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‘Shaken’ Wild have seen playoff chances dive

Ryan Suter, J.T. Miller

Minnesota Wild’s Ryan Suter, left, slips in front of New York Rangers’ J.T. Miller during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013, in New York. The Rangers defeated the Wild 4-1. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

AP

“You can tell that confidence is shaken right now with individuals and as a group. When they scored the first goal, we tightened up a little bit. When they scored the second goal, we tightened up completely.”

That was Minnesota coach Mike Yeo after yesterday’s 4-1 loss to the Rangers, per Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. Since starting the season 15-5-4, the Wild are 5-8-1 and have fallen out of a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference.

If you think there’s anything to possession stats like Corsi and Fenwick (hint: there definitely is), this is what the Wild’s chart looks like, per Extra Skater:

Wild

And when a team’s giving up 30-plus shots a night and its goalie is doing this, that’s not a good formula for success.

“When things aren’t going well, when you put yourself in a hole, it’s hard to get out of it when goals have been tough to come by and just overall not feeling good about the way we’ve been playing,” forward Zack Parise said, per the Star Tribune.

For Wild fans hoping for a second postseason appearance, an even more disturbing chart may be this one, courtesy Sports Club Stats:

Wild2

Minnesota is in action again tonight (on NBCSN) versus the Flyers in Philadelphia.