The uphill climb to make the playoffs just got that much harder for the Wild.
After suffering a 3-1 loss to the Blues on Saturday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, the Wild find themselves eight points back of the final playoff spot. That gap is hard to believe considering a week ago the Wild were among the hottest teams in the NHL and had moved within two points of the final playoff spot.
That’s what losing three straight games will do. Remember the hard work from last month that helped the Wild dig themselves out of a hole? It’s rather meaningless at this point.
Not only did the loss serve as a blow to the Wild as they try to claw back into contention, it also spoiled the highly anticipated return of winger Mason Shaw. He suited up for the first time since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee roughly 11 months ago. It was a long road back for Shaw, and the game was the manifestation of his tenacity to never give up.
“I was pretty calm before the game,” Shaw told reporters in St. Louis. “It felt like I was straight back where I was supposed to be.”
If only it would’ve ended with a better result.
After an evenly matched start to the game, the Wild fell behind 1-0 when a shot from the point took a wonky bounce in front of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Though it looked like Fleury might have made the save at the last moment, the replay showed that the puck fully crossed the goal line.
Credit the Wild for fighting back. The way things have been going it would’ve been easy for them to hang their heads. Instead, they responded by stepping up big time on the penalty kill, then parlayed that into some solid play for prolonged stretches.
The reward came in the second period when defenseman Jon Merrill fired from the slot and beat Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington to tie the game at 1-1.
That lead proved to be shortlived, however, as Blues winger Jake Neighbors made it 2-1 on the power play a few minutes later. Thinking perhaps Fleury had been interfered with in his crease, head coach John Hynes challenged the call on the ice. The officials quickly confirmed the goal.
As the Wild tried to net the equalizer in the third period, they couldn’t stay out of their own way, taking a few penalties that put them in a bad position. Any thoughts of a comeback ended in the final minute as Blues defenseman Torey Krug finalized the score at 3-1 with a long-range empty-net goal.
Now the Wild head into a matchup with the lowly San Jose Sharks on Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center more desperate than ever.
“We’re in the middle of a fight right now,” Shaw told reporters in St. Louis. “There’s a lot of hockey left and it’s a never say die attitude with this group.”
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