John Hynes has been in a situation like this before, where his roster has been sapped.
“Really twice,” the coach said. “One in the COVID year, and then last year [with the Predators] we had a lot of guys out and traded guys.”
What makes the Wild’s current dip in manpower more challenging is the team’s rash of injuries has coincided with a four-game losing streak, signaling the first crossroads of Hynes’ tenure since he was hired on Nov. 27 to replace Dean Evason.
To help navigate the makeshift lineup out of this swoon, Hynes will take a two-pronged approach, one that focuses on what happens on the ice and between the ears.
“You have to have the right answers from a tactical standpoint, but also there is the mental side of it and the emotional side of it,” Hynes said Thursday night after the Wild were overpowered 4-1 by the Lightning. “You always take all those things into consideration, whether you’re on a winning streak or whether you’re on a losing streak.”
This four-game drought isn’t the longest rut of the Wild’s season.
That would be the seven-game funk that preceded Hynes’ arrival. But this is the most regulation losses the Wild have suffered in a row, making this the most games they’ve gone without banking any points.
After their 4-0 start under Hynes led to a 7-2 run and 11-3 surge, the Wild admirably caught up to the playoff race in the Western Conference. Some of those victories came after key players like defenseman Jonas Brodin and winger Mats Zuccarello got hurt.
But as their injury list grew, adding goaltender Filip Gustavsson and leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov last Saturday, then forwards Vinni Lettieri and Marcus Foligno and most recently captain Jared Spurgeon, so did their skid.
And with many of the teams the Wild are chasing for a wild-card spot trending in the opposite direction (Calgary has won three in a row, while Edmonton and Seattle are on six-game win streaks), they are again losing ground in the standings.
“Gotta dig deep, find ways to win,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. “That’s the bottom line. We need points, and obviously it’s tough to lose. It’s frustrating, but we can’t drag this on too long. We gotta get over it, learn from this, get over it quick and be ready for Columbus.”
That’s who and where the Wild will play next on Saturday, and Hynes has already made it clear what needs to improve: better execution so the Wild can apply up-tempo pressure in the offensive zone.
Not only did the Wild fail to reach double digits in shots in any period vs. Tampa Bay, three of the top four goal scorers in action (Ryan Hartman, Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi) combined for only one of those shots all night. On Friday, the Wild activated Zuccarello from injured reserve, called up forward Adam Raska from the minors and sent Sammy Walker back to Iowa.
“We were pretty slow at the beginning,” Rossi said. “We didn’t really make it hard on them on the forecheck.”
As for the Wild’s perspective on this bout of adversity, Hynes had already identified where he thought everyone’s head should be at before the team’s latest loss.
“Every player wants more,” he said. “Can they play higher in the lineup? Can they get on a special team? Can I play in this situation? And now they have an opportunity to do it. From that standpoint, I think that gives energy to the group.
“From a coaching standpoint, I think that’s what this league is about. I think everyone that’s in it, coaches and players, are competitors, and it’s just another segment of the season you’ve gotta get through.”