Russo: Optimism is tough during this Wild skid, but huge reinforcements appear near

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NEW YORK — There are six games left in the regular season and the Minnesota Wild have won once in their last six, so it’s hard to look at the bright side anymore when they don’t leave an arena with two points.

Just like Monday night across the Hudson River when the Wild ground out a point in New Jersey, the Wild did the same thing during a 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday to at least temporarily climb back into the top wild-card spot in the West.

But considering the Wild were trailing by a goal heading into the third period for the second game in a row and rallied for a point in both cases, considering the Wild’s conference-worst penalty kill impressively and successfully extinguished three Rangers power plays in the final 9:14 of regulation, and considering they overcame a disallowed goal, a missed call on the Rangers’ go-ahead goal late in the second period and some unfathomable turnovers … sometimes you just have to take the point and move on.

The Wild are tied with the Blues with 89 points in 76 games and currently have the tiebreaker by three regulation wins. Minnesota has a chance to make this a successful road trip if they can beat the Islanders on Friday night, but boy oh boy, the way the Wild are inching toward a playoff spot during this 1-3-2 stretch doesn’t exactly lend itself to confidence if they so happen to get there.

“Today we score some goals, we were creating a lot, so this is a game that I thought we had a chance to win,” said former Rangers winger Mats Zuccarello, who had a go-ahead goal waved off in the second period because the refs ruled Ryan Hartman interfered with Igor Shesterkin. “But it’s frustrating, to be honest with you. This (is a) place and game that you want to win, especially at this time of year and everyone behind us is winning. So obviously it’s nothing we’re happy about.

“It’s hard right now. Some mistakes end up in the back of our net. That happens. You gotta move on and get ready for the next game. We got two points here in two games. (If) we can get two the next game, it’s a decent road trip.”

RANGERS WIN‼️

Vincent Trocheck scores in @Energizer overtime to give the @NYRangers a MASSIVE two points in the standings! pic.twitter.com/pwqXY90niv

— NHL (@NHL) April 3, 2025

The Wild have been trying their darnedest for weeks to keep their head above water without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. The good news is light does appear to be peeking around the corner.

While both players returned to the Twin Cities from New York to resume skating with Andy Ness and get better treatments than on the road, it’s starting to feel like Kaprizov could return as soon as next Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks. Coach John Hynes said Kaprizov had a positive checkup with his New York surgeon on Tuesday and has been cleared for contact. Hynes wasn’t ready to pinpoint when Kaprizov could play for the first time since Jan. 26, but it’s clearly on the horizon.

Eriksson Ek is also progressing, but he had a six-to-eight-week injury and this is week six. Considering he tried to return prematurely from a broken leg against the Dallas Stars two years ago, it wouldn’t be surprising if his return comes after Kaprizov. Hynes would only say they are “hopeful” both players will be back.

“It’s frustrating, especially for (Kaprizov) that we’re playing with two of our biggest players, top players, out,” Zuccarello said. “Obviously, it’s a big boost for a team to get them back and welcome them back. But we need to play good as a team to help them get back in the flow. We can’t expect those two guys to come back and turn everything around by themselves. We gotta help them ease into the game. But I think it’s a step in the right direction the last couple games that we’re creating more at least, little bit more patience, little bit more making the plays that need to be made in the O-zone.

“I don’t think we did enough of that in the stretch here. We didn’t create enough to score. Obviously it’s frustrating to lose but when you don’t create to score, it’s hard to win games. So, I think we created a bunch of chances. If we can keep it up this way and keep it out of our net, hopefully we can get those two guys back and get in the playoffs and hopefully do well.”

One issue starting to become a concern?

The Wild’s skid since the 4 Nations Face-Off has put the coaching staff in a position where it clearly feels it must ride Filip Gustavsson to the finish line.

