With the rescheduling of tonight's game vs. the Blues, the Wild find themselves in the midst of a very welcomed three day break in what has been a very busy schedule. When they do resume on Wednesday night hosting St. Louis is will start a critical stretch for the team as they gear up and prepare for the playoffs.
The schedule has turned out to be a blessing for the Wild as they are all but finished with the non-contenders in the West with the exception of a two game set with Anaheim that would have originally been the final games of the regular season but now with the rescheduling of previous match-ups with the Blues they will now finish the regular season in St. Louis for the final two games.
Playing St. Louis five times and Vegas twice should give the Wild all the tuneup that they need to keep them sharp and on top of their game. That said it will also be a very good litmus test of just where this Wild team stands and how good are they.
The Honda/West Division from the start was believed to be Colorado, Vegas, St. Louis and whichever of the remaining five teams would step up. Arizona had come off a very good season so the thought was that it would probably be a battle between the Wild and Arizona as the three California teams are all in the building process.
The Wild have certainly taken care of business against the bottom half of the Division and at times held their own with the top half teams. I say at times having won a couple of lopsided tilts with Colorado while more often being thoroughly outplayed by the Avalanche in the other matches the two teams played.
St. Louis too has had the better of the territorial play in the first two meetings by a large margin. The Wild closed that gap in the last meeting but still wound up losing in OT. Vegas on the other hand has been a team the Eild have always fared pretty well against despite the overall success the NHL'S newest franchise has experienced in their first four seasons.
Qualifying for the playoffs is the first step for this group and regardless of how it all turns out the experience that they will gain is invaluable to their future success. I am not by any means saying that another first round exit is going to be met with a cursory "well at least they made the playoffs" response.
Absolutely not as the playoffs are never a guarantee and any time a team makes it, they need to make the most of that opportunity and make a run. The salary cap in all sports levels the playing field and the line between winning and losing is quite thin. That said it comes down to a few key factors typically in the end.
The first of those being good fortune with injuries as they become magnified in the postseason. Next is how well the team battles for each other and how tight the room is. Then of course goaltending and special teams often separate the winning team in each round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Wild are working to check the boxes that they can control and the roster is as deep as we have ever seen. The next three weeks are a great tune up and the Wild are looking at moving up to secure home ice in the first round.
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»