Minnesota Wild: Home stand not great for the Iowa Wild
By Luke Ryan
The Minnesota Wild just returned from a franchise-longest road trip. Their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild have just played a two-game home stand, but the results haven’t been going their way.
Returning from a 3-0 shut-out victory over the Rockford Ice Hogs; the Iowa Wild were riding high and looking to be a strong competitor in the league. Good signs for their parent club, the Minnesota Wild given the level of development some of their players were starting to show.
Unfortunately, the wheels fell off somewhat recently, going down in over-time 5-4 and then 4-3, both to the Bakersfield Condors.
It’s not all bad though, you could actually say it’s a very important development path for the younger players to undertake. No season is going to be without bumps in the road.
The challenge now has to be a bounce-back against the Milwaukee Admirals as they head into town for two more games on the Iowa’s home-ice.
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Given the ability to have last line change at home, you really need to maximise the chances and take the wins before hitting the road. If you can pick up wins on the road, you’re laughing but the home ones are more vital.
The Minnesota Wild can vouch for that after five wins from seven on the road!
Right now, it needs to be the experienced guys in the room pulling the youngsters together and ensuring they are ready to give it their all against the Admirals.
Guys like Cal O’Reilly, who I think deserves another chance in the NHL, need to take the ‘bull by the horns’ and ensure the likes of Luke Kunin and Mason Shaw know the significance of making it four points from eight in their home-stand.
The hope is that Kaapo Kahkonen can step up with another start and another shut-out to add to his strong fledgling AHL career numbers.
Provided nobody is getting injured anytime soon on the Minnesota Wild line-up, we can maintain a full group with the Iowa Wild. That would be best for them, but of course call-ups happen!
Next. Wild return with 5-2-0 road-trip record. dark
Fingers crossed for a strong bounce-back performance in Iowa.