The Minnesota Wild seemed to be able to win in their last three games previous to last night despite a lack of consistent effort for all sixty minutes from start to finish of the hockey game. Last night in New Jersey that lack of consistent effort caught up with them as they lost in OT 2-1 against the Devils.
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Conventional hockey logic suggests that the best path to victory is to dominate the first period. Get the lead, set the pace of play, and don’t look back the rest of the game…play sixty minutes of solid hockey. The Minnesota Wild in their last three wins seemed to be ignoring that wisdom, as they seemed to have issues late in the third period where their opponents almost came back but ran out of time.
Last night in New Jersey that kind of play finally bit the Wild.
In their wins against Winnipeg, LA, and Toronto the Wild were scored on first in all three games. After those initial score or scores, the Wild seemed to do well to pick up the pace of play and outscore and outshoot their opponents to take control of the game. In all three games they seemed to be in control of the game until the halfway mark of the third period, and then the let up and the other team was all the sudden pressing the play making shots and threating to steal the game away.
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A great example of this listlessness in the third period is the win against the Maple Leafs. The Wild had a one goal lead on the Leafs but were outshot 10 to 9 in the period. A further drilldown of that shows that Toronto outshot the Wild 6 to 0 in the final five minutes of that game. Luckily none of those shots found the back of the net, but at the same time you couldn’t help but wonder why the Wild were letting up so much.
Last night in New Jersey the story was similar to the Toronto game, except this time the Wild ended up losing. The Devils outshot the Wild in the third period 11 to 8, but in the last five minutes shots were a little more even as the Wild actually outshot the Devils 4 to 3. Then came the overtime and the Wild continued their downfall and allowing the Devils to nail the coffin in twenty-nine seconds and only one shot on goal as Koivu let Hall and Henrique crisscross him.
It just seemed that the momentum swung completely toward the Devils after the goal by PA Parenteau. The Wild were getting worn out trying to switch from sitting on the puck playing defense, to getting back to the play pressing scoring mode they needed to get the winning goal. Further complicating that was excellent play of Devils goaltender Cory Schneider who seemed to kill any chances at the Wild gaining enough momentum to get the game winner late in the third.
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Had the Wild made more of an effort to get ahead in the first period they might have been in a better position in the third when the Devils scored. They could have had a lead and it wouldn’t have mattered if they scored again, or if the Wild had played well out of the gate they could have put Schneider back on his heels and not let him get in a groove and see the puck so well.
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Going forward the Wild need to change this trend and play sixty full minutes of hockey. Getting the lead early is important and is something the Wild have yet to do in this young season. They may have been able to get away with poor third period play previous to last night, but last night the Devils took advantage of the late opening the Wild gave them to get back into the game and eventually finished them off.