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Reeling Wild fire coach amid winless streak heading into Blues matchup: Blues Extra

N.Nguyen3 months ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The State of Hockey is in a state of exasperation. And, as it turns out, a state of change.

Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin fired coach Dean Evason on Monday and hired John Hynes to replace him.

The Wild will carry a seven-game winless streak (0-5-2) into Tuesday’s matchup with the Blues. They have sunk to 5-10-4, which puts them ahead of only the rebuilding San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference playoff chase.

“Seven in a row is unacceptable, especially with this group of guys,” former Blues forward Pat Maroon said. “We should be (ticked) off right now, and we should be (ticked) off when we play the next game.

“We need to understand what is at stake here. We’re losing points by the sack.”

The Wild figure to break out at some point — these are mostly the same guys who finished 46-25-11 last season — and the Blues would prefer that not happen on their that the team has changed coaches.

“They’re desperate,” Blues coach Craig Berube said prior to Evason’s firing. “We have to go into the game with a good mindset. We know it’s going to be a hard game. They are going to come out hard. They’re at home, looking for a win. We have to make sure we’re ready to play, understand the urgency we need right away in the game.”

Evason was beside himself after his team fell to the Red Wings 4-1 on Sunday in Detroit. Minnesota outshot the Wings 38-22 but still lost going away.

Along the way, Ryan Hartman was whistled for a slew-foot infraction on Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat. The NHL suspended him for two games.

“I think frustration is turning to anger, obviously,” Evason said before being fired. “Hopefully they’re as angry as we are because we have to change something. We just can’t continue to be, ‘That’s good effort, we outshot them, had lots of chances.’ We’re still losing. We have to find a way to win.”

Try as they might, the Wild could not break their losing cycle under Evason.

“That’s what (ticks) us off, right?” Evason said. “That makes you mad, that the same mistakes, same guys are not pulling their weight, same mistakes that happen most nights don’t allow us to have a true, true chance of winning the hockey game.”

Forward Frederik Gaudreau noted that losing can beget more losing.

“It feels like the more you go into (that) stretch, the more nervous stuff we do on the ice,” he said. “But I don’t think there is a magic recipe but to play hard and play the right way. It’s hard to say that right now, but I do it’s believe it’s (important) to stay positive. Not staying positive in a way that we’re happy about what’s happening. Nobody’s happy. But keep a positive mindset and keep believing that if we do the right things and we keep working hard every day, we’re going to get out of this altogether.”

The Blues have looked a bit more dangerous on the power play lately, and the Wild are dead last in the NHL with a 66.7% kill rate. That struggle could provide opportunity for the Blues, who went 1 for 2 with the man advantage in Chicago.

“I thought the power play looked really good, both power plays,” Berube said. “Could’ve had another one on the other one. I think the power play has been coming lately. We’ve gotten some goals here and there lately. Overall, the lower play has been starting to get a little mojo. Puck movement has better, more direct, getting more pucks on net.”

Overall, goaltenders Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury have combined for an .878 save percentage, which is third-worst in the league.

Star winger Karill Kaprisov has 18 points, but he is minus-10. Winger Matt Boldy has scored just one goal in 12 games, and he has no points in his last four games.

All of this led to Evason’s dismissal. But as he noted after the Red Wings loss, there is a limit to what coaches can do to make players better.

“I don’t care how old you are; I don’t care what’s going on,” Evason said. “Those guys get paid a lot of money to score goals and play better. And some guys aren’t. We’ll do what we can do from our end, but there has to be some looking in the mirror as well.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated late Monday to reflect Dean Evason's firing.

Dads trip continues

The dads trip came to the Twin Cities on Sunday night when the team took a chartered flight in from Chicago.

“It was a much quieter night,” one of the fathers noted.

Saturday night in Chicago ... yeah, that was a good time for the dads. But everybody made it out of the Windy City in one piece.

On Monday, the dads watched practice from the bench and posed for individual photos and a team photo with their sons.

Peronovich returns

After sitting out one game as a healthy scratch, defenseman Scott Perunovich was back with regular defenseman Marco Scandella at practice Monday. Berube plans on returning him to the lineup against the Wild.

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