Not much can be said about tonight's game for the Wild, except, well I can't think of anything to say. This game left me with no words and scratching my head wondering what they need to do to find the net.
The Minnesota Wild would control much of the play in tonight's home game against Vancouver, but would find themselves surrendering the first goal to David Booth. However, just over a minute later, Charlie Coyle would find the twine when he would flat out snipe Eddie Lack. The teams would go into the locker room tied at one, but Minnesota probably should have been up by two goals for how much they controlled play. They just were not getting the bounces they needed.
As the game went on, things were still being controlled by the Wild, but the flood gates would open up in the third for the Canucks. A couple of power plays and bad turnovers later, the game was quickly 5-1 in favor of the bad guys. Nino Niederreiter would put one late goal in for the Wild, but that's exactly what it would be, too little too late.
Outshooting the Canucks 31-19 tonight, the Minnesota Wild and fans like me are left scratching their heads wondering what they could have done different tonight. More often then not, they did not get any second or third quality chances in the offensive zone, even though they were controlling most of the play.
Another thing that would cost them is too many costly turnovers. The Canucks are a team you can't make these kind of mistakes against or they will find the back of the net and tonight was a good example of this.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper also looked a bit off tonight, however, each and every Vancouver goal was scored from a high percentage scoring area, or off of a deflection. Kuemper can't be completely to blame for this loss. That being said, five goals against on 19 shots isn't that good at any level of play, and improvement is needed.
The gist of it all is that our key guys need to contribute more consistently in key games like tonight, and on the upcoming road trip. With guys like Parise, Pominville, and Moulson not finding the net as much as they should, it leaves playmakers like Koivu and Granlund sitting in the dust getting ridiculed because they aren't producing points either.
It's time for the veteran leaders to take charge and lead this team into the playoffs. They can't keep missing out on key points coming down the stretch, otherwise they could be sitting on the outside, much like the Toronto Maple Leafs are right now in the east.
