How dramatic and fast this freefall has been.
The best team in the NHL (at least, in terms of points) for three weeks, a team once 20-7-3 overall, a team once the best road team in the NHL ... is now clinging to a playoff spot by three precious points over 9th-place Colorado because of a 1-7-3 face-first stumble.
Most amazing what this slide has accomplished? The Wild ushered in the midway point ONE POINT ahead of last year's pace. That's absolutely unbelievable when you consider where the Wild was one month ago.
The Wild's at a fragile juncture and will spend the next three days in the Banff National Park practicing, and bonding in a desperate search for 1) its game and 2) its need for each other.
When the Wild was so successful for six weeks, it worked as five-man units, in waves, with tremendous puck support and stick-to-it-ness.
Now, an absolute shell of what they were. Nobody on the ice can rely on the guy next to him to be in the right spot, support the play the right way, to give that extra oomph. And it's created a team that is a step slow in every area.
The Wild is a disjointed mess right now, especially offensively, where it generates little sustained offensive-zone time and is constantly chasing the play. During an 0-5-1 road slide, the Wild's scored FOUR goals. That includes consecutive shutouts in Vancouver. Roberto Luongo's shut em out three times in a row and has a 194 minute, 23 second shutout streak going against Minnesota.
On the Banff trip: "Probably the timing of it couldn't be better of us right now," coach Mike Yeo said. "We need to get the group together. We're not in a bad spot. … The way things have gone lately makes you think about what you've lost, but there's been a lot of good things through the first half of the season.