The worry is the Wild might wear their goalie out by the playoffs. This has been an unceremonious way for Marc-Andre Fleury’s Hall of Fame career to come to an end by riding the end of the bench for several weeks. But after seeing Gustavsson give up five goals on 39 shots Wednesday night and appearing to fight the puck at times, one wonders if the prudent thing to do is start Fleury on Friday, as much as the Wild feel they must get two points, and give Gustavsson a rest until Sunday’s matinee at home against rival Dallas.

This one surprised everybody in the building.

What a shot by K’Andre Miller pic.twitter.com/7Mv0aTxnlJ

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) April 3, 2025

“We take it game by game,” Hynes said. “There’s a lot of things that go into the decision. It’s the games. Sometimes it’s the workload, sometimes it’s the off days. You have back-to-backs coming up next week. So it’s a coaching decision, but you do take all the aspects into it. I talk with our goalie coach, I talk with our trainers, I talk with our strength and conditioning coaches, and make sure that we’re doing the right thing and in communication as well as with the player. So we’ll just take it game by game.”

As for Wednesday’s game, there were some great moments like the play of Marcus Johansson and Gustav Nyquist, who combined for five points. That included a tremendous series of plays by Nyquist to set up Johansson’s second-period short-handed goal and Nyquist scoring on a first-period power play from Johansson for his first goal in 16 games back with the Wild.

“I think it’s felt better and better,” Nyquist said of his game recently. “I feel like I’ve had my chances in previous games, too. But I just haven’t been able to put the puck in the net.”

Marcus Johansson scores shorthanded. His third point of the night. 3-3 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/nwWYoDyBla

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 3, 2025

Added Johansson after his three-point game, “He’s such a heads-up player. He sees the ice so well, and I knew he was gonna find me on that (shorty). So it was good to see one go in.”

There was good and bad from Marco Rossi. He bit the dust in overtime after being deked by Artemi Panarin before Vincent Trocheck’s winner 24 seconds in, and turned the puck over and then dove to try to stop Panarin from a breakaway before Panarin made it 4-3 with 64 seconds left in the second.

Rossi correctly pointed out after the game that K’Andre Miller got away with slashing him on the hand, which is why he lost the puck to begin with before Panarin’s goal.

Don’t let Panarin pick up a loose puck! 😳 pic.twitter.com/01aZ07Zi3s

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 3, 2025

But Rossi redeemed himself 22 seconds into the third period when karma struck Miller and he coughed up the puck right to Rossi when pressured by Marcus Foligno. Rossi tied the score at 4-4.

Trocheck also gift-wrapped the Nyquist and Johansson goals with turnovers before making amends in overtime.

Marco Rossi. 4-4 #mnwild pic.twitter.com/OaaiR9FBo0

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) April 3, 2025

And then there was the really bad for Declan Chisholm. Inserted for Jon Merrill, Chisholm probably booked himself a seat in the press box again when he accidentally put the puck on net with his backhand in the second period before Chris Kreider made it 3-2.

“Mistakes happen in a game,” Zuccarello, always a leader and great teammate, said. “We fight through it as a team. Everyone makes mistakes now and then. Now and then it ends up in the net. We all do it at times. Sometimes you’re unlucky, they score. It’s a part of the game. It goes fast out there. It’s no blame on anyone other than us in here.”

Chris Kreider’s 20th goal of the season puts the Rangers up midway through the 2nd!#NYR pic.twitter.com/pQnxpTfUTi

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) April 3, 2025

So here they are with six games left in the season. They’re not exactly surging into the playoffs, that’s for sure. But they at least expect the presence of Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek is right around the corner.

Still, to expect them to be saviors is unfair with how much time they’ve been out. It’s incumbent on the Wild to start getting victories, not “one pointing” their way, so to speak, to the postseason.

“Of course, we’re looking forward (to Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek returning), but they’re not back yet,” Rossi said. “We try not to focus on that. We try to focus on the team we have right now and who is in the lineup and we try to win. And, of course, when they’re back, we’re happy for sure.”

(Photo of Marcus Johansson: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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