Wild GM Guerin fumes over lack of response to Flames D Andersson
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Minnesota Wild president general manager Bill Guerin is concerned about the recent stretch of play from his team and he did not mince words on his feelings after the lack of response to Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson throwing a jab to the face of Marc-Andre Fleury on Saturday.
Speaking to The Athletic prior to Sunday's 4-2 win over the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, Guerin was still fuming from the night before. Andersson responded to a jab from Fleury during a scrum in the second period Saturday with a left-handed punch of his own. Mats Zuccarello jumped on the back of Andersson, taking him down, with all three players involved and Jonathan Huberdeau of the Flames picking up offsetting minors. Andersson returned from the box to score with eight seconds left in the period to put the Flames up 3-1 in their eventual 5-4 win and stared down the Wild bench on his way back to his own.
“He had his way with us,” Guerin told Michael Russo of the performance from Andersson. “Like, it was not fun to watch, I’ll tell you that. The funny thing is that’s not who this group of players is. It’s really hard to figure out … but we’re gonna figure it out.”
Sunday's victory marked just the third win for the Wild in their past nine games. The team sits third in the Central Division with a 29-17-4 record and are now nine points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the division lead.
Minnesota got star forward Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon back from injuries last week, but remain without blueliner Jonas Brodin. Guerin is not willing to chalk up the team's recent tailspin to fatigue and injuries, though.
“No, f— that. F— that,” Guerin said. “You can be low on energy and still play well. You’ve got to use your head. You know what? Everybody’s tired. Everybody has a condensed schedule. Everybody has injuries. Everybody in the league has what we have. There’s no excuse whatsoever for any of this.”
The Wild held a 26-11-4 record on Jan. 7 and were just two points back of the Jets for first in the Central. In the three weeks since, the Dallas Stars have erased a five-point deficit to sit second in the division ahead of Minnesota by one point with a game in hand.
Off to a strong start with their win in Chicago, Guerin wants to see more fight from his team as they continue a five-game road trip. The Wild visit the Atlantic Division-leading Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, with stops to follow against the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins.
“Look, every team goes through their ups and downs of the season,” Guerin concluded. “But I just don’t love the way we’re playing right now because there’s no energy. We’re on the perimeter, we’re not doing the little detail things that are hard to do, but they allow you to win. I know our guys care. I know they work hard. But working hard and competing hard are two different things.
"We need more compete.”