Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau ripped his team on Saturday after the club lost 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings.
The Red Wings outshot the Wild 29-7 over the final 40 minutes, leading Boudreau to his harsh criticism.
"That was the worst game that we've played since I've been here as coach," Boudreau said postgame. "Effort, compete, I don't know where it was. I don't know if they're still tired from this road trip or what have you, but I'm really disappointed in tonight's effort."
"If your best players aren't your best players you aren't going to win a game," he added. "It's as simple as that. When I look down and Ek's (Joel Eriksson) line is the best line that we have out there, then we're in trouble."
Minnesota still sits in the Western Conference's second wild-card spot after missing an opportunity to leapfrog the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night. To Boudreau, Saturday's effort was another example of the team failing to take advantage of games against weaker squads.
"The reason we're in the spot we are is because we don't play well against teams that are underneath us in the standings," Boudreau said. "If we played them like we were playing Winnipeg all the time, we'd be up closer to 60 points."
The Wild will have an opportunity to buck that trend and get back in the coach's good graces when they tangle with the 31st-ranked Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
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