Still, that doesn’t diminish what the Wild are doing to protect their crease.
“We’re playing with a defensive conscience,” Hynes said. “We’re putting ourselves in positions where we can defend and be in a good defensive posture. The details are strong. It’s something that we talked about as we move forward here is tighten up some areas. The guys have done a good job of that.”
Helping fuel this focus is the forecheck, the Wild’s pressure down low in the offensive zone not only lightening up the defense’s workload but also keeping the Wild in the structure that enables them to support each other when the puck goes the other way.
Consequently, the Wild aren’t as vulnerable.
“There were a lot of times where the defense was jumping by us,” Foligno said, “and they would get late hits, and we were letting guys through because we were late on the backcheck. So, things like that, being a little bit more aggressive and smarter in our play, and it’s contributed to our play as of late.”
But the benefits of this commitment are mutual.