Wild loss costly on many levels as playoff position now in real danger

ELMONT N Y Losses can be costly for multiple reasons For the Minnesota Wild this one was costly for roughly every reason In desperate need of a feel-good win of standings points and of elusive good robustness Minnesota got none of the three on Friday night in the New York City suburbs watching a second-period lead disappear briskly in a - loss to the New York Islanders Along the way they suffered what appeared to be another costly injury as defenseman Jake Middleton left the encounter following a scary play in the second period and did not return And with one regulation win in their last seven games - - the Wild are seeing a challenger for their once-secure playoff position creeping ever closer in the Western Conference standings Minnesota got a second-period goal from Mats Zuccarello and a -save performance from Filip Gustavsson but will head home with a - - record on its three-game East Coast road trip If you re asking about tonight s meeting I don t think there should be a lack of morale I think guys should be disappointed in the urgency the competitiveness the execution the vitality to play in a championship like this Wild coach John Hynes stated Let s not talk about being in a funk and feel sorry for ourselves This is a tournament we knew coming in you get four out of six points we didn t have the required intensity level attention to detail so there s nothing to feel sorry for yourselves We didn t play the contest we needed to play to win More concerning for the Wild s life beyond the regular season is their lead on Calgary for the final Western Conference playoff spot has shrunk to just five points and the Flames have two games in hand on Minnesota The Wild play their next road competition in Calgary on April Noah Dobson had a goal and an assist for the Islanders who had lost their last seven games to the Wild and had never previously beaten Minnesota at UBS Arena since the building opened in It s hard to win You know we re working our ass off and trying to piece together a win It s just been a challenge Wild defenseman Brock Faber revealed There s nothing but negativity coming from just about every single person outside of the guys in this room and it s hard when you work a whole year and sacrifice your body and everything you can to win and just can t find one But that s just the time of year it is Both teams killed penalties in the scoreless first period The Islanders own the NHL s worst power play and did not manage a man-advantage shot putting just four shots on goal in the first Minnesota pelted New York goalie Ilya Sorokin with shots in the period but could not break through Zuccarello opened the scoring early in the second whacking at a puck from behind the goal line and seeing the shot glance off Sorokin s helmet and into the net The lead lasted all of seconds as Casey Cizikas deflected a Dobson shot that changed directions on Gustavsson and was past the goalie before he could react The Islanders took the lead a short time later on a kind of own goal when Simon Holmstrom s backhander from the side of the net deflected off Wild forward Freddy Gaudreau s stick and over the goal line The quick loss of the lead and the meeting left Zuccarello at a loss to describe what went wrong on this night and in latest weeks I don t really have that much to say right now to be honest with you I m so sick of standing there and telling you guys this and that he mentioned in the quiet postgame locker room I m sorry Just not good enough No I don t really have anything good to honestly say about it It sucks they tally right away and took the momentum from us Minnesota s second power play of the tournament came at considerable cost after the Islanders Bo Horvat gave Middleton a push from behind while chasing a loose puck Middleton went headfirst into the end boards and had to be helped from the ice Horvat was given two minutes for boarding on the play Hynes did not have an update on Middleton s status after the competition A still-livid Wild general manager Bill Guerin explained after the meeting that Hynes should not comment on the call and declared the on-ice officers should instead answer for calling a minor penalty rather than a major on the play The Wild were held without a shot on the ensuing power play and got caught in their own zone for an extended shift later in the second but got to the second intermission trailing by just one goal When Wild forward Yakov Trenin went to the penalty box early in the third period the Islanders used the man advantage to double their lead when Dobson blasted a long-range shot past Gustavsson s glove Sorokin finished with saves for the Islanders who had gone winless in their previous six games For the Wild defenseman Declan Chisholm and forward Brendan Gaunce were healthy scratches Among the Islanders scratches were defenseman Scott Perunovich the Hibbing Minn native who won a pair of NCAA titles and the Hobey Baker Award at Minnesota Duluth Down to just five games remaining in the regular season the Wild will play the next two at home starting on Sunday when the Dallas Stars make their final visit before the playoffs It is a p m CT opening faceoff at Xcel Vitality Center Related Articles Punishment not part of the picture in Wild lineup choices Wild Penalty kill improving at a vital time Not pointless as Wild fall in OT to Rangers Busy schedule suits the Wild just fine at this time of the season No pouting allowed as getting to three goals is elusive for Wild lately