It may be easy to get a bit giddy, Wild fans, with the success of the team over the last two months, but let's keep this all in perspective. Yes a 7-1 win over Carey Price and the 1st place Montreal Canadiens is nice but in the grand scheme of things it is just 2 more points in the standings.

The Wild did not play some spectacular game where they dominated from start to finish last night. As Bruce Boudreau pointed out, they knew they were catching a Canadiens team at a good time as they may be a bit road weary. That theory played out in reality last night, combined with some puck luck and the result was a 7-1 Wild lopsided victory.

I am not trying to downplay the Wild success, but just trying to keep this all in perspective. There are games that go the other way where the bounces just don't seem to go the right way. The comments following those games are "well if this had gone our way" or "we got that bounce" the result may have been different.

In an 82 game season there are ups and downs and peaks and valleys. The best teams keep all of them in perspective, not to get too high off of a win or too low off of a loss.

That is the theme here, because last night was not a 7-1 performance by the Wild. It was a game that turned into a rout and in the end earned the Wild two big points in the standings.

The Wild have firmly established themselves as a true contender in the Western Conference as we well know. Now the rest of the league is taking notice too.

The Wild head back out on the road for two division contests in Dallas tomorrow and of course the big one Sunday in Chicago. A lot will be made of that game and to a degree it will be another measuring stick for the Wild, but they need to keep the focus on one game at a time. Dallas is playing much better as was expected as they are finally getting healthy, and tomorrow is just as big a measuring stick as Sunday.

How will the Wild play following a 7-1 blowout win?

Will they be looking ahead at the Blackhawks, and fall into a sandwich game trap?

So just as I have written many times before a loss is just one game and a win is just one game. The Wild have been very good so far at compartmentalizing the good and bad avoiding the prolonged slumps thus far. That mentality is critical as the team enters the condensed part of the schedule.

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