A three-game winless streak has done little to compromise the Minnesota Wild’s solid playoff positioning.
Still, the locker room knows better than to get complacent as the stretch run nears.
A visit Tuesday to the slumping Chicago Blackhawks offers a chance for Minnesota to snap the skid and move closer to securing a postseason berth. The Wild are eager to seize it as they make the most of their current funk.
“The mood is good, I think. I truly do. I think adversity right now could be a positive,” defenseman Jake Middleton said. “We’ve got a lot of new bodies in the room. The lineup is kind of interchangeable game-to-game. Learning how to play in these types of situations could be a good thing for this group.”
Minnesota is entrenched in third place in the Central Division, six points behind the Dallas Stars and 14 ahead of the Utah Mammoth.
The Wild can thank the Blackhawks for preventing the Mammoth from creeping closer in the standings.
While Chicago is just 3-4-2 since play resumed after the Olympic break, all three victories during that span came against Utah.
After sweeping a home-and-home with the Mammoth last week, with both games requiring overtime, the Blackhawks were unable to sustain momentum Saturday in a 4-0 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vegas beat Chicago goaltender Spencer Knight for three goals in the first 12 minutes. The Blackhawks allowed multiple power-play goals for the first time since Dec. 7.
“I don’t think we started well enough, pretty evidently,” Blackhawks defenseman Alex Vlasic said. “They jumped on us quick. (Against) a good team like that, they’re hard to compete with once they get a lead.”
Minnesota can attest to the difficulty of emerging from early holes, as home losses to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday and New York Rangers on Saturday showed.
In Sunday’s 4-2 loss to visiting Toronto, the Maple Leafs struck for three goals in the middle period. Although Vladimir Tarasenko responded, scoring twice in 23 seconds to reach 700 career points, Minnesota fell short.
“Obviously when you’re down three, it feels like a huge mountain to climb,” Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt said. “But I thought we did an unbelievable job with sticking with what works for us and we continued to play the style of hockey that we want to play.
“We gave it a good push, but unfortunately (Sunday) it wasn’t enough.”
Tuesday marks the beginning of a home-and-home between the Blackhawks and Wild, who are set to conclude the season series on Thursday in Minnesota.
Minnesota defeated host Chicago 4-3 in overtime on Nov. 26 and earned a 4-3 shootout win at home on Jan. 27.
The Blackhawks expect defenseman Wyatt Kaiser (left shoulder) to play Tuesday after he missed the Vegas game due to injury.
Also set to return: former Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno. Tuesday is his first game in Chicago since the Blackhawks traded him to Minnesota on March 6.
Reunited with his brother Marcus, who is week-to-week with a lower body injury, Nick Foligno tallied one assist in his first five games with the Wild.
