It’s said that variety is the spice of life, yet it seems to be the spite of the Minnesota Wild.
As head coach Mike Yeo said, this struggling team appears to find a new way to lose virtually every night. That couldn’t have happened once again on Saturday, when they fell 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues, could it?
Actually ...
If you ask Jarret Stoll, the latest problem was the penalty kill.
Jarret Stoll: "our penalty kill let us down tonight." #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 7, 2016
Honestly, Stoll may have been too specific, likely trying to throw his own unit under the bus. Instead, it might be more accurate to say that Minnesota’s special teams let them down.
Indeed, the Wild struggled to limit the Blues’ power play, which went an unsettling 3-for-6. That said, Minnesota had a chance to trade blows with St. Louis. Instead, the Wild managed one power-play goal on seven opportunities.
The silver lining is that the Wild believe that they showed more fight than this fragile bunch had been generating before.
Pominville: "It's been a while since we showed that much fight. As long as we keep fighting...we'll find our way out of this."
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 7, 2016
Mike Yeo: "I don't think the score was indicative of the play. We knew we weren't just going to snap our fingers and get out of this."
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) February 7, 2016
On the other hand, with Jonas Brodin on IR and Jared Spurgeon apparently hurt, that silver lining may not be so easy to see.
Yeo says no update on Spurgeon, but adds when Spurgeon leaves a game he knows "it's not small."
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 7, 2016