ST. PAUL, Minn. -- About five minutes apart, in separate rooms, Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo and goaltender Devan Dubnyk, two key figures in Minnesota's second-half run, were both asked about starting slow in back-to-back games following a four-day break.
The response from both -- and other Wild players in different wording -- is there is no concern after Saturday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
"I'm not worried," Yeo said. "I don't want to say it's human nature, but it's not like we were that bad. Let's not paint that picture. We played a pretty darn good hockey team tonight, and we knew that they were going to play their best game."
Yeo was asked about the slow starts in losses to the New York Rangers and Detroit following the unusual late-season, four-day break. Yeo was asked about the struggling power play, which was 1 of 6 on Saturday against the Wings.
The coach answered the questions and could sense tension in the room. Yeo didn't want to overreact to a loss after eight shootout rounds.
"I understand we lost the game tonight in a shootout," Yeo said. "It's disappointing to only get one point. But like I said, would we have a different tone right now if we scored an extra goal in the shootout? It's disappointing. What can you do? But when you're down a goal, we'll take a point right now.
"We're not happy with it. I know for sure -- that was the message after the second period -- that's not the type of game we need to be playing right now and going into the playoffs. We need to be better than that. But I also don't think it's the end of the world here."
Minnesota's magic number was five points heading into Saturday. The Wild, with 95 points, are closing in on a likely third consecutive playoff appearance as the top wild-card team in the Western Conference. Minnesota hosts Winnipeg on Monday with a chance to possibly to all but secure its playoff spot.
A win Saturday would have brought the playoffs even closer. But the Wild trailed 2-1 before rallying in the third period. Minnesota also trailed New York 2-0 on Thursday.
"We're fine," said Dubnyk, who has been the driving force behind the Wild's playoff push. "We've been playing at a really high level for a long time. That's going to happen sometimes. It's a long season and it's strange for us because we have been playing so well. It's not how we want to play and I don't think anybody in here is worried about that being the way we're going to play. We know how we can play and what we need to do. We'll be fine."
There was no panic in the Wild's locker room. Zach Parise, who scored two goals Saturday, said he feels Minnesota should have pulled out two points and it was disappointing to come away with one. Parise also told reporters he feels the power play needs more practice time.
But Parise wasn't concerned, either.
"We played good teams," Parise said. "We're playing other teams that are desperately trying to get into the playoffs. We're not going to walk all over every team. But we have to have a better start by the first two periods of the games. But again, they've got good players, too. They want to win also. You got to give the other teams a little credit sometimes."
Minnesota missed a big opportunity in the second period when it had 48 seconds of a two-man advantage and didn't score on either power play. The Wild recovered from its deficit with a third-period, power-play goal from Parise.
"It all depends on how you want to spin it," Yeo said. "We go into the game and a guy who's usually out there for us isn't out there and we haven't had a chance to practice or prepare. I'm not making excuses. You can look at it that way or you can look at it that they scored the goal to tie up the game for us. I'm not saying we're happy with it by any means, but I'm also not going to paint this dreary picture right now."
Center Mikko Koivu was scratched before the game with an eye injury. Yeo said Koivu, who plays on the top power-play unit, has a scratched cornea. He's considered day to day, but Yeo believes he will be "absolutely fine" by Monday's game.
"It's something we were expecting to be resolved," Yeo said of the late scratch for Koivu.
With Koivu out, Mikael Granlund was on the top power-play unit. Erik Haula took Koivu's place on a line with Nino Niederreiter and Chris Stewart to start the game, with Charlie Coyle finishing as the center in Koivu's usual spot.
Koivu, a 43.3 percent shootout performer, was also missing in the skills session.
"That's the frustrating thing about the shootout because it is a loss," Yeo said. "It feels like a loss after the game. But it's something, obviously, I don't want to say it's a coin flip, but it can go either way. So, I'm looking a lot more at how we played the third period. That's my focus."
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