"Yeah, our margin for error isn't very high right now," forward Eric Staal said. "We're not scoring enough to make up for the mistakes we're making. It just seems like we carry some momentum and [opponents] get a break the other way it's hitting the back of the net right now."
The Wild offense has been the biggest issue; they've scored five goals in their past five games. Against the Blackhawks, they had a season-high 48 shots on goal, but didn't get much out of them. Forward Zach Parise scored his team-leading 16th goal to tie the game 1-1 in the first period and Staal scored his 13th goal of the season with less than a minute remaining in regulation to cut Chicago's lead to 4-2. But the Wild also missed several opportunities on breakaway and odd-man rushes.
"It should be concerning, just with the lack of scoring and the lack of goals we've gotten," Parise said. "It should be concerning for everybody."
The issue is team wide and includes many of the Wild's top offensive players.
Mikael Granlund, Minnesota's leading scorer with 36 points (11 goals, 25 assists), had two assists Thursday, but has only one goal in his past 19 games. Mikko Koivu has not scored a goal since Nov. 17, a span of 13 games, not including the four he missed because of injury. Charlie Coyle has one goal in 12 games. Jason Zucker one in eight.
And to make matters worse, they are without defenseman Matt Dumba, who has 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 32 games and leads NHL defensemen with six power-play goals. Dumba, who was injured in a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Dec. 15, is out at least three months after having surgery to repair a ruptured right pectoralis muscle in his chest on Wednesday.
"He's a unique player, a dynamic player for us," goaltender Devan Dubnyk said. "He creates a lot of stuff for other guys, too. Whether it's just moving around the ice in the offensive zone, that opens space for other guys. We're going to miss him a lot."
But even when Dumba was in the lineup, the cracks were beginning to show. Minnesota is 3-7-1 in December and is without a power play goal in six straight games.
"This last month hasn't gone the way we wanted," defenseman Ryan Suter said. "We're as disappointed as anybody, but we have to figure it out. No one's going to come and do it for us. We have to find a way to manufacture a win any way we can and from that try to build it."
The Wild were hoping to change their fortunes coming out of the Christmas break. It didn't happen in their first game back, but they know they can't let frustration get the best of them.
"We gotta stick with it and stick together," Staal said. "As difficult as it's been here the last little bit, there's no use pointing fingers at each other. We have to focus on one game, and that's Winnipeg, and try to get some points out of their building. We have to respond, rebound and do the job next game."
