What 'lessons' Wild learned and what needs to change for Game 2 as lineup decisions loom

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But the Avalanche clearly have gotten the Wild’s attention, presenting a much different challenge than they had in a six-game first-round series against the Dallas Stars. Colorado’s skating, quick transition and shot volume offense seemed to catch Minnesota off guard, especially with such a short turnaround between series. The good news, according to Hynes, is that most of the Wild’s mistakes were fixable, resulting from a lack of execution in the details they’re usually good at. A couple of bad pinches. Some rough coverage off of faceoffs. A turnover behind their own net. The key is bouncing back — and fast. “I think the most important part is to share the experience that things can go wrong sometimes,” said two-time Cup winner Vladimir Tarasenko. “You know, how you show up next day is what’s important. There is no point to, you know, feel sad about yesterday. You have to take your lessons and move on. Because some series take longer, some series you play every other day, and if you’re not able to get lessons and move on to the next game with the right mindset, it might be too late.” While a large part of this core group hasn’t been out of the first round before, there are plenty of experienced players, like Tarasenko, Zach Bogosian and Mats Zuccarello, who have helped provide perspective. The Wild fell behind 2-1 in the Stars series and responded by winning the next three. It’s about handling the swings. Another day of prep should help. Minnesota didn’t practice but held a meeting and video session on Monday. Hynes admitted that the quick transition from Thursday’s Game 6 to Sunday’s Game 1 was a tough one. With all the focus on the Stars for two weeks, it’s hard to adapt to a new look. “You can see it on video, right?” Hynes said. “But until you feel it, and you’re, ‘OK, there’s the speed,’ or, ‘OK, yes, this is a little bit different.’ Colorado did a good job of that. We know they’re a good team, but I think that, feeling it, going through it, not on point, we didn’t get away with not being as good as we need to be in certain areas last night. That was the learning lesson.” What struck the Wild, too, was that they still have to play their aggressive offensive game. That means a heavy forecheck, maintaining possession in the offensive zone. “It’s where I think we need to be,” Kirill Kaprizov said. “If you spend more offensive-zone time and try more pressure and still have the puck in the offensive zone — not back check and then go again offensive … take back and go back offensively should help us for sure.” The Avalanche’s stars outshone the Wild’s, with Kaprizov and Matt Boldy relatively quiet, at least offensively. Kaprizov said he was more focused on being better in his own end, as he and linemates Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman were each minus-2. They were on the ice for the first Avalanche goal, a Sam Malinski shot off the rush, when the forwards lost coverage in transition. And they were on the ice for Cale Makar’s second goal, which made it 8-6, a clean shot after a lost defensive-zone faceoff. “I think our line, we, for sure, need to play better, because we didn’t create so many offensive chances,” Kaprizov said. “Defensively, we give couple goals. Usually, we don’t give it. Good details, where we like should be was on top the guys, and we just give easy goals against. It’s nice it happened first game, and in moving forward, we know what we need to do now. We just need to step up and keep playing better.” Among the lineup changes Hynes has to consider is what to do in goal. He said on Sunday night that he didn’t think of pulling Wallstedt during the rough game, pointing out how many goals and quality chances there were overall in the game. But Hynes also didn’t commit to Wallstedt for Game 2. Odds are, Wallstedt will get another start, possibly with a short leash. Filip Gustavsson is another No. 1-caliber goalie they can turn to. He struggled down the stretch but has playoff experience. But it would make sense to at least give Wallstedt a chance to respond after a career-worst game. The Wild rave about Wallstedt’s confidence and calming presence. He is a big reason they’re even in the second round. So why not see what you have there, even if Wallstedt hasn’t been through this before? “We put the goaltender in some tough positions, as well,” Hynes said. “When you have good goaltending and you have a strong team in front of them, that’s been a good combo for our goaltenders the last couple of years. I think last night was a bit of an anomaly. But it is the playoffs. That’s what the game represented last night, and we didn’t handle it as well as we needed to. “I’m not worried about (Wallstedt). He’s got a great track record, he’s played really well, he has playoff experience and he has positive playoff experience, but in general, as we’ve talked about throughout these playoffs, it’s next game. You take the lessons out of it, everyone has to reboot, we all have to be better and we’re planning on doing that tomorrow.” As for the rest of the lineup, the Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon pair struggled mightily, getting out-attempted 18-11 in 12:43 of five-on-five ice time together, per MoneyPuck, and outscored 3-0. That included Middleton’s turnover behind his own net on the Jack Drury goal and his shot from the point turning into an odd-man rush in the third by Nazem Kadri, who finished a breakaway. The Wild knew it would be a challenge replacing Jonas Brodin, who is out with a lower-body injury. There aren’t a ton of options. Hynes could look to move Daemon Hunt up with Spurgeon and put Middleton with Bogosian, as those two were good together in the Dallas series. The Wild’s bottom six also got outplayed by the Avalanche. The Nick Foligno-Nico Sturm-Marcus Foligno fourth line was out-attempted 16-4 in 7:55 of five-on-five ice time and outscored 2-0, per Natural Stat Trick. Marcus Foligno scored a shorthanded goal, but that group has to be better. It’s an identity line that can wear down teams, as it did with Dallas. “We have to play better defensively and try to limit their chances,” Tarasenko said. “Obviously, (they’re) a very good team, and we have to keep going on our plan. People usually say everything could happen in the playoffs, and it was another thing I never been part of. At the end of the day — I’ve said it before — it’s important how you react. I don’t think there is such a big difference to lose 9-6 or 1-0. It’s down by one in the series. We have time to get some rest today and ready for tomorrow.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms