The Minnesota Wild played host to the Calgary Flames on Saturday evening, Jan. 25 to end Hockey Day Minnesota. They were looking to avenge a rough 4-0 loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday, Jan. 23. Their lineup remained the same as Thursday with one minor change to the goaltending as Marc-André Fleury got the start with Filip Gustavsson being the back-up. 
The game started in favor of the Flames, and they held control throughout the game. The Wild did mount a small comeback towards the end but couldn’t find a way to tie the game and the Flames took the win. In this article we’ll take a look at what went wrong for the Wild starting with their efforts.
Wild’s Effort Too Late
Despite the Flames scoring the first goal of the game, the Wild didn’t back down. Instead, they continued to fight back. The effort looked strong compared to their previous outing against Utah, and they managed to tie the game before the period ended. However, in the second, they let off the gas, and the Flames pushed ahead. It still wasn’t too bad, but it was clear the Wild were struggling against themselves.
They were throwing the puck away and not being aggressive, and for some reason, this seems to only be happening on their home ice. They did find the effort again late in the the third when they scored two goals within a minute of each other but they couldn’t get that final push where they used to do so well with an empty net.
“I mean yeah, but it doesn’t really matter when we don’t play 60 minutes…” said Jakub Lauko about the effort at the end of the game, and he continued about going on the road, “We need to start winning games at home, especially against teams from our conference and our division, so that’s something we need to start working on from tomorrow and just get it going again.”
Wild’s Penalty Kill Off the Rails
It is crazy how good this penalty kill has been this season to how bad it’s also been. Every team struggles in special teams throughout the season, but the Wild’s has gone from being perfect to not being able to stop anything on the penalty kill.
Another reason it seems so bad when it likely isn’t as horrible as it seems, is because everyone has seen what this team is capable of and now that they’re getting back to a mostly healthy lineup, it’s even more frustrating they can’t make these things happen. They’re still a good team in a struggling spot that all teams go through.
They need to get back to being more aggressive on their penalty kill and forcing the other team to make a mistake. When the Wild were playing with confidence and aggression, they were successful on both sides of the special teams, and they won games. They need to find a way back to that style of play.
Wild Doing Too Much
Following their loss at home to Utah on Thursday, several Wild players were asked why they seem to struggle at home this season. They had the same answer that, for some reason, their mindset is different, and they try to do too much. Even after acknowledging this, they continued to do the same against the Flames. They were too worried about making the perfect passing play and neglected to get shots off when they could.
It happened consistently throughout the night, and despite seeing their passes picked off routinely, they kept trying to make the same plays. When things aren’t working, they have to make changes, and sometimes that means playing simple hockey, something they are very good at on the road.
“I think we’re trying to hang in these areas where the goals are not scored. I think we’re trying to make it too fancy, too nice, and we need to bring a little more sand and paper grit to our game and be harder..” said Lauko about how they’ve struggled in front of the net.
Wild Head to Chicago
The Wild’s homestand was quick and now they’ll head on the road for the next five games spread out over the next week and a half. They’ll start out on the back half of their back-to-back on the road in Chicago to face the Blackhawks on Sunday evening, Jan. 26. They’ll have to dig deep and find a way to come out with a win and get their mindset back where it needs to be.
