Wild drop back-and-forth duel with Ducks, but encouraged by power play
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- With one 11-second span Friday night, the Minnesota Wild seemed to release all of the anxiety regarding their short-circuited power play. A loss kept Minnesota from being too excited for its breakthrough.
A team and building erupted with two power-play goals in 11 seconds of the second period and the Wild erased a three-goal deficit, but Minnesota ended up losing, 5-4, to the Anaheim Ducks.
Power-play goals by Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise at least softened the blow of a back-and-forth affair.
"Obviously we're disappointed to lose the game, but hopefully that's something we can build off of," Wild head coach Mike Yeo said. "We know that there are other areas that we have been strong (in) lately and that we'll bounce back in. But that's something that I hope that group can build off of. They needed that. We lost the game, but hopefully that's one little battle that we won that's going to help us going forward."
Hearing about the ineffectiveness on their power play had worn on Minnesota.
Two nights earlier, the Wild beat the Montreal Canadiens but their power play was under the microscope after going scoreless on a 5-minute major and a 5-on-3 advantage. Minnesota was 29th in the NHL with a 9-percent conversion rate on the power-play with seven goals this season.
Friday, Koivu's centering pass was deflected off of former Wild defenseman Clayton Stoner, who signed a free-agent deal with Anaheim in the offseason, and Parise scored on a rush 11 seconds later. They made the most of an original 5-on-3 advantage.
"Power play. . . . Something we should talk about tonight," Yeo said after the game, smiling.
The goals seemed to ignite Minnesota, which also got goals from Jonas Brodin and Justin Fontaine to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
"Hopefully," Parise said when asked if the power play got the Wild going. "Can't hurt."
Ultimately, Minnesota allowed two third-period goals. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper gave up five goals on 18 shots and was pulled in the third period for Niklas Backstrom, who saved all three shots he faced.
"Definitely tough to give that up once guys worked so hard to get back to where we were," Kuemper said. "I felt good. I didn't feel like I was fighting the puck at all. I didn't feel like I was giving up bad goals either. They had some good shots and beat me, but five goals isn't good enough."
Friday proved to be a reversal from Wednesday night when the power play struggled but the Wild beat Montreal. Minnesota left the rink with improved power-play numbers, but a loss.
The Wild have nine power-play goals this season and three times have scored two goals in a game with the man-advantage. Koivu and Parise's goals set a franchise record for fastest two power-play goals.
Minnesota has three days off before hosting the New York Islanders on Dec. 9.
"It sucks," Parise said of entering the time off with a loss. "But there's some good out of that and some bad out of that. We did play a pretty decent game after we spotted them that lead, and I guess from the second period on we played a pretty good game. But again, you fall behind 3-nothing against any team in this league, it's tough. We managed to get our way back in the game and kind of let it slip away again."
The emotional toll of not coming away with two points following the rally is the next challenge, but the Wild have good feelings regarding their power play with some time off.
"We'll have to bounce back from it, it's as simple as that," Yeo said. "We rallied back, but there's no reason any of us should have a good feeling about that. We lost the game. We found a way to grab the lead and we didn't win it. Obviously those are emotional, but it's not like we have a quick turnaround here. We have a little bit of time to sort it out and make sure we get ready for another hard battle."
Follow Brian Hall on Twitter
