Going into tonight’s Minnesota Wild-Toronto Maple Leafs game, it seemed like Leafs coach Ron Wilson would be the biggest story. Wilson was the guy who broke up one of the NHL’s most explosive combos in Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul, after all.
The Wild’s coach ended up being the biggest source of controversy instead, however, as Mike Yeo provided some candid criticisms of his free-falling team after they lost 4-1.
“I’ve been coaching for quite awhile, and I’ve been part of a lot of games I didn’t like,” Yeo said. “This one ranks right up there.”
“We can get mad at the refs, but it’s not their fault ... We have to take a good long look at ourselves.”
Yeo’s team is now on an 11-game win-less streak in road games, going 0-9-2. Ultimately, the new-look Leafs beat the same-old Wild as Minnesota’s anemic offense has only managed 11 goals in that 11-game span.
Minnesota beat writer Michael Russo captures the frustration of that futility almost as well as Yeo did:
Minnesota has been out-scored 35-11 during its nightmare 11-game road slump.
Strangely enough, both the Maple Leafs and Wild are now located at ninth place in their respective conferences with 51 points. It’s not tough to imagine that the mood is far more positive in Toronto than it is in Minnesota right now, though.
Here are the highlights (or lowlights, if you’re a Wild fan).