John Shipley: Wild’s penalty kill has been a series killer for too long

What a shame The Wild did almost everything right in Championship of their first-round playoff series against Las Vegas on Saturday Almost That s good enough for specific NHL teams it isn t for this Wild organization for which the other shoe consistently seems close to dropping and often does That other shoe is special teams which have haunted Minnesota for two full seasons now longer in fact when one assesses their previous two postseason appearances It was inevitable they would bite the Wild at certain point during this year s postseason It came on Saturday when the Wild not only had a chance to take a - series back to Las Vegas but looked as if they would Despite falling behind on Shea Theodore s power-play goal in the first seven minutes the Wild kept grinding and took a - lead into the third period on greasy goals by Marco Rossi and Marcus Foligno The Wild were playing their meeting even killing two other man advantages Then Zeev Buium a rookie playing his fourth NHL battle got his stick under the helmet of Mark Stone and cut the top-liner s right eye earning a -minute minor It s one thing to ask this unit to kill two minutes down a man another to ask them to do it for four minutes They came close but with eight seconds left fourth-line center Nicolas Roy pounced on a rebound in the slot and fired it back into the net to make it - That changed just about everything took particular pressure off Knights skaters and they took a - lead when a shot from Stone caromed off teammate Tomas Hertl who was in a heap with Ryan Hartman at the crease Jared Spurgeon tied it again - with a wraparound goal with left in regulation but the Wild were gassed They came out firing in overtime but couldn t solve Adin Hill and just ran out of steam It didn t help that coach John Hynes was essentially playing five defenseman for the greater part of the third period and overtime After last season Hynes fired former Wild sportsman and longtime assistant coach Darby Hendrickson in charge of the kill and brought in former Islanders head coach Jack Capuano to look under the hood The gears might have changed but the results haven t The Wild had the NHL s third-worst penalty kill last season and finished the regular season this year in the same spot after allowing power-play goals in games Their two postseason trips prior to this one were undone by special teams and now this one is tilting the same way Back in Dallas coach Peter DeBoer wasn t afraid to call out Minnesota s penalty kill and proclivity for taking penalties after a - mastery in Match The Wild led the series - in that one too before the Stars went for with a man advantage and beat Minnesota - in Tournament At that point the Stars were for with a man advantage and Dallas won the series in six games The Wild have allowed four through the first four games of this series At a few point this becomes unacceptable Staying out of the box isn t a realistic plan for the kill This series isn t over of class now a best-of-three starting Tuesday in Vegas But expecting the Wild s kill to suddenly turn the page is unrealistic Until they do that other shoe will be there waiting to drop It seems inevitable Related Articles Knights rally for OT win in Competition to tie playoff series -all with Wild Dane Mizutani If Kirill Kaprizov keeps playing like this the Wild are true Stanley Cup contenders With Match ahead a quartet of keys for the Wild Wild jump Vegas early in Battle to take a - series lead Knights Wild coaches balance stats and video with gut feelings