1. Sleepy from the start
The Wild had morning skates on Tuesday and Thursday, but had not spent meaningful time on the ice prior to Thursday evening's contest since Sunday night's game in Las Vegas.
Minnesota travelled back from its West Coast trip on Monday, then had Tuesday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes postponed because of a handful of Canes players testing positive for COVID.
A previously scheduled off day for Wednesday was kept, meaning that the only two appearances on the ice for Wild players over the past three days were a couple of brief AM skates. It's one reason why Wild coach Dean Evason was more boisterous than normal on Thursday morning.
It's hard enough coming home off a four-game road trip, but throw in some extra down time and the Wild had plenty of rust to eliminate from its game.
Unfortunately for the home club, it was never really able to get to its best game at any point on Thursday night.
Minnesota never trailed in the game, but it was never able to separate either, and it ended up biting them in the shootout. And had it not been for goaltender Cam Talbot - especially early - the Wild might not have been in the game at all.
Evason said it was a game where the Wild was probably fortunate to get the point in the standings it did.
Video: BUF@MIN: Merrill hammers in one-timer to open scoring
"We probably deserved worse, right? We weren't good. We weren't good right from the start. We weren't good in the middle. We weren't good at the end. All of us. We weren't very good," Evason said. "We talked about maybe we need some practice. We need some practice. Our pace was just terrible. Terrible. They had pace. They played hard. Credit to them for sure. But we didn't have anything tonight."
Because of the complicated schedule on the trip, including back-to-back games at the tail end and a full travel day, Minnesota has prioritized rest during a busy stretch of the calendar.
But the postponement threw a bit of a wrench into things. Without a full practice in 10 days, Minnesota will hit the ice at TRIA Rink on Friday morning for some much-needed prep time ahead of a difficult game versus the Florida Panthers here on Saturday afternoon.
Video: Jordan Greenway postgame vs Buffalo
"It's definitely gonna give us the opportunity to clean up the areas we need to," said Wild forward Jordan Greenway. "It's definitely gonna be one that we gotta dial it in and get focused before Saturday."
Greenway spoke at length about respect after the game, and how he thought the Wild could have done a better job respecting the Sabres. Perhaps that was the reason behind a sleepy start, middle and end?
"We can't just come out and expect to win and have the other team just kind of roll over," Greenway said. "We gotta come out and play the way that we were to allow us to have the winning streak that we did. It's just been slipping a little bit. But on the flip side, there's things that we can change and I think if we do, we can get back to winning day in and day out."
2. From bad to worse
Just as it was getting its defensive core back to full health, Evason said after the game that defenseman Jared Spurgeon won't play on Saturday after re-aggravating his lower-body injury early in the third period.
"It's not good," Evason said rather glumly to close his press conference.
Prior to exiting the game, Spurgeon had an assist and was a plus-1 in 14:36 of ice time, and since returning from injury on the road trip, Spurgeon has been really good.
Video: Dean Evason postgame vs Buffalo
The Wild captain missed eight games between Nov. 21 and Dec. 7, a stretch of games that coincided with the Wild's eight-game winning streak and nine-game point streak.
But make no mistake, if he needs to miss significant time, it's a huge loss for Minnesota - especially with the Winter Classic against St. Louis and some much deserved national love for the Wild captain looming in just over two weeks.
Video: BUF@MIN: Kaprizov rips a wrister that slips into net
With Spurgeon out, Jordie Benn will likely hop back into the lineup against the Panthers. Benn was scratched for the first time in nearly a month on Thursday night as the Wild's Opening Night six on the back end were each healthy.
Benn has been solid since being inserted as a regular, posting a pair of assists and a plus-2 in 12 games this season.
3. Stopping the skid
In addition to some much needed practice time, the Wild says it needs to get back to its identity when it plays the Panthers on Saturday.
Florida is ravaged by guys on the COVID-19 protocol list right now, a number that hopefully won't grow any larger before the weekend. The shorthanded Cats lost 4-1 against Los Angeles at home on Thursday and will come to St. Paul cranky as a result.
Even down some of their best players, the Panthers are a team to be reckoned with and another slow start will likely not work out well for the Wild.
Video: Cam Talbot postgame vs Buffalo
"We came out pretty flat obviously in the first period and didn't really get a whole lot better from there," Talbot said. "We tried to make a push in second period there. I turn the puck over, they get one, it's a 1-1 game, and I just feel like I left too many secondary opportunities out there for them tonight.
"In a game that we weren't creating a ton ourselves, I've got to settle things down in our zone, and obviously that one giveaway cost us tonight."
The veteran Talbot is a pro's pro, so the fact he laid on the sword for Thursday's game isn't a surprise. But the Wild doesn't get its point if not for Talbot, who was far and away the club's best player in the game.
"I wouldn't say that [our defensive game] has slipped, it's still an identity of our team, we're sound defensively. But definitely, giving up that many shots and some of the grade-A chances and saves Cam had to make early in the game to keep us in it, we've definitely gotta address that," said Wild defenseman Jon Merrill. "I think it comes down to playing desperate and winning all those 50/50 pucks, and I think that's when we're good, is when we're out-battling teams, when we're out-competing teams. I don't know what's going on in our mindset right now, but we've gotta get back to that workboot mentality and just getting in there and outwork teams every night.
"I definitely think we're not feeling good about how tonight went for sure. These are the kind of games you need to bring that energy and show up and we just didn't do that tonight. We missed the ball and we've got to get back to the drawing board, have a good practice tomorrow and have a big game on Saturday."
It's the first time Minnesota has gone winless in three consecutive regular season games during the Evason era, which is now 97 games long following Thursday's defeat. The Wild went an entire shortened season last year without dropping three-straight games.
Video: Jon Merrill postgame vs Buffalo
"For sure, it's a wake-up call for us, Merrill said. "When you're winning, everything feels good and you don't really have to sit back and address the mistakes as much, you kinda just ride the wave. But definitely right now, we've gotta dig in and we've gotta get ourselves out of this."
Time will tell if a practice and a nice kick in the backside can get the Wild back on track with three games remaining before the Christmas break, and four games left before the Winter Classic on New Year's Day.
"We have to be aware of what we did here tonight, and we have to be willing to not just put the work in but to change our thought process going forward on Saturday afternoon that that's not our team," Evason said. "Our guys know. They know that that was not us. We gotta get back to us."
Loose pucks
- Merrill's goal, his third of the season, tied his career high in his 29th game of the year
- Kirill Kaprizov had Minnesota's second goal, his 11th of the campaign
- Alex Goligoski had an assist, his 17th helper of the year
- Talbot finished with 38 saves on 40 shots through 65 minutes of play. He stopped two of three shots in the shootout
- Dylan Cozens and Mark Pysyk scored goals for Buffalo
- Tage Thompson scored the shootout-deciding goal in the third round
- Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 30 saves, including three in overtime and three in the shootout
Dan's three stars
1. Dylan Cozens
2. Cam Talbot
3. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Highlights
Video: MIN Recap: Kaprizov nets a goal in a 3-2 SO loss
Article From & Read More ( Postgame Hat Trick: Sabres 3, Wild 2 (SO) - BlueJackets.com )https://ift.tt/3e458zH
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