'Frustrated' Wild can't break out of offensive slump

PITTSBURGH -- In a long hockey season, every player goes through a goal scoring drought or two. Typically, every player has a way of getting out of it too.
But what do you do when an entire team is seemingly mired in a goal-scoring slump?
The Wild had a bevy of scoring chances on Thursday night and was able bury just one in a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

Minnesota peppered the Pittsburgh net with 41 shots on goal -- several of them from prime scoring locations -- but Jordan Greenway's first-period goal was all the Wild could muster.
According to
naturalstattrick.com
, the Wild had 25 scoring chances, including 13 from high-danger areas.
"It's hard to believe the open nets and the chances we're getting and we're not scoring," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau after the game. "I think you talk to the players, who are probably just as frustrated as I am. Those are plays we've gotta bury ... we've gotta bury those things."
Greenway's goal, a beauty of a snap shot that beat Pens goalie Casey DeSmith short side 7:13 into the contest, provided the Wild with the exact start it wanted.
With the Penguins playing the night before in Washington, Minnesota made a point of jumping in front early and keeping the crowd at bay.
Unfortunately for the Wild, it couldn't build on that momentum.
Six minutes later, Pittsburgh was on the board when Bryan Rust finished off a pass from Jake Guentzel following a misplay and a turnover behind the Minnesota net. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk retreated to the area behind his cage to play a loose puck, but cleared it right to Guentzel along the wall, who fired right to the front and an open Rust who shot into a yawning cage.

"It took a little bit out of our sails when we gave them their first goal," Boudreau said. "But I thought we came back in the second period and took it to them again."
Neither team scored in the second, but it was another costly turnover behind its own net that would do in the Wild. This time it was a giveaway by Greg Pateryn that found Guentzel, who again fed Rust in front for a quick one-timer in the slot and a 2-1 Penguins lead.
"It's a game of inches and it's game of mistakes," Pateryn said. "The team that capitalizes on the other team's mistakes is usually the one that wins and that's what happened tonight."

Boudreau said it succinctly.
"We gave them two goals," he said. "You can't give the Pittsburgh Penguins two goals and expect to win, no matter what you do."
That's especially the case when the goals on the other end are tough to come by.
The question is how the Wild can break out of its scoring drought. What will it take?
"You just gotta work, compete, you gotta get to the dirty areas," said Wild forward Eric Staal. "You gotta keep shooting and you get a couple greasy ones and the confidence slowly builds. It's pretty simple, it's not anything that no one knows. You've gotta be determined and give a little extra."
Minnesota has one game remaining before its four-day holiday break, one that likely comes at a good time. But that game is a crucial one, at home, against a Central Division team the Wild is running neck and neck with in the standings.
"I think if we could have come away with this one ... ifs, ands ... but I think it would have turned around," Boudreau said. "It's a frustrating thing we're going through right now."
Related:
Postgame Hat Trick: Penguins 2, Wild 1