The silence was deafening on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.
Typically among the hardest places in the NHL for opponents to play on a nightly basis, the home crowd noticeably lacked energy, and for good reason, as the Wild continued their struggles on home ice.
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Let’s just say there wasn’t much to cheer about as the Wild got run out of their own building in a 4-0 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
As impressive as the Wild have been this season while amassing a 17-5-3 record on the road, they now have an 11-11-1 record at home, a concerning trend that has contributed to their recent swoon.
Nobody in the locker room could put their finger on why this has become an issue, and while the Wild are still firmly in playoff position for the time being, they have won only once on home ice since New Year’s Day.
Not even the highly anticipated return of star winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon could change that.
A game that was supposed to be a celebration of sorts for the Wild quickly devolved into a blowout, as goaltender Filip Gustavsson continued his shaky play between the pipes. Not that his teammates provided much support in front of him.
Asked about Gustavsson postgame, head coach John Hynes came to his goaltender’s defense, saying, “We can’t be any softer at the net front than we were tonight. I’m not even talking about goaltending tonight. I’m talking about what happened in front of him.”
The writing was on the wall from the onset as Utah went up 1-0 a couple of minutes into the game when center Barrett Hayton easily carved out some space in the slot and redirected a puck into the back of the net.
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“We just started chasing the game after that,” Gustavsson said. “We didn’t catch up.”
There wasn’t much of a response from the Wild, who were outshot 16-5 in the first period, and Utah continued to apply pressure before stretching its lead to 2-0 when winger Clayton Keller ripped a shot top shelf.
After a lackluster start to the game, the Wild finally woke up in the second period, controlling the pace of play for a prolonged stretch. They couldn’t find the back of the net and Utah took complete control when winger Lawson Crouse made it 3-0 late in the second period with Gustavsson too far off his post.
The dagger from Utah mercifully came early in the third period as Hayton finalized the score at 4-0 with a dribbler that snuck past Gustavsson and trickled over the goal line.
“We just didn’t have and answer,” winger Mats Zuccarello said. “It’s real frustrating. It’s not good enough. I don’t think anybody is happy.”
That feeling extended to the home crowd. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, most of the fans had already given up and headed for the exits. Those who stuck around finally made themselves heard as they voiced their displeasure on their way out the door.
“We’ve always been a really good home team,” winger Marcus Foligno said. “We’ve got to figure it out here soon because it’s a place that we need to make it tough for opponents to play in.”
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