Wild coach: 'You're making us sound like we're good'

ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - The Minnesota Wild have been tamed for most of March, losing eight of their last 10 games including five losses in a row.

Following their most recent loss, Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau had short, but strong words for the way his team played against Winnipeg.

“Hey listen, we stunk in the first we better come back in the second,” Boudreau said of his team erasing a four-goal deficit in the second period against the Jets. “It’s not resiliency, you’re making us sound like we’re good.”

The Wild are a far cry from the team they were over the previous two months, going 18-5-2 in the months of January and February.

“I think we’re getting away from simple plays,” Wild forward Charlie Coyle said. “Sometimes you’re not scoring, you’re not winning and you try to change things up instead of sticking to the script.”

Offensively, the Wild have taken a dive in scoring categories. Nino Niederreiter has not scored a goal in March, and one of the NHL’s hottest lines cooled down too.

In January, Mikael Granlund, Mikko Koivu and Jason Zucker were all in double-digits for points scored in the month. In March, all players have each scored seven points or less.

Defensively, there are concerns too.

Minnesota has allowed four or more goals in five of their last seven games, and we’ve seen a different Devan Dubnyk too.

Dubnyk’s save percentage for December stood at a strong .934. In January and February, it dipped to a still solid .917. In March, his save percentage is .899 for the month.

Another staggering stat is that Dubnyk’s goals against average jumped from 1.88 per game for December to 2.92 per game for March, a full goal more per each game.

Dubnyk allowed two goals on two shots versus Chicago last week, and four goals on eight shots against Winnipeg on Sunday.

The Wild have 11 more games to play this season and need six points to clinch a playoff spot. Minnesota hosts San Jose at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.