Minnesota Wild: Playoff Chances one Step Closer
Minnesota Wild playoff chances one step closer after beating the Colorado Avalanche 6-3. Colorado’s Jarome Iginla opened the scoring early in the first period on what was called a “soft goal” by many. Instead of giving up after the early goal the Wild fought back on a “line hat trick” with goals from Niederreiter, Pominville and Haula.
After a strong first period the Wild fell apart slightly in the second period. After pulling Varlamov the Avs were able to bounce back and tie the game at 3 apiece followed with some bad penalties and the Wild giving Chris Bigras his first goal as an Av.
The Wild then bounced back in the third with Coyle’s goal 5 min 34 seconds into the period. Coyle and Niederreiter both scored empty netters to secure the victory. The Wild are now 6-3 under interim coach Torchetti and have won two consecutive games at home since Dec. 15 and 17.
Coyle’s goal wasn’t a highlight reel goal by any stretch but it was perfect timing in a tied game that could have gone either way. Parise went down the far left side fooling both Picard and Holden chasing him after dangling Skille on the blue line and the puck leaving Coyle wide up for a backdoor goal. It was a great way to finish a great play and was very similar to Coyle’s goal on Sunday.
After winning last night the Wild passed the Avs in the standings with 68 points apiece but Avs have a game in hand. According to Michael Russo in his post game interview interim coach Torchetti said: “I’m happy for the guys, they’ve worked their butts off for it. We’ve got a long way to go still.” The Standings are as follows:
The Wild need to go 11-7-0 in their final 18 games to have 90 points on the season and a pretty good cushion since we only need 87 points to make the playoffs. When I ask our fans on twitter if we would reach a 90 point season out of 52 votes 67% voted yes and 33% voted no. Their final 18 games are as follows:
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The Wild have a great chance to earn 90 points and make the playoffs and end the season on the winning side of things and hopefully go into the playoffs coming in hot and having a successful four lines vs the same handful of players scoring. Lets go Wild!