The Minnesota Wild have lost three straight while being outscored 11-2.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is they haven’t been as bad as the scoreline says.
“We’re really not that far off,” coach Mike Yeo said yesterday ahead of tonight’s game in New Jersey (video).
“There are stretches where we’re flat-out very, very good. But the ability to stay with it for 60 minutes, we’ve got to be a little bit stronger between the ears. We’ve got to be a little bit tougher mentally.”
The Wild’s shot totals in the three defeats back up Yeo’s claim. They outshot Pittsburgh, 34-22, but lost 4-1. They outshot Ottawa, 35-17, but lost 3-0. And they tied Montreal in shots, 31-31, but lost 4-1.
That’s a shooting percentage of 2.0, and a save percentage of .855 (one goal allowed was an empty-netter). Neither of those percentages will stay that low over the long run.
Still, defenseman Ryan Suter was sounding discouraged after Saturday’s loss to the Canadiens dropped Minnesota’s record to 7-6-0.
“It’s too bad,” Suter said, per the Star Tribune. “We had such a good thing going and now we’re kind of getting away from what we were building.”
Here’s Yeo: