Minnesota Wild: Wild Sweep Through Western Canada
The Minnesota Wild are winners of three straight road games to start John Torchetti’s tenure behind the bench. The team is playing with confidence and it looks as if a turnaround is well on it’s way.
Unless you’ve been under a rock or just stuck on the lake in your fish house, you might not have noticed that the Minnesota Wild have won their last three games. The John Torchetti era is off to a great start as the Wild are flying high with a great road trip through Western Canada where they outscored their three opponents 15-7. How is it that the Wild went from the depths of an eight game losing streak that ended in the dismissal of Mike Yeo, to winners of their last three games?
First and foremost, it’s the coaching change that has been the largest factor. It was apparent a few weeks ago that Yeo had lost the team and was unable to gain back their complete buy in. Like I shared in my previous article you can point to many different desperation tactics that Yeo used to try to spark the team that just did not plain work.
Torch has had an instant effect because he’s not Mike Yeo. He’s a no gimmick coach who has been described as a teacher first and foremost and is taking that approach across the roster. The line shake-up alone he’s decided to institute has paid dividends. He’s rewarded Charlie Coyle’s hot streak with a promotion to the top line, and has been giving Mike Reilly a chance to play more. Perhaps most of all he’s been vocal during the games by being constantly in the ears of the players while they are on the bench letting the players know he’s in the game and ready to let them know how to make the next shift better.
Secondly the Wild over this last bit of success have dedicated themselves to playing three solid periods of hockey. They scored in all 9 periods of the three games against Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton thus avoiding the “bad period” that seemed to be every second period over the last two months costing them so many games. By pressing the play and keeping the energy high they avoided the Canucks, Flames, and Oilers from even thinking about coming back as they kept all three teams on their heels.
Finally, it’s been a great three games as we’ve seen the many of the major slumps come to an end and Charlie Coyle’s hot streak continue. The hero of the Calgary game was none other than the much maligned Jason Pominville with a goal, an assist, and he even added the opening tally the next night in Edmonton. Even Mikko Koivu has scored a goal and four assists in the last three games and looks like he’s pulling out of his funk.
To see these talented players, start to tap into their natural abilities can be scary because on paper this team is great. It’s been the underperformance that has issue, I don’t think anybody ever said the Wild don’t have the names in the lineup to win.
Next: Head Coach Mike Yeo Fired
Right now the Wild are still only two points behind the Predators and Avalanche for the second and first Wild Card spot. With the team set to head back to the Twin Cities this weekend to play the outdoor game at TCF Bank Stadium against the hated Blackhawks you can bet there will be plenty of excitement in the stands for a Wild win. That’s something Wild fans haven’t been waiting to feel for a while now.