Wild coach Dean Evason sensed it in the team meeting, the pregame skate and the rest of the lead-up to puck drop.
Wild has enough to beat Ducks 2-1 for ninth consecutive home victory
The Wild, seeking a spark and a victory, got the latter, at least.
March 23, 2021 at 10:53AM
"It was just blah," he said.
That lethargy carried over into the game, where the Wild had to rally past the last-place Ducks 2-1 on Monday at Xcel Energy Center to secure the team's ninth straight victory on home ice — a franchise record.
And although the result slammed the door on last week's disastrous trip to Colorado, the Wild still has work to do to rediscover the crispness that headlined its play just before its meltdown against the Avalanche.
"We're going through a bit of a slump with energy, but we're finding ways to win which is important," Ryan Suter said. "Every game can't be you score six goals and everybody is smiling. Every once in a while, you've gotta grind them out like we did tonight."
Nick Bjugstad served up the go-ahead goal in the third period after Suter evened the score late in the second on the power play. Cam Talbot made 24 saves to improve to 5-0 at Xcel Energy Center this season, while his counterpart Ryan Miller had 21 stops for the Ducks.
"They fought their way through a game that we're fortunate to get two points in," Evason said.
After getting steamrolled not once but twice in Colorado, the Wild was primed for a reset.
The team was returning home, where it's thrived, and facing off against the West Division's worst team — circumstances that seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Wild to revive the high-octane style that sparked a five-game win streak before the 5-1 and 6-0 losses to the Avalanche.
But that wasn't the script that played out. Fatigue stole the spotlight and with sparkplugs Marcus Foligno and Matt Dumba injured, the Wild looked especially drained.
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"It's important for us to have those guys in the lineup, for sure," Suter said. "But at the same time, whoever is in there should be able to find it."
The first period was lackluster, a slow-motion start that spilled over to the second, which is when the Ducks opened the scoring.
Troy Terry picked up a loose puck after Mats Zuccarello lost his footing, poked it by Suter and then went to his backhand on a partial breakaway to put Anaheim up 1-0 at 5 minutes, 17 seconds.
Not until its third power play of the game did the Wild finally convert on a point shot from Suter at 16:21. The goal was Suter's first of the season, and it wrapped a goalless drought for the Wild at 127:40. Anaheim went 0-for-3 on the power play.
"To come through with a goal like that after being down 1 is game-changing," Bjugstad said.
After Suter's goal, the Wild upped the intensity in the third and at 3:42, Bjugstad buried the rebound off a Soucy shot. Four of Bjugstad's five goals this season have come at Xcel Energy Center, and three of them have been game-winners.
"It was a little bit sloppy, but not every game is going to be pretty," said Soucy, whose eight assists this season are a career high. "We're not going to have all these fancy goals. We know that we can stick with it, though. We know that we can get better as the game goes on. We did that again in the third."
As weary as the Wild was, the team keeps having success at home where it's 11-3 after this record-breaking nine-game run.
And perhaps this is exactly where the Wild needs to be to recharge and reboot.
"We want to be dominant here," Soucy said. "Obviously with nine in a row, we want to keep that going."
The star forward came back from a brief injury absence, and two goals from Frederick Gaudreau helped Minnesota to another road victory.
