The Minnesota Wild looked to be at rock bottom when they fired head coach Dean Evason on Nov. 27; the team was reeling after seven straight losses to fall to an abysmal 5-10-4.
But things seemed to be looking up after general manager Bill Guerin chose John Hynes as the franchise's new bench boss shortly after. Minnesota racked up four wins in a row under Hynes, improving to 9-10-4 and looking more like the team that has secured a postseason berth every year since 2019.
The adversity seems to be back in Saint Paul, after the Wild suffered tough back-to-back losses to the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers earlier this week.
The organization is looking to regroup after a 2-0 blanking in British Columbia was followed up by a tight 4-3 defeat in Alberta. Minnesota will conclude a four-game road trip in Washington — against the Seattle Kraken — on Sunday night.
“We were feeling good about ourselves winning hockey games, and we had two games against good hockey teams where we didn’t come out on top,” Wild D-man Jake Middleton said about the momentum shifts, per NHL.com's Derek Van Diest. “We still gave ourselves an opportunity in both games. We’ve just got to nip this in the bud right away and get back to it in Seattle.”
“Most times the coach changes on my teams, there’s always a little boost, a little jump after,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury echoed. “Sometimes different thoughts kind of bring a start fresh a bit when trying to get out of the hole. I think we did. I think we’re on the right path and we’ve been playing better hockey. We’ve got to keep doing that.”
John Hynes reacts to losing streak
Despite the two-game slide, John Hynes stressed that learning lessons from both wins and losses is key to the Wild improving as the season rolls along.
“It was great to get off to a 4-0 start, obviously, and have a foundation to what we wanted to do,” the bench boss explained. “I think there was some key lessons out of both games [losses]. I thought we took some out of last game and were better in certain areas. Tonight, there were some different ones and it’s a fine line between winning and losing.”
Still, he wants more from his team as the road trip concludes in Seattle.
“I think there’s certain moments in this game and situations in the game that we’ve got to handle better to come out with a win,” Hynes said. “But this is all part of it. We’ve won together and had a really four good games, and now we hit a little bit of adversity, but this is what you’re going to do, it’s about finding ways to respond.”
Now 9-12-4 and still hanging around in the Central Division, the Wild will look to get back in the win column on Sunday night.
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