Coach Todd Richards felt better about Saturday's effort against San Jose, but at 1-3 the losses and injuries are beginning to pile up.
The Wild took a full day off in Northern California on Sunday.
Thirteen players attended the 49ers game. The rest of the team did touristy stuff in San Francisco or bummed around Silicon Valley.
It was a mental day for a team licking its wounds from a 1-3 start to the season and painful 4-2 loss Saturday night at San Jose.
Painful because the Wild felt it deserved a better fate. Painful because the Wild suffered two key injuries.
Right winger Cal Clutterbuck, last year's NHL hits leader, looks to be the most seriously hurt. He left the game after five shifts because of an ankle injury. He wasn't able to put weight on his left leg.
"He was in a lot of pain, so it's not a good sign," coach Todd Richards said.
Petr Sykora strained his groin. Both players were to be evaluated Sunday, but with no extra forwards, the Wild likely will be forced to call up a couple of forwards from Houston today.
The injuries were debilitating. You could see it in the second period. Players were overextended as the Wild was down to nine forwards (John Scott was barely used).
"You can see it on the bench. Guys were tired. They were laboring," Richards said.
The injuries came in a game in which the Wild worked exhaustingly in the first 30 minutes to build a 2-0 lead. But with the Wild outshooting the Sharks 26-13 at the time, the Wild had a 2-minute, 41-second letdown in which Jed Ortmeyer and Patrick Marleau tied the score 2-2.
Dany Heatley scored the eventual winner on a power play, and with the Wild sleeping out of the second intermission gate, Marleau sealed it nine seconds into the third by skating through five Wild players en route to a breakaway goal.
"We played a really solid game almost the whole night," checker Kyle Brodziak said. "There were a couple minutes in the second period where we not necessarily let off the gas but maybe we turned our minds off for a few minutes and they capitalized."After the game, Richards addressed the team for two minutes. He told the players he was proud of the effort and that if the Wild puts in that type of commitment in the future, it'll win more games than not.
Yes, the old sports clich? after solid efforts end in losses.
But there's no denying that for 30 minutes, and in Richards' mind, 60, the Wild did everything he wanted. Instead of waiting for the puck, the Wild went and got it. It pressured the Sharks in every area inside a tough home arena (San Jose won a league-high 32 times last season). It won nearly every puck battle.
"They did a really good job of holding us in our end, and they were quicker to loose pucks," Sharks coach Todd McClellan said.
The Wild worked impressively but lost. Now it has three games left on this five-game trip. And it has lost two key players with a number of others banged up Saturday.
So Richards is trying to lift his team's spirits.
"When the game's over with, you want to be proud with how you played," Richards said. "As a coach, you come out of the L.A. game [6-3 loss], and you're disappointed, you aren't proud of the way we played. We lost this game, but I'm proud of the way we played.
"If we put forth this effort and make the same commitment, we'll win more games than we're going to lose."
But as defenseman Nick Schultz, who was on the ice for three goals against Saturday, said: "At the end of the day, it's about wins and losses. It's tough when you lose a game even though you're satisfied to a certain degree with the way you played. But at the end of the day, we've got to win."
The Wild took a full day off in Northern California on Sunday.
Thirteen players attended the 49ers game. The rest of the team did touristy stuff in San Francisco or bummed around Silicon Valley.
It was a mental day for a team licking its wounds from a 1-3 start to the season and painful 4-2 loss Saturday night at San Jose.
Painful because the Wild felt it deserved a better fate. Painful because the Wild suffered two key injuries.
Right winger Cal Clutterbuck, last year's NHL hits leader, looks to be the most seriously hurt. He left the game after five shifts because of an ankle injury. He wasn't able to put weight on his left leg.
"He was in a lot of pain, so it's not a good sign," coach Todd Richards said.
Petr Sykora strained his groin. Both players were to be evaluated Sunday, but with no extra forwards, the Wild likely will be forced to call up a couple of forwards from Houston today.
The injuries were debilitating. You could see it in the second period. Players were overextended as the Wild was down to nine forwards (John Scott was barely used).
"You can see it on the bench. Guys were tired. They were laboring," Richards said.
The injuries came in a game in which the Wild worked exhaustingly in the first 30 minutes to build a 2-0 lead. But with the Wild outshooting the Sharks 26-13 at the time, the Wild had a 2-minute, 41-second letdown in which Jed Ortmeyer and Patrick Marleau tied the score 2-2.
Dany Heatley scored the eventual winner on a power play, and with the Wild sleeping out of the second intermission gate, Marleau sealed it nine seconds into the third by skating through five Wild players en route to a breakaway goal.
"We played a really solid game almost the whole night," checker Kyle Brodziak said. "There were a couple minutes in the second period where we not necessarily let off the gas but maybe we turned our minds off for a few minutes and they capitalized."After the game, Richards addressed the team for two minutes. He told the players he was proud of the effort and that if the Wild puts in that type of commitment in the future, it'll win more games than not.
Yes, the old sports clich? after solid efforts end in losses.
But there's no denying that for 30 minutes, and in Richards' mind, 60, the Wild did everything he wanted. Instead of waiting for the puck, the Wild went and got it. It pressured the Sharks in every area inside a tough home arena (San Jose won a league-high 32 times last season). It won nearly every puck battle.
"They did a really good job of holding us in our end, and they were quicker to loose pucks," Sharks coach Todd McClellan said.
The Wild worked impressively but lost. Now it has three games left on this five-game trip. And it has lost two key players with a number of others banged up Saturday.
So Richards is trying to lift his team's spirits.
"When the game's over with, you want to be proud with how you played," Richards said. "As a coach, you come out of the L.A. game [6-3 loss], and you're disappointed, you aren't proud of the way we played. We lost this game, but I'm proud of the way we played.
"If we put forth this effort and make the same commitment, we'll win more games than we're going to lose."
But as defenseman Nick Schultz, who was on the ice for three goals against Saturday, said: "At the end of the day, it's about wins and losses. It's tough when you lose a game even though you're satisfied to a certain degree with the way you played. But at the end of the day, we've got to win."
