Dan Wallace: Gotta Wonder, Wild Stumble In Game 2

Way too many turnovers and undisciplined play. The Wild can’t afford to try to trade chances with the Stars in a wide open game. They have to play a game of getting quick d zone exits and disrupt the Stars all over the ice.

MAF has had a great career. But his frenetic panicky style puts him out of position too often. Gus with his calm style and positioning is more conducive to the Wild maintaining their structure and confidence. Evasion’s post game comments seem to say that he’s comfortable alternating goalies in the series. Don’t see that as a recipe for continuity and success.

Sorry coach. In all due respect, that is NOT what you did all season! There were plenty of games where the same goalie played back to back. This game should have been one of those situations.

No bueno

MAF is the main reason that the Penguins did not win more CUPS during the Crosby era You cannot trust this guy Going back to his days in junior hockey same thing Brain farts at the wrong time Same happened in Vegas Why did Team Canada never come calling for him??? He was the number one overall pick, right. The answer is that they never TRUSTED him either. He is not the answer only a big part of the problem. Nice guy yes Good team guy yes Trust when the chips are down NO NO NO

I don't want to throw this game at the feet of MAF. It's a team game....they win as a team, they lose as a team. And there was plenty of boneheaded mistakes up and down the roster last night. DeBoer realized the line matching mistakes he made in Game 1 and made sure not to have those mistakes in Game 2. So this loss is on everyone from players to coaching staff. Just hope they can wake up out of last night's funk and pull their big boy pants up.

Ok, I think everyone agrees who should have played in net last night… but as Gus pointed out, the loss is not on Fleury alone. Could Gustavsson have kept them in it longer??? Maybe, but that is only speculation, the way these guys flailed and flubbed in that game who really knows?..

Bottom line in my mind is Evason needs a far better game plan geared more towards total team defense and completely disrupting the Stars ease of controlling puck possession.

Too much flailing just to clear the puck. Icing after icing is worthless when they can’t win face offs, and dumping to neutral zone just to ease pressure for 2 seconds is also worthless. They need to focus more on puck control.

IMO, the Stars, simply put, are just plain better. Skill wise, depth wise and talent wise. They are just a better team. But the Wild have enough skill and talent of their own to beat them if they play smarter and way, way more disciplined.