Three keys for the Minnesota Wild down the regular season stretch

As the Olympics roll into the quarterfinal round, it's a good time to take a look at what the Minnesota Wild are facing down the stretch of the regular season. With 24 games left to play, they trail the Colorado Avalanche by five points. It is worth noting that the Avs do have two games in hand, but the gap in points isn't as insurmountable as it seemed after the first two months of play.

Winning the division would pay big dividends for the Wild as it would keep them from having to play either Dallas or Colorado in the first round. Whoever ends up as the two and three seeds in the division are going to have a rough path to the second round.

After a so-so start to the season, the Wild have been on fire, posting a 34-14-10 record and all but guarenteeing a spot in the playoffs. Despite their success, there are some things they have to work on if they want to achieve their ultimate goal - winning a Stanley Cup.

They've relied on a strong power play and excellent goaltending to get where they are, but improving on three aspects of the game will help them down the stretch and into the playoffs.

5v5 Scoring

A huge part of Bill Guerin’s offseason was wrapped around the idea of improving the Wild’s 5v5 scoring after they finished 29th last season with 141 goals. To his credit, they have been better as they are tied for 19th so far this year. 

A strong power play bumps them up to 11th in the league in scoring, but that’s not something a team can rely on in the post-season. While they had a respectable 23.15 conversion rate (3 for 13) in their first-round loss last playoffs, two of those goals came in one game, leaving them 1-for-9 in the five games. Oh yeah, they also gave up two short-handed goals, so they barely outscored themselves with the extra skater. 

Being able to score power play goals in the postseason will be important as they can be huge momentum swingers. However, with the majority of games played at 5v5 it would behoove the Wild to be able to find a way to score consistently at even strength. The good news is that since acquiring Quinn Hughes in the middle of December, they’ve been better. 

Starting on December 13 they are 10th in the league with 2.92 GF/60 at 5v5. Hughes is leading the way with 18 5v5 points (2 goals, 16 assists), but it’s been some depth players finding the back of the net. Vlad Tarasenko has 9 goals while Ryan Hartman has 6. Brock Faber and Matt Boldy have also scored 7 goals each at 5v5. 

Expect any player that Bill Guerin brings in to help keep that scoring going at even strength. 

Penalty Kill

With a 77.2% success rate the Minnesota Wild are ranked 24th in the league right now. While they have improved over their previous seasons total, they will have to find a way to be even better.. With the cast of teams they will have to face to make it to the Stanley Cup Final, they can’t afford to surrender power play goals at the rate they have been in the regular season.

While Colorado is somehow last in the league at 15.1%, Edmonton is first at 31%, Dallas is second at 29.9%, and Vegas is fifth at 25.5%. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Minnesota has to face all three of them at some point in the playoffs. 

Going back to the 2019-20 playoffs, all of the Stanley Cup winners (except for Vegas) have posted a penalty kill success rate over 80% in the playoffs. With power plays coming at a premium, the ability to defend against them becomes even more important. 

Stay Healthy

There really isn’t something that they can control, but if the Wild can finish this season off with a relatively stable line-up, then Bill Guerin might not have to be so busy at the trade deadline. The good news is that they are, by their standards, fairly healthy. 

Jonas Brodin underwent surgery for a lower-body injury at the end of January and is expected to rejoin the team at some point before the end of the season, but that’s about it. After the rash of injuries ravaged the depth of the forward to begin the season things have stabilized, especially in the middle-six.

With the compressed schedule following the Olympic break, staying healthy will be paramount as the Wild try to chase down the Avalanche at the top of the standings.Minnesota has leaned heavily on call-ups like Tyler Pitlick (31 games), Ben Jones (26 games), and a waivers-claim in Dameon Hunt (26 games). They’ve been okay, but haven’t really contributed much on the scoreboard.

Depth is always important, but at some point they need to have a long stretch with all of their regulars on the ice at the same time.