After scoring first in the first period, they faltered in the second, getting outshot 14-4 while the Predators started their rally, converting on a Wild turnover during a 2-on-0 chance against goaltender Filip Gustavsson.
“It was our own doing,” Buium said of the second-period collapse. “We weren’t playing to the competitive level we want to play at, disconnected, maybe trying to be a little cute, myself included. There’s plays where could have just moved it up north, but we were trying to hold onto it for a second and find a better play. So, just in that sense kind of got away from it.”
That’s been the Wild’s biggest problem during their 5-6-3 start, how much they stray from their style.
They play it in pockets, the quick clears, effective passes and tenacious forechecking, but not frequently enough to make themselves a formidable opponent for an entire game. And when these lapses happen, the opposition has pounced.
During Nashville’s second-period takeover, the likes of Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin were stuck on the ice for 2-minute shifts and Ryan Hartman had a 3-minute stint.
“We were our own worst enemy,” Hynes said. “Yet, the guys dug in. We bent. We got some saves. We didn’t break, and we didn’t take penalties. We didn’t give in. It just was a bad sequence of hockey.”