GLENDALE, ARIZ. - In between three days of fun in the desert sun, Wild players were dispatched a series of messages by team brass designed to grab everybody's attention and make them realize the urgency of a 48-game season.
Rookie Charlie Coyle was called up for his NHL debut. Underperformers Devin Setoguchi and Mikael Granlund were dropped to the fourth line. Popular teammate Darroll Powe was shipped to the Rangers.
It might have even sparked a better effort Monday against the Coyotes than Friday against the Ducks, but in the end, the result was the same as the much-hyped Wild fell to 4-4-1 with 19 percent of the season gone.
After a frustrating 2-1 loss to Phoenix at Jobing.com Arena, players held a 25-minute meeting before the doors propped open.
"Collectively, as a group, we all have to be better," said Zach Parise, who scored the 200th goal of his career. "You can't play one decent game, two decent periods and expect to be a playoff team. It doesn't work like that. So we've got a lot of work to do. We've got to get better in a lot of areas. We need some good practices to sharpen up."
The Wild fell behind 2-0 before Parise scored, then dominated the second half of the second period without being rewarded. Jonas Brodin hit a post, Mike Smith thwarted a few Grade-A chances and the Wild missed the net repeatedly.
Then, the third period began, and the Wild was a different-looking team against an opponent that masters the art of holding leads. Hustling Torrey Mitchell drew two late power plays, but the Wild couldn't capitalize thanks to a Pierre-Marc Bouchard post, some more missed nets and a great save by Smith to rob Dany Heatley.
"I feel like we really tilted the ice in that second," coach Mike Yeo said. "We have to re-establish that [in the third], but I don't know if we had the same execution and pressure."
