Wild hopes it's turned corner despite loss in Nashville

NASHVILLE -- Teams don't get points in the standings for moral victories, but for a team that has been disappointed in its early-season play thus far, the Wild was encouraged following a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday at Bridgestone Arena.
Several teams around the League are still in search of their game only a week or two into the season, and often times, it's the ones that get there soonest that end up making the playoffs.
Minnesota didn't earn any points on Monday, but it feels it found something in the way it played in a tightly contested defeat in one of the NHL's toughest barns.

"It looked like the team I'm used to coaching effort-wise," said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. "We made a couple mistakes, and when you do that against that team, it costs you. But I thought for a team that was pressing, we had the puck in their zone the whole third period. Like I said to the guys in there, if you continue to play like that, you'll win a lot of hockey games."
Coming off a game on Saturday in which it was outshot 57-23 and struggled to even complete a tape-to-tape pass, the Wild was much more competitive against the Predators.
The Wild never led, but it was never out of the game either, and had several grade-A chances to tie in the final period as Minnesota played some of its best hockey of the season during the final 20.

"Frustrating anytime, especially you saw our third period. Frustrating when you outplay them like that and the puck doesn't find the back of the net," said Wild goaltender Alex Stalock, who finished with 24 saves. "We had a lot of good looks, but their goalie made the last save tonight and came down to he made the breakaway save and I didn't."
Filip Forsberg's breakaway goal midway through the second period ended up being the game winner. It gave Nashville a 3-1 lead with eight minutes remaining in the frame.
The Wild has had its flag-in-the-ground moment in every game this season, and Forsberg's goal was that moment on Monday. From that point on, it was the Wild that was the better team.

Just over three minutes later, Zach Parise dug out a loose puck behind the Predators goal and got the puck to Mikael Granlund, who sent a quick cross-crease pass to Mikko Koivu for a goal, getting Minnesota to within 3-2.
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The Wild continued its assault on the Nashville net for the remainder of that period and in the third, outshooting the Preds 11-7 in the final 20. Nino Niederreiter had a clean breakaway with three minutes remaining in regulation and tried to beat Pekka Rinne blocker side, but the veteran netminder got a piece of the shot.
Moments later, the Wild were awarded a power play as Miikka Salomaki went to the penalty box for tripping, but Minnesota couldn't capitalize. With 11 seconds left, Salomaki won a race to a loose puck and slammed the puck into the empty net for the clincher.
"They capitalized on their chances, and I thought we had some momentum," Koivu said. "Step in the right direction tonight."

Boudreau said the game reminded him of the Wild's loss in Toronto on Nov. 8 of last season, coincidentally a 4-2 loss.
The Wild outshot and outplayed the Maple Leafs after a disappointing effort two nights earlier in Boston. Despite the loss north of the border, Boudreau was encouraged about the way the Wild played the game.
It went on to win its next four after that defeat.
Boudreau hopes Monday's game in Nashville, despite the outcome, leads to similar success over the next couple weeks.
"We] got in the idea of this is how we play," Boudreau said. "The effort was there. I've been giving them crap. We picked up a point when the effort wasn't as good as it should have been."
"I think, for sure, you always want to win, but I think in the big picture we also know if you're playing good hockey game after game, eventually you're going to win," Koivu said. "I think that's something that we didn't get to win you have to look at the game and I thought we played a good solid 60-minute game. If you do that long enough I think eventually we'll get the win and get that confidence and hopefully get things going the right way."
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[Postgame Hat Trick: Predators 4, Wild 2