Alex Bader
Dean Evason made a poor challenge that led to the 6-3 defeat by the Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Wild's eighth loss in their last 10 games. Poor goaltending and horrible defense by the Wild might force Bill Guerin's hand to make a trade at one of the positions to boost this struggling team for the end of the season.
BADER'S TAKE:
Horrible decision to challenge the first Dallas goal.
I am a huge fan of Evason and the Wild coaching staff, but his decision to challenge the first Dallas goal was a really poor choice that led to the loss and why Minnesota missed out on huge two points.
It was clear that Gaudreau pushed Seguin into Kahkonen which led to the interference and that is not considered goaltending interference because Seguin did not initiate or try to do that.
In the replay, it was very easy to tell, so not sure what Dean Evason was thinking when he saw the replay. He made a horrible decision that led to the loss.
Here are some reasons why he shouldn't have challenged;
The Wild's penalty-kill has been atrocious lately and to take a risk that had low reward and high damage was poor decision making. The Wild could have gone into the second tied at one, but instead, they went into the second tied and had to defend nearly a full 2-minute penalty. Why put a poor penalty-kill on the ice, or why even risk it?
It was pretty clear to me that this goal was going to stand as a good goal. Seguin was hit into Kahkonen by a Wild player.
It disrupted the Wild's momentum by having to start the second period on the kill. They then let a goal in and found themselves trailing all because of the poor challenge by Evason.
Kahkonen needed to be better on all four goals he let in, including the second power-play goal. However, if the challenge was never made, the Wild would have started at 5v5 in a tied game and who knows what would've happened.
Both goalies have to be better for this team to win. Allowing four plus goals a game is not a key for success.
The penalty kill and power-play have got to be better. It is a real concern. They have allowed 16 power-play goals in the last 13 games! Simply not good enough to be a top team. Their power-play has also struggled lately.
Game Recap:
The Minnesota Wild were once shoe-ins for the playoffs, but they only lead the Dallas Stars by two points coming into the game.
The Minnesota Wild got Matt Dumba and Mats Zuccarello back after they both missed games. Dumba missed 11 games and during that time, the Wild were downright bad.
The Wild needed his added energy to help jumpstart this team on what could be another run.
Minnesota came out with high intensity and great energy. They had the first six shots of the game and didn't allow Dallas a shot on net for 5:24.
Dallas found their footing and the ice leveled-out, halfway through the first period.
Robertson took a penalty nine minutes into the period. The Wild had a power-play opportunity to take the early lead, but their power-play has been terrible lately.
They got one shot on the power-play and the Stars killed the penalty.
The Wild's fourth line followed up the power-play with a strong shift and got rewarded with a goal. Nico Sturm scored the goal for the Wild, it was his 9th of the season and first in 12 games.
The Wild continued to press.
Dallas had several chances and Kahkonen stood tall early.
Brandon Duhaime was called for a delay of game penalty in the final minute of the first period.
In the waning moments of the period, the Stars scored to tie the game after a scuffle around the net which led to Kahkonen being out of position.
Evason decided to challenge the goal for goaltender interference. It was pretty clear that Gaudreau checked Seguin into Kahkonen. Not sure what Evason saw, but the goal stood as a good goal, and Minnesota was given another penalty.
Minnesota went into the second period tied at 1-1 after what was a very strong period, aside from their penalty kill.
To start the second period, Jason Robertson scored after Kahkonen couldn't handle the puck, 2-1 Dallas.
Shortly after, Kahkonen couldn't handle another shot and Tufte scored to give the Stars a two-goal lead, 3-1.
The Wild responded well with a spurt of energy and were rewarded with a power-play opportunity.
However, the Wild's power-play much like their penalty kill has struggled lately.
Kahkonen let a shot by Robertson seemingly right past him, and the Stars now had the 4-1 lead.
Talbot came in for Kahkonen midway through the second period after Kahkonen didn't look like he could see the puck.
The Wild played better after Talbot entered the game, but they still went into the third period with a huge hole to climb out of.
The Wild tried to make a push in the third.
However, they couldn't get anything going.
Minnesota pulled Talbot with 8:38 remaining in the game down by three.
Five minutes after the goalie was pulled, Kaprizov scored off a great feed from Fiala to give the Wild some hope, 4-2 Dallas. There were just over three minutes left to play in the game.
It was Kaprizov's 27th goal of the season.
It was Kaprizov again to make things very interesting, 4-3 Dallas. It was his 70th point in 53 games.
However, it proved to be too little too late.
Benn stopped the bleeding for Dallas and scored an empty netter, 5-3.
Robertson scored a second empty netter to make it 6-3 for Dallas.
The Wild are freefallin.
What's Next:
The Wild hosts the New York Rangers on Tuesday. They will need to get their act together as the Central is now dead tight and they no longer have a cushion of points or games. They beat the Rangers last time out, but they were a different team then. Minnesota is in a funk and they need something to push them out of it. The Rangers are 35-15-5 and are third in the Metropolitan.
Saturday, March 8, 2022. at 7:00 p. m. central time
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