Wild’s porous penalty kill and a frustrated Matt Boldy: Key takeaways in loss to Red Wings
The Minnesota Wild lost 4-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, marking their seventh straight defeat. Here’s what you need to know:
More penalty-kill struggles
The Wild haven’t made it easy on themselves. They’ve had to chase most of the season, consistently giving up the first goal. And on Sunday, it was their worst-in-NHL penalty kill that put them in an early hole. Four minutes into the game, Lucas Raymond zipped around Brandon Duhaime, who put himself out of position, which led to a scramble. Raymond put it on a ‘T’ for David Perron, who finished. Perron scored another power-play goal early in the third period to help put the Wild away. The kind of penalties Minnesota is taking isn’t helping either, like Pat Maroon’s untimely tripping penalty early in the third.
This set up from Raymond on the power play to Perron pic.twitter.com/5cpI0CZcj1— Shayna November 26, 2023
Swing and a miss in the second
The story of the Wild’s season has been that they’re consistently getting in their own way. An example was the second period on Sunday. Minnesota controlled play for large portions of the period, putting together strong shifts and holding a 4-0 advantage in high-danger chances. But the Wild couldn’t finish, and the Red Wings cashed in late in the period on a great second effort by Dylan Larkin. On the play, Freddy Gaudreau, one of the Wild’s typically more reliable defenders, got beat to the rebound. And Filip Gustavsson, who made game-changing saves last season, gave up a juicy rebound and a back-breaking goal there, making it 2-1 Detroit after two. Eriksson Ek had a chance to tie it late in the period on a breakaway, but Alex Lyon made the stop.
A frustrated Matt Boldy
It’s no secret Matt Boldy is going through a serious slump , especially for a guy who racked up 31 goals last year. And it appears frustration is setting in for the talented winger. Early in the first period, Boldy had a chance for a breakaway but was called for a questionable holding penalty. Then, in the second, Boldy slammed a heavy backhand shot into the boards after getting called for another penalty. It made for three penalties over a six-shift span, dating back to his previous game. Boldy is by far not the only culprit for Minnesota’s malaise, but it’s times like this when the team needs its best players like him and Kirill Kaprizov to help snap them out of it.
Three stars
(Photo: Rick Osentoski / USA Today)
