ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild left their “HARD” player-of-the-game chain at home during their last road trip, having to put together a makeshift version.
You can argue they left their “choose your hard” mentality — a theme that drove their surprising first half — somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
And it’s gut-check time for them to get it back.
It wasn’t just that the Wild lost a second straight home game (what else is new?), falling 5-4 to the Flames at Xcel Energy Center, which has inexplicably turned into the house of horrors for this group.
It’s the how.
They’ve looked like a shell of the team that went out and beat the Avalanche in Denver on Monday.
And coach John Hynes had enough, delivering an emotional and pointed message to his team during his postgame press conference. The timing seemed right, with the Wild now just five points ahead of the second wild card with a five-game trip coming up.
“Winning is simple — it’s hard,” Hynes said. “And you’ve got to choose your hard, right? Right now, we’re not choosing our hard the right way and it’s costing us games. … Now, we’re choosing to lose. That’s hard. Losing is not easy. Winning is not easy.
“We’ve got to go back to the commitment level it takes to win. The mentality. The fire. The competitiveness. The depth in the lineup. Right now, it’s not enough. It’s not enough.”
“Choosing to lose.” Ouch.
Hynes’ choice of words was not only direct but intentional. Ever since president and general manager Bill Guerin came up with the phrase “choose your hard” during his pre-camp address, it connected with the players. Ryan Hartman went to Home Depot to get the supplies to make the chain, with “HARD” painted on the bottom piece. This is a group that was admittedly too easy to play against last year, not resilient enough to battle through adversity — and they missed the playoffs. But this Wild team appeared to be different, inspired by the “choose your hard” to do those little things that win games.
It’s hard to block shots. It’s hard to backcheck. It’s hard to fight for space in front of the net. It’s hard to take a hit to make a play.
Right now, the Wild aren’t doing enough of the above.
“We need to start with fundamentals again,” winger Jakub Lauko said. “We don’t have a good forecheck. We don’t have a good backcheck. We’re losing pucks on the blue lines. We’re not hard in front of the nets. We need a big, hard reset and go back to what made us great in the first half.”
Where’s the pushback?
Hynes said the Wild were as soft in front of their net on Thursday as they had been all season. Saturday was more of the same, with the Flames building a 4-1 lead right through the heart of Minnesota’s defense. They hung Marc-Andre Fleury out to dry.
Then they left the future Hall of Famer hanging.
In a goal mouth scrum late in the second period, Fleury went to defend his teammates by grabbing Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson from behind. Andersson, Calgary’s beast on the blue line, punched Fleury in the face. Sure, Mats Zuccarello and Marco Rossi wrestled with Andersson on the ice after that. But nobody challenged Andersson to a fight the rest of the game.
We’re punching goalies mid scrum now?! @spittinchiclets
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 26, 2025
All Andersson did was get out of the penalty box and rip a slap shot past Fleury for a back-breaking third goal. Then he stared down the crowd and Wild bench on his way back. He’s the kind of player the Wild — well, any team — can certainly use more of. Fleury, when asked if Andersson crossed the line, gave a diplomatic answer of no, that it’s “all good. It’s just hockey.”
But so is having a teammate’s back. The Wild have done it so many times before this season. Why not now? Hynes was surprised too.
“I’d like to see us have more pushback, to be honest with you,” Hynes said of the response to Fleury getting punched. “That part of our team, if you’re talking about work ethic and competitiveness. I think we just kind of took that. I didn’t see much of a response from it. Those are all those little things that draw a team together that becomes hard to play against. The willingness to do that. I didn’t like that part of it.”
What’s frustrating to Hynes, and no doubt Wild fans, is that this team has shown that fight — that “choose your hard” mentality, many times throughout this season. You don’t reach the top of the NHL standings three months into the season without it. Look at the overtime win in Dallas after Christmas, and the back-to-back road wins in Carolina and Washington. Even Monday’s victory in Denver, with Minnesota beating Nathan MacKinnon & Co. without Kirill Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon or Jonas Brodin.
Marcus Foligno said the other night that it was almost as if with Kaprizov and Spurgeon back, they thought it would come to them a little easier. It hasn’t. While the Wild made a late flurry to pull within 5-4, it felt like a mirage considering how much of a perimeter offensive game they were playing.
“I think our guys work hard,” Hynes said. “But I’ll give you an example. When I say we’re playing perimeter on offense, the work ethic isn’t hard enough. The last two games, we don’t want to fight for inside ice. We want the extra pass. We don’t want to trigger. We don’t want to hunt rebounds. Don’t want to get to the net front …
“There’s a specific level of competitiveness and work ethic you need to have — whether that’s at our own net front, or an offensive net front. We’ve got to get that back.”
Said Lauko: “I think we’re trying to hang and sit in the easy areas where goals are not scored. We’re trying to make it too fancy and too nice. We need to bring more sandpaper to our game and be harder on those things.”
The home-road dilemma
After the morning skate, Hynes pushed back on the narrative of the Wild’s home struggles. He pointed out how Minnesota hasn’t been bad on home ice all year — they went 7-3-1 in their first 11. But their issues have come lately with the Wild losing nine of their last 13 at home, including seven to Western Conference teams.
“It’s not a tactical thing, it’s a mindset of coming in and making sure you’re getting to a game that gives us the best chance to win,” Hynes said. “I know this home-road thing, I think everything that happens gets blown out of proportion. Early in the year, we were pretty good. Beat some good teams. As of late, there have been some different reasons why those things haven’t been as good at home. … I think it’s important to reconcile with all of you as well as the team — sometimes things get blown out of proportion. I would say the last several games, our mindset and style of game isn’t where it needs to be to win regularly.”
It got to the point where Hynes and the staff met with the team before the game and told them to act like it was a road game. Keep it simple. Don’t be flashy. Choose your hard. The good news for Minnesota is their next five games are outside the state, starting Sunday in Chicago.
“It’s kind of dumb that we’re looking at the road as a positive,” Fleury said.
Lauko answers the bell
When Lauko drove Kevin Bahl face-first into the boards early in the second period, he knew he’d probably have to fight because of it.
And Lauko did just that, dropping the gloves with Ryan Lomberg not too long after exiting the box.
But Lauko said the hit didn’t have any malicious intent, and he felt bad for Bahl, who left the game and didn’t return.
“Obviously I knew the hit wasn’t ideal,” Lauko said. “I’m not trying to injure anyone on the ice. I’ve never been that kind of player. I saw he didn’t return to the game. I hope he’s going to recover soon. I was pretty sure I would have to fight after that.”
Jakub Lauko hits Kevin Bahl from behind.
Bahl skated off on his own and went down the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/64ufvfl0Ux
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 26, 2025
Quick hits
• Kirill Kaprizov, in his second game back after missing a month with a lower-body injury, finished with an assist and three shots on goal. He looked a little better than he did on Thursday, with Hynes acknowledging it’s going to take a while for the Russian superstar to get his timing back.
• Joel Eriksson Ek snapped a seven-game goal drought in the first period. Eriksson Ek has been moved up to the top line with Kaprizov and Zuccarello, no doubt an attempt to get their two-way center going.
• Fleury passed Patrick Roy for second in minutes played all-time in NHL history.
MAF is breaking records again! He is now second all-time in minutes played among goaltenders 🎉
Congratulations, Flower 🌸#mnwild x @StarTribune pic.twitter.com/VufqIUNTZc
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 26, 2025
(Photo of Calgary players celebrating after a second-period goal by Rasmus Andersson: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
