Tough night for Wild's first line, but details costly in the end: 3 takeaways vs. Senators

ST.

PAUL, Minn.

Playing against what should have been a tired opponent and against a minor-league goalie, the Wild got no momentum boost from Fridays dramatic come-from-behind win in Dallas, losing to the Ottawa Senators 3-1 Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center.

The Wild took back-to-back penalties in the third period their first two trips to the penalty box in the game and the second one daunted when Josh Norris one-timed Jake Sanderson s pass with a wicked shot for the eventual game-winning goal with 7:18 left.

Advertisement Freddy Gaudreau scored the lone goal for Minnesota against Belleville Senators goalie Leevi Merilainen .

The Senators snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Wild and have won nine of their past 12 games overall.

The Wilds two-game win streak ended and they lost for the seventh time in the past 11 games.

Lets be honest here, our power play could have, should have scored, coach John Hynes said.

We had looks that didnt go in.

What, we had four posts tonight? So we can talk about not generating offense and things like that.

At the end of the day, we had opportunities, we didnt get puck luck tonight to go in.

But to me ...

like, lets be realistic with the game.

Our first penalty kill was really good.

The attention to detail at the end matters to me.

My take out of the game is when were playing a detailed, smart game, you give yourself the best chance to win.

We want to pride ourselves on being smart.

We want that as a competitive advantage to our team.

And tonight, the lesson out of that was we werent the smarter team tonight, and ultimately thats probably why we lost.

The Wild were playing without Kirill Kaprizov for a second game in a row but got Joel Eriksson Ek back for the first time in 12 games.

The Wild host the Nashville Predators on New Years Eve before hitting the road to Washington and Raleigh.

Josh Norris rips one from his office to give Ottawa the lead! #GoSensGo Need to keep setting this up on the powerplay.

pic.twitter.com/30WpWpu1S9 Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) December 30, 2024 Horrible night for Boldy-Rossi-Zuccarello line Its always going to be tough without Kaprizov, but the Matt Boldy Marco Rossi Mats Zuccarello line had one tough evening.

It was largely responsible for Ridly Greig s second-period tying goal with a long D-zone shift that started with its offensive-zone turnover and spent a lot of the night running around its own end.

Advertisement According to Natural Stat Trick, the trio was on the ice for eight high-danger chances against versus one for themselves.

Their Corsi numbers are downright ugly.

At five-on-five, Zuccarello was on the ice for 25 shot attempts against versus 11 for, Boldy 23 shot attempts against versus 10 for and Rossi 25 shot attempts against versus 10 for.

Boldy did hit the post and the crossbar, plus Zuccarello hit the post on a power play.

But they were too cute, too east-west and too feeble.

At the end of the day, we have to get on the forecheck, Zuccarello said.

We also have to make plays.

We gotta make the plays that need to be made.

Sometimes its chip-ins.

Sometimes its weakside D joining.

Sometimes its carrying the puck in, creating like that.

I think sometimes we dont make those plays when we have to, especially in the second.

We turn it over a little bit.

We lose momentum of the game.

They get some two-on-twos.

We had some bad changes, stuff like that.

Boldy continues to struggle compared to his strong start to the season.

He has two goals in his past 18 games and was a turnover machine once again Sunday.

The one that led to Claude Giroux s empty-netter was just his last of many.

Asked what has changed in Boldys game, Hynes said, I think probably more of a shot mentality and get to the inside.

Ridly Greig scoops up Hamonic's rebound and stuffs it home at the post, tying the game for Ottawa! #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/vRHd8WujgH Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 30, 2024 AHL goalie, no problem With Linus Ullmark and Anton Forsberg injured, Merilainen played his third game of the season and fifth of his NHL career.

He made 30 saves for the win, but he was gettable and the Wild didnt get to him.

The Wild hit the post or crossbar four times, couldnt get to rebounds he kept leaving and went the first eight minutes of the second period without a shot on goal.

Advertisement We couldnt get our forecheck going for the majority of the time, Zuccarello said.

Ryan Hartman s funk continues.

He couldnt score on five shots.

His 49 shots since Nov.

19 are by far the most in the NHL without a goal.

He has no goals in his past 19 games and no points in his past 18.

Wild being cautious with Kaprizov Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin met with a couple of reporters for an update on Kaprizov, the Hart Trophy contender who has missed two games in a row with a minor lower-body injury.

Hes going to be back when hes back, and I dont know when that is, Guerin said.

It could be a couple games from now.

Its not real serious.

Its just making sure things are OK for the long run.

There was no one incident that caused the injury.

Kaprizov pushes so hard with his skating that over time hes been dealing with lingering soreness.

It sounds like a minor groin strain.

Kaprizov has 23 goals and 50 points in 34 games and is plus-21.

(Photo of Jared Spurgeon missing the net against Leevi Merilainen: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images).

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