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The 2024-25 campaign is completely going off the rails for the Minnesota Wild at maybe the most inopportune time. And veteran forward Mats Zuccarello was out of answers after a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Friday night.
“I don’t really have that much to say right now, to be honest with you,” Zuccarello told reporters after the team's fourth consecutive defeat. “I’m so sick of standing here and telling you guys this and that. I’m sorry. Just not good enough. No, I don’t really have anything good to honestly say about it. It sucks they score right away and took the momentum from us.”
Once looking like a lock to advance to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Wild have been passed by the red-hot St. Louis Blues and now are holding onto the final wildcard berth in the Western Conference by a thread.
And the Calgary Flames, who have two games in hand, are just five points back.
“That’s why it’s frustrating that we can’t put a little better game than we did today as a team,” Zuccarello continued. “It’s hard to get to the playoffs. Unfortunately, few games left and you’ve got to have that urgency to have a little dog in you to just say, ‘Eff it,’ you know, and go.
“But honestly, I don’t know what to say. You might get better answers from some other guys right now. It’s just frustrating to lose a game like that at an important time of the year.”
After putting together a bounce-back campaign, Filip Gustavsson has had a really tough week, allowing 15 goals over his last four starts — all of them losses. And still without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, the roster is struggling mightily to put the puck in the net.
Wild badly need to get back in win column on Sunday
With just five games left in their regular-season, Minnesota is now 41-29-7 and barely hanging onto a playoff spot. The Flames have won six of their last 10 and seem intent on continuing their late-campaign push.
Realistically, the Wild will probably need to win three or more games to give themselves a chance. And things don't get any easier on Sunday, with the club welcoming the Dallas Stars — who have won seven games in a row — to Xcel Energy Center.
After that, they'll play the San Jose Sharks, Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks, in that order, before their regular-season concludes on April 15.
“We’ve been in a great spot the entire year, and this has been a really tough stretch for us,” defenseman Brock Faber said. “Every single person is negative outside of the guys in the room. So trying to lean in on each other and keep working as hard as we can, just piece together a couple points in a row.
“We've just got to refocus. We're a confident group, we're a good hockey team, and we love each other a whole lot. It's one game at a time, and this one's behind us now.”
It'll be interesting to see if the Wild can turn things around and do what it takes to remain in a playoff spot come April 15.
