Historic homestand has charted Wild on a path to the postseason

When the Wild awoke on the morning of March 16, it was coming off a 6-2 loss to the Nashville Predators three days prior, having lost four of its past six games.
Nashville had passed the Wild in the Central Division standings, and for the first time this season, Minnesota found itself outside the top three in the division standings, and amongst a group of contenders for a pair of wild card positions in the Western Conference.
The good news: it was gearing up for a home game against the Boston Bruins. And after that, seven more on Xcel Energy Center ice would follow. Minnesota was on the front end of a record-long nine-game homestand, so there was plenty of time to right the ship ... as long as the Wild could find a way to do just that.

A 4-2 win over the Bruins followed and the team hasn't lost in regulation since, finishing its franchise-record nine-game stretch on friendly ice with an eight-game point streak.
Minnesota's 4-3 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins shouldn't sour what was a tremendous -- and historic -- homestand, that ended with the Wild netting 15 of a possible 18 points and becoming just the fifth team in the 104-year history of the NHL to win seven games on a homestand of at least nine games or more.
With one month remaining in the regular season, the stretch at home moved the Wild squarely from the postseason bubble, to a far more adventageous position in the Central Division standings, four points ahead of the St. Louis Blues and five clear of the Predators. Minnesota also has a games-in-hand advantage on Nashville.

"I think we got caught up in the dog days there for a little while," said Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski. "We were playing a lot of hockey and the chance to come home and play nine-in-a-row, with the rest between the games that we got, and then also adding the players we got and that excitement ... I think it just gave the locker room that much more energy. And we play well here. It has been a good homestand."
The stretch of games between the All-Star break and the start of this homestand was especially volatile.
Minnesota mixed two single trips to Winnipeg around two games apiece at home. A marathon road trip to Canada, starting in Edmonton, venturing east for games against Ottawa and Toronto followed before concluding back in Alberta against Pacific Division-leading Calgary.
It was a week-long stretch that really took its toll.
After returning home for one game to start the month of March, a pair of Thursday-Friday road back-to-backs out east sandwiched two home games.
The Wild was road weary, tired, banged up and in the midst of those "dog days" Goligoski was referring to.
Mikko Koivu's number retirement started the homestand, and Minnesota struggled to find its legs in that game before the schedule finally relented and the Wild was able to get some much needed down time to rest and recooperate.
More importantly, it was able to do that at home, without the prospect of a looming trip on the horizon.
"We knew we were coming back here for a long time, and to be honest the road had been difficult for us. The road trip before was tough," said Wild forward Freddy Gaudreau. "We didn't get the results we wanted. It gets a little tougher, but we knew we could kind of build our energy up being home, not traveling, sleeping in the same bed every night instead of hotel beds. We knew we could build that energy up.
"I think we did a good job at that, and the results show. It's fun to go get those wins one after the other."

As the Wild embarks on its first road trip in several weeks, it will do so looking very different than the team that lost 3-2 in a shootout in Columbus on March 11, the last time the Wild played a road game.
Forwards Tyson Jost and Nicolas Deslauriers, defenseman Jake Middleton and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury know nothing other than the team's Forest Green home sweaters, and all three have integrated themselves into the lineup.
None have experienced a regulation loss in a Wild sweater either.
"After the deadline, also, now we're set and the new guys feel like we're a big family," said Wild forward Kevin Fiala. "They came in and didn't take long to get into it and feel comfortable with us, and that's awesome. It's been awesome to involve everybody, and I think it's worked out very well."
It's a streak Minnesota will try and keep going as long as it can. And while occasional regulation defeats will undoubtedly come at some point, perhaps the most important thing this homestand has brought has been the Wild's re-commitment to the game and the style of play that has brought so much success.
Now it'll be about sustaining that play and ramping up as the "dog days" quickly become the "stretch run" into the postseason, which begins the first week of May.
"We've played some good hockey but it has to be a consistent thing. We have to repeat each and every game," said Wild coach Dean Evason. "The way that we're playing structurally, playing patient and playing good, hard defensive hockey, not cheating and allowing when the offense is there to take it. We're not trying to crate offense, we're playing the right way. We want to continue to do that as we go forward."
Fending off the Blues and Predators remains the Wild's most realistic short-term priority.
Finishing second in the Central means home-ice advantage in a First Round series (likely) against either of those clubs, and that's something the Wild desperately wants to achieve.
"It's no secret, we play great here," Goligoski said. "Especially playoff time, home-ice is important and that's what we're trying to do here."