{"id":536880,"date":"2026-04-02T16:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536880\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:53:21","slug":"minnesota-wilds-3-keys-to-a-successful-postseason-the-hockey-writers-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/536880\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Wild’s 3 Keys to a Successful Postseason – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Wild had<\/a> a rough month of March as they struggled to get on the winning track multiple times and lost to several teams lower in the standings than them. Of course, any team can win on any night in the NHL, but the Wild have a lot of talent, and at times it\u2019s disappeared on them, which is something that can\u2019t happen when the postseason starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve had the past four days off from games, and it couldn\u2019t have come at a better time. While they still practiced, these few days gave them time to re-evaluate their game and figure out how to be better. Right now, they are securely in the postseason despite their struggles, and that shouldn\u2019t change. However, if they want to have a strong run in the postseason, they have to do several things, starting with finding their game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild Have to Find Their Game\u00a0<\/p>\n

The biggest reason the Wild have struggled to win the past month was that they strayed from the way they normally play. They\u2019re successful when they move the puck quickly but effectively, especially in the defensive zone. Once they\u2019re in the offensive zone, they don\u2019t waste time and get quick shots. That\u2019s how they found success this season, but lately it\u2019s been eluding them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They made sloppy passes in front of their own net, or when they tried to break the puck out, they couldn\u2019t get it past their blue line because of the opponent\u2019s defense. Their offense would take too long passing the puck, and by the time they took a shot, the goaltender was ready, or the defense would block the shot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If they want to have a deep run in the postseason, they have to tighten up their game in all aspects. They need to get back to their fast-paced, quick-thinking play, and if they can do that, they\u2019ll find success.<\/p>\n

Wild Need Everybody\u00a0<\/p>\n

That may seem like a no-brainer when it comes to the playoffs, but the Wild truly need every part of their lineup if they want to do well. They need the first line to do its job of scoring all the way down to the checking and penalty killing of the fourth line. All the way from their top scorer, Kirill Kaprizov,<\/a> to their fourth liner, Yakov Trenin, everyone plays<\/a> an important role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Everyone knows the top line is the one that typically contributes to the scoring, and the production usually lessens as you go down the roster. However, the other lines have important roles as well, like power play, penalty kill, checking, etc. Although the Wild have had their struggles lately, they\u2019ve been lucky in the fact that their new additions have fit into the lineup seamlessly and have fulfilled the roles expected of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michael McCarron and Bobby Brink<\/a> have especially done well and contributed a lot to the lineup. While the forwards are important to the lineup, the Wild need their defense and goaltenders to step up, too. They\u2019ll need everyone from Jared Spurgeon<\/a> to Zach Bogosian to be at the top of their game, along with Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt. <\/p>\n

\"MichaelMinnesota Wild center Michael McCarron (Matt Krohn-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The defense\u2019s priority is mainly to keep the puck out of their net, but if they put some points on the board, it would be a bonus. It\u2019s hard to say if they\u2019ll rotate goaltenders or go with the hot glove, but they have two strong goaltenders who are hard to get past when they\u2019re on their game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wild Have to Win Faceoffs<\/p>\n

Outside of playing their style of game, the biggest problem the Wild will face in the postseason is the ability, or lack thereof, to win faceoffs. Season after season, Wild fans have seen the team struggle to get faceoff wins during the preseason until the final game of the regular season and into the playoffs. No one expects them to win every single one, but they have to do better than their current faceoff win percentage of 46.8 percent, which has them sitting at 30th in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not only do they struggle at winning faceoffs at even strength, but they have issues on the penalty kill and the power play as well. If they could start winning more faceoffs, especially on special teams, it would make a huge difference, especially in their scoring chances. They saw how badly it can hurt them a few seasons ago in the playoffs against the Dallas Stars, especially on the penalty kill, and they can\u2019t have that happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: Jessi Pierce Was Truly One of a Kind<\/a><\/p>\n

McCarron has shown to<\/a> be quite strong on the faceoff dot, as well as Nico Sturm<\/a>; however, they are fourth-line guys. While they do great in their roles, the Wild need their top-line centers to win more faceoffs and find more ways to score when it truly matters. Hopefully, they can find some faceoff mojo just in time for the postseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Wild can have all three of these things go their way, they have a strong chance at making a deep run in the playoffs. If they can\u2019t have all three, at least two of them would make a difference and help the team. It\u2019ll be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes, and hopefully they\u2019ll go into the postseason on a win.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Wild had a rough month of March as they struggled to get on the winning track…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[20557,5,537,1708,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-536880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-kirill-kaprizov","11":"tag-michael-mccarron","12":"tag-minnesota","13":"tag-minnesota-wild","14":"tag-minnesotawild","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116336159825162079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}