Two weeks left in the 82-game marathon. The Wild have played themselves into a great position to control their own destiny as far as first place in the Central Division and also the Western Conference are concerned.
They currently sit alone atop the Central with 97 points, three points ahead of both Dallas and Colorado, with each of them having played one less game than have the Wild. The Stars and Avalanche will face-off tomorrow in Denver, after Dallas visits Arizona tonight.
The Wild have their own huge tilt tomorrow when they open a home and home with the Pacific and Western Conference leading Golden Knights, in Vegas. The Golden Knights have 99 points and are the first Western Conference team to lock in their place as playoff participants. That two point gap can be closed or widened depending on the outcome of these next two games between division leaders.
Last night Vegas dropped an overtime decision in San Jose, which appears to have been the classic "trap" game after the previous two key Pacific Division games vs. the Oilers where each team won in the other's building. Combine that with the upcoming games with the Wild and the letdown is easier to understand.
It is easy to see things with rose colored glasses when times are good and as soon as adversity hits, doom and gloom follows. The Wild are definitely playing some very good hockey and have been weathering several storms on the injury front in the process.
Most of this will serve them well in just over two weeks when the lights shine the brightest. The depth of scoring is the biggest change over the last three plus weeks since #97 wnet out of the lineup.
Much of the increased production is out of necessity of course, but the increased responsibility does not always generate into production. There are multiple factors at play here to be certain.
The emergence of Marcus Johansson's chemistry with Joel Eriksson Ek, and in particular Matt Boldy, cannot be overlooked. It has been made ubandantly clear that the Wild needed a complement to Boldy with his Kevin Fiala's departure. Boldy had seemed to be on an island for much of the year 5-on-5. The linemates were being moved in and out with no one able to stick for any length of time.
That becomes very difficult for a player, especially one that is expected to be an integral piece in the Wild offense. Not to mention this is Boldy's first full NHL season to boot. So to have the streaks and ups and downs that Matt has experienced through the firs two thirds of the season are not at all out ordinary.
So now that Boldy has a constant a reliable winger to complement he and JEE, the production has become consistent along with the opportunities. That also combined with the expanded role without Kaprizov in the lineup has created the perfect storm.
Either way the confidence of this trio will serve the Wild well when the games and matchups take center stage. Ryan Hartman has also stepped his game up returning to the form he showed last year when he scored a career high 34 goals.
No one could have expected Hartman to repeat that output this year, but as long as he continues to play his game in the structure of Dean Evason's plan, the production will follow. That he has and his place is solidified on that Wild top line with Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov, once he returns to the lineup.
Through it all the goaltending has been phenominal, especially when it comes to Filip Gustavsson. Gus, showed just how valuable he is with his 18 save preformance in the thrid period Wednesday night in Denver. The Avalanche brought everything they had but could draw no closer than one goal thanks in large part to Gustavsson.
The internal competition is another key element to the Wild team and that was on full display in Denver as well. Sam Steel, who had been the Wild's top line center through much of the season, worked his way down the lineup and ultimately to the press box. Steel put the Wild ahead to stay Wednesday, with a nifty skate to stick play in front of the Avs net late in the first period.
Steel has made himself very noticeable in each of the seven games he has played since his ultimate demotion. He has used his speed and created numerous opportunities with the limited ice time he has gotten. That says all anyone needs to know about this Wild team. They are just that, a team.
We will see more of this moving forward as first Gustav Nyquist and then Karill Kaprizov return to the Wild lineup. There are tow players that will be coming out and those fringe and situational players are stepping up and making those decisions very difficult for the Evason and his staff.