After taking a 2-0 lead in Philadelphia on Monday night, the Minnesota Wild saw things go from good to horrendous as they blew the lead and the game — losing 7-4 to the bottom-feeding Flyers.
Head coach Bruce Boudreau called out some defensive woes in the postgame presser as the reason for why his team could not come away with the win. “You can’t make the mistakes that we’re making out there and hope to win a hockey game,” the head coach said afterward.
So where exactly did the Wild go wrong in this game after they jumped out to that 2-0 lead? Let’s examine some film to see if there was a recurring theme.
Greg Pateyrn takes a roughing penalty with the Wild up 2-0, Flyers score on the ensuing power play
At the 11:09 mark of the first, Pateryn gets called for roughing. Now, this is a penalty that should most definitely be called in the league. The problem was that we saw a much worse version of this last week that went uncalled.
Consistency, anyone?
On the ensuing power play, James Van Riemsdyk deflects one past Devan Dubnyk to get the Flyers on the board. Boudreau challenges for offsides, and he had a pretty good argument for apparently. However, neither the folks in stripes or New York saw it as Boudreau did, and the goal counted.
Van Riemsdyk tips one again
Again, the former Leaf gets a piece of this Claude Giroux shot. Not exactly sure where, but maybe he just got credited with the goal for taking FOUR Wild players down to the net with him. Under no circumstances should one player attract four defenders with him, especially considering that Giroux is on the ice and not being paid attention to!
Nolan Patrick ties the game two-and-a-half minutes after the Wild regain the lead.
Woof.
Patrick, again, gives the Flyers the lead for good.
A shot off the end wall from Travis Sanheim kicks right back out to Patrick who goes between the legs to put the rebound into the gaping net. This is not great defense from Mikael Granlund, who lost track of Patrick behind him allowing the Flyers center to score his second of the night. The goal gave Philadelphia the lead, and it was a lead they did not give up.
Wayne Simmonds strikes twice to put the Wild away.
With six seconds left in the period, Simmonds scores a back-breaking goal for the Wild. With the play on the far side of the ice, he sneaks in behind Zach Parise and receives a backdoor pass with the Wild winger not keeping tabs on him. Parise kicked himself for the costly error after the game by saying, “The one at the end of the second, turning it over and trying to make a play, but I turned it over and they ended up scoring. If that doesn’t happen, it’s a (4-3) game.”
Here is the full play Parise describes above, as he gets the puck down low and skates towards the blue line and gives the puck away leading to the Simmonds goal.
[videopress rP94ZoI0]This was the last goal Dubnyk would allow in this game, as he was pulled to start the third in favor of Alex Stalock.
After the Wild get a coach’s challenge goal mid-third to make it a one-goal game, it was Simmonds again who put the game out of reach as he takes advantage of a Pateryn miscue at center ice.
Again, woof. Not a great night for Pateryn or the Wild in general for that matter.
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The lapses by the Wild in this game were clearly on the defensive side. This is not a game where you want to give up a touchdown to one of the worst offenses in the league, but the Wild were able to do so as they could not play proper defense after taking the lead.
Now the Wild quickly rebound Tuesday night at home against Los Angeles — who is the worst scoring team in the league. If the Wild play defense like this again, they very well could allow another seven spot to a bad team.
That’s not a very promising thought for Wild fans…
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