The Minnesota Wild are still searching for their first
victory since the All-Star break after losing to the Washington Capitals 4-3 on
Thursday night. The Wild entered the break in losing mode and hoped that the
break would allow them to restart the season and leave the losing behind them.
That hasn’t happened. The MinnesotaWild have lost their last seven games and are 1-13 in their last
fourteen. Something has to change for this team to regain the winning form that
they had to start the season.
Second Period
Downfall
In recent games the team’s Achilles heel has been the second
period. The team comes out strong in the first period and peppers opposing
goalies, only to leave the period up a goal, tied or down a goal. The team is
very much in the game in the first period.
Something happens to this Wild team between the first and
second periods. Maybe it’s a confidence issue. The team peppers opposing
goalies but has trouble scoring goals.
Last night against the Capitals we saw this phenomenon occur
again. Washington and the Wild were tied entering the second period but Alex
Ovechkin and the Capitals destroyed the Wild in the second stanza. The Capitals
finished the second period with a 3-1 lead and the confidence that they would
win.
The Wild would make itclose in the second by narrowing Washington’s lead to one goal 7:35
into the third period but it was too little too late. It seems that Wild can turn
on the goal light when it matters least and when the outcome is a near
certainty.
Effort Vs. Execution
During the Wild’s losing streak in many games it would be
difficult to fault the team’s effort. In the last two games, the effort has
been turned up a notch but that effort has not resulted in victories. It’s incredibly
frustrating as a fan to see the Wild having glorious chances and not scoring.
How many times last night did the Wild have what looked like
can’t miss opportunities and they either shot the puck wide or over the net.
The issue I have with the Minnesota Wild is their lack of
execution. It’s execution that leads to goals and that’s what matters most. A
team can have great effort but if they’re not executing that means very little.
Having chances is not executing. In offense execution means
scoring goals, not out shooting your opponent and coming away with a big fat
zero on the scoreboard.
In the defensive game, effort isn’t execution. Execution is
not having lapses and allowing your opponent to outscore you. When the Wild are
on their game and executing it’s extremely hard to score goals against them.
When they’re off their game, the Wild have to score multiple goals, something
that is rare for them (but they have scored three goals in the past two games).
It’s A Wrap
The Wild are still searching for a victory and I’m not
confident it’s going to come soon. If it does it might be an ugly victory but
on the scoreboard you can’t tell an ugly to a pretty one.
The inability to score goals has reared its ugly head in the
past three years. It doesn’t seem like anything has improved no matter what
this organization does. As a fan, I’m growing increasingly restless with this
squad and even if they do turn it around, they will have taken a lot out of my
sails due to the year after year roller coaster ride that they’ve taken me on.
The roller coaster ride that Wild fans have gone through the
past three seasons has to stop. It might end with the Wild’s roller coaster
coming to a crashing end when they’ve played their last regular season game and
missed the playoffs!
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