Some More Telling Stats

The Minnesota Wild, at 7-11-2, is showing some signs of life, despite having just completed a 1-1-2 road trip. Yes, the overall sentiment among fans seems to be that they can, in fact, fog a mirror this season. However, it is becoming apparent to more and more fans that, well that this team just isn't very good.

Consider the following statistics.

When the Wild trails at any point in the game, they are 3-11-1 (.200) this season.

That more or less makes sense. They've had some injuries, they're not a very deep team to begin with, yadayadayada.

However, when the Wild has the lead at any point in the game, they are 6-4-1 (.545) this season.

Ouch. I mean, they can't even shut it down effectively!

To put that into perspective, last season, their record when they got a lead at any point in the game was 37-11-5 (.698). In the 07-08 season, their record when they had a lead at any point in the game was 42-6-6 (.778).

Conversely, when trailing at any point in the game the Wild's record in 08-09 was 13-33-7 (.245) and in 07-08 was 13-28-7 (.271). So they're tracking about the same when trailing during the game, but they're far behind prior years when leading at any time.

At question would be whether the Wild is easy to come back on because they're shooting themselves in the foot (possibly a by-product of not sitting on a lead as much as in the past - though they've certainly done that a couple of times this year, too) or because their opponent has been that good (or that lucky.) Obviously the answer is unknown (though it's likely that all three possibilities are in play) but the simple fact that we're having this discussion at all is illuminative.

NiNY