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ST. PAUL
http://www.bluejacketsshoponline.com/authentic-zach-werenski-jersey , Minn. (AP) No team in the ultra-competitive Western Conference has made the
playoffs more times in a row than the Minnesota Wild, with six straight
appearances to share the current streak lead with the Anaheim Ducks.That regular
season consistency has only led, however, to April dissatisfaction. Ousted in
five games by Winnipeg in their first-round series, the Wild were sent again to
an early exit from the Stanley Cup tournament. They were shut out by the Jets in
the last two contests and finished with a scoreless streak of 141:47.”It’s
really disappointing. I don’t think that’s indicative of the kind of team that
we have. It was just a really tough night,” center Matt Cullen said after the
5-0 loss in Winnipeg on Friday. ”Obviously with our backs against the wall, I
think we all expected more and hoped for more, and I think if we could do it all
over again every guy would like to give more.”There was no shame in being beaten
by the Jets, a deeper, faster team with an exceptional goalie in Connor
Hellebuyck that finished with the second-best record in the NHL in 2017-18. For
the Wild, though, there’s an overarching theme of staying stuck at a
good-but-not-great level since the franchise-altering signings of Zach Parise
and Ryan Suter helped start this remarkable-but-unfulfilling run of making the
playoffs every year with the two stars on the roster.”We want more. We expect
more from ourselves. We let another one slip away,” right wing Charlie Coyle
said.Here are some key angles to the end of the Wild’s season:LOOKING BACKThe
Wild are 2-6 in series and 15-29 in games in the postseason during the
Parise-Suter era that began on July 4, 2012. The 17-year-old franchise’s only
advancement past the second round remains the 2003 surge to the Western
Conference finals, where the Wild were swept by the Ducks.The postseason trouble
encountered by the Wild used to be in the form of the Chicago Blackhawks, who
eliminated them in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in
the first and third of those years. They lost in the first round in 2016 and
2017, though, and failed to make the playoffs this spring for the first time in
10 years. So Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are no longer the problem.Now
Nashville and Winnipeg have taken the lead in the daunting Central Division,
with the Predators taking the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record
one season after reaching the Stanley Cup finals. Six of the seven teams made
the playoffs either last year or this year.”We certainly believed that we could
give these guys a real run for it even though nobody seemed to be giving us a
chance,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. ”We’re one play away each game. I know that’s
easy to say, but it’s really how close it was besides tonight.”BANGED UPThis
year, in fairness, one of the hurdles to postseason success became the rare
absence of Suter, who has long been one of the NHL’s most durable players as a
puck-moving, tough-minded defenseman. His broken ankle diluted the blue line in
the final week of the regular season.Then Parise, whose late-season surge
signaled he was all the way back from the back injury and surgery that kept him
out for the first 39 games, was knocked out of action with a broken sternum
suffered in Game 3 against the Jets.”Every team has injuries, right?” captain
Mikko Koivu said
Authentic Alexander Radulov Jersey , adding: ”For sure that hurts, there’s no question about that. But we can’t go behind that.”CULLEN MULLINGMatt Cullen,
after winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017, put
off retirement for another year and returned to his home-state team with 11
goals, 11 assists and valuable leadership at age 41. He wasn’t ready to address
his future after Game 5.”My only thought here the last while was getting it back
home for Game 6,” Cullen said. ”So to be honest I don’t have an answer right
now.”QUIET COYLENot every forward will be productive in a playoff series, of
course, but the Wild were hurting without any goals or assists by three of their
top-nine forwards: Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Jason Zucker. Coyle, who had
only 11 goals during the regular season, was especially ineffective against the
Jets.”Had plenty of chances to finish. I didn’t finish. Or the goalie came up
big,” Coyle said. ”Whatever it is I didn’t get the job done. That hurts.”—
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Connor McDavid is playing like he has his sights set on a
second straight scoring title.McDavid had two goals and an assist to lead the
Edmonton Oilers to a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.”I’m
just looking to finish out the season strong with the team and individually as
well,” McDavid said.The Oilers captain has six goals and seven assists in his
last seven games, increasing his season total to 84 points – four behind
league-best Nikita Kucherov (88) and one behind Evgeni Malkin (85).”He’s the
captain, he has all the talent in the world and I think he’s a little bit sour
and a little bit bitter with how the year has gone,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan
said of McDavid. ”He’s not going to go away whimpering and when your leader does
that, it forces everybody else to play their game.”Leon Draisaitl and Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins also scored for the Oilers, who have won three straight. Cam
Talbot stopped 32 shots.”It feels really good, especially against a team like
that,” Talbot said. ”They’re playing some really good hockey right now and
extremely well offensively. … To hold a team like that to one goal took the
whole group. We played a heck of a game. Everyone is playing pretty well right
now.”Charlie Coyle scored and Devan Dubnyk had 24 saves for the Wild, who
snapped a three-game winning streak.”That wasn’t our game in the second period
tonight,” Coyle said. ”We were turning pucks over and we weren’t skating and
playing simple, which is our recipe for success. We kind of stopped doing that
and fed right into their game.”Neither team scored in the first 29 minutes until
McDavid skated around Minnesota defenseman Ryan Suter and knocked in his own
rebound for his career-high 32nd goal of the season at 9:12 of the second
period.McDavid did it again on the power play with 8 minutes left in the middle
period, staying on for a second shift and then sniping a shot in from the top of
the circle with Milan Lucic screening Dubnyk in front. McDavid has 18 goals in
his last 19 games after getting just 15 in his first 49 of the season.The Wild
pulled within one midway through the third when Coyle converted Tyler Ennis
crisp pass through the crease for his 10th of the season.Edmonton got some
insurance with 3:35 remaining as Draisaitl scored a power-play goal while on a
3-on-1 break.Nugent-Hopkins put the game away with an empty-netter with 2 1/2
minutes left for his 300th career NHL point.Minnesota outshot Edmonton 12-5 in
the scoreless first period.NOTES: The Oilers have won the teams’ first two
meetings, also winning 3-2 on the Wild’s home ice on Dec. 16. The teams their
season series on April 2 in St. Paul, Minn. … The Oilers were without D Oscar
Klefbom, who is expected to miss at least the next two games after undergoing
what has been referred to as a minor procedure. … Out for the Wild was D Nick
Seeler (illness).UP NEXTWild: Host Colorado on Tuesday night.Oilers: At Calgary
on Tuesday night.
