10 Takeaways: The Wild Aren’t Doing Enough To Stop the Avalanche

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images This was never going to be an easy series for the Minnesota Wild. After going through six rough, physical games against the Dallas Stars, the Wild entered the series without Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin. Against a high-flying offense like the Colorado Avalanche, those are probably two of the last guys you’d want to lose to injury.

They may or may not return when the series shifts to Minnesota, but either way, their plan of attack against Colorado right now just isn’t doing it. The Avalanche scored a franchise-record nine goals in Game 1 — eight of which were on goalie Jesper Wallstedt. They followed it up with four against Filip Gustavsson and another empty netter to win 5-2 on Tuesday to take a 2-0 series lead.

Suddenly, the third game of this series matters that much more for the Wild. The pressure is on them not to fall completely behind. To put it in simple terms, they’re giving the Avalanche way too much room to skate.

In the first period of Game 2, MacKinnon seemed to have more rush attacks than he did in any game against Los Angeles. We also saw this in Game 1 from both him and Martin Necas. The Wild struggled on the penalty kill against the Stars, and that has continued.