The Minnesota Wild struggled entering Week 3 of the 2025-26 NHL season. Jared Spurgeon and his teammates bucked a three-game losing streak on Monday to give them some momentum. However, they ran into a red-hot New Jersey Devils team on Wednesday. And Minnesota simply had no answer for their opponent.
Arseny Gritsyuk scored his first career goal, while Jesper Bratt added one of his own. Nico Daws made 29 saves on the 30 shots he faced from Wild skaters. As a result, Minnesota dropped this contest by a score of 4-1 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
This is a disappointing result considering how the team performed earlier in the week. Everyone in the organization is searching for answers. Spurgeon, though, was rather blunt with his assessment of the team. “We’re not where we want to be right now,” the Wild captain said, via The Athletic's Joe Smith.
Wild lament consistency issues after loss to Devils
The Wild are only eight games into the 2025-26 campaign. However, it appears they are already struggling with turning in consistent performances. For every 5-0 win like their season opener against the St. Louis Blues, there are games like Wednesday night where they don't look all that imposing.
Head coach John Hynes pointed to the consistency issues following the loss to New Jersey. He compared the team's performance on Monday against the New York Rangers. They were a well-oiled machine at Madison Square Garden, but it was a different story at the Prudential Center.
“In New York, we were extremely competitive. We played to the identity that gave us a chance to win. Tonight we had pockets of it. We didn’t have it for long enough stretches. It comes down to willingness to put that game on the ice and the work that it takes to win night in and night out regularly,” the Wild head coach said, via Smith.
This is certainly not the start the team hoped for. But it's still extremely early in the 2025-26 regular season. Minnesota can bounce back on Saturday night when they take on another red-hot team in the Utah Mammoth.
