ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 The Minnesota Wild are coming off back-to-back wins against teams fighting for their playoff lives in the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings.<\/p>\n
And while the Wild have safely been in the No. 3 spot in the Central Division for what feels like an eternity, they\u2019ve been trying to turn it up a notch lately to get their game ready for the playoffs. That\u2019s the goal in the final five games, which include a three-game road trip to face likely first-round opponent the Dallas Stars, as well as the Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues, bookended by home games against the Seattle Kraken and Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n
Home ice is on the line, with the Wild two points back of the Stars and each team having five games left, including Thursday\u2019s final regular-season meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have urgency there, but it\u2019s no different for us,\u201d coach John Hynes said of the Senators and Red Wings. \u201cWe want to have our team playing well, and we want to make sure, part of that, is also having individuals play well and play at the top of their game.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a balance, like weighing the desire to get home ice against resting some heavy-workload players \u2014 forwards like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek, and defensemen Quinn Hughes, Brock Faber, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon.<\/p>\n
Minnesota will try to work some players into the lineup in the final week of the season. Defensemen Daemon Hunt and Jeff Petry should get playing time with Zach Bogosian sidelined by his latest lower-body injury. Petry played in Sunday\u2019s 5-4 win at Detroit.<\/p>\n
The Wild also could be on the verge of signing a college free-agent defenseman, per league sources, who could debut in one of the final three games (he won\u2019t be playoff eligible). One big shame is that after planning to sign Charlie Stramel to his entry-level contract and debut him down the stretch, he broke his ankle in his final game with Michigan State, delaying his signing, but if Stramel still signs a contract starting in 2025-26, he would be eligible for the playoffs once healthy.<\/p>\n
But first things first. In these final five games, the Wild are looking for answers to some key questions before the playoffs. Here they are:<\/p>\n
The goaltending rotation<\/p>\n
For most of the year, the Wild have employed a pretty strict goalie rotation, especially since Jesper Wallstedt\u2019s game took off in November. It has worked out well, with Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson backstopping Minnesota to the NHL\u2019s fourth-best goals-against average (2.83) and best save percentage (.906) through Saturday.<\/p>\n
The question is whether Hynes is open to using both goalies in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t thought that far ahead,\u201d Hynes said. \u201cI think that they both give us a chance to win. So that\u2019s a good feeling. So we\u2019ll see how it goes down the stretch. Both guys are gonna get a good amount of work here leading into the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gustavsson, signed to a long-term extension in September, will likely get the Game 1 start of the Wild\u2019s first series. He has the experience, and the Wild\u2019s two first-round exits with him in net can hardly be blamed on him (2.53 GAA and .917 save percentage in 11 starts).<\/p>\n
But Gustavsson and Wallstedt\u2019s numbers have been pretty darn close: Gustavsson at 2.56 GAA and .909 save percentage, and Wallstedt at 2.67 and .913.<\/p>\n
Wallstedt has been better since the Olympic break, but there are still five games to decide who has the hot hand. Wallstedt isn\u2019t sure a rotation works best in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to switch up too much if one\u2019s hot. It\u2019s hard for me to say too. I\u2019ve never been in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So I don\u2019t know much either. But I guess we\u2019ll see. I think either way we\u2019ll be in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who plays with Hughes?<\/p>\n
Hughes and Brock Faber were pretty much attached at the hip after the Wild acquired Hughes in mid-December. But Hynes and his staff started to experiment with their pairs a few weeks ago, putting Spurgeon with Hughes and Faber with Brodin.<\/p>\n
Why? To get a better idea of what Hughes looks like with a different partner, and because Hughes and Faber were starting to bleed chances, with both being a little too aggressive offensively.<\/p>\n
The Wild went back to Hughes and Faber on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Hughes-Spurgeon pair wasn\u2019t bad, with a 47.65 Corsi-for percentage in 105:59 (46.03 expected goal percentage), per Natural Stat Trick. The Faber-Hughes pair has better numbers over a larger sample size, with a 54.15 Corsi-for percentage over 705 minutes and a 56.19 expected goals percentage.<\/p>\n
Hughes-Spurgeon could present a size issue in the playoffs, while Brodin and Spurgeon are usually money together. In fact, Sportlogiq\u2019s Mike Kelly noted Saturday that entering the Sens game, the Brodin-Spurgeon pair had played nearly 105 five-on-five minutes together since the Olympics and had only been on the ice for four inner-slot shots against as opposed to 16 for the Wild. In that span, they had only been on the ice for two goals against.<\/p>\n
Having a shutdown pair like that would be good in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still haven\u2019t decided finally what we\u2019ll do with it,\u201d Hynes said. \u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of time here, but I think both pairs would be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s the odd man out?<\/p>\n
The biggest lineup decision will be who fills out the bottom six.<\/p>\n
Minnesota gave itself a lot of depth at the deadline, acquiring Michael McCarron, Bobby Brink and Nick Foligno, just after claiming Robby Fabbri on waivers. The forward group is heavier and more versatile.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a good problem to have.<\/p>\n
