Wild's Special Teams Struggles Prove Costly in Second Straight Loss

The Minnesota Wild (6-3-2) has lost consecutive games to begin their five-game road trip, and their special teams have been a significant reason why.

After allowing three power-play goals in Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota surrendered two more in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames (3-6-0).

Through those two games, the Wild have allowed five power-play goals on nine opportunities, giving them a penalty-kill percentage of just 44.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Minnesota’s power play has gone 0-for-7, including an 0-for-4 performance against Calgary.

“That’s two games in a row we lost the special teams battle and it cost us,” Wild forward Blake Coleman told reporters in Calgary following Thursday’s loss.

The Wild took three penalties in the opening 14 minutes against the Flames, allowing Calgary to score twice on the man advantage and establish an early 2-0 lead.

Those goals proved costly despite Minnesota outshooting Calgary 37-22, including a 17-3 advantage in the third period.

Coleman acknowledged that his first-period tripping penalty contributed to the early deficit.

The struggles are particularly concerning considering Minnesota has lost both games by a single goal.

Against Edmonton, the Wild allowed three power-play goals, including Evan Bouchard’s overtime winner. Two nights later, Calgary scored both of its goals on the power play.

That’s a 5-0 special teams goal differential over the first two games of the road trip.

“I think we have a great kill. I think we’re stressing it a bit too much,” Michael McCarron told reporters in Calgary. “Special teams are huge in this league, but at the same time, we kind of stress ourselves.”

Minnesota’s inability to stay out of the penalty box has also limited opportunities for its offensive players to establish momentum at even strength.

For a team featuring Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes, spending extended stretches killing penalties takes valuable offensive opportunities away from some of its most dangerous players.

“It’s two games in a row now,” McCarron said. “So it’s starting to become a theme and we don’t want that to linger around too much.”

The Wild are now 6-3-2 through their first 11 games and have collected just one of a possible four points to begin their road trip.

Minnesota will look to correct its special teams problems Saturday against the Seattle Kraken before facing the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

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