NEW YORK — Saturday’s game was barely two minutes in when Marcus Foligno picked a fight.
The Minnesota Wild veteran winger went up to buddy and former teammate Nicolas Deslauriers and asked if he’d go. The reason? You might be surprised.
“To get myself going,” Foligno said. “Sometimes you need that old school a little bit. That’s what my dad taught. Sometimes, you need a fight or just a punch in the face. Hopefully it’s smooth sailing from here.”
If Foligno’s theory holds true, maybe a bunch of other Wild players need a punch in the face, too. Maybe a line brawl.
A wake-up call.
This has been a rough start to the season for Minnesota (2-3-1), which has lost four of its last five heading into Monday’s matchup with the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. It’s a stark contrast from last year’s red-hot start, in which Foligno and company didn’t lose in regulation until Game No. 8 in Philadelphia. Their performance on a long road trip jump-started their season, and they ended up needing every single point to make the playoffs.
Now the Wild are digging themselves a hole. And while it’s early, they can’t afford to let the slide linger, having mustered just one point in the first three games of a five-game trip.
“Road trips like these can hurt you,” Foligno said. “Or propel you.”
It’s not so much that the Wild have lost, it’s how they’ve lost. Their impressive 5-0 shutout of the St. Louis Blues in the season opener feels like months ago. They got their butts kicked by the Columbus Blue Jackets at home, then needed four shootout saves by Jesper Wallstedt to salvage two points Monday against the Los Angeles Kings. Then came two losses to the Dallas Stars and Washington Capitals — two very good teams, mind you — in which they weren’t nearly competitive enough for long portions of the game.
That’s what made Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers a bit deflating. Sure, the Wild played better than in Friday’s eyesore in Washington. They were more competitive. They should be; the Flyers were the weakest opponent on this trip. The Wild built a 1-0 lead and killed a couple penalties. Wallstedt played well. They, as Wallstedt felt, “deserved” better. And this was a very winnable game.
However, some poor puck decisions up the ice led to the tying goal by Owen Tippett. Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi didn’t get the puck in deep at the Flyers’ blue line, with Rossi instead passing it back to his own end. Joel Eriksson Ek hit the post on a wide-open net early in overtime. You can’t afford to miss those. Having just 16 shots on goal won’t get it done.
“If you want to win,” Hynes said, “You have to be the most competitive team on the ice, and you can’t beat yourself.”
The Flyers game was winnable, but the Wild lost out on two points thanks in part to sloppy play. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
There are some external factors at work. The lineup would have a different look with Mats Zuccarello on the second line and offseason acquisition Nico Sturm anchoring the fourth line and penalty kill. That’s forced some shuffling by Hynes, and they haven’t really been able to fill Zuccarello’s spot while he’s been out with injury. Liam Ohgren was given the first shot in camp, but didn’t show a lot, so Marcus Johansson was put there.
Vladimir Tarasenko, an elite sniper in his St. Louis days, picked up his first even-strength point on Saturday with his first goal of the season. Foligno has zero points in six games. Ryan Hartman has zero points since his terrific, two-goal season opener. So far, this has pretty much been a one-line team. If Kirill Kaprizov or Boldy don’t have a great game or produce, it seems the team is in trouble.
Without Sturm, who is out after a back procedure, Hynes’ fourth line has been mostly a rotation of rookies, with Ohgren and Danila Yurov mostly there until Saturday’s shakeup. They brought up minor-league veteran Tyler Pitlick and moved Yakov Trenin back (and that trio did pretty well in Philadelphia, with a 70 Corsi For percentage, per Natural Stat Trick).
“I think we’re forgetting there are some new faces,” Foligno said. “They’re trying to get used to everyone. (Tarasenko) got on the board (Saturday). That’s positive. You have a guy like Pitlick coming in. Yurov is getting a sense of the game over here. We forget about that sometimes, that it’s Zeev (Buium’s) first time, but he’s playing unbelievable right now.
“There’s going to be some growing pains and some things we have to iron out. But when you look at last game to this game, that’s a positive thing, where you don’t see it translate over to the next game and it gets worse. Good teams know how to stop the bleeding and (Saturday) was a good sign.”
We’ve still got a ways to go before determining just how good this Wild team is. They’re certainly better than this, but they’re surely not deep enough to have uneven efforts. As good as Kaprizov and Boldy are, they can’t just carry this team. The goaltending, for the most part, has been solid enough, with Wallstedt’s performance in his first two starts encouraging. Buium has shown flashes of why he could be very, very special.
If this were just the rookies struggling? OK, fine, that happens. However, a big part of the core of this team has struggled out of the gate, with Foligno having a hard time getting a point, Eriksson Ek having a hard time in the faceoff circle and Jared Spurgeon and Brock Faber having a hard time preventing goals. Johansson and Tarasenko scored their first goals this weekend.
“You trust the process first,” Tarasenko said. “Tough start is when you get outplayed almost every game and can’t win a game. It’s no excuses. We’ve played some tough teams. We’re finding our identity and trying to be ready for 60 minutes. It’s a long season and you have to take lessons from every game. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t play well or not — there’s a next challenge (on Monday) and it’s a pretty big one.”
It’s easier to trust the process when it’s working. And if the Wild’s underlying numbers were very good and they were just unlucky, that would be understandable. Stay the course. However, the stats don’t paint a flattering picture.
The Wild are 26th in goals against per game (3.67), 24th in goals for (2.67) and 22nd in faceoffs (47.7 percent). They’re last in the NHL in five-on-five goals (six) and have been outscored 12-6. According to Natural Stat Trick, Minnesota is last in scoring chance percentage at five-on-five (35.71) and 28th in expected goals percentage (43.30). That puts a lot of pressure on their goaltending, as Filip Gustavsson is stuck with a 3.56 goals-against average (and that included a shutout in the opener).
Filip Gustavsson has a 3.56 goals-against average to start the season. (David Berding / Getty Images)
So six even-strength goals in six games: two by Hartman and one apiece by Rossi, Johansson, Tarasenko and Boldy. All four Kaprizov goals have been on the power play. The Wild could use more from their $17 million man, and Kaprizov admitted Friday they needed more production at five-on-five.
“I’m never happy with my game — can always do better,” he said.
The Rangers, the Wild’s opponent on Monday, have had their own issues, especially scoring at home. However, they’re snapping out of it, with a 4-3 win in Montreal Saturday, and this is always a tough building to win in. The New Jersey Devils, Wednesday’s opponent, have won four in a row. The highlight of this trip can’t be two nice team dinners in D.C. The Wild need to come away with something else.
So while nobody is hitting the panic button six games into an 82-game schedule, there should be some urgency. Look at Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz calling out his team Saturday night, saying “enough is enough” after giving up another point in an overtime loss. There hasn’t been that kind of fire yet with Minnesota.
Last year, the Wild had such a relentless, mentally tough approach to start the season. They followed their motto of “Choose your hard,” giving out a “HARD” chain for every player of the game in a win.
The Wild are choosing their hard differently now.