Defensively, it's hard to imagine the Wild playing better against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild didn't give the offensive juggernaut much in Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss in Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series.
Now the Wild must find ways to generate more against the team that gave up the fewest goals in the NHL during the regular season. It could start with more physical play.
"We have to make sure that we're making their [defensemen] pay a price," coach Mike Yeo said. "We have to make sure we're getting pucks behind them, and I thought our forecheck wasn't enough a factor in the game for us."
The Zach Parise-Mikko Koivu-Charlie Coyle line was limited to five shots.
"I was going to look at a little of the film, of our lines and shifts," Parise said. "I thought we had too many what I call one-and-done plays, where we get into the zone and try to make a play and it gets broken up and we're back out of our zone.
"We'll have to see and find things we can do a little better and hold onto the puck a little more. That's been one of our strengths this season, of our line, is getting the puck down low, and I don't think we did a very good job of that last night."
Koivu won 12 of 19 faceoffs, but Parise said he and Coyle, as well as the defensemen, need to help Koivu win more.
"They're the type of team that if you don't win the draw against them, you could be chasing the puck the whole shift," Parise said.