You may want to pin not scoring on the five-minute major as reason for tonight's shootout loss, but in my humble opinion, the parade to the penalty box was Enemy No. 1 tonight.
The Wild got off to a great start, gaining a 2-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old on goals by John Madden and Nick Schultz. And then Minnesota again took penalty after penalty (obstruction type penalties) to once again turn the momentum and ruin any forecheck later because the penalty killers were sapped of energy and the non-penalty killers like Martin Havlat, Guillaume Latendresse and Andrew Brunette were ice cold.
For the final 50 minutes of regulation and overtime, the Wild barely mustered an iota of attack. They were pinned in their zone and again could barely get in on the forecheck. Just no sustained pressure for this alleged up-tempo, forechecking team.
"We just have to create more," said Mikko Koivu. "We need the puck. We need some rushes and need to manage the puck well. If you want to win the hockey game, you need the puck, too."
The Kings are bigger. They are younger. They are faster. And they are better, and the Wild should feel lucky Niklas Backstrom snagged them one point.
I just don't think the Wild's fast enough frankly in a fast-skating NHL. Every team the Wild's seen can skate circles around them. Just go line to line on Minnesota, and there's skating issues everywhere. And lately, it's been Mikko Koivu who looks lethargic and taking bad penalties. Koivu was in the box for both L.A. power-play goals tonight.
"The first one I was reacting. The second, I don't know, but I think [Jack Johnson] grabbed my stick at the end there," said Koivu. "It's part of the game. I'm not crying about it. … but we've got to learn from that."
And nightly almost, Latendresse is chasing and taking obstruction penalties. Look at all his penalties, and it's Exhibit A of not skating and reaching with the stick. The common denominator is players not moving their feet, something coach Todd Richards noted.
