Minnesota Wild: Learning from the Past 4 Years
The Minnesota Wild have been to the playoffs each of the last four seasons. Here are the lessons learned from those defeats.
In each of the past four trips to the postseason the Minnesota Wild have been eliminated. None of those appearances saw the team make it out of the second round of the NHL playoffs. Although the team has not experienced past success, there is no reason they can’t learn from their failures.
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Stars and Sticks
2012-13
The Wild lost in five games to the Blackhawks. There were not a ton of positives from this series other than an overtime goal from Jason Zucker. However, the team had not been to the playoffs in the previous four years. Fans considered a playoff appearance an accomplishment. This series taught the team it takes more than two big free agent signings to win the Stanley Cup.
2013-14
In the first round, this team overcame adversity coming from down 2-0 to beat the Avs in seven games. Like this year’s series, the Wild had the better of the chances in early games and it was just a matter of capitalizing on those chances to turn the tide. The team will need a similar string of performances if they have any chance of coming back in their current series against the Blues. In the second round the team played their best playoff series to date against the Blackhawks but ultimately it wasn’t enough as a fluky goal by Patrick Kane brought an end to the season. Perseverance is the take away from this playoff run as the team came back against the Avs and won that series in dramatic fashion after being down early.
2014-15
Minnesota beat the Blues as the underdog in this first round series. Although many players on both sides remain the same, these are two very different teams from two years ago. It is still useful to learn from what beat these guys before. In that series the Wild played faster and didn’t let the Blues frustrate them when they tried to get physical. This year it seems the team has played into the Blues hands with several cheap penalties that have come back to haunt them. The takeaway here is to let St. Louis get into it after the whistle, then just turn and skate back to the bench. Nothing of value comes from the sweep at the hands of the Blackhawks other than remembering how it felt.
Next: Minnesota Wild: Team History in Elimination Games
2015-16
The Minnesota Wild ultimately fell in six games to the Stars, they fought hard. In game five in Dallas the team rallied to send the game into overtime and eventually won on the strength of two Mikko Koivu goals. It will take a similar level of fight, will, and pride to not mail it in this series.