Tom Powers: Wild sleepwalk into disaster

It's not accurate to say the Wild went into a shell. It's more like they went into a coma. Tuesday night's game against the Nashville Predators resulted in a miserable, heartbreaking, discouraging 5-4 loss. And the Wild deserved every bit of it. Cruise control is a nice feature to have on an automobile. But it is deadly for a hockey team. The Wild played about 2-1/2 periods of beautiful hockey against the Predators, and the results were astounding: a 4-1 lead against a good opponent. Then they took their foot off the gas. That damned cruise control must look awfully inviting when a team isn't quite in shape after the all-star break. So they went into prevent mode. Just flip the puck out of the zone, just clear the blue line and sit back and defend. And Nashville scored once, twice, three times, four times in the last 11 minutes. The Wild , so firmly in control for most of the game, skated off the ice to a storm of boos. They earned them. "I'm still in shock," defenseman Justin Falk said. "No excuses, no nothin'," a disconsolate Josh Harding said. Harding gave up a softie with 21 seconds left that sealed the deal for the Predators. I have no idea why anyone was surprised. Angry, upset and frustrated, yes, you can make a case for all of those. Those dirty referees? OK, they probably messed up a couple of times too. But nobody should have been surprised. Simply trying to clear your blue line for half a period is no way to play hockey. What should have been a great post-all-star break start turned into a dreadful experience. "Once we got up 4-1, I've never seen us laying on the ice as much as we have, defending," coach Mike Yeo said. Yeo added all manner of descriptive phrases to describe his postgame state of being. He called the game "a punch in the stomach." He repeatedly said "it stings." And, in general, he looked as if he'd just seen the ghost of Toe Blake hovering over his desk. It was a fitting end to a crappy day in which defenseman Marek Zidlicky publicly criticized him for A) scratching him for a third straight game and B) generally not using him properly. But we might have known that the Wild had this type of game in them. They've gone into cruise control before. "Maybe early in the year," said Yeo. No, Mike, against San Jose on Jan. 10. After going up by two goals, the Wild shut it down in the final four minutes and wound up in overtime. They ended up winning that one in a shootout. But they had no such luck Tuesday. Their collapse was as total as it was stunning. Yeo said his team appeared tired toward the end. Which, he pointed out, isn't an excuse because Nashville was coming off the break, too. You know: Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest. I supposed that's valid, although the Predators skated in the third period as if their breezers were on fire. Well, it sure was a rotten loss, and it sure was deserved. Yeo now has his hands full. The team heads back on the road for what seems like its umpteenth game in the past month. The Wild have three straight road games following that lovely kick in the teeth they received at home Tuesday. Yeo also has to deal with Zidlicky. He was unwilling to change his lineup while the team was winning. So Zidlicky sat. Now that the team has lost a game, Yeo probably feels free to make changes. But he can't rightly play Zidlicky against Colorado on Thursday because it will look as if the inmates are running the asylum. It's like last season when Allan Walsh, arguably the least-respected agent in hockey, squawked that his client, Martin Havlat, wasn't being used properly by then-coach Todd Richards. He thought Havlat should have been playing on the top line. Ironically, a couple of injuries had just opened a spot on the top line. But Richards couldn't very well move Havlat up after Walsh's stupid rant. It would have looked bad. Zidlicky probably now is in a similar situation. We'll see. He'll be tough to trade, too, unless he accepts a pay cut. What are the chances? All in all a bad day followed by an even worse night. The bright side? Maybe if they get up by a couple of goals in their next game they'll try to do something other than just hang on. It's disheartening to watch a team play as if it is trying to "survive" a three-goal lead. Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com .