Wild take day to regain focus, improve mental game against Chicago
A late flight back to the Twin Cities led to a quieter morning for the Minnesota Wild, with the disappointment of Game 2's loss in Chicago still apparent.
Minnesota didn't practice Monday, instead choosing to watch video, and head coach Mike Yeo held a team meeting. The message was simple.
"Play our game," Wild forward Thomas Vanek said. "Again, you don't beat teams by playing their way, especially not Chicago. If you play their way, it will look like we did last night. We have to find our game here quickly and I'm sure we will."
Facing a 2-0 deficit for the third straight year in the playoffs against the Blackhawks, Minnesota assessed what went wrong -- including several atypical mistakes -- in Game 2 on Sunday night, a 4-1 Chicago win.
The Wild have recovered from a 2-0 deficit at home before. They did so against the Blackhawks last season before falling in six games in the second round.
"I don't think we should just assume that because we're coming back home that all will be right in the world," Yeo said Monday.
So the group went to work assessing what has gone wrong through the first two games.
"We watched a little bit of video today just because it's one thing to say it, but we needed to see it today; just to see that it was uncharacteristic of us and what we are as a team," Yeo said. "It's not a punishment thing and it's not a motivation thing. We want to win. We wanted to win last game. It's just the motivation is going to be there for both teams again tomorrow. It's the team that's able to harness the motivation and control it and use it to help you get to your game. The team that plays your game the best and the most consistently through the course of the game is that team that'll come out on top."
Chicago has been opportunistic in the series, jumping on Minnesota's mistakes. The abnormal play even led Yeo to say he didn't see his team on the ice in Game 2. The message trickled down to his players.
"Obviously, Game 2 wasn't the Minnesota Wild," forward Jason Zucker said. "We didn't play our game and it's definitely not good enough . . . I think it was more us. Our mentality, for whatever reason, from the start, we weren't doing the right things. We put ourselves in that position."
Returning home benefits Minnesota. The Wild believe Monday's preparation for Tuesday's Game 3 should also help. Forward Nino Niederreiter called Monday a "mental day." Defenseman Jordan Leopold agreed.
"You evaluate, you look at it and have to regroup," Leopold said. "For us, today is a day of getting our heads on straight and being ready to play a tough game tomorrow."
Stewart likely, Fontaine day to day: Minnesota forwards Chris Stewart and Justin Fontaine have left the past two games with injuries and Yeo wasn't sure about their status for Game 3.
Stewart did return to Sunday's game after taking a hard hit into the boards in which his right shoulder and head took the brunt of sliding into the boards. Yeo said he's "expecting" Stewart to be in the lineup for Game 3.
Fontaine missed Game 2 with a lower-body injury sustained in the first game of the series.
"I haven't talked to him yet," Yeo said of Fontaine. "He is day to day right now. After this, I'll go back and talk to the trainers."
Yeo did hint after the game at possible lineup changes for Game 3 but hasn't offered specifics.
"We've got to figure out what we need for that game tomorrow," Yeo said. "There is not a lack of motivation on our group, there's not a lack of confidence. It's just there was a lack of focus. We prepared to win, but we didn't prepare to do the things we needed to win. Our group will be ready for a hard game, and we're excited about the challenge."
More shots: Vanek, who had 21 goals in the regular season, is without a goal in the playoffs and has 15 shots on goal in the eight games. Chris Stewart has nine shots on goal in the playoffs and has been held without a goal. Mikko Koivu had a power-play goal in the first round for his only goal of the playoffs and has 11 shots in the nine games.
Yeo said he's not concerned about the shot totals.
"There's not concern right now," Yeo said. "Obviously I know that we're not in the spot that we want to be, but I'd be far more concerned if we were doing all the things we're supposed to be doing and playing the game as well as we could and they weren't coming. I know we can be better."
Vanek does have four assists but hinted he needs to shoot more.
"We're all three big guys, we have to get more to the front of the net," Vanek said of Stewart, Koivu and himself. "I don't want to talk about their game, but my game is about setting guys up more than I should. Sometimes I've got to take it myself and take it to the net or go to the net more and get those ugly goals."
Wild agree to terms with Jenys: Minnesota agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract with center Pavel Jenys, a 2014 seventh-round draft pick by the team. The contract starts with the 2015-16 season.
Jenys, 19, had 15 goals and 30 assists last season for the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League. He added 45 penalty minutes in 63 games and led Sudbury in scoring. He was tied for first on the team in assists and second in goals.
A 6-foot-3, 192-pound native of the Czech Republic, Jenys signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League in March and had three assists in eight games with Iowa.
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