Behind the Wild’s historically hideous postseason penalty kill

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Eight games into the playoffs, the Minnesota Wild’s penalty kill is well on its way to being historically hideous.

The Wild have allowed 13 power-play goals on 32 chances (59.4 percent). Since 1978, that’s 12th-worst in a single postseason — and dead last for teams that have advanced past the first round.

Minnesota’s five-on-five dominance — outscoring the Dallas Stars 14-4 — was the only reason they survived the first round, allowing 10 power-play goals in six games. There was a case that they could be better in Round 2 against the Colorado Avalanche, who scored only one power-play goal in their first-round sweep of the Los Angeles Kings and ranked 27th (17.1 percent) in the regular season.

The problem is that the Avs looked at the Stars series and have taken some tips. Two games into this series, they already have three power-play goals.

ESPN color analyst and former NHL penalty killer Erik Johnson, who has been between the benches for three Wild games in the playoffs and watched every game, played 14 years for Colorado and did games on Altitude TV, Altitude Radio and ESPN during the regular season.

Bottom line, he knows the Avs’ power play like the back of his hand.

Johnson said his old team barely did the double neutral-zone drop pass it’s been using against the Wild during the regular season, but after the Stars wreaked havoc with the Wild’s penalty kill on re-gaps in the first round, the Avs are now executing the same play in the second round and are gaining the Wild zone with ease.

“Colorado is completely entering the zone at will,” Johnson said during a phone interview with The Athletic. “They’re doing something called a double drop where (Cale) Makar is skating it all the way up to the red line, dropping it to (Martin) Necas, and then Necas can enter or he can drop it again to (Nathan) MacKinnon, who’s flying with speed.

“And by that time, the Wild are backed all the way off at the blue line. I found that Colorado has just been able to get almost complete possession every single time on their entries, and their speed is just pushing the Wild back. And half the battle is getting set up in the zone, and I just find that their entries have been really causing the Wild a lot of trouble. This is exactly what Colorado saw Dallas so, so they’re doing it, too.”

The Wild spent a large part of Friday’s practice working on the penalty kill. Joel Eriksson Ek, usually their first penalty-killer over the boards, practiced but didn’t take part in special teams work.

The penalty kill forward sets were Matt Boldy-Nico Sturm, Nick Foligno-Michael McCarron and Marcus Foligno-Yakov Trenin, and the defensive pairs were Daemon Hunt-Brock Faber, Jake Middleton-Jared Spurgeon and Jeff Petry-Zach Bogosian, with the likelihood of one of the last two being a healthy scratch.

“We’ve struggled at times with the PK in the past few years,” Faber, who has been on the ice for eight power-play goals in the playoffs, said. “But we were top five from January on. We were confident coming in. Things fall apart. Things change. Teams change. I think we built a lot of confidence back up today in what our roles are, what we need to do, and really committing to that is the biggest thing.

“We need it to change to turn this series around. We worked on a lot today, so everyone is going home a lot more confident.”

What needs to change? Let’s dive in.

Double drop issues

The Wild have actually won 63.6 percent of their shorthanded faceoffs this series, which illustrates that their issues start in the neutral zone after clearing the puck.

The double drop is killing the Wild.

“It’s smart,” Marcus Foligno, only on for two power-play goals in the playoffs, said. “We’ve seen it against Dallas, where they double drop. And teams pre-scout us, and we pre-scout them. They’re going to do whatever it takes to exploit weaknesses. We’re trying to get up a little more and make sure to counter that speed. MacKinnon is shifty and fast. We want to make sure the speed stays on the outside.”

Johnson said it may not sound like a great option, but if he were coaching the Wild, he’d have a penalty killer come off the wall during their neutral-zone forecheck and get even with Makar and slowly drift underneath so he can’t drop the puck.

By doing that, you’re allowing Makar to skate as far as he wants, then either cutting him off at the blue line or as he enters, forcing him to wait for his teammates, who are standing still at the blue line.

“Half the battle is getting set up,” Johnson said. “I think you just let Makar take it as far as he wants. And just don’t let him drop it to MacKinnon or Necas. And then just play four-on-three. Makar can obviously be dangerous, but it isn’t working, letting the puck get dropped to Necas and MacKinnon. I think they just have to get underneath Makar and just let him enter the zone and see if that’s going to give them any better success.

“Let Makar take it as far as he wants because MacKinnon wants the puck. And when the best players don’t get the puck, they get frustrated.”

Hynes agreed that the double drop has created problems.

“You have to decide, what do you want to give up?” Hynes said. “You’re going to give up something, right? What do you want to give up? I think there’s some things that we’ve given up in this series a little bit different than Dallas, and how are we going to counteract that?

