Wild's special teams remain key to comeback bid against Avalanche in West 2nd Round

DENVER -- Michael McCarron was succinct when asked what the Minnesota Wild needed to get back into their series against the Colorado Avalanche.

“Special teams,” the Wild center said after a 5-2 loss to the Avalanche in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

Indeed, the Wild are down 2-0 in the best-of-7 series, and their trouble on special teams has been a big culprit. In the past two games, they’re 0-for-5 on the power play and 4-for-7 on the penalty kill.

“Yeah, we’ve got to figure it out,” Minnesota captain Jared Spurgeon said of the penalty kill. “There are little situations, I think, that we have opportunities to get some momentum for ourselves, but it's going the other way. And it's when we get ourselves back in the game, we give one up. So, we got to correct that and get on the same page there.”

Game 3 is at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; TNT, truTV, HBO MAX, SN, SN1, CBC, OMNI, TVAS).

Both special teams have been an issue for Minnesota since the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Wild’s power play was third-best in the League during the regular season at 25.2 percent. Now it’s at 13.3 percent. Granted, the Wild got some great scoring opportunities on Tuesday, especially on their first power play, when they had six shots on goal. Scott Wedgewood just came up bigger. The Avalanche goaltender, who allowed six goals in Game 1, rebounded to allow two on Tuesday.

The Wild’s penalty kill, however, has been more problematic. It was decent in the regular season (79.8 percent, 16th in the NHL), but has been dismal through eight postseason games. The Wild are now at 59.4 percent, 15th among playoff teams. The Edmonton Oilers, who were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round, were 16th at 50 percent.

So, what do the Wild need to do to get better on the kill?

“I mean, make our reads, I think,” McCarron said. “They move the puck quick. I think Dallas (Stars, their first-round opponent) might have moved it a little quicker, but, I mean, you can see these plays developing. Even when I'm on the bench, you can see them developing, and we've just got to be more aware of where guys are on the ice on the PK, I think. We're doing a lot better with our clears. We're up and out. They’re getting some grade A looks, though. We have to clean it up.”

What wasn’t a problem, as far as the Wild were concerned, was goaltender Filip Gustavsson. After Jesper Wallstedt started the first seven playoff games for the Wild, Gustavsson got the nod on Tuesday, his first start since April 13. The first two shots he faced ended up in the back of the net. The third goal he allowed, from Avalanche forward Nicolas Roy, was a tough one to give up.

“I thought he was just going to cut in more and he quickly released it,” Gustavsson said. “I was just a little slow.”

Minnesota coach John Hynes said: “I thought Gus gave us a chance to win. The difference in the game was the special teams. That’s basically what it comes down to.”

The Wild will take advantage of the next three days in between Games 2 and 3. It’s been quite the grind for them, finishing their hard-fought, six-game series against the Stars on April 30 and three days later starting this series against Colorado, which had a week’s worth of rest between the first and second round.

Perhaps the Wild also get a little healthier. Defenseman Jonas Brodin and forward Joel Eriksson Ek, each of whom has a lower-body injury, missed the first two games of this series and will be reevaluated before Saturday’s game. There’s no doubt Minnesota is missing Brodin, a regular on the Wild’s second defense pair with Spurgeon, and Eriksson Ek, their second-line center who also plays a big part of their power play and penalty kill.

The Wild will do what they have do to get back in this series, and working on special teams must be part of that.

“It’s one game at a time. It’s coming into the next game ready to go, make our adjustments and be better,” Wild forward Matt Boldy said. “You don’t win a series with two wins. That’s our mindset. You go in, we’re going to make adjustments. We know we have to be better in certain areas. I’m confident this group is going to take the strides in the right direction.”