'I Can't Really Put A Finger On It': Wild Drop Another One At Home

ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (28-16-4) dropped another game at home this season and have now fallen to 11-11-1 on home ice this year. They have lost the last three games at home and are 4-8-0 in their last 11 at home.

"I wish I knew. I don’t know. I don’t have a good answer for you," Wild forward Mats Zuccarello said on the home struggles. "We try to play the same way doesn’t matter if you’re home or away. But today especially today I think we gave them a little too much easy offense."

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The Utah Hockey Club (21-19-7) got out to an early 1-0 lead on the first shot of the game. They scored again to make it 2-0 but it was later overturned because of goaltender interference.

This didn't help Minnesota. Utah pumped three more past Filip Gustavsson and walked away with a 4-0 win. Gustavsson finished with 25 saves on 29 shots in the loss.

"We can’t be any softer at the net front than we were tonight. I’m not even talking about goaltending tonight," Wild head coach John Hynes said on Gustavsson's game. "I’m talking about what happened in front of him."

Almost every goal Gustavsson and the Wild allowed came off an odd-man rush or a deflection in front of the net. Other than Clayton Keller's point-blank shot on the power play, every Utah goal came after a deflection.

Thursday's 4-0 loss was a real stinker. But it was a reflection of the way the Wild have been playing at home.

They have been outscored 36-10 in their last eight home losses. Out of those eight losses, the Wild finished the game with only one goal, five times. They have scored two or more only twice.

"That’s the challenge that’s presented to us right now," Hynes said. "There’s lots of positive things that are going on, but obviously this is one that we have to dig into and come up with some solutions for it, because it’s not good enough."

It is interesting the Wild have been bad at home considering they are 17-5-3 on the road which is the best road record in the NHL.

"Yeah. I just don't know," Gustavsson said on the home struggles. "It feels like we play more difficult here and home, it just doesn't work. On the road, we play simple, fast, and it's just been working for us. It sucks for the fans to not see us win."

Nonetheless, they likely have to figure this out before it is too late. As the old saying goes, "if you're gonna stink, stink on the road."

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