Shots on goal are important. But the shots IN goal are the difference-makers in hockey.
So, as much as the Minnesota Wild liked some parts of their effort on Thursday in Calgary, a 1-1 tie in the third period that became a 4-1 loss was a result of a team not converting enough scoring chances into goals lately.
The Wild prepare to face the Canucks on Saturday night in Vancouver having scored just two goals on this road trip, and with four goals, total in their past three games while going 1-1-1.
“I do think we’re creating a bunch of chances, and you know, if they go in, we’re talking a different game,” Wild veteran forward Mats Zuccarello said to the reporters gathered in the visiting locker room after the loss to the Flames. “But sometimes you’ve got to accept that they scored on their chances and we didn’t. We don’t like losing, so we’ve got to forget about this one.”
When everything seemed to be going wrong for the Wild in October, one bright spot was their power play, which was tops in the NHL at the time. Things are much better overall now, but the Wild’s vitally important time with an opponent in the penalty box is not providing the boost it once did.
On the flip side of that bad news, the Wild’s penalty kill — once the worst in the NHL, statistically — has killed off opponents’ last 20 man-advantage situations, moving them up to 20th in the league.
The Wild’s power play has fallen out of the top 10 after going 0 for 10 over the past four games. That includes failing to score on an eight-minute man advantage in the first period versus the Flames on Thursday. Wild coach John Hynes mentioned faceoffs as being one of the problems in Calgary but wouldn’t pin the offensive deficiency on just one issue.
“I think we can dissect it every which way,” Hynes said. “I would say that it’s hard to win when your compete level, your engagement, your execution isn’t close to what it needs to be.”
The final two games of this road trip — Saturday in Vancouver and Monday in Seattle — are against teams that have struggled early. Minnesota beat the Canucks last month in St. Paul, and won in their March visit to the home of the Kraken last season. So, despite the recent offensive doldrums, and their first regulation loss in nearly a month, there remains a quiet confidence that the scoring chances are going to lead to goals if they just keep doing what they’re doing.
“We’ll draw on that; we’ve been playing good hockey as of late,” said Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian, who got his first assist of the season on the team’s lone goal in Calgary. “You don’t want them to happen, but these things happen. Games like this happen. Learn from it, move on from it. … We’re confident in the group and we can’t let one game throw us off course.”
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