Minnesota Wild: Just Put the Puck in the Net!

With two straight shutouts and four straight losses the Minnesota Wild are left wondering where’s the scoring, and how do we find it?

It’s been no secret that the Wild have had their scoring issues over the last couple of games.  Since their 2-1 win in Dallas the Wild have only scored 3 goals in their last four games, with the last two of those being shutouts to Winnipeg and Nashville.  It’s safe to say with a team as talented as the Wild that this should not be the norm, but still we find the fans asking why and the team and the coaches have little to offer in the way of explanations.

It should be noted that over this stretch that the Wild have still played solid defense and have gotten solid goaltending from Devan Dubnyk.  Over the last four games the Wild have only given up nine goals with no more than three given up in one game.  That says to me that the team is sticking to its defense first motto and the defensemen by and large are doing their job.  If the defensemen and the goaltender are keeping the score down, it’s on the forwards to make things happen and score.

The forwards right now are struggling.  The team is producing scoring chances with an average of 25 shots a game over the last four games.  That’s telling that something needs to change in the way they approach their scoring chances.  I’m all for shooting the lights out but if it just weak shots from the sideboards it doesn’t matter how many times you do it.

In line with the weak shots is the lack of shots by certain key forwards.  Vanek, Pominville, and Granlund are only averaging two shots a game in the last four games, but more egregious is Mikko Koivu who has only produced two total shots in the last four games.  These forwards need to step it up and create more chances.

GM Chuck Fletcher has been quoted as saying that he feels the solution to the Wild’s offensive woes lies in the locker room, thus hinting that he thinks the problem can be solved internally.  I’d tend to disagree on that.  My thought here is that the Wild are having a moment much like last season where an external shake up like the one that brought Dubnyk to town will be needed.

It’s been reported that the Wild were in the running to land Ryan Johansen, but he ended up in Nashville.  As I’ve written before there’s a lot of possibilities out there, but the main focus should be to get help at center from a team that will accept payment in the form of defense.  There could be a scenario where the Wild pick up a high scoring winger, but the center position still needs to be the focus.

Finally, some of the blame needs to be on coach Mike Yeo.  As much like last year it seems that he has underachieving talent and is banking on something to change.  If Fletcher bails him out with another jump-start acquisition, you have to ask yourself if the coach is holding up his end.  We see the Wild are playing good defense, but can Yeo right the ship and get them to play good offense?  I’d say his seat could get hot very fast if the Wild don’t start scoring.

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Once again it’s simple the Wild need to start scoring.  Putting the puck in the net needs to be a higher priority.   The hard-fought efforts on defense and in the crease need to be reciprocated with points on the scoreboard.  You can’t win a hockey game if you don’t score a goal…now that’s a deep thought.