Dean Evason sounds off on lack of Wild offense

The Minnesota Wild have put together a less than pedestrian 1-4 record in their last five games, with a seemingly maddening inability to score on a consistent basis despite featuring one of the top offensive threats in the National Hockey League in Kirill Kaprizov. 

In each of their last three setbacks, the Wild have managed one goal in each of the games, that included losses to the Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, and last night against the Florida Panthers. Minnesota is now 3-6-1 in their past 10 games and 1-3-1 since the All-Star break. 

It goes without saying that head coach Dean Evason is frustrated with the inexplicable ability for his team to be able to consistently turn on the red light behind the opposition goaltender, but it seems as though he's reached a breaking point in talking about it.

“Not talking about the offense anymore. Honestly, why?” Evason explained following last night's setback at Xcel Energy Center. “We talked to the group about that, too. If we continue to talk, like, ‘We can’t score, we can’t score, we can’t score,’ eventually you’ll think you can’t score.”

He then went on to say that he believes the tide will indeed eventually turn.

“We’re going to score the way we score. We’re going to get to the net. We’re going to play five-on-five. When we do that, we’re going to catch some more breaks like we did the other night with Hartzy’s goal. We’ve just got to keep grinding away. It’s rewarding to play like that, too.”

But until then, they'll take the goals how they come - whether they're pretty or not.

“Sure we can still score cross-seam and slot line passes,” he continued. “We’ll allow the guys to do that. But we’re going to score Minnesota Wild goals and we’re going to score gritty goals and we’ll just keep preaching that.”

The Wild have the chance to get back on the winning track tomorrow night when they host the division rival and reigning Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.