Playoffs? Playoffs?!
The attitude about the Minnesota Wild, a team that's occupied a wild card spot in the playoff race for quite awhile, has quickly gone from can they catch the division rivals ahead of them in the standings? to are they even going to make the playoffs at all?
We've seen it before, and we're seeing it again. The Wild just can't seem to skate into the end of the season with a strong showing. Last season, they let it come down to the wire, needing a victory on the final day of the regular season and a tie-breaker to sneak into the No. 8 spot in the playoffs, only to get bounced in the first-round against a very good Chicago Blackhawks team.
The Wild struggled earlier this season, leaving many to question whether head coach Mike Yeo would still have a job for the rest of the season. But they rallied and put together a nice string of wins heading into the Olympic break. I was worried they would lose that momentum, but they came out of the break with no sign of an Olympic hangover.
Slumping at the wrong time
Lately though, the wheels have begun to fall off. The Wild lost at home to a Detroit Red Wings team that is struggling to make the playoffs and is suffering from the injury bug. It won the next night in Detroit, but then dropped a home game to Vancouver and got beat by St. Louis, giving up five goals in each contest.
Rookie goalie Darcy Kuemper has finally started to show signs that yes, he is still a rookie. With injuries/illness biting both Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding, Kuemper really stepped up as the go-to guy in between the pipes. He's struggled some lately, but I don't think there's anything major to be concerned about. It's not like the guys in front of him have played spectacular either.
Heater finally sits
Veteran Dany Heatley was finally a healthy scratch Saturday against Phoenix. It marked the first one of his career. Really, it's about time. He has been under fire by fans, myself included, for much of the season, but he obviously was a favorite of Yeo's.
Heatley is a team-worst minus-18 and had a couple of bad games this week. Yeo was asked about him after the 5-1 loss in St. Louis Thursday, but the coach didn't take the bait, saying something about how it was a "team loss."
I'm sure I'm not alone in my glee that Heatley finally was given the boot.
Wild win must-win in Phoenix
The Wild have occupied the first wild card spot in the Western Conference, with Phoenix and Dallas trailing by a few points. By Saturday, Phoenix, playing well as of late, climbed to within one point of the Wild. The two teams met for a playoff-like game in Arizona.
It looked like it might be more of the same in the beginning for the Wild. They started out strong, but the first early power play for the Coyotes resulted in a 1-0 lead. (Special teams for the Wild lately have just been bad stats to look at.) They held that lead going into the third period before the Wild scored two unanswered goals, and added an empty netter, to win the game 3-1 and skate away with a very important two points.
As it stands now, the Wild (38-26-11, 87 points) lead Phoenix (36-27-12, 84 points) for the wild card by three points; they've each played 75 games. Dallas is trying to climb into the picture with 83 points and 74 games played.
Not a friendly schedule
However, the schedule doesn't get any easier for the Wild. They'll go to Los Angeles Monday. They also have games against the streaking Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and another run in with the St. Louis Blues before the season ends.
It should be interesting to see how the Wild can respond to these tough teams down the stretch. It would be great to solidify that playoff berth before the final day of the regular season.
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