Maybe a shutout loss at home to a division rival on national TV was the rock bottom the Wild needed to hit.
If it was, they hit the rocks hard on Sunday in a 4-0 loss to the red-hot St. Louis Blues.
What was left of the crowd at Xcel Energy Center booed the Wild off the ice as they fell to 1-5-3 since the All-Star break and lost at home for the 15th time in their last 23 games.
Zach Parise put a positive spin on things after the game, noting that the Wild “surprisingly” hasn’t been jumped in the playoff race despite their horrid play. With 60 points the Wild still control the second wild-card position but are just one point in front of Vancouver and three ahead of Arizona, Colorado and Chicago.
“Still got a quarter of the season left, but, man, we’ve got to figure some stuff out because it’s getting pretty ugly,” Parise said.
Head coach Bruce Boudreau echoed Parise’s positivity.
“I know we keep saying we’re still there, but we’re still there. Like I try to tell the guys, don’t be so damned defeatist in the room,” Boudreau said, via Wild.com. “Don’t come off hanging your heads.
“The L.A. Kings squeaked into the playoffs eighth spot, but the last five games of that year – we played them twice – and they were playing great. And they ended up winning the Cup. I think Nashville was in eighth place two years ago and they ended up going to the Finals.
“Everybody wants to count us out because we’re not playing well right now. But at the same time, I believe we’re going to turn it around. We always have in the past. We just need that one spark I think.”
Boudreau gave struggling goalie Devan Dubnyk the game off after he allowed 10 goals in his last two starts, but backup Alex Stalock wasn’t any better. The St. Paul native surrendered four goals in the first 32 minutes before the Blues put it on cruise control en route to a 10th straight win and eighth consecutive victory on the road.
Bruce Boudreau just manages to stop himself from dropping an f-bomb on national TV pic.twitter.com/mF6e5yOICE
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) February 17, 2019
Special teams also killed Minnesota, going 0-for-5 on the power play while the Blues scored twice in six power-play chances.
“We have to correct this. Our penalty killing is killing us,” said Boudreau. “When you lose those battles you usually lose the game.”
Up next: Wild vs. Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
