STOCKHOLM — Marcus Foligno walked around Stockholm on Thursday, bought the traditional Swedish wooden Dala horses for his daughters, then went on a private tour of the Vasa Museum, the home of a 17th-century ship.
Getting Kirill Kaprizov, penalty kill on track is weekend goal for Wild in Sweden
The team's All-Star winger has struggled, but the man-down unit has been the worst in the NHL this season.
November 17, 2023 at 9:40PM
"I was just kind of in shock when you walk in that place and you see that thing there," the Wild winger said. "It doesn't feel real and kind of hard to wrap your head around that someone built that. So, it's really cool."
They're on a business trip, the three-game losing streak they hauled with them from Minnesota the elephant in the room as they restart their season Saturday vs. Ottawa in the NHL Global Series before facing Toronto on Sunday.
"You want to enjoy it, and then you've got to understand what's on the line and our season needs to turn quickly," Foligno said. "So, we're excited to get back at it, play another game, and we're hoping Sweden can bring us some luck and we can walk out of here with two points tomorrow.
"We're excited just to get going and get an opportunity to make amends for last week."
The Wild are coming off the most lopsided loss of their season, an 8-3 waxing by Dallas last Sunday that included the team giving up a franchise-record five power play goals.
That dropped the penalty kill to a bleak 63.5% that ranks last in the NHL; not only is that well below the league average (approximately 79%), it's also lower than the 68.2% clip Los Angeles had in 1979-80 for the worst PK in NHL history.
Look for the Wild to deploy a revised scheme, one that should yield more desperation.
"You play a little bit smarter with the puck management and move on and set your teammates up next shift," Foligno said. "We just seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot at crucial times in the game, and right now we're trying to find that confidence."
Another change to the penalty kill could be the return of Frederick Gaudreau.
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Sidelined the last nine games with an upper-body injury, Gaudreau "should play Sunday, but we'll see," coach Dean Evason said.
The forward skated as an extra at practice on Friday, with the Wild sticking with the new lines they implemented after that trouncing from the Stars.
Joel Eriksson Ek is reunited with Marcus Johansson and Matt Boldy, while Foligno has teamed up with Ryan Hartman and Pat Maroon. As for Kirill Kaprizov, who participated in both Stockholm practices after taking a maintenance day on Monday, he's with Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello.
"[Kaprizov's] last two practices have been real good," Evason said. "It looks like he's in a real good frame of mind."
Kaprizov is second in scoring on the Wild with 15 points and tied for third in goals (5), but most of his production has come on the power play and he's a team-low minus-11.
Asked earlier in the week where his confidence is at, Kaprizov said in Russian through an interpreter, "I feel OK. Obviously, I can do a little better, but I continue to work hard and continue to do what I can, and everything will be all right."
No more practices or days off for sightseeing.
The purpose of this getaway has finally arrived.
But there's still time to pick up a memorable souvenir.
"We can really do something here and make it a special trip and hopefully look back on it later on in the season and say, 'We can circle this one as something that turned the season,'" Foligno said. "But it only works if we can get the job done tomorrow and Sunday. So, yeah, we're all excited for that."
Coach John Hynes called the free-agent acquisition “a reliable two-way player,” but the offensive part of his game has yet to emerge with his new team.