“But there’s always going to be something, right? It depends whether they hit it or we cover it. But I would say there are some things that clearly we give them too easy.”

Defend the middle

In the zone, Johnson said, “There’s a difference between being aggressive and reckless. And they want to be aggressive. But, if you’re too aggressive, you become reckless and then you’re running around.”

Johnson brought up the Gabriel Landeskog point-blank power-play goal that made it 2-0 in Game 2.

“Middleton was in between,” Johnson said. “He either has to go or he has to stay. He was late to MacKinnon on the goal line. MacKinnon just one-touched it under him for a slam dunk to Landeskog on the backside.”

Former Wild forward and current NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp said the MacKinnon power-play goal in Game 2 that gave Colorado a 4-2 lead “has been run like three or four times in the series. That looks to be what they look for the most when it’s on that side.”

“It’s been duplicate coverage. They’re trying to do the right thing. It’s like the little stick placements. As much as we talk about Colorado’s power play not being great (in the regular season), if you’re going to give them clean lanes, they’re going to take them.”

The setup on the MacKinnon goal is something that Colorado probably saw work often for Dallas.

“He’s set up in the middle, and then when he’s not open right away, he just drifts about 15 feet backward,” Johnson said. “And it puts the killer in a really uncomfortable position because then you’re like, ‘OK, do I just back off and follow MacKinnon? Or do I let the guy walk right into the middle of the slot?’ So, Colorado’s made adjustments where they’re not as tight. I find they’re spread out more than usual and that’s spreading out the Wild penalty kill.”

Said Foligno, “The main thing is to make sure they don’t get Grade A’s off the rush. The end-zone stuff is the bread and butter stuff we’ve been lacking. We need to do a better job, whether it’s being more aggressive on pucks bottled up and not let them set up and not feeling comfortable, or it’s really taking away what they want to get to.

“They had some big Grade A’s, especially last game, where we got caught overthinking. Just got to get back to the drawing board. We’ve learned from the past what happens when you don’t fix it.”

Hunt, who hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against, said, “Colorado has a lot of skill. Its details. I think that’s the biggest thing, being connected. It’s easy to say and hard to do. But I think it’s the little details, knowing where your man is and everyone on the same page.”

Don’t worry about the goal line

Johnson said one adjustment the Wild have to make is to just worry about the middle of the ice and concede the goal line.

He brought up Jason Robertson’s Game 1 power-play goal, when Robertson walked off the goal line and backhanded a power-play goal past Jesper Wallstedt. That’s a play the Wild should concede and expect the goalie to make the save.

“That’s the least dangerous play,” Johnson said. “Just leave the goal line to your goaltender. Because Dallas and Colorado have found the middle way too easily, and as a player playing against those guys, you might think you have it covered and they’re still going to put it there into the middle.”

“Look at Wyatt Johnston’s goal in Game 6,” Johnson said. “He scored right in the middle. Zach Bogosian’s there, and they still put it there, and he scores. It’s unbelievable. The puck is coming there. You just have to know, it is coming there, whether you think it’s coming there or not. So just cover that.

“It sounds crazy,” Johnson added, “but coaches always say, ‘The guy behind the net or the guy on the goal line is the least dangerous guy.’ You leave that to your goalie.”

Goalies must be better

That brings up another point.

“Your goalie has to be your best penalty killer,” Johnson said.

The Wild’s penalty-kill save percentage over eight games is 62.5 percent. The Avs’ penalty kill save percentage over six games is 90.5 percent.

“Yeah, of course, it has to do with the other guys on the ice, too,” he said. “But at some point, you have to make some of those saves.”

It’s in the Wild’s heads

Johnson said teams make adjustments all the time and the Wild can cure all its ills.

The mental side of it might be the issue now.

“At some point, it’s just in your head,” Johnson said. “I even talked to (Avs coach Jared) Bednar about Colorado’s power play during the year when it was so bad. Their power play was awful most of the season, and it got quite a bit better after the deadline and the Olympic break. But I asked him, ‘Do you think it’s in their heads?’ And he said, ‘100 percent.’

“And so I guarantee you it has to be in the Wild’s heads. I’ve been there. It does get into your head because you know when your special teams stink and you go over the boards and the whole bench can kind of almost feel like, ‘Oh, here we go. What’s going to happen?’”

While Trenin has been on the ice for only one power-play goal against in the playoffs in a little more than two minutes of ice time, he agrees.

“Right now, because we also gave up a lot against Dallas, it’s confidence level,” he said. “It’s less faith you’re going to kill the penalty. We have to bump our confidence and make some structural adjustments, and it should be good.”

Postseason Wild PK ice time, PPGs against
PlayerPK TOIPPG’s against

Jake Middleton