The Minnesota Wild generated enough chances but still lost the game.
ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (22-11-4) generated enough chances to beat the Ottawa Senators (19-15-2) but they walked away with a loss.
"I thought we generated some offense tonight. I didn’t think we scored on some of the opportunities that we had," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "I think a game like tonight, it’s kind of a tight game, hard fought both ways. I think that, in my opinion, two of the goals, I just – there were some details in our game that needed to be better."
The Wild hit the post four times tonight and fired 31 shots on the Senators rookie goaltender Leevi Merilainen but only walked away with a goal.
They were sloppy when it came to two small details and those two ended up being a goal against.
"I think the first one, I didn’t necessarily like how we came out playing in the second period," Hynes said. "First goal against, we had played a shift in the D-zone. We get the puck up around the offensie blue line and we try to make a play when there’s no ice to play on. Turnover, come back on the net, now we have extended D-zone shift. So, to me, that’s a gift."
The Senators second goal came on the power play. The Wild took a penalty in the third period but ended up killing it off. Then moments after the penalty kill, Jared Spurgeon took a penalty.
Josh Norris was able to find the back of the net with an absolute rocket of a shot off a nice pass from Jake Sanderson.
"Yeah, he’s been doing that for as far as I've been playing with him in Belleville and Ottawa," Wild goaltender and former Senators goaltender Filip Gustavsson said. "He has a good shot and sometimes he scores."
It was Norris's 14th goal of the season. It was a pretty bang-bang play. Yet Chisholm felt he could have gotten in the way of it.
"Yeah, that obviously sucks. But you know, we got to go out and do a job," Declan Chisholm said on the PK. "I missed the block on the one timer there, that one sucks. Gus kept us in the game the entire time. So, it would be nice to get that one back, and maybe get the block."
Chisholm did generate the only goal for the Wild though. His point shot in the first period gave the Wild a 1-0 lead after the first. The goal was eventually changed to Freddy Gaudreau's goal with a Chisholm assist.
Despite the loss, the Wild still felt like they played well enough to win the game. Just two little details costed them the game and when you are without Kirill Kaprizov, small details matter.
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