Blown leads and special teams: Familiar problems doom Wolves, Wild

The cruelty of losing in the playoffs is what comes next: a full calendar year spent plotting, practicing and playing, just to get back to the same point a year later in hopes that you have grown and improved — and that things will be different.

It's especially cruel when you put in that work, only to find out very little has changed and that you are doomed to lose the same way again.

That's my biggest takeaway from Tuesday night, and a pair of Game 5s that ended the Timberwolves' season and put the Wild's on the brink of ending.

The culprits in a 112-109 loss for the Wolves and a 4-0 loss for the Wild were familiar: An inability to sustain success for the Wolves, and faulty special teams for the Wild, both of which I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.

In last year's playoffs, the Wolves lost three times to Memphis after holding a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. For the entirety of this season, including Tuesday's finale, double-digit leads again told a big part of the story.

Over the course of the regular season, the Wolves lost 19 times in games during which they led by at least 10 points — tied for most in the NBA. In the first play-in game against the Lakers, the Wolves led by 15 points late in the third quarter and still by 10 in the fourth before falling in overtime. That loss kept them from a far more favorable repeat matchup with the Grizzlies instead of ultimately facing the Nuggets.

And on Tuesday, the Wolves led by 15 late in the first quarter and had a chance to make Denver genuinely sweat. But the lead was gone by halftime, setting up a tense back-and-forth game in which the Wolves put up a fight but the outcome was seldom in doubt.

In perhaps the best summation he could offer of the season, Wolves coach Chris Finch said after Tuesday's Game 5 loss: "I love that about our guys. They kept competing. But the more mature team doesn't find themselves in those situations as much."

The Wild, meanwhile, were bad on special teams last season. Their power play was No. 18 and their penalty kill was No. 25. The disparity doomed them in the playoffs, a 4-2 series defeat at the hands of the Blues in which St. Louis outscored the Wild 8-4 on power plays.

On a hot summer day in August at the State Fair, I asked Wild GM Bill Guerin about fixing those special teams in order to be a better playoff team this year.

"I think we can all help. I think our coaching staff needs to be better. I think our players need to be more consistent and listen to the coaches rather than just go off and do your own thing," Guerin said at the time. "It has to be something we work on on a daily basis. You're right, our special teams hurt us. And there's no excuse for that, especially that time of year. But you do see what happens if you aren't on top of it. And it's not good."

Fast-forward a year, and the Wild actually did improve during the regular season. Their power play was No. 15 and their penalty kill was No. 10.

In the playoffs, though, Dallas has nine power play goals (and one short-handed) to just four power play tallies for the Wild. The chances have been fairly equal: 20 power plays for the Wild, 22 for Dallas.

A lot of the disparity has to do with one area the Wild did not improve: They were a bottom-10 team in faceoff percentage last year and this year. Dallas, the NHL's best team on the draw, is killing the Wild by gaining possession on offensive zone power play faceoffs.

The absence of Joel Eriksson Ek for all but 19 seconds of the series is a major factor, as was the late year season-ending injury to fellow penalty killer Mason Shaw.

But like Guerin said eight months ago, there are no excuses this time of year, particularly for a 9-4 gap in power play goals.

Maybe the Wild will fix the problem in time to save their season. If not, a loss in Game 6 or Game 7 would put them right back in the cycle again with the Wolves.

Here are four other things to know today:

*Joey Gallo was heckled by a Yankees fan Monday at Target Field after launching a long home run — part of a strong start to the season that stands in stark contrast to his struggles with the Yankees. The Twins, of course, are getting the last laugh (for once) against New York. Winning on Tuesday clinched a season series win over the Yankees for the first time in 22 seasons.

*The Wolves got exactly 249 minutes combined from their two draft picks (Wendell Moore Jr. and Josh Minott) this season and zero minutes from their 2021 picks (because they didn't have any). Without a first round pick again this season (at least for now) as a result of the Rudy Gobert trade, one thing to watch this offseason is the progress of Moore and Minott. They figure to need one or both to develop into rotation players to offset other departures and rising salaries.

*Have you ever wondered what movie the line, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown," is from? That mystery is revealed, and more importantly many Vikings draft options are discussed, on the latest Access Vikings podcast.

*The rhythm of the Wild/Stars series so far generally has been that the more desperate team has won. I expect the Wild to win Game 6 on Friday, and I give them close to a coin flip chance if that happens to win Game 7.