Postgame: Tension, frustration submerging the Wild as it skids into NHL's holiday hiatus

When Charlie Coyle scored his first goal in two months to tie Tuesday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers in the second period, it looked like Dec. 23 would really provide a Festivus Miracle.

Nope.

Instead, Wild fans got to play the part of George Costanza and air their grievances with loud boos and social media condemnation after their favorite team inexplicably sputtered through yet another loss that featured a slow, sloppy start, soft wall play, lots of turnovers, lots of overpassing and shoddy defense by some of the team's more reliable players.

Evening from Xcel Energy Center, where the slumping Wild skidded head-on into the holiday break in listless fashion during a 5-2 loss.

What have the Wild lacked during a four-game winless streak, 5-6-3 slide and an amazingly bad 2-3-3 home streak that has the team six points behind the defending Cup champs for eighth and eight points behind Winnipeg heading into a mammoth home-and-home against the Jets?

"Winners attitude and teamwork," coach Mike Yeo said.

Just looked up where the Wild was after 32 games last year. It was 18-9-5 for 41 points (six more than it has now at 16-13-3) and was tied for second in the Central and tied for fifth in the West. It had a four-point lead on ninth-place Phoenix.

I'll do more of a state of the team story in the next couple days, but I got with GM Chuck Fletcher during the second intermission for about 10 minutes. He's not happy the way the team's playing, but he made clear he believes in the team he constructed and the gist of the interview is players shouldn't wait for some roster shakeup or coaching shakeup to get its act together.

It's up to the players. The chance of some blockbuster seems minimal. He said Yeo is "absolutely safe," ridiculed the question even being asked and said the coaches are doing everything they can.

Yeo also said after the game that it's up to the players.

When I asked what his message for the team was heading into the 3-day hiatus, Yeo said, "There's no message tonight. The door closed and there was some talking [between the players] and that's what needs to be done. We can talk, we can yell, we can pat on the back. Listen, they're the ones out there performing. I'm not trying to say that I'm not responsible for this. I always believe that … what you see on the ice is [a coach's] responsibility, but at the same time, there's been a lot of attempts, a lot of different ways. At some point it has to come from them, too."

He said, "What has gone on earlier in the season or last year is completely irrelevant and if we keep sitting around waiting for that to reappear without actually doing the things to make that happen, then we'll continue to be disappointed."

"Part of me wants some soul searching, part of me wants guys to not think about hockey at all," Yeo said. "I'm not sure what's best. Ultimately what we need, we can say whatever we want, guys have to be better and we have to better together as a team. We're not helping each other right now. For a team that has made a name for itself in the past for playing together, playing a structured game, a systems game, being a good team on both sides of the puck, we're starting to lose that reputation. And that's disappointing. I know there's more pride in the room, but we better get it back."

Cooke missed seven weeks with a hip injury, so he watched a lot of games from above and completed only his second game back tonight.

He came out to an empty, quiet locker room, pointed to the team mottos plastered on the walls that read, "accountability, character, commitment and work ethic." He said they better get back to that stat.

"We haven't earned anything yet," Cooke said. "We're supposed to be a band of brothers that goes out night in and night out and lays it on the line for each other and we found that last year. And just because we had it last year doesn't mean that it's here this year. We have to go out and earn the trust of each other night in and night out to gain that accountability that you can trust night in and night out."

He said, "Right now it's time to decompress and enjoy Christmas and not think about hockey and get away from it. I think it's a blessing that we have these three days right now to just step away."

"The best part about it is it's something we all can control. It's not systematic. It's not what someone else is making us do. It's what we're allowing ourselves to do."

Whatever it is, something is missing. Something has to change.

The work ethic that was this team's identity, the energy, the defensive structure has absolutely disappeared.

Bad D-zone coverage, bad goaltending, no excitement, sporadic work ethic, that has marred many games for a month and is destroying the Wild's season 32 games in. The hole is deepening, and Yeo and his staff – whether they're safe or not – better figure it out.

And, it is indeed up to the players.

He said the gameplan was to do the right things so they built confidence and momentum in their game heading into the break, and instead Yeo said, they "did the opposite."

Coyle did score tonight for the first time since Oct. 23 (snapped a 26-game drought), but he said, "I'd rather go through another 25 games without scoring if we're winning."

Koivu said, "We're a very frustrated team. We're the ones who's causing that and we have to find our way out of it. It's literally as simple as that. … I don't think we were even close to good enough to win a hockey game. That's all of us.

"We just have to be better. It is as simple as that."

Parise said, "Same story as it's been the last while. … I don't have [many real] answers. Lot of frustration on everyone's part. … We have to address the issues, otherwise we're going to be doing this for a long time. We've got to figure them out internally."

I'll do that state of the team story for Friday or Saturday most likely. I'll be on KFAN in studio with Paul Allen on Wednesday at 9 a.m. and am hosting for Dan Barreiro on Friday from 3-6 p.m. I'll also be on Fox 9 with Dawn Mitchell on Friday night at 10:15.

I'll also put up a fresh blog Wednesday perhaps because I think it's time for a Sunday Insider Q and A.