The Minnesota Wild finished their three-game homestand on Tuesday, Nov. 5, by hosting the Los Angeles Kings. The Wild’s lineup remained the same except for defenseman Jon Merrill joining the lineup and Declan Chisholm being the healthy scratch. In net, Filip Gustavsson was looking for his third consecutive win.
The game started out back and forth, with the Wild taking the lead in the second. Shortly after, Kirill Kaprizov was hit in the face with a puck and left for the rest of the period. That allowed the Kings to fight back with two unanswered goals and took a 2-1 lead into the third. The Wild couldn’t find a way to mount a comeback in the third and fell 5-1.
While it’s a disappointing loss, it’s also important to remember that this is only the second regulation loss for the Wild out of 12 games. It is still a very respectable record this early in the season. In this article, we’ll look at why the Wild struggled against the Kings and one bright spot they can hopefully build on going forward. We’ll start with their lack of spark.
Wild Have No Spark
At the very start of the season, the Wild jumped onto the ice in nearly every game and had a spark behind their play. They were beating everyone to the puck, and they had an unmatched energy that other teams struggled to compete against. However, against the Kings, that energy didn’t appear to be there. They had some jump in the first period, but when they couldn’t score, it seemed like their spark dropped.
When they lost Kaprizov for some time in the second period, their energy level dropped even more. It’s obvious a lot of their momentum boosts come when he’s on the ice, and they got a small one when he returned for the third period. However, it was too little too late, as all of their attempts to score were thwarted.
The Wild have to find a way to get that spark back and get a lead in the first, as they’ve been able to do for most of the season. When they’ve been able to do those things, they’ve been able to come out with the win.
Wild’s Special Teams Can’t Convert
The Wild started strong on the special teams, with some exceptions here and there, such as the occasional bad power play or penalty kill. However, these past two games, they’ve taken a hit in both the power play and penalty kill. They’ve allowed goals to be scored while shorthanded in back-to-back…
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