The silence was deafening on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Typically among the hardest places in the NHL for opponents to play on a nightly basis, the home crowd noticeably lacked energy, and for good reason, as the Wild continued their struggles on home ice.
Let’s just say there wasn’t much to cheer about as the Wild got run out of their own building in a 4-0 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
As impressive as the Wild have been this season while amassing a 17-5-3 record on the road, they now have an 11-11-1 record at home, a concerning trend has contributed to their recent swoon.
Though the Wild are still firmly in playoff position for the time being, they have won on home ice only once since New Year’s Day. Not even the highly anticipated return of star winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon could change that.
A game that was supposed to be celebration of sorts for the Wild quickly devolved into a blowout, as goaltender Filip Gustavsson continued his shaky play between the pipes. Not that his his teammates provided very little support in front of him.
The writing was on the wall from the onset as Utah went up 1-0 a couple of minutes into the game when center Barrett Hayton carved out some space in the slot and redirected a puck into the back of the net.
There wasn’t much of a response from the Wild, who were outshot 16-5 in the first period, and Utah continued to apply pressure before stretching its lead to 2-0 when winger Clayton Keller ripped a shot top shelf.
After a lackluster start to the game, the Wild finally woke up in the second period, controlling the pace of play for a prolonged stretch. They couldn’t find the back of the net and Utah took complete control when winger Lawson Crouse made it 3-0 late in the second period with Gustavsson too far off his post.
The dagger from Utah mercifully came early in the third period as Hayton finalized the score at 4-0 with a dribbler that snuck past Gustavsson and trickled over the goal line.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock, most of the home crowd had already given up and headed for the exits. The fans that stuck around finally made themselves heard as they voiced their displeasure on their way out the door.
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