After a few weeks of experimenting, Hynes is close to deciding on the group for Game 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe, for the most part, have a strong idea of what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d Hynes said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll still look at a few different combinations. Not a wholesale (change), but I think you have pairs. You maybe see what a third guy on a line looks like, and see what that chemistry or what it looks like in live games.\u201d<\/p>\n
The top two lines will likely be Ryan Hartman between Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, and Eriksson Ek between Marcus Johansson and Boldy.<\/p>\n
In the bottom six, they\u2019ll likely be deciding from game to game between two of Danila Yurov, Brink and Nick Foligno.<\/p>\n
Yurov\u2019s faceoffs have been an issue all season (39.1 percent, including 10 of 14 lost on Saturday), so much so that he barely kills penalties anymore. But he brings speed and offense and chemistry on an all-Russian line with Vladimir Tarasenko and Yakov Trenin.<\/p>\n
Foligno, on the other hand, is a great penalty killer, is grittier and can win draws.<\/p>\n
The issue is playing both Nick Foligno and McCarron essentially guarantees that one has to be your third-line center if Yurov is out. If Yurov plays under those circumstances, Brink \u2014 who provides speed, skill and the willingness to go to the dirty areas despite being undersized \u2014 would have to be scratched because it\u2019s hard to see the Wild sitting Trenin, the NHL hits leader (390) who has had a strong year and was good last postseason.<\/p>\n
So the third-line possibilities are likely:<\/p>\n
Tarasenko-Yurov-Brink
Tarasenko-Yurov-Trenin
Tarasenko-McCarron-Brink<\/p>\n
And the fourth-line possibilities are likely:<\/p>\n
Marcus Foligno-McCarron-Trenin
Marcus Foligno-McCarron-Nick Foligno
Marcus Foligno-Nick Foligno-Trenin<\/p>\n
One way or another, it looks like Nico Sturm and Fabbri are destined to be in the press box if the Wild are healthy, along with one of the bottom-six forwards above.<\/p>\n
There will be no set lineup, so there\u2019s no use fretting over this. One loss, like for every team in the playoffs, will likely bring lineup changes. For the Wild to get where they want to go, they\u2019re going to need everybody to go four rounds. Same thing on defense, where, if Bogosian recovers from his latest injury, he\u2019ll likely be the right D on the third pair over Petry.<\/p>\n
Split up Kaprizov and Boldy?<\/p>\n
In last year\u2019s first-round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Kaprizov and Boldy were dynamic together. They were on the top line with Eriksson Ek and racked up a combined 10 goals and 16 points in six games, each star scoring five goals. But once the Golden Knights slowed them down, Vegas took over the series, with Kaprizov and Boldy combining for just two goals in the final three games.<\/p>\n
So it would make sense to split them up, and it looks like the Wild will.<\/p>\n
For the past few weeks, the Wild have been going with Kaprizov-Hartman-Zuccarello \u2014 with Hartman on fire and looking primed for the playoffs \u2014 and Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy. For those who scoff at Johansson being on the second line, the fact of the matter is that Boldy enjoys playing with the smooth-skating Swede. There\u2019s chemistry there with Johansson, a pass-first winger, and Eriksson Ek, a do-it-all, tough-as-nails shutdown center.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just playing simple and letting it come to us,\u201d Boldy said. \u201cWhen we kind of let it happen, and we\u2019re in the right spots and just play quick and simple, then stuff opens up.\u201d<\/p>\n
You could argue that this year\u2019s team is deeper up front than last year\u2019s, so the Wild could afford to put Boldy and Kaprizov together, if needed. Tarasenko has provided a strong, bounce-back year with 22 goals. Brink is a playmaker with speed. The Foligno brothers could chip in offense.<\/p>\n
But Hynes will likely start the playoffs with Kaprizov and Boldy detached. And if Hartman plays with the kind of purpose and playmaking we\u2019ve seen in the playoffs in recent years, then it should be a good match.<\/p>\n
If Zuccarello and Kaprizov get too cute or play too much east-west, Hynes can always put them through the line blender.<\/p>\n
Do they go for home ice?<\/p>\n
Hynes hinted after last week\u2019s win over the Vancouver Canucks that the Wild could rest players, but suddenly, home-ice advantage is attainable if they take care of business. How does that change things?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll talk about the plan and where we\u2019re at and where guys are and what we\u2019ll do,\u201d Hynes said.<\/p>\n
Home ice doesn\u2019t always matter, but remember that when it comes to Wild-Stars, historically, Minnesota stinks in Dallas.<\/p>\n
The Wild are 39-41-13 all-time against the Stars in the regular season, but 13-26-8 in Dallas and 2-4 in the playoffs. At home, however, the Wild are 26-15-5 all-time in the regular season against the Stars and 2-4 in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019ll be interesting to see how Hynes and the Wild brass proceed this week. It\u2019d be a shame if they sustain injuries heading into the postseason, but it\u2019d also be a shame not to at least try to snag that extra home game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it happens, it happens,\u201d Boldy said of getting home-ice advantage. \u201cBut the more you start to think about that stuff and stress about it, it just adds a little bit more into the group that I don\u2019t think we need right now. We\u2019re definitely pushing for it \u2014 don\u2019t get me wrong \u2014 but I think if we just focus on playing the right way and taking care of one game at a time and it happens, then great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 The Minnesota Wild are coming off back-to-back wins against teams fighting for their playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5118],"tags":[147,5,161,38,5280,4,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-543678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-dallas-stars","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-wild","12":"tag-minnesotawild","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116357675348354368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543678","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=543678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}