Not even Marcus Foligno fighting big, bad Tom Wilson was enough to spark the Wild on this evening.
It was just one of those nights where nothing could go right for the home team.
After seven straight games away from St. Paul, coach Bruce Boudreau tried a preemptive strike against the typical first-game-after-a-long-trip blues by giving the Wild Monday off.
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He figured they could get their errands done and replenish their empty gas tanks after running on fumes during Sunday’s win in St. Louis.
Didn’t work.
The Wild were sluggish and sloppy, couldn’t overcome six shots in the first half of the game or a 3-0 deficit to the reigning Stanley Cup champs and ultimately skidded to an eighth consecutive loss (0-7-1) to the Washington Capitals, falling by a 5-2 score.
Playing for the first time at Xcel Energy Center since Oct. 27, the Wild just didn’t have it and suffered a rare regulation home loss because of it.
The Wild fell to 32-7-10 at home since the start of last season and 22-3-8 since Christmas.
“You get spoiled,” Boudreau said of a team coming off a 5-2 road trip and winners of 10 of their previous 12. “They weren’t as good as they were for the last 12 games. … And you try to wonder what it is, and people say it’s the first game when you get home, and I don’t believe any of that stuff.
“We just weren’t sharp. I mean, the passes weren’t tape-to-tape. They were bouncing. Some guys were not as good as I expected them to be. It’s a weird thing, because I thought we played as good as them, but they are the best team in the league scoring off the rush, and they proved it again tonight.”
It felt like defenseman Ryan Suter was flat-footed for his entire 25 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time. He was a well-earned minus-3, with partner Matt Dumba not that much better on the defensive side of the puck and finishing minus-2.
“They’d played an awful lot of good games in a row, and I think they struggled right off the get-go,” Boudreau said.
They weren’t alone.
Youngsters Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway, coming off good games in Anaheim and St. Louis, were downright brutal. They were soft on pucks and recorded minus-3s. Charlie Coyle again showed little killer instinct and was on for two goals against.
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Eric Staal just didn’t seem to have his “A” game for a third time in four games since falling ill in San Jose. Mikael Granlund had one shot on goal. Nino Niederreiter blew chances and went scoreless for a third straight game since ending his 14-game goal drought.
“We just didn’t have everybody,” Staal said. “And when you don’t have everybody, it’s pretty tough in this league, especially against a team that were Stanley Cup champs last year. Not our best, but we’ll recover (Wednesday) and be ready Thursday.”
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov, who always torches the Wild, scored his first two goals of the season and had an assist. One goal was on a snipe, one goal was on a rush after an Eriksson Ek turnover and one cross-crease pass ended with Wilson scoring his first goal in his first game of the season.
Ovi -> Orly = GOAL#CapsWild pic.twitter.com/Ls74SiHzdf
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 14, 2018
Tiger circles around and sets up Orly to get us on the board 👍#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/XBAu1UlYWB
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 14, 2018
Wilson, who had a neutral arbitrator reduce his suspension for a preseason elbowing penalty just in time to face the Wild, crashed into Devan Dubnyk after the goal.
Dubnyk went down in a heap but remained in the game and said afterward he’ll probably be sore for awhile. Dubnyk said Wilson, who was penalized despite the goal counting for a 2-0 lead, later apologized.
Nevertheless, after Mikko Koivu trimmed a 3-0 lead to 3-1, Foligno dropped the gloves with Wilson, who had the second-most fights in the NHL last season with 13.
They threw some big-time bombs and Foligno took him to the ice much to the delight of the crowd. Afterward, Foligno casually removed his helmet, dropped it on the ice, looked at the Wild bench and said, “Let’s go.”
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“Obviously, he runs into Duby, so you want to stand up for your teammate,” Foligno said. “Thought it was the right time. Obviously, we got a step closer with (Koivu’s) goal, so just a good time to do it.”
The Wild had a couple good chances after the fight, but usually manic-looking Pheonix Copley made a couple big saves on Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba.
If one of those two shots go in, it probably changes the feel of the game.
Of course, if Zucker and Jared Spurgeon didn’t strike iron in the first period, the game probably is different too.
If the Zucker-Staal-Granlund line, which forced some defensive blueline turnovers in the first period, could have converted on one, things may have been different.
Or, maybe nothing was going to help the Wild on a night where they just weren’t nearly as good as the hard-working, well-executing team we saw on the road.
Who knows?
Eventually, Orlov and T.J. Oshie turned that 3-1 lead into 5-1.
Flawless passing? Bullseye for Oshbabe.#CapsWild pic.twitter.com/NfQLWSOUZB
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 14, 2018
“They’re opportunistic,” Dubnyk said. “Their skill is well known. They don’t need many opportunities. You give them space like that, they got weapons. We certainly could have won it. I think we played well. But that’s a team when they get those, a lot of them are going to be in the back of the net.”
There’s no reason to overreact to one loss against the champs.
In a lot of ways, it was so predictable after the 8,000 miles traveled these past two-plus weeks. But it certainly wasn’t the prettiest way to greet GM Paul Fenton, who returned in the middle of the first period from Toronto, where he attended Monday’s Hall of Fame induction and Tuesday’s GM’s meeting.
It was his first time seeing the team since before it left for St. Louis six games ago. Remember, he flew to Russia to visit with prospect Kirill Kaprizov, then to Finland to scout a tournament.
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So, you know Fenton will want to see how his team responds when Vancouver comes to town Thursday.
“It didn’t look like we were connecting very well, and some of the mental mistakes we made are going to cost you against a good offensive team, and they made us pay,” Staal said. “Wasn’t our best. It just felt like some of the mistakes that we made were none that we’ve been making over the last while. We’ll rebound the next one.”
(Photo: Brad Rempel / USA Today)