Wild postgame: More of the same

While the Wild locker room is supposed to be opened to the media about five minutes after each game, it was closed considerably longer than that Saturday. When it did open, only a handful of somber players remained to discuss another upsetting loss.

The Wild fell 6-5 in overtime to Nashville, losing an opportunity to gain ground in the Central Division. The evening started with an unfortunate surprise for the Wild when center Mikael Granlund was announced as a late scratch because of illness. It ended with an unassisted goal on a nice move by the Predators' Mattias Ekholm--his first goal of the season--to extend the Wild's winless streak to three games.

It was another poor outing for Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper, who was pulled after allowing three goals on 14 shots in the first period. He's gotten the hook in four of his past five home starts; in those games, he's given up 14 goals on 44 shots. But coach Mike Yeo kept his criticism soft, acknowledging his team's goaltending issues while chastising Kuemper's teammates for not protecting him better.

He has a point, but Kuemper did not look sharp. Calle Jarnkrok fooled him when he skated in from the left side, got Kuemper to drop and then easily glided around him to score. Craig Smith's goal, which gave the Predators a 3-2 lead and was scored with 1:46 remaining in the first period, hit Kuemper's glove and got past him.

Niklas Backstrom fared better, with three goals allowed on 30 shots. Here's what Yeo had to say about the goaltending and what the Wild can do about it:

"I'm not going to sit here and say it's been good enough. But I don't think we're doing a great job in front of them to help them get on top of their game. So I would say (goaltending) has been an issue, but at the same time, we've compounded things.

"We (need to) pull together as a team and play the type of game we need to in front of them. Our goalies have given us lots of good games this year. We know they're capable of it. When things aren't going well, what do you do for that person? A good team would band together and have a real strong defensive effort in front of them. That has to be our mindset right now."

While Nashville consistently got pucks behind the Wild defense, Yeo lamented that his team's weak play in the neutral zone led to lots of turnovers and an inability to break through a solid Predators defense. Zach Parise, who scored two goals, pointed to the same problem. "We spent a lot of time in our own zone," he said. "They had a game plan to throw everything at the net, and we spent too much time in our zone. You lose your offensive flow."

Still, the Wild did score five goals on one of the NHL's best goalies, Pekka Rinne. That's the most Rinne has given up all season, and Yeo said when the Wild scores five, a win should be "automatic." But the Predators made it a "track meet," which isn't the Wild's strength. 'We can't give up (44) shots," Parise said. "They had a shooting mentality."