Wilds lack of energy on offense, forward depth to blame for loss to Kraken

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ST. PAUL, Minn. First team to get a scoring chance wins!

For one period at least Thursday night, thats how it felt inside Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild were so lousy offensively that they barely got a sniff of the offensive zone and didnt even make one of the more easily beatable goalies in the NHL, Martin Jones, break a sweat.

But the glass-half-full point of view which coach Dean Evason certainly tried to express when he attempted to paint lipstick on this unsightly 4-0 loss that interrupted some recent good vibes is that the Wild defended the Seattle Kraken so well that we didnt give them anything.

Fair enough.

But 20 minutes later, in Evasons mind, the Wild gave up three goals on one scoring chance because of the fluky nature of two of them. The problem was the Wild were still completely out of rhythm, being too cute, coughing up pucks in the worst areas with ridiculous blind drop passes, making ignoramus line changes and being softer than a box full of foam pucks.

Youre not going to have it every night. We didnt have our best tonight, said right wing Matt Boldy, who played a career-high 22 minutes, 56 seconds and, down 3-0, saw shifts at center between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

1-0 #SeaKraken

Geekie with the net front tip of a Sprong shot. Three goals in three games for 67 #GeekSquad pic.twitter.com/pwkZkC8no6

Alison (@AlisonL) November 4, 2022

Boldys assessment, though, was a pretty large understatement. The Wild were as flat as a sheet of ice, and some of their more experienced players and recent call-ups were exposed over and over again.

Look, excuses are excuses, and the Wild have some valid ones right now with their forward depth being severely tested.

Four forwards are out of the lineup, and to make matters worse, theyre four similar-style forwards when it comes to size and grit.

Ryan Hartman is sidelined long-term as a repercussion for a needless fight in Chicago. Brandon Duhaime was injured Tuesday night against Montreal. Marcus Foligno has missed three games. And Jordan Greenway, limited to one game totaling less than three minutes of ice time, could return to the lineup Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Maybe Foligno and Duhaime are closed, maybe not. The Wild are always vague about injury details, including timetables.

But that latest injury to Duhaime and the fact the Wild dont play again for five days led to the decision not to recall a 12th forward from the Iowa Wild to play against Seattle.

Alex Goligoski had been scratched for six consecutive games since playing his 1,000th NHL game on the first homestand, so the Wild decided to play seven defensemen and load up on ice times for Kaprizov, Boldy and Zuccarello.

Evason didnt think the 11/7 configuration was a huge factor in the game, but the experiment sure seemed to erupt like a volcano in science class.

Even from the first couple of shifts, the Wild seemed out of spells against the Kraken, a second-year team that has been sneaky good all season and was coming off victories against Pittsburgh and Calgary. Evason played the heck out of the lines of Kaprizov, Freddy Gaudreau and Zuccarello, and Mason Shaw, Joel Eriksson Ek and Boldy early and doubled up Boldy, Kaprizov or Sam Steel with Marco Rossi during his five even-strength first-period shifts.

Rossi played a strong game and was in the middle of the few Wild scoring chances, but they got some bad games across the board from several players.

Right from an early delay-of-game penalty and turnover, veteran defenseman Jonas Brodin played his worst game since his troubles in the homestand at the start of the season. Shaw, a revelation with two goals in two games heading into Thursday, was minus-3. Gaudreau turned pucks over and lost board battles. Steel lost board and puck battles, including a glaring one on a penalty-kill clear that ended up in the back of the net for a 3-0 Kraken lead.

Just too many battles lost tonight, said veteran defenseman Matt Dumba, who got left hung out to dry by one of the most inexplicable line changes you’ve ever seen by a group of professional hockey forwards. Weve got an awesome group in here, and guys are definitely willing to step up. But tonight, just a little flat-footed, a little dead. Yeah, we gotta put this one behind us.

As much as Evason said he was encouraged by the Wilds play and that they just didnt catch any breaks, he bemoaned the lack of energy to create offense. He didnt make excuses, but he alluded to the injured forwards and the fact the Wild have played a lot of hockey lately, including a five-game trip that wrapped up Sunday.

We just flat out didnt have the energy level that we needed to play here tonight, Evason said.

After a 0-0 first period, Shaw was bumped off a puck by Adam Larsson. The next thing you know, Daniel Sprongs shot from the half-wall went in off Morgan Geekie on a weird deflection.

It was 2-0 6 1/2 minutes later when Steel, Connor Dewar and Steven Fogarty all went in on the forecheck, then shockingly went for a line change after the Kraken went on transition for a four-on-two. Yanni Gourde gave Jamie Oleksiak a gimme for an easy third goal of the season, and Rossi, Boldy and Shaw wound up minuses because of the mistake of three others and the fact defenseman Jon Merrill left the backdoor wide open.

Another look at Oleksiaks goal. Nice read by Gourd to take advantage of the space as Wild went for the change. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/habdEJ4pXV

Alison (@AlisonL) November 4, 2022

It doesn’t make any sense, right? Evason said when asked how three forwards could simultaneously go for a change like that from the offensive zone when the puck was on a counterattack. We dump the puck in, one guy can go, two guys have to change. You can’t get after a forecheck, then all three change. Thats just not what hockey players do.

A little more than three minutes later, Steel was pushed off a puck for a turnover and a puck deflected in off Alex Wennberg. Originally, the refs waved off the goal because they thought he head-butted the puck, but the decision was reversed upon review.

Alex Wennberg with the HEADER goal? What a ridiculous power play tally, 3-0 Kraken!#SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/IC92GjzkC6

Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) November 4, 2022

In the third period, Wennberg scored again after a soft play by Gaudreau along the wall.

This tip couldn’t have been any more perfect.

Cc: Alex Wennberg pic.twitter.com/d8Gxk2vIwW

NHL (@NHL) November 4, 2022

Its one of those games (where) they were just quicker, stronger on the puck, Brodin said. I dont know why its like that. But weve got to win more battles, for sure.

As of now, the Wild think they’ll be able to get by without looking to the outside for quick fixes because of the injuries. Maybe theyll get Greenway and one of the other forwards back on the upcoming trip, or maybe theyll look to Iowa and recall a couple of forwards, like Adam Beckman, Mitchell Chaffee and Sammy Walker, and perhaps send Fogarty back.

Theyre due to take Friday and Sunday off, practice outside in St. Louis Park on Saturday and have a good battle practice Monday before flying to Southern California for a three-game trip. Dumba said they’ll get their bodies and minds right and get back to winning hockey games.

They were 5-1-1 in their previous seven games before Thursdays stinker, but they need some healthy bodies back.

Were not worried about our depth, Evason said. Would we like some guys back that are regular NHL hockey players? Safe. If they are, wonderful. If they aren’t, then we need people to step up and provide us with (good games) within our lineup.

Weve got some nice work that we can do in four days, plus some really nice rest. Hopefully, collect some bodies. And well make some decisions, Im sure, personal-wise.

(Photo of Joel Eriksson Ek and Martin Jones: David Berding/Getty Images)

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