Winning streaks make teams appear better than they are sometimes as losing streaks create the opposite affect. So the Wild are on a seven game winning streak and it is very easy to get caught up in just how good the team is playing.
Just as we don't want the players to get too high or too low with each win and each loss, we must adopt that same principle as we follow the Wild.
The team is clearly on the right track and Bruce Boudreau is showing everyone why he is one of the league's finest coaches. The Wild have long had a very solid team that could compete with any and every team on any given en night, but at the same time they could play down to the level of the underperforming teams quite often as well.
That latter scenario has been maddening for the State of Hockey faithful over the last several seasons. They know that their team was better than the record showed, but the results were not where they early playoff exits have mounted.
The problem with those Wild teams of the past were they got by on their talent alone for the most part. They were solid enough to scrape their way into the playoffs but not at all gritty enough to make any real noise.
Enter Bruce Boudreau and the transition ofrom the Wild is in gear. He is instilling a system that is making the Wild a very tough opponent to play against. He is stamping the team with his trademark.
Yes, the winning streak will end, but the Wild are a far more resilient team this year. The valleys that plagued the Wild in the past should not be as deep, due to a much better team culture created by Boudreau.