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Wild Win, Now Face Road Tests

January 23, 2018, 2:01 PM ET [4 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Wild pulled off a solid win last night in front of a very sparse crowd due to the blizzard that hammered the Twin Cities yesterday and into the night. Many of the Wild players had their own harrowing experiences getting to the rink, while the Ottawa Senators bus took 45 minutes to navigate the streets of St. Paul from their hotel to the Xcel Energy Center.

Many of the Wild players had their own tales of their whacky trip to the rink yesterday, which even included a fender bender between Tyler Ennis who slid into Matt Dumba's vehicle just outside the Xcel. They had no time to assess the damage as they were already late and needed to get inside and prepare for the game.

The game started well for the Wild as Zach Parise scored off great feed from Eric Staal in the first minute of the game. About midway through the period the Wild sagged and Ottawa got themselves into the game.

Matt Duchene scored on a breakaway midway through the second period and it appeared that the Wild would be in a battle for this one. But late in the second period Boudreau's guys got their game in gear and buzzed the Senators cage for the final five minutes of the period. They were unable to score but they had definitely turned the tables and set the stage for the third period.

Jason Zucker cashed in a great cross crease pass from Mikael Granlund, for his 19th of the season (goals in 4 straight). Just over five minutes later Matt Dumba and Granlund hooked up on a nifty two on one burst with Granlund finishing it with the powerplay goal that sealed the victory for the Wild.

Since the Christmas break, the Wild have gone 8-2-2 with 9 of those 12 games played in the friendly confines of the Xcel Energy Center (7-0-2). Last night's 3-1 win over Ottawa moved them back into the final wild card position in the Western Conference a point ahead of Calgary who has a game in hand on Minnesota.

The Wild west is separated by just 9 points from 1st to 8th and only 11 points between 1st and 10th.

That translates for the Wild, into there is no time to have a slump, and their road record must get better in hurry. They will have a big two weeks as they play four of five on the road and their lone home game in that stretch is a visit from Conference leading Vegas a week from Friday. The final two road games of the five game stretch are in Dallas and St. Louis, two of the teams that the Wild are in a dogfight with both in the Central Division and Western Conference.

The fun part of the season is here. Teams jockeying for position, and the scoreboard watching is in full swing. The All-Star break is this weekend and then it is a fast and furious last couple of months with the trade deadline right smack in the middle.

A lot will happen between now and the end of the season, and the Wild have put themselves right in the middle of it.

Follow me on Twitter @ dwallace17
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