It’s the skilled players like forwards Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov who have to do their part to get the puck into the zone.
Too many times in Game 4, including on the power play, Boldy and Kaprizov were guilty of trying to skate the puck in, or attempt to make an east-west play.
All that did was fuel Colorado’s attack, because turnovers became chances the other way.
It can’t happen again.
“It’s hard to win and you have to be willing to do the things that winning requires, right?” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “It’s 10 days into a series, right? We’ve seen what works. We’ve seen what it’s going to be. And that’s ultimately how you win. It’s not playing the game that you want to play. It’s playing the game that is required to win. And that’s why winning in the playoffs is so hard.”
There are clear concerns about the Wild’s second line of Danila Yurov, Marcus Johansson and Boldy, and their second defense pair of Jared Spurgeon and Daemon Hunt.
Just look at the even strength shot attempts differential in favor of Colorado when they were on the ice in Game 4.
Yurov: minus-21 (21-0)
Johansson: minus-17 (18-1)
Boldy: minus-14 (22-8)
Spurgeon: minus-18 (24-6)
Hunt: minus-17 (21-4)
But there are no easy fixes with center Joel Eriksson Ek (typically the center between Boldy and Johansson) and defenseman Jonas Brodin (Spurgeon’s defense partner) both still out with lower-body injuries and not traveling to Denver for Game 5.
“We can talk about line combos and stuff like that; we got out-competed last night,” Hynes said. “Like, Game 3, we out-competed them. We were the harder team, won more puck battles. Last night, they were the harder team. They were more competitive in the hard areas of the ice, they won more puck battles.”
Foligno said the Wild might feel different, less confident as they head to Denver, had they fluked their way to a Game 3 win. Instead, they earned it by how they played, which fuels belief.
“It’s promising that we had a good game, and we know how to execute our plan, and when we do, it’s outcomes like that,” Foligno said.
One problem: The Avalanche are saying the same thing, albeit in reverse order.
They were angry after Game 3. They were frustrated. They hated that the result they got was earned and deserved because they didn’t compete near to the level as the Wild did that night.
Colorado responded with a much better Game 4.
Now it’s Minnesota’s turn.
“The adversity is back on us, right?” Hynes said. “It’s like a volley.”
The Wild have to hit it back or their season could come to an end Wednesday.
“We have an opportunity to respond to what just happened,” Hynes said. “To me, wouldn’t you rather have something like that happen than sit all summer, have a chance to really respond and give a good game and push this thing further? That’s the opportunity.”