Don't stress over back-to-backs

Consider this somewhat of a preemptive strike to speak out on back-to-backs, since we are still in the very beginning of the season. This issue is a bit of a carryover from last season when it was bothering me a bit. The Wild will face its first back-to-back test this weekend when it goes to New Jersey and then a visit to the New York Islanders.

Sports schedules aren’t perfect, and the NHL is a bit different than other major sports like baseball or football that play nearly every day or just once a week. It’s pretty predictable. Hockey varies. Sometimes a team will have a long road trip, sometimes it will play three games in four of five nights and sometimes it will get a four-day break.

This certainly mixes it up with opponents, too. For instance, the Wild hadn’t started its season yet, but the Blues played the night before in Chicago. So that’s a back-to-back with a travel day when an opponent was theoretically fresh. Of course, we all know what happened in that Wild v. Blues game. The Wild came out sluggish and the Blues held the momentum from the night before.

Back-to-backs this season
The Wild have 13 back-to-back games this season. All but one of them comes with travel. Already this season, two of the Wild’s first four opponents will have played the Wild on the second night of a back-to-back.

I guess my bottom line here is I’m sick of seeing this part of the schedule used as a reason why a team did or didn’t play well/win the game, etc. It’s part of the NHL schedule that you can’t change, so figure out a way to deal with it.

Sure, it can be a little annoying when a team plays for the second night in a row on the road against a team that’s been lounging at home all week. But just look past it. Look at the players on the ice and ask what they could do to improve their game, not sit there and blame the schedule.

How they did last season
Last season, the Wild had 15 back-to-back scenarios. Thirteen of those came with travel with either one game at home and one away, or both games on the road. The Wild went 12-13-5 (one shootout loss) in all back-to-back games, going 5-7-3 on the second night. Take it all with a grain of salt with the 38-33-11 Wild team last year, but I suppose you could say the Wild needs to improve in these situations, especially in the second games. Real hot take right there.

I don’t think the reason the Wild lost those 13 games solely had to do with the fact that they played the night before. Even if the fatigue was a factor sometimes, so what? It all evens out with your opponents over the course of a season because the skate is always on the other foot at some point. It’s like in tennis when it was a very gusty day on the courts. Both players have to deal with the wind and try and play their game.

So, this is just a friendly reminder to not get too stressed out about these back-to-back games this season. They’re just part of the schedule. That’s it.

This was originally posted at wildxtra.com

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