Real Blue recaps a 5-4 loss at Minnesota in which the Blues were outplayed for long stretches and the Wild’s top talent made the difference. Eric, Nathan, Matt and later Lance walk through the Jonatan Berggren power-play goal that opened the scoring, Matt Boldy’s hat trick, and Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes tilting the game. They also cover the defensive breakdowns they keep seeing, with forwards losing the late man in front of the net, and a Fowler miss at the blue line. They’re sharply critical of the officiating, from a missed double minor to the penalties that led to Minnesota’s five-on-three.
They single out the good moments, including Mason McTavish’s goal, Robert Thomas’s short-handed goal and a late Holloway goal. The hosts then turn to roster construction and make a case for giving Nathan Walker and other AHL options a look over Zach Dean. They are also hard on Dvorsky and gripe about the Amazon broadcast. Along the way they raise the possibility of a Shane Wright trade, ask whether this team can keep up with the Western Conference’s best, and make their picks for the Nashville game.
