything seemed to come together.
It has got to be a relief for a team that has been playing better as of late but hasn't been rewarded. It's the Wild's first win since Nov. 7 after the seven-game losing skid started in New York on Nov. 9.
Fast forward to Tuesday night, the Wild were the much better team at five-on-five. The Wild outshot the Blues 33-15 and controlled 54.29 percent of the shot attempt share and 61.17 percent of the expected goal share.
The Wild came out with energy and played one of their better first periods as of late. The result was a 2-1 lead after the first period thanks to Joel Eriksson Ek's team-leading 11th goal of the season that opened the scoring and Freddy Gaudreau's first goal of the season that put the Wild back on top.
"I think everybody came out hard and hungry," Gaudreau said, "and that was a big win for the team for sure."
Sandwiched between those goals was Colton Parayko's goal midway through the period, the only goal Filip Gustavsson allowed in the contest. Gustavsson (22 saves on 23 shots) finished with a .957 save percentage and saved 1.65 goals above expected.
Matt Boldy's first goal since Oct. 14 and second this season with 2:52 left in the game gave the Wild some breathing room. But, despite having a 2-1 lead for about 19 minutes, the Wild never gave the impression their lead was in danger.
Hynes liked how the Wild remained even-keeled despite having chance after chance to add to their lead. Jordan Binnington (34 saves on 37 shots) had a strong performance for the Blues and kept them in it, especially his four key stops on the Wild's lone power play in the second period.
"We had lots of chances particularly in the second period (at) five-on-five where the puck didn't go in, but what I really liked was we didn't get frustrated by that," Hynes said. "We got more determined, and I thought that was a real good response from the players."
The Wild also had a strong special teams performance in addition to five-on-five play. The Wild have the league's worst penalty kill but went 4-for-4 Tuesday due to improved clears, more pressure and timely shot blocks. The Blues finished with just six shots in eight minutes of power play time.
On the Wild's lone power play, they had four shots and eight shot attempts. On most nights, they would've been rewarded for their chance generation, but Binnington turned them away.
"Everything came together tonight," Boldy said. "I thought everyone played really well — all four lines, no passengers and got the jobs done finally."
And that includes both Boldy and Gaudreau. Entering the game, Boldy had been on a 10-game goalless drought, and Gaudreau had zero points in nine games. And while Kirill Kaprizov didn't score, he's also trending in the right direction.
Can the Wild continue this?
Will the coaching change turn their season around?
That remains to be seen.
But the Wild got the result they needed. And, in the process, looked more like themselves.
All data via Natural Stat Trick