Should the Minnesota Wild be worried about this rough stretch?

Should the Minnesota Wild be worried about this rough stretch?
March 21, 2017, 11:42 AM ET [19 Comments]
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The Minnesota Wild have dropped five consecutive games, eight of 10, and are sliding down the Western Conference standings.

In this edition of the hotstove, we discuss whether the Wild/fans should be worried or if this is just a bump in the road.

Todd Cordell

I think the Wild will be just fine.

Over the last 10 games, where they've gone 2-8-0, they have controlled 56% of the shot attempts, 56% of the chances and almost 64% of the high-danger chances(!) at 5v5. Despite that, they've been out-scored 23-14 in large part due to subpar goaltending (Devan Dubnyk and Darcy Kuemper own a sub .900SV%).

During this stretch of 'poor play', they are top-5 in generating scoring chances and top-5 in preventing chances. If that continues, they'll get positive results sooner than later.

James Tanner

I think the Wild were always sort of getting insane goaltending and while there is a lot to like about their team, I don't know if they were ever as good as their record indicated.

The Wild's record right now, after this bad stretch, is probably a lot closer to being indicative of how good they are than it was before.

They're a decent team, but I'd rather face them in the playoffs than almost any other team in the west once the playoffs begin.

John Jaeckel

I'd start worrying. A bit.

They're deep and talented, but these aren't just "games" they're losing. They're key games in a stretch race for key playoff position. And losses in these games raise legitimate questions—at least—about team character and psychology.

All that said, it's March 20, not April 1, much less April 15. The Wild have time to right the ship, finish the season strong and go into the playoffs on a confident note. This is maybe a good test for them, in terms of their ability to break out of a spiral when the games count.

Peter Tessier

The Wild should have been down and out against the Jets but they regrouped and basically controlled the game aside from the crease. They didn't just control they dominated and continued to do so to the final horn.

Teams go up and down all through the season and sometimes the grind, the opposition and time of year have an effect. The will right the ship and will be a dangerous team come the playoffs. Boudreau will have this group ready and no one will want to face them.