“Talking to our defense, it’s tough when you got guys that you chip it in and they gotta go turn and they feel like you’re coming and they’re not making a great tape-to-tape pass. They’re rimming pucks, and that plays into our forecheck,” said Foligno, whose 11 hits were his career high for a playoff game. “If you do that over and over again and you stay above it, it’s grueling, right? It’s tough for anybody to feel that pressure every night.”
Still, the Wild have room to improve.
Only 20 of their 70 shot attempts actually reached the net, with 27 getting blocked by the Golden Knights.
“They got a big ‘D’ that can front shots and aren’t scared of sacrifice,” Foligno said, and the way to combat that is unleashing pucks from different angles like in the corner or at the half-wall where the shooting lane isn’t as predictable to plug up.
Hynes also brought up needing more impact from the bottom-six forward group, which he made clear will be addressed. He also mentioned everyone looked good health wise.
As for Zeev Buium, Hynes noticed the 19-year-old defenseman’s competitiveness in his NHL debut and that he worked at his defending in the “hard areas” of the ice.
