Wild showing character, will to win on road to Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2021-22 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who will turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. Rocky Thompson and Dave Barr will take turns providing insight.
In this edition, Thompson, who was an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and an associate with the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21, takes a closer look at how the Minnesota Wild are building their game for the final weeks of the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Minnesota Wild have some eye-catching numbers that came into play during games last weekend.
I was planning to write about the Wild this week but their overtime record and amazing ability to score goals at 6-on-5 this season jumped onto my radar in 3-2 overtime wins against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday and the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
The Wild are the only team in the NHL without an overtime loss this season. They're 7-0 and lead the NHL with 18 goals scored 6-on-5, far ahead of the second-best team, the Tampa Bay Lightning (10).
Kirill Kaprizov scored at 18:57 of the third period in the extra-attacker situation and Jared Spurgeon at 1:24 of overtime against Columbus, giving Marc-Andre Fleury his first win with the Wild. Kevin Fiala scored 15 seconds into overtime to defeat Colorado.
Minnesota's ability to rally late speaks for itself. The Wild have this will, when they're down, to keep going. Being down is not a way to live but I see it as a show of character to be able to score so frequently 6-on-5. That is such a threat in games and it's well beyond luck when it happens that often.
The Wild (40-20-4) are second in the Central Division, four points ahead of the third-place Nashville Predators and 14 behind the first-place Avalanche. Think about how far down the standings they might be without the ability to score at 6-on-5. Do I think this is a repeatable strategy long term? No, but Minnesota continues to do it so it's real and it means something.
The most important meaning could be that we are heading to the playoffs soon and games are always going to be tight, so when the Wild get into this situation, confidence like this is a major asset. These momentum shifts can be large, emotional and can really turn a tide. Even though playoff overtime is a different format, a strong OT record from the regular season isn't going to hurt them.
This kind of mental strength means a lot and it adds to the positive direction the Wild are going.
Minnesota beefed up the strengths of its team before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on March 21, adding muscle with forward Nicolas Deslauriers (6-foot-1, 220 pounds), some skill for their fourth line, penalty killing with forward Tyson Jost, an in-your-face defenseman in Jake Middleton and Fleury.
Deslauriers, Jost and Brandon Duhaime make up a pretty good fourth line with a definite identity that fits their team. They've played well in four games together.
Middleton is someone I saw in San Jose last season and he's continued to improve each season. He's a physical player and I think this season he's taken pride in his role as a big, tough, intimidating defenseman. He makes reliable plays with the puck and is hard to play against. He was playing with Erik Karlsson for the San Jose Sharks and playing a lot against opponents' stronger offensive players.
With those higher minutes (an average of 18:52 per game this season), Middleton is playing with Wild captain Jared Spurgeon, one of the smartest defensemen in the NHL, if not the smartest, so that's going to be a great combination for them.
The Wild had some struggles and were in a funk before the deadline (2-8-0 from Feb. 16 to March 6) but they've turned it around and have won six in a row, and Fleury solidifies the goalie position.
Fleury is someone who believes he has something to prove, even though he doesn't have anything to prove in my opinion. It's a big positive for the Wild. Cam Talbot is 7-0-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and one shutout since March 8 and was named the NHL First Star for the week ending March 27. Adding Fleury moves up the competitiveness and when you have competitiveness with good people, that's going to bring out the best in players.
Minnesota's forwards give coach Dean Evason a lot of options.
The top line of Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello has great chemistry, one that helped them a lot against the Avalanche on Sunday even though they were in a back-to-back situation. They were still able to generate and were a threat for a lot of the game, even though they weren't at their freshest.
Their other two lines, Frederick Gaudreau with Matt Boldy and Fiala, and Joel Eriksson Ek with Jordan Greenway and Marcus Foligno, show Minnesota's depth.
Gaudreau, who has scored 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 58 games, has been a real find for Minnesota, adding to its balance. Eriksson Ek's line, which can be physical, is an identity line with a threat to score and Evason can use it at will against other teams' top lines.
Which brings me to the question of what kind of team is the Wild?
I would say they're not reliant on special teams with a power play that's 19th (20.3 percent) and a penalty kill ranking 23rd (76.2 percent) in the NHL. Maybe there's some concern about special teams and that could cost them home-ice advantage in the Western Conference First Round, but that's not going to keep Minnesota out of the playoffs.
And when the playoffs bring a more tight-checking game with fewer power plays than during the regular season, Minnesota's 5-on-5 game is likely to be even more of a factor.
I would not describe the Wild as an offensive dynamo, but in the regular season they've outscored opponents 157-125 at 5-on-5, one of the better differentials in the NHL. They're hard to play against, they go to the tough areas of the ice and have a nose for the net. I recall seeing a stat that they had the most rebound goals in the NHL last season.
That's playoff hockey and the Wild have improved since the deadline. With the experience they've gained after giving the Vegas Golden Knights a tough Stanley Cup First Round series before losing in seven games last season, and now the addition of a world-class goalie in Fleury, it's a pretty exciting time to be a Wild fan.