Wild players hope urgency of situation brings out their best

EDMONTON, Alberta – The Wild won't have to wait long to learn its fate.

Coach Dean Evason's postgame talk with the team made that clear, as his message set the stage for Game 4 Friday in addition to wrapping up the 3-0 loss in Game 3 Thursday afternoon to the Canucks that dropped the Wild into a 2-1 hole in the best-of-five play-in series.

"We've already had a good chat," Evason said. "The best part is we get to go after it [Friday]. This wasn't an elimination game [Thursday], so we get an opportunity to come back and compete [Friday] and not have that happen. So, we have to give ourselves an opportunity. We're ready to go."

This is just the fourth back-to-back in Wild playoff history and first since April 14-15, 2008.

The quick turnaround could be challenging from a physical standpoint, but it could also help a team like the Wild looking to rebound since the corrections it needs to make should be fresh in players' minds.

"We're just not finding the back of the net yet," Evason said. "We're all around it and if we keep doing what we're doing, we believe that we'll get an opportunity to break it open.

"The key is just to simplify your game, get as many pucks at the net as you can and then get some second and third opportunities. But first we gotta miss the blocks and then we gotta get our opportunity to get in there and grind a few out. Whenever something isn't going your way offensively, you just gotta simplify and get a little bit grittier."

The urgency of the situation could also work in the Wild's favor.

"We're a good team when we play desperate," Marcus Foligno said. "So, it should bring out the best hockey that we played all year [Friday], and there's not one guy in there that's thinking about going home. We have a chance to even the series [Friday], and that's what we plan to do."

The Wild has "talked till we're blue in the face" about not taking bad penalties, Evason said, but that's exactly what happened Thursday — a repeat from Game 2 when the Wild put the Canucks on the power play seven times.

In Game 3, it was another seven and Vancouver capitalized twice.

"You're trying to get flow in the game and it just seemed like when you did get something going, it was a either power play or a penalty kill," Foligno said. "We're such a good 5-on-5 team and when we can roll four lines, we're really good. We're just kind of getting a little bit stung by that, and we definitely just have to calm it down a little bit with the penalties."

A television camera caught Burnsville's Brock Boeser pointing his glove up to the rafters after he scored in the second period Thursday.

Six years earlier on this exact date, Boeser's friend Ty Alyea died in a car accident.

"It's obviously a tough day for my friends and I," Boeser said. "It's crazy how fast time flies. But to be able to get one for him, it's something special. Yeah, it's an emotional day, for sure, and tried to make the most of it today out on the ice."

Nico Sturm made his playoff debut in Game 4, subbing in for Ryan Donato on the Wild's fourth line — a switch designed to add more size and a faceoff option while also alleviating Zach Parise's minutes on the penalty kill since Sturm can take shorthanded shifts.

Sturm ended up playing 10:12 and dishing out three hits.

"We thought he played extremely well," Evason said.

Although Evason said the team would "consider everything," don't be surprised if the Wild goes back to Alex Stalock on Friday. With Game 3 in the afternoon and Game 4 a late start, the goalie would have more than 24 hours to rest up, and he hasn't been the team's issue.

He made probably the best save of the series Thursday, a grab with his glove on a shot by Bo Horvat that looked destined for the back of the net.

"Alex's save we thought was our turning point, the one where he dove back, but it didn't turn out to be," Evason said. "He's given us an opportunity to win every night. We've gotta do a better job in front of him to limit obviously quality, quality opportunities, and we have to give him some run support. But he's definitely doing his job."