Wild Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Injuries, Wallstedt & Boldy, and Power Play Struggles – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild learned a lot in the past week about what they can and can’t do in the postseason. They started off their playoffs against the Dallas Stars with a big Game 1 win, but struggled in Games 2 and 3 before they turned the tables and got back in the win column in Game 4. They’ve shown a lot of promise, and they have the talent to win the series.

They did suffer a couple of injuries to Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin over the past week, and it’s unclear when or if they’ll return to the lineup. The Wild have two more games this week for sure, and depending on the outcomes of those, one more game to wrap up the series at the end of the week. Here are a few storylines to follow for the week of Apr. 27 – May 4. 

Wild’s Injuries Take Toll 

The first injury to hit the Wild’s lineup was Mats Zuccarello when he took an elbow to the head in Game 1. He missed Game 2 and was a game-time decision for Games 3 and 4 and ended up missing both. At the time of this article, it wasn’t known if Zuccarello would play in Game 5 or not. 

The other injury was to Yakov Trenin, which happened during Game 2. He was the recipient of a clean but hard hit, and like Zuccarello, it’s unknown when and if he’ll be able to return to the lineup. Losing both of these players has hit the roster in different ways, from scoring to physicality. 

Neither player had contributed any goals yet, but Zuccarello had produced three assists in Game 1, and Trenin threw 16 hits in Game 1 and just three minutes of Game 2. Their absences have been felt, and other players have had to find ways to step up, and while they struggled to get the wins in Games 2 and 3, they figured it out in Game 4. Hopefully, they both can rejoin the lineup soon, but if not, the team will once again have to step up without them. 

Wild’s Wallstedt & Boldy Coming Through 

There are a couple of names that come to mind when thinking of heroes for the Wild so far this series, but the first name that comes to mind is Jesper Wallstedt. Right after Wallstedt, the next name on the list would be Matt Boldy. Both of these players had strong regular-season performances, along with some bumps in the road that they figured out how to bounce back from. 

Both of them have found ways to step up their game in the postseason, and it’s made a difference. Boldy has three goals and two assists for five points in four games this postseason, including the game-winning goal in overtime in Game 4 that tied the series up 2-2. He’s taken 21 shots, but it feels like a lot more than that, and the best part of his game has been how aggressive he’s been in driving to the net to get those chances. 

Wallstedt has played out of his mind in every game of this series, regardless of the result. He came up big in Game 1, which allowed them to get the win, and the losses in Games 2 and 3 are not on his shoulders. He did everything he could to give them a chance to win. Then in Game 4, he once again stood on his head, and they came out with the win in part thanks to his stellar goaltending.

The Wild have at least two more games to play, and they’ll need both Wallstedt and Boldy to continue to step up and find another level to their game. It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll impact the team as the games move forward. 

Wild’s Power Play Struggles

By now, anyone who’s followed this series knows the Wild have struggled on their power play in Games 2, 3, and 4. They found success in Game 1, but then it hit a brick wall of sorts, and they need to figure out how to get it back. Of course, some want to blame the absence of Zuccarello, but he can’t be the only player who made it work. 

They’ve found a way to win without their power play, but if they want to get out of this series and continue on, they’ll have to find a way to produce on the power play and stop goals on the penalty kill. They did have some strong looks in Game 4, but couldn’t get the puck through and past Jake Oettinger. 

They know what they need to do; it’s the how part they haven’t figured out yet, but hopefully will with a couple of days off before Game 5. If the Wild can get their power play under control and stop allowing goals on what felt like every penalty kill in this series so far, they’ll have a strong chance to move on to Round 2.