Minnesota Wild at Conference-winning pace in last five

The Minnesota Wild need a solid five-game pace to maintain a chance at the play-offs, especially in the Western Conference, not least because they play in a stacked Central Division.

Last time we assessed the five game pace, we figured the Minnesota Wild needed a lot of improvement.

We also sussed out that the team needs a minimum of 5.8 points per five games or a better average to have if they want to compete at the top of the Central Division would be the Nashville Predator’s last season pace of 7.13 points every five games.

In the first five, the Minnesota Wild was good for just 4 points; nowhere near the pace needed to even crack the wild-card spot.

This second set of five games however, we’ve seen a completely changed team – suddenly they’ve woken up and gone a perfect 10 points across the five game spell.

This puts them season-wide only just off last year’s Conference-winning pace. Now, I know it’s no time to get excited just ten games into the year, but that’s a pace that even if they rein it in slightly, they’re going to be competitive at the top end of the Central Division.

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Tonight, though, begins the true test. They head to Vancouver for the first of seven consecutive road games. If they can return from that stretch with another 10 points on the tally, they’ll be laughing.

More likely, they should be aiming for a reasonable 7 points from seven games.

Either way, if Devan Dubnyk continues to perform in such a way that any night the team can be in the game, regardless of whether they’re dropping low or high shots against, there’s always a sneaky win to be had.

On that note though, the shots against tally needs to be lowered. You can’t expect a goaltender to be the one bailing you out all of the time. Some of it needs to be absorbed by your team defense.

Likewise, the Minnesota Wild can’t be solely reliant upon Zach Parise for scoring. Nothing suggests that his rate of points in unsustainable, but secondary scoring needs to be something that the team picks up its game on.

Finally, Jordan Greenway is probably one of the more polarising figures in the team at present. He hasn’t found any sort of form in the NHL, yet gets sent to the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League for the weekend and proceeds to net a hat-trick.

The Minnesota Wild will surely be hoping that he can repeat such form in the big-time. Time will tell there.

All in all, there’s not much more you can say about the five game pace. It was absolutely perfect, simple as that. I sure as heck won’t be arguing if I’m making the same comment in five road games time!