John Hynes vocal on Wild’s 7-game win streak ending vs. Avalanche

The Minnesota Wild lost to the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 on Sunday, ending their seven-game winning streak. Colorado increased their Central Division lead, moving to 26-2-7 on the season. Minnesota lost for the first time since trading for Quinn Hughes in their first big test. Wild head coach John Hynes spoke about being the latest to fall to the Avalanche.

“I thought obviously Colorado played really well, but I just thought for us, I thought our compete, and our want wasn’t there,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I just felt we were a step slow and a step off all night, whether it was in the speed in which we played with, our skating, our execution, we were just a little bit of a step behind in those situations.”

The Wild remain in third place in the Central Division, ten points clear of the fourth-place Utah Mammoth. But they are ten points short of the first-place Avalanche, who are on a historic pace. While falling to Colorado is understandable for now, there will be expectations on Hynes and the Wild come April.

The Wild are in the toughest division in hockey, as the Dallas Stars have put together a great start to the season as well. With Hughes, Stanley Cup expectations came to town. But because of the playoff format, there is a chance Minnesota does not get out of the first round. The most likely outcome is facing the Stars in round one and the Avalanche in round two.

Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals, becoming the first player to 30 goals in the NHL this season. He is on pace to score 70 goals, which has not been done since 1993. Brock Nelson impressed with three points in front of Wild and Team USA general manager Bill Guerin. Everything is coming up Colorado, even against an invigorated Wild squad.

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