Up and Down We Go, the Wild’s Path to the NHL Playoffs

The New Year has pumped some life into fans such as myself, as well at the chances at a playoff spot for the Minnesota Wild. During the month of January, the Wild went on both a three and four game winning streak while closing out the month with a win. The problem occurred between the two winning streaks where the Wild dropped three games in a row. Despite that streak the month was a success, an 8-4 record helped to propel the Wild from thirteenth place in the west to tenth. The Wild sit just 5 points out of fourth place with at least a game to play on each team above them. On the same note the Wild cannot fall back to old habits, they are only four points away from falling back into fourteenth place, ahead of only the Oilers. Vancouver has remained out in front in both the Western Conference and the Northwest division compiling 71 points with a 4-2-4 record in their last ten.

In terms of the wins and losses I would have preferred the losing streak to have happened against the Eastern Conference part of the January schedule but the Wild did go 3-1 on the month against the teams in their division. The most notable stretch in January was the three game winning streak against the division opponents, the Wild seemed to find their offensive power which in turn tuned up the defense. Rookie goaltender, Anton Khudobin, strung together two excellent performances; shutting out Vancouver while making 32 saves and holding Edmonton to just one goal on 31 shots. The following night Niklas Backstrom returned between the pipes and answered the performance by Khudobin with a shutout of his own. During the winning streak the Wild provided their goalies with 14 goals of support, one of the strongest performances of the season so far.

The balance of the offense has been shifted a bit as well; I would not be surprised at all if the Wild have one of the most balanced stat books in the league. Four players currently are tied for the team lead in goals with 14; Martin Havlat, whose groove lately found him an all star spot, Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns, and Cal Clutterbuck. Havlat and Koivu are supposed to score goals but Burns is a defenseman and Clutterbuck is the definition of a grinder. Andrew Brunette currently has 12 goals and Matt Cullen has added 10 of his own, making both players capable of joining the list of leaders on any night. The overall points lead is a bit more spread out, Havlat and Koivu are the only two players with at least 40 points with 44 and 43 respectively while Cullen and Burns are the only two in the thirties with 31 a piece.

The month of February will be a true test for the Wild, while they only have four games against division opponents they play 13 games against teams that will also be trying to move into and or improve their playoff position. Matchups include two of the three current division leaders and three games against teams who currently tied for the final playoff spot in the West (positions 7, 8, and 9). Time will tell if another month similar to last month's 8-4 record will result in more positive movement or a neutral wash but either way if the Wild can find a way to repeat that success the beginning of March will hold a lot of promise.

The other big event in January was the all-star game, which ended up including two Wild players; Martin Havlat and Brent Burns. Both players were on Team Lidstrom, who won the game 11-10. Havlat picked up three assists despite being a -1 rating overall, Burns added an assist of his own while being a -2. Congratulations again to both of these players on their selections as well as to all who were involved with the game.

Tonight is also a big night in Minnesota hockey world as Andrew Brunette(Bruno) will take the ice for his 1,000th NHL game. Tonight's game against the Kings will be number 457 for Bruno in a Wild uniform.
Brunette is the team's second all time leading scorer with 303 points, trailing only Marian Gaborik in that category. Congratulations to you as well Bruno and may you have many more games left, preferably in the Wild uniform.