The Minnesota Wild held a dog adoption event during their game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night. What appeared to be a harmless promotion signaled the dog days of the Wild’s season, as they dropped their fourth straight game by a score of 5-1.
With a 3-6 record since the NHL All-Star Break, the Wild had lost the feel-good vibes of their strong start. A rematch with the Flames after last Saturday’s 7-3 defeat seemed like a good way to turn things around but first-period goals from Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane put Minnesota in an early 2-0 hole.
The Wild chipped into the lead in the second period when Marcus Foligno lit the lamp for his 18th goal of the season. But just 21 seconds later, Elias Lindholm slipped the puck past Cam Talbot to make it 3-1 Calgary.
Things were rough (or dare I say ruff?) from that point for Minnesota. Tyler Toffoli scored a power-play goal 33 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1 and Mikael Backlund added insult to injury with an empty-net goal with 2:30 to play.
The #mnwild drop a 4th straight. They have been outscored 19-8 in that stretch and have failed to score more than 3 goals in any of the losses.
— Jessi Pierce (@jessi_pierce) March 2, 2022
The loss sends the Wild reeling and free-falling in the Central Division standings. Minnesota is currently five points back of the St. Louis Blues for second place in the Central Division and sits a point ahead of the Nashville Predators for third place and an automatic playoff spot.
Minnesota (31-17-3) will try to turn things around when they visit Mike Yeo and the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.
