Minnesota Wild Shut Out At Home By Ottawa Senators
By Sarita Kelly
The Minnesota
Jan 14, 2014; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Mikael Granlund (64) attempts to shoot on Ottawa Senators goalie Robin Lehner (40) during the second period at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
ld have won five of their past six games with uncompromising performances and solid goaltending. And that had put any thoughts from their season-high six-game losing streak behind them.
Returning home for a three-game homestand, where Minnesota was 16-6-2 this season, was bound to add another push to the Wild’s playoff hopes. The Wild entered Tuesday night’s home game against the Ottawa Senators with 55 points, ranking eighth in the Western Conference.
But this wasn’t the same team that shut out the Nashville Predators with the help of Darcy Kuemper. That fire was gone and as a result the Wild were shut out 3-0 by Ottawa.
“Not a pretty game,” Coach Mike Yeo said simply as he opened his postgame press conference. “We said after the first period, let’s make that the story of the first period. Let’s try not to make it the story of the game.”
And unfortunately that was the story that they were sticking too.
The Wild, shut out for the first time since December 6th, were outshot, 15-3, in the first period, and more importantly the Senators controlled the puck. Clarke MacArthur put Ottawa in front with a first-period goal after Kyle Turris sent a centering pass from the right boards to MacArthur, who deflected the puck past Minnesota goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
The Wild thought Turris had entered the zone offsides.
“Tough start, our first period wasn’t good enough,” Wild forward Jason Pominville said. “I thought we got better as the game went on. We were better in the second, but unfortunately gave up the first goal. It’s tough to come back when you give up the first goal. I think we might have gotten a little frustrated with us not getting the call on the goal.”
Replays didn’t show conclusively whether Turris was offsides. Pominville said he hadn’t seen a replay, but the players on the bench thought Turris was offsides.
Yeo had a simple response.
“The bottom line is, when you’re more engaged in the game, when you’re on top of your game, things like that don’t beat you,” Yeo said. “We weren’t good enough to win this hockey game tonight.”
Kuemper made 29 saves in the game. He was beaten early in the third on a breakaway after Minnesota defenseman Marco Scandella’s stick broke on an attempt to keep the puck in the zone, and Erik Condra scored on a breakaway. Scandella, chasing the play from behind without a stick, might have changed the play enough for Kuemper not to get a clear look.
Playing without Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Josh Harding and Jared Spurgeon, the Wild’s margin for error is rail thin. Tuesday’s start put them in a hole they were unable to recover from.
“We weren’t sharp,” Yeo said. “No excuses. That’s our challenge right now with the group that we have. For the most part lately, we’ve done a good job of whatever the outcome of the previous game is, getting focused on the next one. I don’t think we did very good job this time. But what’s important to me is again how we respond with that.”
The Wild’s lead over Dallas in the Central Division slipped to six points after the Stars beat Edmonton, who comes to Minnesota on Thursday. Phoenix, with 51 points in the Pacific Division, lost to St. Louis.
“It’s something we had talked about,” Pominville said. “We had an opportunity to create a little distance and create that separation a little bit. And at the same time, get closer to the teams above us. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to do that and we didn’t come out with the effort that we wanted.
“Again, we can’t just sit here and feel sorry. We’ve got to move forward and have a good day tomorrow and come to work.”