The Minnesota Wild have had a lot of things go right in their game that have led them to be winners of 11 games in a row. One of the more important things has been their undefeated play in the overtime and the shootout that has yielded 3 of those 11 wins.
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The Minnesota Wild’s winning streak has reached 11 games. It’s been a conglomeration of a lot of different factors that have carried them to this point. So many different parts of their game have come together to make this success a reality, it’s really been hard to keep track of the different factors that have built 11 different wins.
Still one factor that seems to stick out is that the Wild’s overtime performance has been perfect during the streak. After all it was an overtime win in Edmonton on December 4th that started this winning streak, and including that game the Wild have notched 3 of their 11 wins in overtime or the shootout.
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This is in comparison to before the streak when the Wild were a dismal 1-4 in their overtime and shootout attempts. So, it’s safe to say that in the past 11 games the Wild have solved one of their bigger problems by starting to win in the extra frame.
“They played to win and not to lose. They weren’t playing to get into overtime,” said coach Bruce Boudreau after the win on Tuesday in Nashville per Michael Russo. “That’s the way we need to play. To me, we have to go for it.”
Boudreau brings up a great point as to why the Wild’s overtime fortunes have turned around during this streak. The Wild are playing to win, not just simply to get to overtime. It seemed at points during the earlier struggles of the season, that the Wild would battle so hard to get into overtime that they would not have anything in the tank physically or mentally. That usually led to the Wild making a huge mistake that would allow their opponent a chance to steal the game.
Now with the prevailing attitude and accompanying confidence, the Wild seem to be ready to attack the extra frames and go for the win. Before the streak it just seemed like the Wild didn’t have the right mindset to win in overtime and it cost them valuable points in the standings. Sure, getting one point for the overtime loss is good, but it wasn’t going to win the Wild the division.
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Furthermore, success in the overtime frame is essential for a team to have a successful playoff run. With every team being closely matched and opponents being more difficult as the rounds progress, lots of games tend to go to overtime. And unlike the regular season all those overtime games are sudden death so if you can’t win in overtime you have a real hard road to winning in the playoffs.
Call it a byproduct of the streak, but the overtime turnaround as of late has been a critical part of the Wild’s game that needed to be corrected if they were to have a truly different season. Going forward the State of Hockey no longer needs to fear the extra frame, and it seems that the team is ready to attack rather than fall back.
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Jordan Schroeder who set up Spurgeon’s OT winner on Tuesday described that attacking attitude best saying this about being called to play in OT “I was excited. I wanted to go out there and make it happen.” It just seems the Wild want to make it happen in OT now and that’s the difference.