It is easy to look at things as what happened most recently dictates what will take place moving forward.

After watching game one of the Jets Golden Knights series it looked like the clock was finally going to strike midnight on Cinderella.

But not so quick, as Gerard Gallant's team rallied and Marc Andre Fleury gave them a chance to silence the raucous Winnipeg crowd, and steal a victory to even the series. It was not all Fleury, as St. Cloud native and former Gopher Nate Schmidt played the game of his life, looking more like a Norris Trophy candidate than the guy that went undrafted and then left unprotected by Washington.

Now the series is tied at a game apiece as the teams head to Vegas for games three and four. There is no guarantee that this will be a long series and the superior depth and size of the Jets may wear the Golden Knights down, but the element of doubt has now creeped in.

That has been the story of Vegas all season. They have an us against the World mentality which goes beyond the play on the ice. They are a group of players that are willing to do whatever it takes to compete. There is no pecking order, no egos in the room, no preconceived expectations of ice time to be handed out.

Now to bring this home to Minnesota and the current state of the Wild. Six straight playoff seasons, but just two series wins to show for it.

Often I have written here that the lack of leadership has been an issue with the Wild. The team has become stale with a lack of ownership to the compete level on the ice.

I asked in my last blog. were the Wild that far away from being a competitor. And the answer should be "no" but not without a serious change in the chemistry of the team.

The new GM has his work cut out for himself as he works to change the culture of the team from a complacent bunch that thinks that they can just come to work everyday and put in the effort and the results will follow.

That obviously does not work with this group. There is no team unity with the Wild, and thus the talent assembled can only go as far as the talent will take them. Unfortunately the teams that win are those that go to battle for each other and raise the compete level within the group.

If Vegas taught the rest of the league anything, the message received should be that every player has something to offer. Given the opportunity to show that with no preconceived order of hierarchy within the team, players are free to play their game within a system and thrive.

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