Last night, the Wild beat the Winnipeg Jets and kept rolling with their home cooking. Currently, the Wild are 10-1-2 at home. And if it’s called home cooking, then the dish of choice is cupcakes. Why cupcakes? The Wild have really only played 3 quality opponents at home this year (Kings, Ducks and Hawks) and have failed to win at home versus any of them having gone 0-1-2. Instead, they have been racking up points against teams in the bottom half of the NHL’s 30 teams, especially at home. That’s right, 10 wins against teams currently in the bottom half of the NHL, at least when they play at home.
Going on the road is a different story for the Wild. On the road, they are 3-3-2. Good enough, but not great. Only one of those wins was against a quality opponent (Chicago). As the losses on the road are concerned, two of the three road losses were to quality oppoenents (Tampa Bay and Toronto). Only one of the two overtime losses on the road was to a team currently in the top 15 in the NHL (Washington).
The Wild now head out to Eastern Canada for back to back games, Tuesday and Wednesday, against Montreal and Ottawa, both of which are in the bottom half of the league currently, before travelling to Winnipeg for a Saturday matinee (again, another team currently in the bottom half of the league) before travelling to St. Louis to end their four game road trip (obviously, a team in the top half of the NHL).
Once the Wild are done with the Canadian teams on this road trip, they start to see teams that are dramatically better and they see them more consistently, beginning with St. Louis next Monday in St. Louis, then home to Phoenix on Wednesday , and then Colorado on Friday and Saturday for a home and home, back to back series with the Avs to close out November.
Given the Wild’s current goaltending dilemma with Backstrom out for an extended period of time and, given the Wild’s past history with back to back games, I fully expect the Wild to struggle in either Montreal or Ottawa or both, despite the fact that Ottawa is currently a desperate team. I also expect the Colorado series at the end of next week to be a struggle for the Wild, not to mention St. Louis and Phoenix. Come to think about it, Winnipeg will probably not be a walk in the park, especially in Winnipeg. You think the 2,000 plus fans in Minnesota were obnoxious last night, just wait until the Wild play in front of a very hostile and sold out Jets fan base on Saturday afternoon.
Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wild won all 3 games in Canada and then split their tougher games against the Blues, Coyotes and Avalanche. The Wild have been playing very solid defensively and Harding has been stellar in goal. However, that has been mostly at home and mostly against weaker opponents. The true test of any team is how they fare on the road, regardless of whether their opponent is strong or weak, and how they play at home against the better teams of the NHL, in my opinion.
Once the Wild flip the calendar to December, they have 8 games against teams in the upper half of the NHL (Hawks, Sharks x 2, Ducks, Avs, Canucks, Pens and Blues) (4 home games and 4 road games) and 6 games against teams in the bottom half of the NHL (Flyers x 2, Blue Jackets, Rangers, Jets and Islanders) (2 home games and 4 road games). 9 of the games in the first three weeks of December are against 7 high quality opponents (Hawks, Sharks x 2, Ducks, Avs, Canucks and Pens). The Wild’s holiday schedule is a bit kinder with with only one high quality opponent (Blues) to end the year.
All said, the true test of the Wild probably begins with this road trip and continues until the third week of December is completed. From a prognostication standpoint, I will go out on a limb and predict that the Wild will go 1-2-1 on this current four game road trip and then 1-1-1 for the final three games of November. Then, in December, I say the Wild will go 7-4-3. So, by the end of December, the Wild should have around 53 points through 42 games and will be theoretically on pace to grab 106 points on the full season and qualify for the NHL playoffs. While it would be a step backwards for the Wild in these next 21 games by garnering only 23 points, when combined with the 30 they have to date, they should be just fine. However, if they bomb, as they are want to do, then it will be interesting to see what moves the front office makes to make the Wild a tougher and more potent opponent to play against.
How do you see the Wild faring in their next 21 games against Mtl (a), Ott (a), Wpg (a), Stl (a), Phx (h), Col (h), Col (a), Phi (h), Chi (h), Cbj (a), Sjs (h), Ana (a), Sjs (a), Col (a), Van (h), Pit (a), Nyr (a), Phi (a), Wpg (a), Nyi (h) and Stl (h)?
Also, what do you believe the keys will be for whether the Wild succeed or not?
Lastly, do you see any trades on the horizon for the Wild?
Lets hear your thoughts.