Minnesota Wild: Is The Stumble The Beginning Of A Fall?

The Wild are having a little bit of a late season stumble. As they struggle to produce offense, many wonder if that stumble could start to look more like a fall if things keep going this way to start this road trip.

Minnesota Wild /

Minnesota Wild

The end of the NHL season is always hard. It’s a struggle to play 82 games, and it might be expected that a team stumble a little bit. The Minnesota Wild are hoping that’s all these last couple of games have been…a late season stumble.

Losing is one thing, but for this club losing 3 out of the last 4 games is downright uncharacteristic. The Wild have built their season on consistent play, winning the week as their head coach has put it in the past. This Wild squad has been so good in minimizing the damage they are according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune 16-4-2 following a loss and until last night were winners of 10 games in a row after a loss.

Tonight’s game in Sunrise against the Panthers just seems like it could see the Wild lose again. They are playing an opponent who is in desperation mode for the playoffs, and will be well motivated to win. Not to mention the Wild are on the other side of a back-to-back, and a shaken up Darcy Kuemper will be in net to boot.

So with not a lot of time to prepare the Wild and Bruce Boudreau are going to have to work extra hard to make the adjustments needed.

Feb 21, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise (11) on the bench in the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center. The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

The central theme of that preparation will need to be a strong start. The Wild in their last four games have been outscored in the first period 4-2, and have only led at any time in the game during the win against San Jose. That says to me they need to come out of the gate swinging looking to score and get the lead.

The puck movement needs to improve as well. Zach Parise explains it best telling Russo after the Tampa game that “our puck movement wasn’t good enough to get through the neutral zone, to make plays, to get possession. So, when you’re fighting for possession, again, you’re not going to score a lot of goals.”