The Minnesota Wild need a miracle to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even so, the expectation remains to keep fighting as they prepare to host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday in St. Paul, Minn.
Minnesota (36-29-9, 81 points) has dropped four of its last six games (2-2-2), a run of misery extended with a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
The Wild are 10 points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the Western Conference’s second wild-card position with seven games remaining. Despite the sizable deficit, coach John Hynes is adamant his players must not throw in the towel.
“These are our jobs,” Hynes said. “We have to make sure we continue to play. You want to win games. That’s the NHL. That’s the objective of it, and it doesn’t change.”
Minnesota showed plenty of fight against the Avalanche, but it was not enough against a Colorado squad that has elevated its game with the playoffs around the corner.
“Their goaltender was a big difference,” Hynes said of Justus Annunen, who had a career-high 44 saves. “Both goaltenders played well, but I thought their guy made a lot of key saves at key times. We had really good offensive pressure. Lots of good scoring opportunities, high-quality opportunities in really all situations and couldn’t find a way.”
The clash with Winnipeg ends a six-game homestand before Minnesota goes on a five-game road swing, and the only thing the Wild can do is improve on the last performance.
“We played well,” Matt Boldy said. “Obviously they’re a really good team with some special players and you see that every time. You do what you can but they’re good, and it’s tough at times, but I thought we played well. Just played our game, lot of chances, won battles, played fast. Just have to keep going.”
The Jets arrive after punching their ticket to the playoffs thanks to a 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday. Gabriel Vilardi served as the offensive hero by recording his first career hat trick.
“A great night for me, but a better night for the team,” Vilardi said. “Make the playoffs. Still got a long way to go, a lot of work that needs to be done still, but definitely a good night.”
Winnipeg (46-24-6, 98 points) has won two straight after losing six consecutive games. The Jets reside four points behind the Avalanche for second place in the Central Division and six points ahead of the Nashville Predators.
As much as the Jets would love to climb the standings, the task down the stretch will be to maintain their position and gear up for the Stanley Cup chase.
“There was never any doubt in my mind that we’d make the playoffs this year,” coach Rick Bowness said. “We’ve got a good team here. And we’ve got a good bunch of guys. So there was never any doubt. It’s nice to put that behind us. And now we push forward.”
As the Jets embark on a four-game road trip, they arrive in Minnesota having scored a pair of power-play goals against Calgary after struggling with only one goal in 23 opportunities over the previous seven games.
“It’s nice to see a couple go in,” defenseman Josh Morrissey said. “And we’ll keep working on it to keep trying to make it a strength of our team.”
–Field Level Media