What happened to Wild in Game 4 loss? ‘We got outcompeted,’ coach John Hynes said

DENVER — It’s an oft-repeated mantra in hockey that the big picture does not matter, and to have success, you need to focus on one game at a time, one period at a time, one shift at a time.

With as little as one game remaining in their season if things go poorly at Ball Arena on Wednesday night, members of the Minnesota Wild are heeding that advice that was likely drilled into them before the first time they skated in a game where score was kept.

“A lot of cliches, but just, you’ve got to win one game,” forward Marcus Foligno told reporters at MSP airport before they boarded what they hope is the first of two more charter flights to Denver. “I mean, we always knew we had to win one game in Colorado, no matter what. So, maybe our best is when our backs are up against the wall. So, we need a repeat of Game 3.”

In that game, the Wild ate into a 2-0 series deficit with a convincing, 5-1 victory at Grand Casino Arena.

“We know that’s going to be a tough job in Colorado, where we haven’t had the greatest success in this series there,” Foligno said, “but it just takes one. So, we want to do our best to bring it back here for Game 6.”

To do that, the Wild know they will need to outplay a talented Colorado team, something they failed to do in their Game 4 loss Tuesday night, when the Avalanche looked as determined as Minnesota looked tentative at times.

On Wednesday in Colorado, the Wild will again be without injured center Joel Eriksson Ek and injured defenseman Jonas Brodin. Minnesota coach John Hynes confirmed that neither one was flying to Denver.

The Wild’s second line in particular — with rookie Danila Yurov filling in for Eriksson Ek at center between Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson — struggled getting the puck into the offensive zone. But when asked if that would prompt some line juggling in Game 5, Hynes said the problems are more about effort.

“We can talk about line combos and stuff like that (but) we got outcompeted last night,” Hynes said. “Like, Game 3, we outcompeted them. We were the harder team, won more puck battles. Last night, they were the harder team. They were more competitive in the hard areas of the ice, they won more puck battles.”