Wild Can’t Overcome Penalty Problems in Loss to Hurricanes

The Minnesota Wild were looking to complete the season sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes when they faced each other on Thursday, Jan. 19. The first period was quiet with a small number of shots for the Wild and while the Hurricanes had more shots, they couldn’t get past the goaltending of Marc-André Fleury. In the second period, things looked better as the Wild scored the first goal of the game just under halfway through the period but the Hurricanes had an answer just two minutes later to tie it at one.

That was just the beginning for the Hurricanes who responded with two more goals to end the period up 3-1. The Wild’s hopes were dashed even more as the Hurricanes scored two more goals to start the third. They did resurrect some hope with a goal by Matt Boldy a few minutes later but that was all they could muster. Despite a number of chances for both sides, neither team scored and the Hurricanes took the win 5-2.

Wild’s Penalties Catch Up to Them

There’s a problem that keeps happening in nearly every single game the Wild play this season and that is their nonstop penalties. They appear to have no idea how to stay disciplined and out of the penalty box. In their game against the Hurricanes that problem was maximized 100 percent. They opened the first minute of the game with a boarding penalty against their best scorer Kirill Kaprizov. They followed that with three more, which included a 10-minute misconduct against Ryan Hartman.

They managed to pull themselves together in the second, only taking one penalty but lost it again in the third with three more. The Wild were lucky in the first period to not give up any goals while shorthanded, but they weren’t so lucky in the second and third as the Hurricanes scored a power-play goal in each period and gave their team a clear advantage.

After this game, it has to be obvious to the Wild that they need to clean up their act and keep themselves out of penalty troubles going forward. This one could’ve had a much better outcome if they’d avoided the penalty box.

Wild’s Special Teams Flip-Flop

The Wild’s power play has been struggling off and on for the last few weeks and had been held scoreless to start this recent road trip when they took on the Washington Capitals. However, they found success against the Hurricanes when Kaprizov opened the scoring on the power play; it was also his…