“Take your lessons and move on” is Wild aim in Game 2

DENVER – In their Round 1 playoff opener, the Minnesota Wild hung six goals on the Dallas Stars and were on their way to a series win for the first time in more than a decade.

In their Round 2 opener on Sunday, the Wild hung six goals on the Colorado Avalanche and skated off the ice in a state of shock at everything that went sideways.

A day later, with some time to reflect, meet with his team and watch video of the record-setting 9-6 loss in Game 1 to the Avalanche, Minnesota coach John Hynes said his team is committed to taking lessons from the opener, then putting it behind them, quickly.

“It’s always about the next one, you know,” Hynes said, meeting with reporters at the team’s downtown Denver hotel. “You gotta take the game for what it was, and then you gotta make sure you really learn from it. And, you know, we had a good discussion this morning. And, you know, we took some things out of it, and we’ll be ready to go for Game 2.”

Exactly who he will have ready to go in Game 2 is still in some question. While rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt’s play versus Dallas was one of the big reasons the Wild survived and advanced, at least on Monday afternoon Hynes would not commit to a starter for Tuesday night’s rematch versus high-flying Colorado.

“I think there are things where we put the goaltender in some tough positions as well. I think when you have good goaltending, and you have a strong team in front of them, that’s been a good combo for our goaltenders the last couple of years. I think last night was a bit of an anomaly,” Hynes said, sounding like he is unlikely to make a change in the crease.

“I’m not worried about Wally. He’s got a great track record. He has played really well. He has playoff experience, and he has positive playoff experience,” added the coach. “As we’ve talked about throughout these playoffs, it’s next game. You take the lessons out of it. Everyone has to reboot. We all have to be better, and we’re planning on doing that tomorrow.”

While the intensity of a second round playoff series is new territory for many Wild players, they are leaning on the experience of veterans like Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored a goal versus Colorado in the opener and has two runs to the Stanley Cup on his resume.

His message after the series-opening loss is that one bad game does not make for a lost round in the playoffs, and just to get to this point is already an accomplishment of note.