Detroit hands Wild seventh straight loss
Although the calendar has yet to turn to December, the Minnesota Wild’s season seems to be slipping away.
David Perron scored two power play goals, and Alex Ryan stopped 37 of 38 shots as the Red Wings handed the Wild a 4-1 loss Sunday at Little Caesar’s Arena, Minnesota’s seventh straight loss. It’s their longest skid since the 2015-16 team lost eight straight in January and February.
Joel Eriksson Ek scored a power play goal, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 19 of 22 shots for the Wild, who haven’t won a game in three weeks. Their last victory was 4-2 over the Islanders in New York on Nov. 7.
“Same mistakes and same guys not pulling their weight,” coach Dean Evason told reporters after the game.
Minnesota (5-10-4) is 14 points behind first-place Colorado in the Central Division and seven points back in the race for the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.
As has been the case for most of the season, the Wild came out flat, giving the Red Wings three first-period power plays. Alex Gologoski, playing in his first game since Oct. 14, was called for slashing just 3 minutes, 9 seconds into the game.
Roughly a minute into the man advantage, Lucas Raymond skated between Brandon Duhaime and Jared Spurgeon and flipped a pass to an open Perron, who fired a quick one-timer into the near corner before Filip Gustavsson could get into position to put Detroit up, 1-0, at 4:06.
It was the Wild’s NHL-leading 29th first period-goal against in 19 games.
Perron would score a nearly identical power-goal less than 2 minutes into the third period to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead, this time on a pass from Dylan Larkin but on another one-timer into the near corner.
The Wild tied the game, 1-1, with 12 seconds left in the first period when Joel Eriksson Ek deflected a shot from the high slot by Kirill Kaprizov. Mats Zuccarello started the play with a pass to Kaprizov from the goal line for his team-leading 16th save. But despite some good chances — like Eriksson Ek’s power play breakaway in the second period — the Wild never found the back of the net again.
Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson remain stuck at one goal.
“Sometimes a guy will take accountability, but sometimes a player has got to sept up,” Evason said. “I don’t care how old you are and I don’t care what’s going on. Guys get paid a lot of money to score goals and to play better, and some guys aren’t.
“We’ll do what we can do from our end, but there’s gotta be some looking in the mirror, as well.”
But after clamping down defensively in the second period, the Wild gave up the go-ahead goal. Larkin, leading a rush, fired a shot on goal from the right circle, then got his own rebound and beat Gustavsson before the goaltender could scramble back into position.
That put Detroit up 2-1, a lead they never would relinquish.
Minnesota came out heavy in the third period, outshooting the Red Wings 11-3 before setting the Wings up with yet another power play, this time on a cross check call against Ryan Hartman. The Wild killed the penalty, but also whatever momentum they had accrued, and Shayne Gostisbehere added an empty net goal to seal Detroit’s win with 27 seconds remaining.
Overall, Minnesota continued a string of decent defensive performances; the Wild have allowed three or fewer regulation goals in their past four games. But their penalty kill remains an albatross around the team’s neck.
With Perron’s two goals, Minnesota has now surrendered 23 power play goals, and their success rate, 67.2 percent before Sunday’s game, ranks last among all 32 NHL clubs.
“I think the frustration is turning into anger, obviously,” Evason said. “Hopefully they’re as angry as (the coaches) are.”
