Minnesota Wild: The Opening Faceoff 16 Mar 17

The Wild are gearing up for the last game of what can be described as a tough road trip. It’s contributed to a sizable slide as the team looks to break out of the funk that has cost them four of their last five contests.

It’s been a while but here’s the puck drop on your Thursday.

More from Gone Puck Wild

1) The Wild are looking for three periods of mistake free hockey.: Mistakes are killing the Wild now and really showed in the last two games against two of the best in the NHL the Caps and the Blackhawks. I’d revisit the Ryan White delayed penalty debacle, but that’s too easy. In the Caps game it was too many penalties and a late first period goal in a game that should have been 0-0 in the first intermission. Passive was the word that Bruce Boudreau used to describe it to Michael Russo saying “The first two periods, we were so passive. I mean, we didn’t show any emotion. The third period at least we came out with a little emotion.” Let’s hope Boudreau is beating the passivity out of them right now in the morning skate.

2) The Wild can’t look past tonight’s game in Carolina.: The Wild need to win this game tonight. This is the opponent to be playing right now as the Hurricanes are 28-27-12 and 3-3-4 in their last ten games. So, the potential for a good night is there, but the Canes have just enough left in the tank that they will not just roll over. The Wild will need to play their absolute A game to ensure the win, and show to themselves, their coaches, and the fans that they are still that top team we all know they are.

3) Eric Staal returns to Raleigh.: This is only the second time that Eric Staal has played in PNC Arena as a member of the opposing squad since leaving last season at the trade deadline. This is his first in a Wild sweater, so I predict a motivated Staal. He’ll be playing against his brother Jordan and his folks will no doubt be watching, so add that all up and throw in that we saw a pretty motivated Staal in Washington…we could see a big game from the Wild center.

4) Latest slide is affecting Dubnyk, and his stats.: Devan Dubnyk played a solid game in Washington, but still gave up four goals. In Chicago we all know about his very early yank from the game after two goals on two shots, it just looks like the Wild netminder is not quite as sharp as normal. Not to mention he’s now dropped out the NHL lead in wins and has fallen to a tie in the save percentage race, so it’s been a hard road trip on Dubnyk in the stat department and possibly his Vezina hopes.