The Minnesota Wild harbor faint playoff hopes with six games remaining.
No matter where the Wild stand in the Western Conference race, however, coach John Hynes strives for more depth from his club.
Minnesota will try to answer Hynes’ challenge and stop a two-game losing streak when the team visits the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
“Depth in general,” Hynes said. “Depth scoring. Identity players. Guys that drive the identity that you want. I think that also helps your top guys that are supposed to score. I think it helps the game and the team game in general.”
The Wild (36-31-9, 81 points) are coming off Saturday’s 4-2 home loss to the Winnipeg Jets. That left Minnesota 11 points behind the Nashville Predators (44-29-4, 92) for the second wild-card spot in the West, with the St. Louis Blue (40-32-5, 85) between them.
Strong play from Kirill Kaprizov (two goals) and Mats Zuccarello (two assists) helped keep the Wild afloat against the Jets. While Hynes found other exceptions, he said a majority of the roster beyond the forwards played too passively.
“The thing that disappointed me the most was I thought, overall, we were right in the game, but there’s too many passengers tonight,” Hynes said. “I think when you’re in those roles, when you’re trying to be in the NHL, stay in the NHL, trying to make an impact, there’s got to be more drive to be a complete team.”
Chicago will round out a back-to-back set on Sunday. The Blackhawks stopped the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars’ franchise-record eight-game winning streak with a 3-2 home victory on Saturday.
Petr Mrazek stopped 42 shots for Chicago, and rookie standout Connor Bedard tallied his team-leading 22nd goal of the season.
“We were close to snapping,” said Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones, who scored the game winner. “But with Petr in the net, he has our full trust that he’s going to make big saves for us. Even when he probably shouldn’t make the saves, he’s going to make it.”
Mrazek, who has started 50 games this season, is likely to yield to backup Arvid Soderblom on Sunday. Hynes confirmed that Jesper Wallstedt will be in net for the Wild after starter Marc-Andre Fleury played Saturday.
The Blackhawks (23-48-5, 51) have won five of their past six games at United Center.
“It has been a tough year with our record and everything, but it shows a lot about our group that we’re sticking with it,” Bedard said. “To see some results in the last little bit is great for us.
“A lot of [our] guys coming in haven’t got to win in this league. There’s obviously the guys who have played in the league a little bit that have experienced that, but for us to not [exactly] get used to it but to feel [what it’s like] above .500 is a big positive.”
Kaprizov needs one goal to reach 40 for the third consecutive season.
Minnesota has defeated Chicago in two previous meetings this season, winning 4-1 at home on Dec. 3 before edging the host Blackhawks 2-1 on Feb. 7.
–Field Level Media
