Not So Special Teams Wild Wednesday
Not So Special Teams
The Wild started the home stand strong winning 5-3 against Tampa Bay on Friday and 2-1 in overtime against Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, but ultimately fell short in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss against the LA Kings. It was an overall disappointing effort from the Wild as it was the first time a game got away from them this season. The Kings had just played the night before in Nashville where they won 3-0 and it was the first game this season where the Wild ended up losing in regulation after scoring first. Although the real issue is that the Wild have now lost the special teams battle in four consecutive games.
It is easy to ignore a problem when a team is still winning, but the Wild’s power play has been a serious problem since the game in Pittsburgh on Oct. 29. Since then, the Wild have not scored once in 14 power play chances.
The Wild went 0-5 on the power play in the 5-3 comeback win against Pittsburgh, 0-2 in the 5-3 victory over Tampa Bay and 0-3 against Toronto in the overtime win.
In Tuesday night’s game, the Wild dominated the Kings the entire first period outshooting them 9-2 and had their first chance on the power play late in the period, which carried over into the second. This was the first of four chances the Wild would have on the power play, but failed to convert on any one of them.
"Obviously our power play was not good. Hasn't been good in a while. But we work on it every day," Mats Zuccarello said. "The ten guys that are on there take pride in the power play, and we want to help our team win. But I think it’s important that we don't get down on ourselves.”
The issue stems from the Wild’s inability to win faceoffs on the power play and continuously being forced to dump the puck in from the blue line, which just kills time off the clock. Earlier in the season, the players would constantly be moving with the puck trying to create open lanes, but instead have lately been motionless on the power play.
This drought has brought the Wild’s power play down to 20% from 30.8% and now ranks 16th in the NHL, instead of 5th.
The power play is only part of the problem as the Wild’s penalty kill has been even worse. Their PK ranks second-to-last in the league at 62.5%, behind the Oilers 60%. The Wild have given up six goals in 11 chances in the past five games with the most recent one from Tuesday night’s game when former Wild forward Kevin Fiala capitalized on the Kings only power play in the second period. The last time the Wild’s PK had a clean slate in a game was in Tampa Bay on Oct. 24 when they went 1-1.
The Wild are no strangers to a struggling PK after finishing last season with a rate of just 74.5% of successful kills, ranking 30th in the league. The Wild tried to help the issue by signing forward Yakov Trenin in the offseason who has built a reputation of a great defensive player that thrives on the penalty kill, but unfortunately, we have not seen much of that from him this season. Trenin is likely going to be the one that is healthy scratched due to his recent performance so that prospect Michael Milne who was just recalled from Iowa can make his NHL debut on the Wild’s upcoming road trip.
Looking Forward
The Wild are now back on the road for three games where they will face San Jose tonight, Anaheim on Friday and Chicago on Sunday. The Wild will obviously be heavy favorites in all three games, but as we all know there are few easy wins in the NHL.
Kaprizov’s point streak ended in Sunday’s game against Toronto and he has now gone two games without a point, but he had to miss most of the second period in Tuesday night’s game after taking a puck to the face and needing stitches from his lip all the way up to his nose.
So, while the Wild’s special teams need some desperate help fast, the Wild are still 8-2-2 on the season and have been winning games they would have never won last season. This team has already exceeded all of our expectations thus far, so let’s just hope they keep it going.
Kelly Rivard
Kelly is a Minnesota native and a proud Gopher alumna who enjoys making people laugh and spending time with family. Her skills include going 5/6 on parlays, managing multiple incredibly great (fantasy) sports teams and throwing 30 mph fastballs. When she’s not at the X, Target Field or US Bank Stadium cheering on her favorite teams, you can find her pouring drinks for customers at her hometown pub.
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